The Israeli Air Force said Monday that it had destroyed a plane belonging to Iran’s former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that the Jewish state claimed was used to convey messages and coordinate with the Islamic Republic’s terror proxies.

In a Hebrew-language statement on X, the IAF said the jet was destroyed in an attack on Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport.

“[T]he plane was used by Ali Khamenei, leader of the Iranian terror regime, additional senior officials from the terror regime, and elements in the Iranian military, to advance military procurement and manage relations with Axis countries through domestic and international flights,” the military branch said.

“The destruction of the plane impairs the ability to coordinate between the leadership of the Iranian terror regime and Axis countries, in building military power, and in the regime’s rehabilitation capability.
Thus, another strategic asset has been removed from the Iranian regime.”

The phrase “Axis” refers to Iran’s Axis of Resistance, which includes Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and several terror groups in Iraq.

The plane strike took place amid fevered speculation about the health status of Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who is believed to have been severely wounded in the Feb. 28 Israeli strike that killed his father and other family members.

Monday’s attack was confirmed one day after a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces told CNN the military was planning for three more weeks of combat operations against Iran — with “deeper plans” for another three weeks beyond that, if deemed necessary.

“We have thousand of targets ahead,” Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said told the outlet. “We are ready, in coordination with our US allies, with plans through at least the Jewish holiday of Passover, about three weeks from now [ending at sundown April 9]. And we have deeper plans for even three weeks beyond that.”

The joint US-Israel campaign against Iran entered its third week on Saturday, and Defrin’s comment would extend the war beyond the initial estimation of “four weeks or so” put forward by President Trump March 1.

Israel, the IDF spokesperson insisted, is “not working according to a stopwatch, or a timetable, but rather to achieve our goals” — including “weaken the Iranian regime severely.”

As of Monday morning, the US military had flown more than 6,000 combat flights and destroyed more than 100 Iranian naval vessels.

In a major bombardment Friday night, America destroyed more than 90 Iranian military targets on Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf, including storage bunkers for mines and missiles used to block shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

On the Israeli side, the IDF estimated Sunday that thousands of Islamic Republic forces had been killed and tens of thousands more wounded, causing a decline in morale and leading to some troops refusing to follow orders — though specifics were not immediately available.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military assessed that about 70% of Iran’s missile launchers had been put out of use thanks to airstrikes, limiting Tehran’s ability to mount retaliatory attacks across the Middle East.