Baghdad 1981, Tehran 2025: Same Israeli Operation Delivers Same Message

NDTV

14 hours ago

New Delhi:
On the afternoon of June 7, 1981, fourteen Israeli Air Force (IAF) fighter jets launched from Etzion Airbase in the Sinai Peninsula, then under Israeli control. In less than two hours, they would carry out a high-risk, long-range airstrike on Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor, nearly 1,100 km away, near Baghdad, before returning home. That mission, codenamed Operation Opera, remains one of the most debated examples of preventive military action in modern history.
Over four decades later, in the early hours of Friday morning, Israel launched a surprise wave of airstrikes deep inside Iranian territory, targeting critical sites of Tehran's nuclear infrastructure as a preventive measure.
In many ways, the Osirak airstrike was an event that would shape Israel's security doctrine for decades.
The Iraqi Nuclear Ambition
Iraq's nuclear programme began taking shape in the late 1950s. But it was under Saddam Hussein in the 1970s that it gained any momentum. In 1976, Iraq signed an agreement with France. The French government agreed to supply Iraq with a 70-megawatt research reactor named Osirak (a play on 'Osiris', the name of the reactor design, and 'Iraq'). Alongside Osirak (Tamuz 1), a smaller training reactor, Tamuz 2, was also being constructed at the Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Centre southeast of Baghdad.
The reactors, under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), were officially designated for peaceful purposes. But Israeli intelligence concluded that Osirak, once operational, could be repurposed to produce weapons-grade plutonium. This, Israel argued, posed an existential threat.
By the late 1970s, Israeli leadership came to believe that once the reactor reached operational status, it would be too dangerous to destroy without risking a disaster.
Israel's Attack Plan
Planning began under the direction of then-IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Rafael Eitan. The operation was repeatedly delayed for both political and technical reasons. During the early phases, the Israeli Air Force had planned to use F-4 Phantom fighter jets. But as Israel acquired more advanced American F-16s, the plan shifted.
By mid-1980, eight F-16A fighters were designated as the primary strike aircraft. Six F-15As were assigned to provide cover and backup. The mission required the jets to fly across hostile airspace without being detected and striking the reactor quickly, and return without engaging enemy defences.
The aircraft were fitted with extra fuel tanks. The strike package would approach low, at roughly 100 feet above ground level, maintaining strict radio silence and radar blackout.
A King's Warning
The final route took the aircraft southeast across Jordan and deep into Saudi Arabian airspace before turning northeast towards Baghdad. The route selection, advocated by then-Israeli Air Force Commander Major General David Ivry, prioritised radar evasion and minimum confrontation with Iraqi air defences.
While they evaded radar, the jets could not evade a king's gaze.
King Hussein of Jordan, vacationing aboard his royal yacht, reportedly spotted the jets overhead and recognised their Israeli markings. He quickly deduced their likely destination and ordered his government to send a warning to Iraq. However, due to either delay or a communications failure, the message never reached Baghdad.
Day Of Attack
At approximately 17:35 local time, the F-16s descended over the Tuwaitha complex. Each jet dropped its payload in five-second intervals. The strike lasted no more than two minutes. The Osirak reactor was obliterated before it ever went critical. All 14 aircraft returned to Israeli airspace without loss.
From a tactical perspective, the operation was flawless.
The international response was overwhelmingly negative. The United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 487, condemning the strike as a "clear violation of the Charter of the United Nations." Even the United States, Israel's closest ally, temporarily froze military deliveries in protest.
Iraq, for its part, claimed the facility had been meant solely for peaceful research. France, which had supplied the reactor and had technicians on-site at the time, also denounced the operation. Yet, there were no casualties among the French personnel.
Then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin argued that "no Arab state would ever be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons," a policy that would come to be known as the Begin Doctrine.
Strategic Consequences
US-Israeli intelligence gathered during the 2003 Iraq War claimed that Saddam Hussein responded to the 1981 strike not by abandoning nuclear ambition, but by doubling down on it. According to declassified CIA reports, Iraq intensified efforts to develop nuclear weapons covertly throughout the 1980s.
It was not until the 1991 Gulf War that Operation Desert Storm inflicted another blow on Iraq's nuclear infrastructure.
The Iran Context
Since 2005, Israeli leaders have consistently viewed Iran's nuclear programme as an existential threat. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, perhaps more than any other Israeli leader, has made Iran's nuclear ambitions a central pillar of national policy. In 2009, he openly invoked Operation Opera as precedent for a future strike on Iran.
More recently, Israel has launched covert operations against Iranian nuclear scientists and facilities, including high-profile assassinations and cyberattacks such as the Stuxnet worm.
As of 2025, according to US-Israeli media reports, Iran has significantly enriched uranium to levels approaching weapons-grade purity. Indirect negotiations, such as those recently held in Oman, offer a diplomatic off-ramp, but tensions remain high in light of recent strikes by both countries.