 "Israel attacks Iran; targets nuclear sites, military commanders: What we know so far")
Israel and Iran tensions have escalated once again. In the early hours of Friday, Israel launched strikes against Iran, targeting the Islamic nation’s nuclear programme and other military targets.
The Jewish nation expects retaliation from Iran and has declared a state of emergency. As the story develops, here’s what we know so far.
1. Israel launched strikes against Iran early Friday, hitting dozens of targets including nuclear sites. The strikes were a “preemptive, precise, combined offensive”, an Israeli military official said. They were part of Operation Rising Lion, said Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, adding Iran was a threat to “Israel’s very survival”.
2. The strikes have caused casualties in Iran. The state television has said that Hossein Salami, the commander in chief of the Revolutionary Guards, is among four senior officials who appear to have been killed.
Fereydoon Abbasi, the former head of the Atomic Energy Organisation, has also been killed, state media has reported.
3. Explosions were heard north-east of Tehran, the Reuters news agency is reporting, citing the Iranian state-run Nour News. Blasts have also been reported near the Natanz nuclear facility. A witness in Nantanz told Reuters that multiple explosions were heard near a uranium enrichment facility.
Photos and videos from Iranian state media show apartment buildings on fire. Civilians, including children, were among those killed, the reports claimed. However, this could not be independently verified.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts4. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said that the attacks reveal Israel’s “vile nature,” Reuters reports, and that with this attack Israel “has prepared a bitter fate for itself, which it will surely receive.”
“Blood for blood,” the Iranian military has posted on X.
A spokesperson for Iran’s armed forces says that Israel carried out the attacks in Iran with support from the US, Iranian state media is reporting.
5. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed Israel struck nuclear targets in Iran and said the operation will continue for many days.
“Moments ago, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival,” Netanyahu said in a televised address. “This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.”
He said Iran had a programme to develop nuclear weapons and claimed it “could produce a nuclear weapon” if not stopped. “This is a clear and present danger to Israel’s very survival,” Netanyahu said.
6. Netanyahu confirmed the strike on Iran’s nuclear programme.
“We struck at the head of Iran’s nuclear weaponistion program,” he added. “We targeted Iran’s main enrichment facility in Natanz. We targeted Iran’s nuclear scientists working on the Iranian bomb. We also struck at the heart of Iran’s ballistic missiles program.”
“In defending ourselves, we also defend others. We defend our Arab neighbours. They, too, have suffered from Iran’s campaign of chaos and carnage.”
7. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has acknowledged the strikes. “Dozens of IAF jets completed the first stage that included strikes on dozens of military targets, including nuclear targets in different areas of Iran.”
“Today, Iran is closer than ever to obtaining a nuclear weapon. Weapons of mass destruction in the hands of the Iranian regime are an existential threat to the State of Israel and to the wider world.”
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐃𝐅 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐞, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧'𝐬 𝐧𝐮𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 13, 2025
Dozens of IAF jets completed the first stage that included strikes on dozens of military targets, including… pic.twitter.com/vtx98P9564
8. An Israeli military official was quoted as saying by the BBC that there are multiple strikes and that they are “against Iran’s nuclear programme and other military targets”. It involves dozens of strikes in different areas of the country, the official says.
Israel is targeting long-range missiles and targets related to the nuclear programme, the official adds.
9. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has announced a state of emergency, saying the country was expecting retaliation. Air raid sirens were heard in Jerusalem. Flights that were headed for Tel Aviv have been diverted.
10. Flights have also been suspended at Tehran’s international airport, which is nearly 30 km southwest of the Iranian capital.
11. The US was reportedly informed on Wednesday that Israel was ready to launch an operation in Iran, CBS reported. This was one of the reasons Washington advised some Americans to leave the region.
12. However, Donald Trump had made it clear that he was not in favour of the attack. “I don’t want them going in because, I mean, that would blow it,” he said hours before Israel launched the strikes.
13. The US was not involved in the strike. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Israel advised the US it attacked Iran for “self-defence”. He reiterated that the US was “not involved” in the Israeli strikes on Iran.
14. The US and Iran have been holding nuclear negotiations, with the sixth round of talks scheduled for Sunday in Oman. It’s not clear if they will still take place.
(This is a developing story)
With inputs from agencies
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