Israel launched blistering attacks on the heart of Iran’s nuclear and military structure 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 late Friday by unleashing scores of ballistic missiles on Israel, where explosions flared in the skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and shook the buildings below.
In a second round of attacks, sirens and a round of explosions, possibly from Israeli interceptors, could be heard booming in the sky over Jerusalem early Saturday and the Israeli military said another attack was taking place.
The Israeli military urged civilians, already rattled by an earlier wave of missiles, to head to shelter.
The Iranian outlet Nour News, which has close links with the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, said a wave was being launched. Associated Press journalists in Tel Aviv could see at least two Iranian missiles hit the ground, but there was no immediate word of casualties.
“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. Iran’s UN ambassador said 78 people were killed and more than 320 wounded in Israeli attacks.
Israel’s paramedic services said 34 people were wounded in the barrage on the Tel Aviv area, including a woman who was critically injured after being trapped under rubble. In Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv, an Associated Press journalist saw burned cars and at least three damaged houses, including one where the front was nearly entirely torn away.
U.S. ground-based air defence systems in the region are helping to shoot down Iranian missiles, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the measures.
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 from 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.
Above-ground part of Natanz facility destroyed
Israeli military spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin said the Natanz facility was “significantly damaged” and that the operation was “still in the beginning.”
UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that the above-ground section of the Natanz facility was destroyed. He said all of the electrical infrastructure and emergency power generators were destroyed, as well as a section of the facility where uranium was enriched up to 60 per cent.
The main centrifuge facility underground did not appear to have been hit, but the loss of power could have damaged the infrastructure there, he said.
There are many ways Iran could respond to Israel’s attacks despite its considerable losses, according to former White House counter-terrorism official Javed Ali, including cyberattacks, disrupting naval shipping, and terrorist attacks through either its own military forces or its proxies. ‘And history has shown,’ he says, Iran’s willingness to use those options.
The first wave of strikes gave Israel “significant freedom of movement” in Iran’s skies, clearing the way for further attacks, according to an Israeli military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details of the attack with the media.
The official said Israel is prepared for an operation that could last up to two weeks but that there was no firm timeline.
Among those killed were three of Iran’s top military leaders: one who oversaw the entire armed forces, Gen. Mohammad Bagheri; one who led the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami; and the head of the Guard’s ballistic missile program, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
Iran confirmed all three deaths — significant blows to its governing theocracy that will complicate efforts to retaliate.
Khamenei said other top military officials and scientists were also killed.
The Israeli prime minister said the attack had been months in the making. In a video statement sent to journalists on Friday, he said he ordered plans for the attack last November, soon after the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon, one of Iran’s strongest proxies. Netanyahu also said the attack had been planned for April but was postponed.
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