Iran has launched over 100 drones at Israel on Friday in retaliation for devastating airstrikes that killed top military officials and scientists while disrupting its nuclear program.
The retribution came just hours after 200 fighter jets attacked Iran in a ‘preemptive strike’ that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said was intended to prevent a ‘nuclear holocaust.’
‘In the last few hours, Iran has launched more than 100 drones toward Israel, and all the defense systems are acting to intercept the threats,’ Brig. Gen. Effie Deffrin, the IDF spokesman, said in a statement.
The drones will take several hours to reach Israel and the IDF is working to shoot them down, Deffrin said.
The Jewish state launched an attack on Tehran in a huge strike early Friday with over 200 warplanes.
The US has distanced itself from the strikes and warned Iran not to attack US bases in the region in retaliation, telling Tehran it was not involved in the attacks.
It comes after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Friday that Israel will face ‘severe punishment’ over its attack on the country.
Khamenei issued a statement confirming top military officials and scientists had been killed in the attack.
Israel ‘opened its wicked and blood-stained hand to commit a crime against our beloved country,’ Khamenei said.
Iran has launched over 100 drones at Israel in retaliation for airstrikes targeting the Iranian nuclear program and killing several top military officials
A map of Iran’s nuclear facilities. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they were the IDF’s main targets
In doing so, he said Israel had revealed ‘its malicious nature more than ever by striking residential centers.’
‘In the enemy’s attacks, a number of commanders and scientists were martyred. Their successors and colleagues will immediately continue their duties, God willing.
‘With this crime, the Zionist regime has brought a bitter and painful fate upon itself, and it will certainly face it.’
Khamenei issued a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency. It also confirmed that several commanders and scientists were killed in the attack.
Israel ‘opened its wicked and blood-stained hand to commit a crime against our beloved country, revealing its malicious nature more than ever by striking residential centers,’ Khamenei said.
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quotes an anonymous official saying Iran will offer a ‘decisive’ response to Israel’s attack.
Netanyahu said in a televised address that the attacks will continue ‘for as many days at it takes to remove this threat’ of Iran’s nuclear program.
‘The Jewish state refuses to be a victim of a nuclear holocaust perpetrated by the Iranian regime,’ Netanyahu said.
The Jewish state launched an attack on Tehran in a huge strike early Friday with over 200 warplanes
The IDF has launched preemptive strikes against Iran and a state of emergency has been declared in Israel , according to the country’s Defense Minister Israel Katz
‘Israel will never allow those who call for our annihilation to develop the means to achieve that goal.’
Netanyahu said that Israel targeted Iran’s main enrichment facility in Natanz and the country’s ballistic missile program, as well as top nuclear scientists and officials.
He alleged that Iran was working on a new plan to destroy Israel after its old plan, its circle of proxies, failed. He called that an intolerable threat that must be stopped.
The prime minister later declared the strikes a success but warned more were coming: ‘We are going to have many more achievements.’
People in Iran’s capital, Tehran, heard another round of explosions Friday morning hours after the initial attack. It wasn’t immediately clear if it was air defense systems going off or another attack.
The New York Times reported at least a half dozen military bases around Tehran residential homes used by military personnel were among the targets.
An Israeli defense official said the strikes likely killed members of Iran’s general staff, including the chief of staff and several senior nuclear scientists.
Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, was one of the top officials killed, Iranian state television reported Friday. Bagheri is a former top commander within Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
The US has distanced itself from the strikes and warned Iran not to attack US bases in the region in retaliation, telling Tehran it was not involved in the attacks
Firemen work at an apartment building after it was hit in Tehran, Iran, early Friday
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that an Israeli strike hit Iran’s uranium enrichment facility at Natanz.
The head of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami, was also killed in the strikes, Iranian state television reported.
Gen. Gholamali Rashid, deputy commander in chief of the armed forces and nuclear scientists, Fereydoun Abbasi, the former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, a theoretical physicist and president of the Islamic Azad University in Tehran, were all killed as well.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, created after its 1979 Islamic Revolution, is one of the main power centers within the country’s theocracy. It also controls Iran’s arsenal of ballistic missiles, which it has used to attack Israel twice during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel was preparing for a response by the Iranians after the strike.
‘Following the State of Israel’s preemptive strike against Iran, a missile and drone attack against the State of Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate future,’ Katz said in a statement.
Iranian state media outlet IRNA said repeated explosions could be heard in Tehran.
The attack set the headquarters of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in Tehran ablaze, state television reported Friday. A reporter on air said he was unable to get closer due to the intensity of the fire.
A view of a damaged building on Farahzadi Boulevard in Tehran
Multiple sites in the capital have been hit in the attack, although the extent of strikes remains unclear.
Israel’s defense minister has announced a ‘special situation’ in his country and said schools would stay shut on Friday.
The country’s military chief, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, has warned Iran and its regional proxies against retaliating against Israel.
‘I warn, anyone who tries to challenge us will pay a heavy price,’ he says.
Emmanuel Fabian, military correspondent for Times of Israel, wrote on X: ‘The IDF confirms it has launched an aerial campaign against Iran’s nuclear program. Dozens of targets across Iran related to the nuclear program and other military facilities are being struck by the Israeli Air Force, it says.
‘The operation is dubbed ‘Strength of a Lion.’ The IDF says Iran has enough enriched uranium to build several bombs within days, and it needs to act against this ‘imminent threat.”
Sirens were heard across Israel as a warning to be on the lookout for any possible response from Tehran.
Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport was evacuated as all flights were canceled.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address that the attacks will continue ‘for as many days at it takes to remove this threat’ of Iran’s nuclear program
The strikes come after it was yesterday revealed that Israel was planning an attack on Iran’s nuclear sites within days after a UN watchdog said Tehran has breached its non-proliferation obligations.
Sources in the US revealed the possibility of an imminent attack, which a senior source in the Israeli prime minister’s office did not confirm or deny.
But they did tell the Mail: ‘President Trump said it best, ‘Iran has to get rid of the concept of a nuclear weapon…’ We agree. This is a global threat.’
The US announced it would evacuate personnel from the region amid concerns they could be targeted by Iran in reprisals.
But a United States official told CNN that there was no US involvement or assistance in the strikes carried out by Israel in Iran.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed in a White House statement that American forces are not involved and warned Iran against coming after the United States.
‘Tonight, Israel took unilateral action against Iran. We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,’ he said.
‘Israel advised us that they believe this action was necessary for its self-defense. President Trump and the Administration have taken all necessary steps to protect our forces and remain in close contact with our regional partners. Let me be clear: Iran should not target U.S. interests or personnel,’ Rubio added.
A person reacts as residential buildings in Nobonyad Square are shown following the strikes
Multiple sites in the capital have been hit in the attack, although the extent of strikes remains unclear
Donald Trump spoke to Fox News as the strikes were beginning and said that the US was aware of the attack ahead of time but had zero involvement. He said he hoped Iran would return to the negotiating table.
Netanyahu addressed President Trump in his address to the nation shortly after the attack, saying: ‘He has made clear time and again that Iran cannot have a nuclear enrichment program.
‘Today, it is clear that Iran was just buying for time.’
Earlier this evening, he posted to Truth Social: ‘We remain committed to a Diplomatic Resolution to the Iran Nuclear Issue! My entire Administration has been directed to negotiate with Iran.’
‘They could be a Great Country, but they first must completely give up hopes of obtaining a Nuclear Weapon,’ he added.
Israel’s strikes come days before a sixth round of talks were planned between Iran and the US over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program this Sunday in Oman.
Trump’s new administration has been seeking a deal that would halt Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
Israel’s National Security Cabinet had met throughout the night leading up to the attack in Iran, according to an Israeli official.
Netanyahu said that Israel targeted Iran’s main enrichment facility in Natanz and the country’s ballistic missile program, as well as top nuclear scientists and officials
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an address that the attacks will continue ‘for as many days at it takes to remove this threat’ of Iran’s nuclear program
The country has closed its airspace until further notice, according to the country’s ministry of transportation.
The New York Times reported an Iranian source saying Tehran has an immediate counter-attack plan in place if Israel strikes.
The response is set to be of a similar scope to the attack it launched in October last year, when Iran fired more than 200 drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles at Israel to overload air-defense systems, sending the entire population into bomb shelters.
Most missiles were shot down or intercepted, causing limited damage.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Wednesday declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in almost 20 years.
Iran failed to provide the watchdog with credible explanations as to how uranium was detected at undeclared sites, despite the agency having investigated the matter for years.
Nineteen of the 35 countries on the board of the IAEA voted for the motion to declare the breach.
The motion was submitted by the ‘Quad’ of nations – the US, UK, France and Germany – who said ‘states will be held to account if they do not live up to their obligations’
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Chief Hossein Salami (pictured left) and Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri (pictured right) were both killed in the strike
Sources in the US revealed the possibility of an imminent attack, which a senior source in the Israeli prime minister’s office did not confirm or deny
Iran says the decision was ‘political’ and said they would respond by setting up a new uranium enrichment facility.
It follows a report from the IAEA last week which criticised Iran’s ‘general lack of co-operation’ and said it had enough enriched uranium to potentially make ten nuclear bombs.
US and Iranian officials will hold a sixth round of talks on Tehran’s accelerating uranium enrichment program in Oman on Sunday.
But Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Wednesday’s resolution ‘proves that Israel was right all along’.
On Wednesday, Donald Trump said he feared Tehran would not agree to stop enriching uranium, a key American demand.
‘They seem to be delaying. I’m less confident now than I would have been a couple of months ago. Something happened to them,’ he said.
Netanyahu has long been a strident critic of Iran and has accused Tehran of secretly attempting to acquire nuclear weapons, something they deny.
‘One way or the other, Iran will not have nuclear weapons,’ he said in April.
Former prime minister Ehud Barak and former chief of the Mossad national intelligence agency Tamir Pardo claimed Netanyahu sought to bomb Iran in 2010 and 2011, but he was opposed by senior Israeli officials.
