Retired Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer suggested to Newsmax Saturday that the coordinated U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran were conducted during daylight hours to better target Iranian leadership, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
More than 40 high-ranking government leaders were reportedly killed in the strikes, the most senior being the 86-year-old Khamenei, who ruled Iran since 1989.
"So I think it was very effective by the fact that we went against our own doctrine and hit during broad daylight," Shaffer said during Newsmax's special coverage of the Iranian strikes.
"And I think this was done with a great deal of thought about where the leadership would be," he continued.
"It's extraordinary that the first round of strikes took out over 40 of the Iranian leaders in very swift and effective order. And despite what the Iranians say, our strikes were very precise and very effective."
Airstrikes typically occur during nighttime hours to better conceal aircraft used for the raids. The strikes reportedly began around 10 a.m. in Tehran on Saturday.
"So this puts us in a situation now where we're now out doing special things to find nuclear material or weapons that may have been missed," Shaffer said.
He added that according to one of his sources, "there may have been some additional nuclear materials or weapons that became a tripwire for this action that has not been officially released by the Pentagon."
"I think we should look for that," he said.
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