The ‘jacked gorilla' general drawing up Trump's attack plans
'Shots fired!' yelled Gen Michael Kurilla moments before charging towards the sound of gunfire to save two junior officers.
Weaving through the rubble-strewn alleyways of war-torn Mosul, Iraq, the then-lieutenant colonel was pursuing a group of terrorist suspects when three more shots rang out.
Taking bullets to the arm and both legs, one snapping his femur in half, he 'performed a judo roll' and carried on firing his rifle, witnesses say. As the gunfire continued, he covered his troops and reeled off orders while bleeding on the concrete floor.
Nearly 20 years later, Gen Kurilla, who was awarded a Bronze Star for valour and now heads the US military Central Command (Centcom), is once again leading the fight in the Middle East – this time against Iran.
Known to be Israel's favourite general and nicknamed 'The Gorilla', Gen Kurilla is understood to have been given unusual levels of authority by Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, to determine the American response to the escalating Israel-Iran conflict.
The 59 year-old has apparently overruled other top Pentagon officials in managing the crisis and has had nearly all his requests approved for more weapons and air defences for the region, multiple sources told Politico and Axios.
More than six feet tall, the 'jacked' (muscular) general certainly looks the part and is known for his abrasive approach. He was investigated by the army last year for allegedly shoving a military crew member, although the outcome is not clear.
According to one former official, his tough-guy persona and commanding physical presence give Gen Kurilla powerful influence over the US defence secretary.
'He's a big dude, he's jacked, he's exactly this 'lethality' look [Donald Trump and Mr Hegseth are] going for,' the ex-official told Politico. 'If the senior military guys come across as tough and war fighters, Hegseth is easily persuaded to their point of view.'
The general is said to have had more face time with the US president than most other generals, according to Politico.
Where Gen Dan Caine, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon policy chief, have repeatedly urged against overcommitting to the Middle East, Gen Kurilla is said to be pushing for a strong military response to Iran.
As the department of defence moves aircraft carriers and a large formation of refuelling planes to the region and the president mulls a direct military strike on Iran, there is speculation that Gen Kurilla is pulling the strings behind the scenes.
'Hegseth has sided with him time and again,' a diplomat told the website.
Hailed by Israeli news outlet Ynet as 'the US general Israel doesn't want to strike Iran without', Gen Kurilla is a long-time Iran hawk who is expected to retire from the military this summer.
A veteran of Panama, the Gulf War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Gen Kurilla is seen as 'one of Israel's staunchest allies in the American defence establishment', according to Ynet, and has travelled to the country dozens of times since he first visited as a young officer in his 20s.
'He knows the type of every munition launched at Israel that night, and where each interceptor was positioned,' an Israeli official told the news outlet last year. 'Wake him in the middle of the night, and he'd ace a pop quiz better than some of our own officers.'
According to The New York Times, the general had been open to US involvement in an Israeli strike plan to attack Iran earlier this spring, combining a bombing campaign with commando raids on nuclear sites, but was blocked by Mr Trump, who favoured a diplomatic approach.
'He has been pushing for war with Iran and away from diplomacy since before Trump took office in ways that run over civilian officials,' Justin Logan, director of foreign policy and defence studies at the Cato Institute, told Responsible Statercraft.
Since taking over as head of Centcom in 2022, Gen Kurilla has pursued a strategy of military integration with Israel and regional partners to deter Iranian aggression, known as 'Kurilla's umbrella'.
The system has enabled US radar systems in the UAE and Qatar to aid Israeli defence and has included co-operation with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, according to Ynet.
Explaining his approach to a US House congressional committee in March, Gen Kurilla said that Iran had taken a 'once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape the region to its advantage' which could be halted by a 'deep partnership' between Israel, the US and the Gulf States.
He is also thought to have played an instrumental role in pushing for sustained attacks on Houthi Rebels in Yemen in March, according to the New York Times, details of which were later made public in the infamous Signal group chat leak.
The 30-day operation cost more than $1 billion and was widely viewed as an ineffective use of resources, yet it enabled Mr Trump to strike a deal to end the fighting.
Deployed to Israel in April, Gen Kurilla is said to have passed on the news to government officials there that the US would not endorse strikes on Iran to curb its uranium enrichment programme.
He also is said to have released a statement in which he reiterated the two nations' 'ironclad military-to-military relationship', The Jerusalem Post reported.
Gen Kurilla may have also played a decisive role in determining Israel's decision to pull the trigger on operation 'Rising Lion' last Friday, when it launched a devastating series of precision air strikes on Iranian military sites and personnel.
Although Israel acquiesced to Mr Trump's demands in April to hold off attacking Iran, military sources told The Jerusalem Post at the time that they hoped to strike before Gen Kurilla stepped down in July, recognising him as a key ally.
'I think it's been reported, and you know, based on my experience with him, that he takes a fundamentally different view of the importance of the Middle East than a lot of other people in the administration,' Dan Caldwell, former adviser to Mr Hegseth, told the Breaking Points podcast on Monday.
He added: 'And he also, I think, believes that a military campaign against Iran will not be as costly as others.'
With time running out before Iran produces an atomic bomb and with Gen Kurilla's retirement looming, it may well be that Israel saw its window of opportunity closing.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
31 minutes ago
- The Independent
Has Iran actually tried to kill Trump? Here's what we know
Days after it was reported that Donald Trump rejected Israel's plot to assassinate Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the president publicly announced that the United States knows his location and is holding off killing him 'for now.' Israeli officials, meanwhile, have openly demanded his death. This week, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Khamenei 'can no longer be allowed to exist.' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, turning to Fox News over the weekend to make the case for the United States to join a war with Iran, said Khamenei sees the president as 'public enemy number one.' Israel has sought to justify intervention using allegations of Trump's assassination threats as leverage, while the United States has faced years of blowback in the wake of Middle East wars and the 2020 killing of a top Iranian general. During his first administration in 2020, Trump ordered a drone strike near Baghdad International Airport that killed Qassem Soleimani, commander of the elite Quds Force with Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps, after he had survived several assassination attempts from western, Israeli and Arab states over the past two decades. The strike, which was planned over several months, ignited fierce blowback across the region, denounced by Iran's foreign minister at the time as an act of international terrorism. By 2024, U.S. intelligence officials had collected evidence they believe shows Tehran was seeking ways to kill then-candidate Trump, according to Politico. In September, Trump claimed there were 'big threats on my life by Iran.' Neither of the two assassination attempts against then-candidate Trump in the summer of 2024 have been linked to Iran. One month earlier, a Pakistani national with alleged ties to Iran was accused of seeking to carry out a murder-for-hire plot targeting U.S. government officials, according to federal prosecutors. Asif Raza Merchant was accused of joining a complex plot to carry out assassinations last year, including trying to hire hit men who were undercover officers, according to an indictment. In November, a fugitive Iranian government operative was accused of hiring a pair of New Yorkers he met in prison to carry out an assassination plot against a critic of the regime. He allegedly admitted to FBI agents that he'd also been tasked with finding a hit squad to kill then-President-elect Trump. Farhad Shakeri claimed he was asked by regime officials to 'put aside his other efforts... and focus on surveilling, and, ultimately, assassinating' Trump, according to a criminal complaint in Manhattan federal court. In February, Trump, who campaigned against U.S. involvement in foreign wars, said Iran would be 'obliterated' if he was assassinated by state actors. 'That would be a terrible thing for them to do,' he told reporters. 'Not because of me. If they did that, they would be obliterated. That would be the end. I've left instructions: if they do it, they get obliterated. There won't be anything left.' Iran has denied ever targeting the president. 'A new scenario is fabricated,' Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X following accusations against Shakeri. 'The American people have made their decision. And Iran respects their right to elect the president of their choice. The path forward is also a choice. It begins with respect,' Araghchi wrote. Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the allegations were part of a 'repulsive' plot by Israel to 'complicate matters between America and Iran.' In January, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian stressed that Iran 'never attempted' to kill Trump, 'and we never will.' 'This is another one of those schemes that Israel and other countries are designing to promote Iranophobia,' Pezeshkian told NBC News. 'Iran has never attempted to, nor does it plan to assassinate anyone. At least as far as I know.' Asked whether there have been any plots against the president under Iran, he insisted there have been 'none whatsoever.' On June 15, Netanyahu asked Fox News host Bret Baier whether 'these people who chant 'death to America'' and 'tried to assassinate President Trump twice' should 'have nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them to your cities.' Baier then pressed Netanyahu about his claim that Iran launched two assassination attempts. 'Through proxies, yes.' he said. 'Through, through their intel, yes, they want to kill him,' he added. 'He's enemy number one.' Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who has emerged as a prominent voice across right-wing media against the United States joining Israel's war, told Texas Senator Ted Cruz that the United States would be bombing Tehran if those assassination allegations were credible. 'We should attack Iran immediately if that's true,' he said. Cruz insisted that 'nobody disputes' Iran is trying to kill the president, calling it an 'objective fact' following his interview with Carlson. On Thursday, Trump said he plans to decide on whether to order U.S. warplanes to strike Iranian nuclear facilities within the next two weeks, depending on whether Tehran engages in talks over ending their nuclear weapons program. In a statement relayed through White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Trump said: 'Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.' The president's statement followed a week of escalating strikes between Israel and Iran. More than 600 Iranians and at least two dozen Iranians have been killed, according to officials.
The Guardian
44 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Israel and Iran: where is the conflict heading? – Today in Focus extra
The Guardian's senior international correspondent Julian Borger reports from Tel Aviv as the Israel-Iran conflict enters its second week and the world awaits Donald Trump's decision on whether the US will enter the war
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Israel-Iran war, blow by blow: Maps and graphics reveal locations of EVERY strike so far as conflict escalates
Israel began pounding Iran on June 13, in a conflict that has the world holding its breath because of fears it could rapidly escalate and drag Britain and the US in. The IDF's blistering aerial assault – codenamed 'Operation Rising Lion' – has targeted dozens of key nuclear sites, military bases and surface-to-air missile launchers. Oil and gas infrastructure have also been hit, as well as Iran's state news broadcaster, which was struck while live on air. Among the eliminated are nuclear scientists and senior Iranian commanders, including the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – an elite wing of Tehran's military. In a televised address to the nation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attack was neccessary to 'roll back the Iranian threat to Israel's very survival'. Iran was thought to be 'closer than ever to obtaining a nuclear weapon'. Iran immediately retaliated with drone strikes, before launching several waves of ballistic missiles aimed at Israeli cities such as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as part of its own 'Operation True Promise III'. Israel's largest oil refinery in Haifa was shut down following an attack that severely damaged the facilities. The IRGC claimed their precision-guided missiles struck the headquarters of Mossad, Israel's spy agency, as well as another military intelligence unit known as Aman, near Tel Aviv. Israel's state-of-the-art air defences, including its 'Iron Dome', have been in near-constant action. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader, told Israel to prepare for 'a severe punishment'. He has previously called Israel a 'terrorist base' and a 'cancerous tumour' that must 'be removed and eradicated'. Iran has also issued bloodcurdling threats urging the US, UK and France not to rush to Israel's defence, warning that their military bases and ships will be in the firing line should they intervene. Donald Trump has demanded Tehran's 'unconditional surrender', boasting his forces could assisinate Khamenei. Posting on social media on June 17, he said the Ayatollah was an 'easy target' but remained safe 'for now'. Actual US strikes aimed at targets inside Iran remain on the table. America is assembling an armada of warships and fleets of fighter jets in the region ahead of possible military action. Britain itself has ordered military reinforcements to be sent to the Middle East as the war rages. Keir Starmer told reporters en route to the G7 summit in Canada that he would 'always make the right decisions for the UK and our allies'. Britain already has fighter jets in the region as part of an operation to counter threats in Iraq and Syria. Tehran has repeatedly insisted its nuclear programme is peaceful and that it has never intended to make a bomb, despite the fears of Israel and the West. However, its ever-growing stockpile of enriched uranium – needed to produce an atomic weapon – had triggered major concerns. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear watchdog, said Iran's activity was a 'matter of serious concern'. On June 12, the day before Israel's sudden attack, the IAEA ruled that Iran was in breach of its safeguard obligations. Iran criticised the 'politically motivated' decision, announcing it would bolster its nuclear programme with a new enrichment facility in a 'secure location'. Officials also said centrifuges – machines that enrich uranium – would be upgraded at Fordo, one of the nation's most secretive and heavily fortified nuclear sites, buried deep beneath the mountains near the holy city of Qom.
