Israel launched a ferocious attack on the heart of Iran’s nuclear and military structures on Friday, previously smuggling it into the country to attack major facilities and smuggling it into the country to kill generals and scientists.
Iran retaliated late Friday by unleashing the score of Israeli ballistic missiles. There, an explosion flares up in the sky in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, shaking the buildings below.
In the second round of the attack, sirens and explosions, possibly from Israeli interceptors, were heard booming in the Jerusalem skies early on Saturday. Israeli forces rattled at the early waves of missiles already, urging them to head to shelter.
New Wave Iranian missile has been launched
Iranian outlet Nour News said waves are being launched, as it is closely linked to the paramilitary revolutionary security forces. Journalists from the Associated Press in Tel Aviv were able to see at least two Iranian missiles hitting the ground, but there were no immediate words from the victims.
The Tel Aviv hospital treated seven people injured in the second Iranian barrage. All but one of them had minor injuries. Israeli fire rescue services say they were injured when the projectile struck a building in the city
Meanwhile, Iran’s air defense system, which fires with the sound of an explosion and targets, echoed through central Tehran just after midnight on Saturday, allowing Associated Press reporters to hear the sirens from the air raid near their home.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency has reported a fire at Merabad International Airport in Tehran, and a video of X with smoke and orange flames rose after the outlet said it was the airport.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a message recorded on Friday that he “will not allow them to escape safely from this great crime they committed.” Iran’s UN ambassador said 78 people were killed and more than 320 were injured in the Israeli attack.
Israeli paramedics said 34 people were injured in a barrage of Tel Aviv region, including a woman who was seriously injured after being locked up under a tile rub. In Ramatgan, east of Tel Aviv, a journalist from the Associated Press saw a house that burned the car and at least three damaged homes.
The US ground air defense system in the area was helping to fire down Iranian missiles, a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity said he would discuss the measure.
It’s not actually a “dome”, but this technique works to create a “force field” effect when the incoming projectile is nearby. How does this work?
Israel’s ongoing airstrikes, intelligence reporting and Iran’s retaliation have already raged through the region even more violently, raising concerns about a full-scale war between the country.
Israel has long threatened such a strike, and the American administration has tried to prevent it, fearing it would be ineffective in igniting a wider conflict in the Middle East and possibly destroying Iran’s dispersed and hardened nuclear program.
However, on October 7, 2023, the confluence of developments caused by the Hamas attack and the re-election of US President Donald Trump created conditions that would allow Israel to ultimately comply with the threat. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the US had been notified prior to the attack.
On Thursday, Iran was criticized by the UN’s atomic watchdog for failing to comply with its obligation to prevent the development of nuclear weapons.
Regional countries condemn Israel’s attacks
Regional countries condemned Israeli attacks, and leaders around the world called for immediate hair removal from both sides.
The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting Friday afternoon at Iran’s request. In a letter to the council, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragut called the killing of the officials and scientists “state terrorism” and confirmed his country’s rights to self-defense.
Tensions were high during UN Security Council meetings on Friday to deal with missile strikes between Israel and Iran. “We must at any cost to avoid a huge fire that will bring about great global outcomes,” warned Governor Rosemary DiCarlo.
Israeli military said about 200 aircraft were involved in the initial attack on the roughly 100 targets. The Mossad Spy Agency has placed explosive drones in Iran and precision weapons in Iran within Iran, targeting Iranian air defenses and missile launchers near Tehran, according to two security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The authorities’ claims could not be independently confirmed.
Among the key sites that Israel attacked was Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz, where black smoke rose into the air. It also appeared to attack a second small nuclear enrichment facility in Ford, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Tehran, according to an Iranian news outlet close to the government that reported hearing of a nearby explosion.
Israel also said it had attacked the nuclear research facility in Isfahan, destroying dozens of radar installations and surface-to-air missile launchers in western Iran. Iran confirmed a strike in Isfahan.
Israeli military spokesman Brigg. General Effy Defflin said Natantz’s facility was “significantly damaged” and that the operation was “still first.”
The ground division of the Natantz facility has been destroyed
UN Nuclear Chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that the ground division of the Natantz facility has been destroyed. He said all electrical infrastructure and emergency generators were destroyed, and part of the facility where uranium was enriched to 60% was destroyed.
The main underground centrifugal facilities did not appear to have been hit, but the loss of electricity could have destroyed the infrastructure there, he said.
Israel’s “significant freedom of movement” was given to Israel in the Israeli skies, clearing the path to further attacks, according to Israeli military officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to discuss details of the attack with the media.
Officials said Israel is being prepared for a operation that could last up to two weeks, but there was no solid timeline.
Israeli forces have launched airstrikes against Iran.
Among the people killed were three of Iran’s top military leaders. General Mohammad Bagheri was one of the people who oversaw the entire army. He led General Hossain Salami, a paramilitary revolutionary guard. General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the security guard’s ballistic missile program.
Iran has confirmed all three deaths, and it takes a major blow to its governing theocracy, complicating efforts to retaliate. Khamenei said other military officials and scientists were also killed.
Netanyahu said the attack took place in months. In a video statement sent to journalists on Friday, he said he ordered a plan for the attack last November. It is shortly after the murder of Hassan Nasrala, Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader, one of Iran’s most powerful proxy. Netanyahu said the attack was planned for April but was postponed.
In its first response on Friday, Iran fired more than 100 drones in Israel. Israel said the drones were being intercepted outside the airspace, and it was not immediately clear whether anything had passed.
Israeli forces said it called reserves and began stationing troops across the country for further retaliation from Iran or Iranian proxy groups.
Trump urged Iran on Friday to reach a deal with the US on its nuclear program, warning his true social platform that Israel’s attacks will “just worsen.”
“Iran must make a deal before nothing remains, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire,” he wrote.
On Wednesday, the US pulled American diplomats from the Iraqi capital and provided voluntary evacuation to the broader Middle Eastern US military families. On Friday, the US spoke on condition of anonymity and began a shift in military resources in the region, including ships, as Israel prepares for more retaliation, according to two U.S. officials.
Washington officials warned Israel against the attack earlier in the week to avoid disrupting US negotiations with Iran over the nuclear enrichment program. They stressed on Friday that the US was not involved in the attack and warned against retaliation targeting US interests and personnel.
Israel calls it a preemptive attack on Iran’s nuclear program
Israeli leaders have attacked as needed to resolve the imminent threat of Iran building a nuclear bomb, but it remains unclear how close the country is to achieve it, or whether Iran actually planned to strike. Iran claims that the nuclear program is intended for civilian purposes only.
“This is a very clear and current danger to Israel’s survival,” Netanyahu said, “he claimed he had vowed to pursue attacks as much as necessary to remove this threat.
Israel is widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, but has never admitted to having such weapons.
For the past year, Israel has targeted Iranian air defenses, attacking radar systems for Russian-made air defense batteries in April 2024, and surface-to-air missile sites and missile manufacturing facilities in October.
Iran says Israel has targeted residential areas
For Netanyahu, the operation is distracting attention from the ongoing, increasingly devastating war in which Israel is underway. In Gaza, it is currently over 20 months.
There is a broad consensus among the Israeli people that Iran is a major threat. However, public opinion could change quickly if Iranian retaliation causes massive Israeli casualties and major disruptions in everyday life.
Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, expressed his appreciation for Agriculture Dol and issued a statement denounced the attack, but did not threaten to join Iran in retaliation. Hezbollah’s latest war with Israel killed many of the group’s senior leaders, but ended in a ceasefire brokered by the US in November.
Iran’s supreme leader Khamenei said in a statement that Israel “discovered its more malicious than ever by opening its evil and bloody hands to the crimes of our beloved nation and hitting the housing centre.”
Netanyahu said he hopes the attack will cause the downfall of Iranian theocratic politics, and that his message to the Iranian people is not a fight against them, but a “brutal dictatorship that has suppressed you for 46 years.”
Ridman and Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press authors Nasser Karimi, Amir Vadatt, and Mehadi Fattahi of Tehran, Iran. Melanie Ridman and Sam Mednick of Tel Aviv, Israel. Joseph Federman of Jerusalem, Israel. Washington Lolita C. Birdor, Taracop, Matthewley and Eric Tucker. Abby Sewell by Bassem Mrou and Abby Sewell. The United Nations in Bangkok and Edith Lederer of David Rising contributed to this report.
Source link