Israel launched strikes on Iran on Friday, targeting key nuclear and military sites, following a warning from US President Donald Trump about a possible “massive conflict” in the region.
According to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the operation hit the “core of Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme,” including the Natanz atomic facility and prominent nuclear scientists.
Netanyahu stated that the offensive against Iran will persist “for as many days as necessary.
Iran state TV said nuclear scientists Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi were killed in an Israeli strike on Friday. The development came as the United States remained on the edge anticipating Israeli strikes on the Iranian targets.
Iranian state media said residential buildings in Tehran were also hit, killing a number of civilians including women and children, AFP reported.
What did Israel say?
An Israeli military official said that the Israeli Air Force targeted Iranian nuclear and military sites.
In a statement posted on X, the
said,”Dozens of IAF jets completed the first stage that included strikes on dozens of military targets, including nuclear targets in different areas of Iran.”
It noted that Iran is “closer than ever to obtaining” a nuclear weapon. “The State of Israel has no choice but to fulfill the obligation to act in defense of its citizens and will continue to do so everywhere it is required to do so, as we have done in the past,” the IDF said.
Meanwhile, Iran’s state media said Israel hit residential areas in Tehran and several other cities.
Israel expects retaliation
Following attacks on Tehran in Iran, Israeli defence minister said that Israel expects retaliatory missile or drone attacks against the country and its civilian population in the “immediate future”.
Israel closed its airspace in anticipation of Iranian retaliation.
The Board of Governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency for the first time in 20 years on Thursday censured Iran over it not working with its inspectors.
Iran immediately announced it would establish a third enrichment site in the country and swap out some centrifuges for more advanced ones.
Israel’s army chief, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, said Friday that the military’s strikes on Iran may not achieve “absolute success” and warned citizens to prepare for a potential Iranian response.
“I can’t promise absolute success — the Iranian regime will attempt to attack us in response, the expected toll will be different to what we are used to,” Zamir said in a statement, while calling the strikes on Iran a “historic campaign unlike any other,” as reproted by AFP.
‘Operation Rising Lion’, says Benjamin Netanyahu
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an address on YouTube that the country launched “a targeted military operation roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.”
He said the attacks will continue “for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.”
“Israel launched a targeted military operation, ‘Operation Rising Lion’. For decades, Tehran called for Israel’s destruction. In recent years, Iran has produced enough Uranium for nine atom bombs. In recent months, Iran has taken steps to weaponise rich Uranium. If not stopped, Iran can produce nuclear weapons. We struck the heart of Iran’s nuclear weaponisation programs, main enriched facility, nuclear scientists, ballistic missile programs.” said Netanyahu.
Iran currently enriches uranium to 60 percent, far above the 3.67-percent limit set in the 2015 deal and close, though still short, of the 90 percent needed for a nuclear warhead.