Israel launched blistering attacks on the heart of Iran’s nuclear and military structure on Friday, deploying warplanes and drones previously smuggled into the country to attack key facilities and kill top generals and scientists — a barrage it said was necessary before its adversary got any closer to building an atomic weapon.
Iran retaliated by unleashing scores of ballistic missiles on Israel late Friday, with explosions flaring in the skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and shaking buildings below.
“We will not allow them to escape safely from this great crime they committed,” Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a recorded message in which he vowed revenge.
An Associated Press reporter saw smoke rising in Tel Aviv after an apparent missile strike. Israeli paramedics reported a handful of injuries in the Tel Aviv area.
Israel’s ongoing airstrikes and intelligence operation and Iran’s retaliation raised fears of all-out war between the countries and propelled the region, already on edge, into even greater upheaval.
Israel had long threatened strike possibility
Israel had long threatened such a strike, and successive U.S. administrations had sought to prevent it — fearing it would ignite a wider conflict across the Middle East and that it would be ineffective at destroying Iran’s dispersed and hardened nuclear program.
But a confluence of developments triggered by the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel — plus the re-election of U.S. President Donald Trump — created the conditions that allowed Israel to finally follow through on its threats.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the U.S. was informed in advance of the attack.
On Thursday, Iran was censured by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, for not complying with obligations meant to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Countries in the region condemned Israel’s attack, while leaders around the globe called for immediate de-escalation from both sides.
The UN Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting for Friday afternoon at Iran’s request. In a letter to the council, Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi called the killing of its officials and scientists “state terrorism” and affirmed his country’s right to self-defence.
Israel says its own attack involved 200 aircraft
Israel’s military said about 200 aircraft were involved in the initial attack on about 100 targets.
Its Mossad spy agency positioned explosive drones and precision weapons inside Iran ahead of time and used them to target Iranian air defences and missile launchers near Tehran, according to two security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
It was not possible to independently confirm the officials’ claims.
Despite international calls for Iran and Israel to de-escalate their conflict, Janice Stein of the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy predicts things will get worse before they get better, in part, she suggests, because U.S. President Donald Trump is hoping the violence will bring Tehran back into talks about its nuclear program.
Among the key sites Israel attacked was Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz, where black smoke could be seen rising into the air. It also appeared to strike a second, smaller nuclear enrichment facility in Fordo, about 100 kilometres southwest of Tehran, according to an Iranian news outlet close to the government that reported hearing explosions nearby.
Israel said it struck a nuclear research facility in Isfahan, too, and said it destroyed dozens of radar installations and surface-to-air missile launchers in western Iran. Iran confirmed the strike at Isfahan.
Israeli military spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin said the Natanz facility was “significantly damaged” and that the operation was “still in the beginning.”
