Israel conducts airstrikes on Iran, declares special ‘state of emergency'
Israeli Air Force conducted airstrikes on Iran on Thursday, Axios reported, citing two sources with knowledge of the operation. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has declared a special state of emergency across the entire country, according to Axios.
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NDTV
28 minutes ago
- NDTV
Iran Fires Missiles At Israel In Response To Attacks
Tehran: Explosions were heard over Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as sirens sounded on Friday night across Israel following what the country's military spokesman said was the firing of missiles from Iran. Iran's state news agency IRNA said hundreds of ballistic missiles had been launched in retaliation for Israel's biggest ever attacks on Iran, blasting Iran's huge underground nuclear site at Natanz and wiping out its top military commanders. There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries. Israel said the strikes were the start of "Operation Rising Lion". Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Israel of having started the strikes and initiating a war. U.S. President Donald Trump said it was not too late for Tehran to halt the bombing campaign by reaching a deal on its nuclear programme. As evening fell on Friday, Iranian media reported explosions on the northern and southern outskirts of Tehran and at Fordow, near the holy city of Qom, a second nuclear site which had been spared in the first wave of attacks. Air defences were activated across Tehran and explosions could be heard in Isfahan. Israel's military said it was striking Iranian missile and drone launching sites, and had struck another nuclear site in Isfahan. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli campaign was aimed at defeating an existential threat from Iran, invoking the failure to halt the Holocaust in World War Two. Israel's operation "will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat," he said in a TV address. "Generations from now, history will record our generation stood its ground, acted in time and secured our common future." In a phone interview with Reuters, Trump said it was not clear if Iran's nuclear programme had survived. He said nuclear talks between Tehran and the United States, scheduled for Sunday, were still on the agenda though he was not sure if they would take place. "We knew everything," Trump said of the Israeli attack plans. "I tried to save Iran humiliation and death. I tried to save them very hard because I would have loved to have seen a deal worked out," Trump said. "They can still work out a deal, however, it's not too late." Earlier, Trump posted on Truth Social: "Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left." Israel's National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said military action by itself would not destroy Iran's nuclear programme, but could "create the conditions for a long-term deal, led by the United States" to get rid of it. DECAPITATION Two regional sources said at least 20 Iranian military commanders were killed, a stunning decapitation reminiscent of Israeli attacks that swiftly wiped out the leadership of Lebanon's once-feared Hezbollah militia last year. Iran also said six of its top nuclear scientists had been killed. Among the generals killed on Friday were the armed forces chief of staff, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, and the Revolutionary Guards chief, Hossein Salami. Major General Mohammad Pakpour, swiftly promoted to replace Salami as Guards commander, vowed retaliation in a letter to the Supreme Leader read out on state television: "The gates of hell will open to the child-killing regime." Iranians described an atmosphere of fear and anger, with some people rushing to change money and others seeking a way out of the country to safety. "People on my street rushed out of their homes in panic, we were all terrified," said Marziyeh, 39, who was awakened by a blast in Natanz. While some Iranians quietly hoped the attack would lead to changes in Iran's hardline clerical leadership, others vowed to rally behind the authorities. "I will fight and die for our right to a nuclear programme. Israel and its ally America cannot take it away from us with these attacks," said Ali, a member of the pro-government Basij militia in Qom. Iranian media showed images of destroyed apartment blocks, and said nearly 80 civilians were killed in attacks that targeted nuclear scientists in their beds and wounded more than 300 people. Iran's ability to retaliate with weapons fired by its regional proxies has been sharply degraded over the past year, with the downfall of its ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria and the decimation of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. Israel said a missile fired from Yemen - whose Houthi militia are one of the last remaining Iranian-aligned groups still able to fire at Israel - had landed in Hebron in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Red Crescent said three Palestinian children were wounded by shrapnel there. 'COWARDLY' Israel said that Iran had launched around 100 drones towards Israeli territory on Friday, but Iran denied this and there were no reports of drones reaching Israeli targets. The United Nations Security Council was due to meet on Friday at Tehran's request. Iran said in a letter to the Council that it would respond decisively and proportionally to Israel's "unlawful" and "cowardly" acts. The price of crude leapt on fears of wider retaliatory attacks across a major oil-producing region, although there were no reports that oil production or storage was damaged. OPEC said the escalation did not justify any immediate changes to oil supply. An Israeli security source said Mossad commandos had been operating deep inside the Islamic Republic before the attack, and the Israeli spy agency and military had mounted a series of covert operations against Iran's strategic missile array. Israel also established an attack-drone base near Tehran, the source added. The military said it had bombarded Iran's air defences, destroying "dozens of radars and surface-to-air missile launchers". Israeli officials said it may be some time before the extent of damage to the underground nuclear site at Natanz is clear, where Iran has refined uranium to levels Western countries have long said are suitable for a bomb rather than civilian use. Iran has long insisted its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes only. The U.N. nuclear watchdog concluded this week that it was in violation of its obligations under the global non-proliferation treaty. Tehran had been engaged in talks with the Trump administration on a deal to curb its nuclear programme to replace one that Trump abandoned in 2018. Tehran had rejected the last U.S. offer.
NDTV
28 minutes ago
- NDTV
Macron Says Iran Destabilised Region, France Will Defend Israel
Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that Iran bore a heavy responsibility for destabilisation of the Middle East and that it had pushed ahead with an unjustified nuclear programme, but he also urged restraint after Israel struck Iran. After a day of talks with regional and international leaders following Israeli strikes on Iranian military targets, notably its nuclear sites, Macron said Tehran was close to a "critical point" in acquiring a nuclear weapon. Iran has consistently denied seeking one. "Iran bears a very heavy responsibility for the destabilisation of the region," Macron said. "Iran is continuing to enrich uranium without any civilian justification and to levels that are very close to what is needed for a nuclear device," he said. While he urged restraint, Macron acknowledged that resuming diplomatic efforts, specifically U.S. negotiations on a nuclear deal with Iran that started two months ago, would be difficult. "The current situation has a risk of uncontrolled escalation," he said, adding that Iran's activities threatened Europe. Warning of a possible impact on the global economy, Macron said France would defend Israel if it was attacked by Iran as it had done in the past, but he ruled out taking part in any operation against Tehran. France and Israel, traditionally close allies, have had frosty relations in recent months with Macron increasingly critical over Israel's war in Gaza. Macron said France's support for Israel was not unconditional and that Paris has the right to disagree with some Israeli government decisions because "they are sometimes against Israel's security interests."
Indian Express
40 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Why Israel struck Iran, what it targeted
In what is its most ambitious military operation in recent years, Israel launched a series of air strikes against Iran on Friday, targeting nuclear sites, missile facilities and other military infrastructure. The attack killed some of the country's key military and civilian personnel as well. These strikes came after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors on Thursday passed a resolution declaring Iran as being non-compliant with its non-proliferation obligations — the first such resolution in two decades. The resolution came on the back of a recent IAEA investigation that found Iran was conducting 'secret nuclear activities' at three locations. Explaining Israel's 'pre-emptive strikes', Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran had 'taken steps that it has never taken before… to weaponise enriched uranium,' and 'if not stopped, Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time,' perhaps even 'within a few months.' Israel has always considered a nuclear Iran to be an existential threat; preventing Tehran from developing an atomic weapon has been Netanyahu's signature platform for decades. Notably, this latest development comes while Tehran and Washington are negotiating a deal that would prevent Iran from developing atomic weapons in exchange for sanctions relief. In its attack on Friday early morning, Israel claims to have deployed 200 aircraft — around a third of its active fleet — to hit more than 100 targets across Iran, including both strategic infrastructure and key personnel. Natanz nuclear facility: This is Iran's main uranium enrichment facility, where the country produces most of its nuclear fuel. Located in the central province of Isfahan, the Natanz facility is 'the beating heart of the Iranian nuclear programme,' analysts say. Reviewing satellite images taken before and after Friday's attack, The New York Times reported Israeli airstrikes had caused severe damage to the facility, and that 'several buildings and critical energy infrastructure either destroyed or heavily damaged'. It is still unclear whether these strikes damaged the all-important centrifuge halls, where uranium is enriched, that are buried deep under the Persian desert and protected by metres of reinforced concrete. The IAEA on Friday afternoon said Israel had not yet struck Iran's other major nuclear enrichment plant at Fordow in the northern province of Qom. This facility, unlike Natanz, is entirely underground, and much harder to hit, according to analysts. One expert told The NYT, 'If you don't get Fordow… you haven't eliminated [Iran's] ability to produce weapons-grade material.' On Friday evening, however, Iranian media reported explosions at Fordow. Key personnel: Israeli strikes in Tehran took out Iran's top military leadership. Among those killed were Maj Gen Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff of the armed forces, and Gen Hossein Salami, chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, arguably the most powerful institution in the country. While Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has already announced replacements for the two top commanders, these deaths, along with those of more than a dozen others, leave a vacuum in Iran's military leadership ahead of what may be a protracted regional conflict. Israel also killed top nuclear scientists, including Fereydoun Abbasi, the former head of Iran's atomic agency, and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranji. This is not the first time Israel has gone after Iranian nuclear scientists. It is, however, the first time that it has done so through conventional military means and not covert operations. Another significant casualty on Friday early morning, especially in the light of ongoing Iran-US nuclear talks, was Ali Shamkhani, one of Iran's top politicians who was appointed by Khamenei to oversee negotiations with Washington. Shamkhani's killing could severely jeopardise the possibility of a deal in the near future. Military infrastructure: Israel also targeted a number of military sites across Iran. These include a nuclear research centre and two military bases in Tabriz in northern Iran; the missile development and production facilities in Bid Kaneh, on the southern edge of Tehran; a missile base in Kermanshah in central Iran; and multiple military bases in and around Tehran. Note that this is not an exhaustive list, and Israel has maintained that its attack is 'ongoing'. Friday evening saw a fresh wave of strikes on Tabriz and Tehran. For Iran, this is possibly the gravest threat ever to the Islamic regime. In a letter to the UN Security Council, Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Israel had 'now crossed every red line,' and that it would 'deeply regret this reckless aggression'. But as things stand, Israel has painted a rather sorry picture of Iran's military strength, raising serious questions on both its defensive and retaliatory capabilities. While Iran did send more than 100 drones towards Israel on Friday, there has been no reported casualty or damage thus far. Some analysts say Israeli strikes against Iran's missile facilities may have seriously hurt its ability to strike back. The biggest question now is how Tehran will strike back. Put simply, Iran is caught between a rock and a hard place. It can, as it has done in the past, activate its proxies and even launch more drone and missile attacks. But Israeli attacks over the years, and rather muted responses from Tehran, have repeatedly exposed Iran's limitations in this regard. While Israel claims that the Islamic regime in Iran poses an 'existential threat' to the Jewish nation, the opposite might be more true. At the end of the day, Tel Aviv stands with steady support from Washington, which establishes a fundamental asymmetry between itself and Iran on the battlefield. US President Donald Trump on Friday said Israel's 'next already planned attacks' could be 'even more brutal,' and warned that Tehran 'must make a deal, before there is nothing left.'
