June 2025 — A reported Israeli campaign of psychological intimidation has targeted high-ranking Iranian officials not eliminated in the opening round of airstrikes. According to newly revealed recordings, Persian-speaking intelligence agents called senior Iranian figures and warned them to flee within twelve hours or face the same fate as their recently killed colleagues.

“I’m speaking to you from a country that two hours ago sent Bagheri and Salami to hell,” one agent said, addressing an Iranian official. “You have twelve hours to escape with your wife and child. Otherwise, you’re on our list.”

The calls were reportedly made to over twenty Iranian officials. The agents warned them that they could be targeted unless they ceased their support for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s regime. One Iranian general, a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was told to record a video publicly distancing himself from the leadership. When he asked how to send it, the agent responded, “I’ll give you a Telegram account. Send it there.”

The Washington Post published a recording of one such call. In it, the agent tells the official: “We’re closer to you than the vein in your neck. Remember that. May God protect you.”

It is not clear whether any video statements were actually made or sent. Sources familiar with the operation said the general in question remains alive and in Tehran. One source said the main objective of the operation was to intimidate and embarrass Iran’s leadership.

Among those killed in the opening strikes were IRGC commander Hossein Salami, Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri, and nuclear scientist Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani, a former head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization. Another senior figure, Ali Shamkhani, a close adviser to Khamenei, was reportedly injured.

In one of the calls, the intelligence agent told the Iranian general: “Let me explain this clearly. I’m calling you from a country that two hours ago sent Bagheri, Salami, Shamkhani—one after the other—to hell.”

According to sources familiar with the campaign, the operation aimed to create fear among Iran’s second- and third-tier leadership and complicate succession planning following the assassinations.

One source stated: “Khamenei is struggling to appoint replacements for the eliminated commanders. Even if he succeeds, these will be people he didn’t initially choose—because the better-suited candidates are refusing the roles.”

Western security officials said there is currently no confirmed evidence of defections among senior commanders in the IRGC or military.

An Israeli source said some officials received threat letters under their doors, others got phone calls, and in some cases, contact was made through their spouses. “They fully understand that they are transparent to us, and our intelligence penetration is total,” the source said.

Sources involved in the operation added that some of the Iranian officials held multiple conversations with the agents, and in several cases, direct dialogue developed.