Iranian ‘top target’ hit in $10M precision strike; US kamikaze drones used to ‘overwhelm’

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Israel struck its key target in Tehran Saturday in what a defense expert has described as a multimillion-dollar precision-guided attack alongside a broader offensive involving U.S.waves of lower-cost kamikaze drones.

com/politics/israel-targets-irans-supreme-leader-sweeping-strikes-us-joins-operation-epic-fury" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’scompound, while U.S.forces used cheaper drones to “overwhelm” on land, air and sea.

U.S.Central Command (CENTCOM) also confirmed that the drones were deployed for the first time in history.

“CENTCOM’s Task Force Scorpion Strike — for the first time in history — is using one-way attack drones in combat during Operation Epic Fury,” it said in an X post before adding that the “low-cost drones, modeled after Iran’s Shahed drones, are now delivering American-made retribution.”

“Saturday saw an overwhelming daytime attack with incredible intelligence to target the leadership and a strike on the compound possibly costing tens of millions,” Chell said.

“That would likely have included expensive,precision-strike dronesor manned aircraft in highly coordinated attacks to ensure success, not necessarily the lower-cost, one-way version of the suicide drones,” he explained.

“The U.S.has this lower-cost alternative to hit everything at once, but then the very expensive,high-precision assetswould likely have gone directly after leadership on Saturday,” Chell added.

A senior U.S.com/world/did-get-him-khameneis-fate-remains-unknown-after-israel-us-strike-levels-his-compound" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the compound strike wasa “wildly bold daytime attack.”

“It caught the senior leadership off guard on a Saturday morning during Ramadan and on Shabbat in the daytime,” the official added.

“We hit the senior leaders right out of the gate,�

Iran’s military, government and intelligence sites were targeted, an official briefed on the operation also toldThe Associated Presson condition of anonymity.

A handful oftop Iranian leaderswere killed, including the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

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Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei addresses the public on the 47th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution, according to Iranian state television in Tehran, Iran, Feb.9, 2026.(Iranian Leader Press Office/Anadolu/Getty Images)

President Donald Trump also announced Saturday that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had been killed in the strike.

“If drones were involved in that top target attack, it would have been the very sophisticated MQ-type or Global Hawk-type drones,” Chell said.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said other attacks across the country were being done “to remove threats.”

Chell described how thosesecondary targets would have been hitby the U.S.with the cheaper one-way “kamikaze” drones before adding that the strikes “seemed to be an excellent example of mass overwhelm at a new level.”

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U.S.Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine monitors U.S.military operations in Iran after an Israeli strike in Tehran alongside several Cabinet members Saturday, Feb.28, 2026.(@WhiteHouse/X)

Chell suggested Iran’s defenses were likely degraded well before the strike began because of the coordination.

“I think likely the defense systems,communication systems, were overwhelmingly compromised,” he added.“And so I think they just overwhelmed them,” he said.

“I’m sure there would have been days, if not even weeks, of work and preparation to take out those defense communication systems.

“They would have compromised those defense communications in some way throughelectronic warfareor cyberattack.

“The battlefieldnow is so multidimensional,” Chell emphasized.

onelink.me/xLDS?pid=AppArticleLink&af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.

“It’s about cyber warfare, misinformation and electronic warfare as well.

“This was seemingly so swift because it was incredibly well-planned and coordinated by the U.S.and Israel on a massive level that’s not been seen before.”