Reza Pahlavi, the crown prince of Iran, is calling on his countrymen to seize upon the disorder caused by Israel's strike on Tehran and overthrow the regime.

Ali Shamkhani, top advisor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, was killed in Israeli strikes on a "sensitive military center" in western Iran, local media said.

The U.S. says it wasn't involved in the strikes on Iran, but three American officials told NBC News the U.S. is assisting in shooting down Iranian missiles and projectiles targeting Israel.

Gen. Hossein Salami was the chief of one of the country’s most powerful centers, and his death was a tough blow to Iran’s embattled leadership, which has had a series of setbacks in the past 20 months of Middle Eastern war and unrest. Salami rose to power six years ago and had a history of threatening the U.S. and Israel.

The attack comes after decades of mutual hostility and a long-running shadow war of covert strikes and sabotage.

Israel launched “preemptive” strikes early Friday across Iran, amid growing regional tensions and concerns about Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

Shamkhani represented Iran in high-level China-brokered peace talks with Saudi Arabia, leading to the two re-establishing diplomatic ties after a long-running cold war. Most recently, he took part in nuclear negotiations with the Trump administration.

Iran launched retaliatory strikes on Israel after Netanyahu said Israel began an operation to push back on Iran's "threat to Israel's very survival."

The head of Iran’s armed forces and IRGC were killed, as Israel says it hit more than 100 sites across the country.

Kataib Imam Ali is the sixth Iran-backed Shiite militia in Iraq that has been listed by the US as a terrorist organization. The group’s secretary general was previously designated for his ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps–Qods Force and its former commander,

Iranian state television has confirmed that Gen. Hossein Salami, the head of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, was killed in Israel’s strikes Friday morning

Israel’s campaign to cripple Iran’s nuclear programme and decapitate its military with bombardments across the west of the country is part of a comprehensive plan to remove the existential threat Iran posed to the Jewish state.