Latest news with #IranianScientists
ABC News
8 hours ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Iran allegedly breached its nuclear obligations — just hours later, Israel launched 'Operation Rising Lion'
On Thursday night a damning report found Iran had failed to comply with its nuclear obligations — the first time in almost 20 years. Tensions had already been brewing between Iran and the UN's nuclear watchdog, who published the report, for several years. This latest stand-off had sparked fears Iran would respond by escalating its nuclear program, which it had threatened to do in the past. Less than 24 hours after the report was handed down, Israel struck. The beginning of 'Operation Rising Lion' Early on Friday local time Israel launched strikes on dozens of targets in Iran. The strikes targeted the country's nuclear sites, killing both scientists and members of Iran's elite paramilitary unit. According to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, the operation — dubbed "Operation Rising Lion" by Israel — came in two parts. Missiles launched from Iran are intercepted as seen from Tel Aviv, Israel. ( Reuters: Jamal Awad ) In the first, swarms of smaller drones swept in, striking air-defence radars and communications nodes, saturating early warning systems. In the second, hundreds of Israeli fighter aircraft conducted precision strikes on more than 100 targets across the country. Also hit were sites linked to Iran's air defences and missile bases, hindering any plan to retaliate. Hours later, Iran hit back, firing multiple waves of ballistic missiles into Israel. Air raid sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem before dawn, sending residents rushing to shelters. People celebrate on a street, after the Iran attack on Israel, in Tehran. ( Majid Asgaripour/WANA via Reuters ) According to Israel many of the missiles were intercepted by its Iron Dome defence system. The Israeli military said rescue teams were operating at a number of locations across the country. By Saturday morning local time, Israeli officials said three people had been killed. Later, several explosions were heard in Tehran. According to Fars news agency, two projectiles hit the city's Mehrabad Airport. The retaliatory strikes continued in the hours that followed and tensions have since showed little sign of settling down. Rescue personnel work at an impact site following missile attack from Iran on Israel, in Ramat Gan. ( Reuters: Itai Ron ) It has raised fears of escalating the broader regional conflict — despite Iran's allies in Gaza and Lebanon having already been decimated by Israel. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accused Israel of starting a war. Israeli officials have called its strikes on Iran's nuclear sites "an act of national preservation". A fraught relationship fuelled by the nuclear arms race Relations between both nations have been tense for many years. Past clashes have stemmed both from Israel's mission to prevent Iran from both equipping its allies and to keep Iran from building a nuclear arsenal. In 2010 a computer virus believed to be a joint US-Israeli creation disrupted and destroyed centrifuges at Iran's nuclear facilities. Eight years later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alleged Israel had obtained tens of thousands of pages of data from a Tehran warehouse. He claimed the papers — dubbed the "nuclear archive" by Israeli officials — showed Iran covered up its nuclear program before signing a 2015 nuclear deal. The 2015 deal would have prevented Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons for more than a decade. It was explicitly opposed by Israel — a position backed by US President Donald Trump just a few years later during his first term in office. By December 2017, Mr Trump had issued new sanctions on Iran's Revolutionary Guard. By May the following year he had officially ended US involvement in the deal. Sabotage efforts against Iran's nuclear program continued. In 2019, Israel carried out a series of attacks in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, accusing Iran of creating an arms supply line across several countries. In July 2010 a mysterious explosion tore apart a production plant at Iran's Natanz nuclear enrichment facility. Iran blamed the attack on Israel. More attacks followed, including a cyber attack which caused a blackout at the Natanz facility. October 26 last year marked the first time Israel had openly attacked Iran — striking air defence systems and sites associated with the missile program. Both countries have been involved in talks with the US trying to reach a deal, but discussions have so far been fraught. Following a meeting with Mr Trump at the White House in April, Mr Netanyahu said a deal between the US and Tehran could only work if Iran's nuclear facilities were blown up. "We go in, blow up the facilities, dismantle all the equipment, under American supervision and American execution," he said. "A second possibility is that this does not happen [and Iran] simply drags out talks. And then the option is military. Everyone understands this." Iran urged to make a deal or risk 'more brutal' attacks The sixth round of US-Iran nuclear talks were scheduled to be held on Sunday, but their fate was as yet unknown. For Iran, more talks appear "meaningless" after the repeated back and forth attacks. People go to public shelter following missile attack from Iran on Israel, at Tel Aviv. ( Reuters: Itay Cohen ) It has since accused Washington of supporting Israel's attack. "The other side [the US] acted in a way that makes dialogue meaningless," the semi-official Tasnim new agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei as saying. "You cannot claim to negotiate and at the same time divide work by allowing the Zionist regime [Israel] to target Iran's territory." Washington has denied being complicit in the attacks. President Donald Trump appeared to see the attacks as all the more incentive for Iran to reach a nuclear deal. Iran, he said, had brought the violence on itself. "I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal," he wrote on Truth Social, warning of potentially "more brutal" attacks to come. "I told them, in the strongest of words, to 'just do it', but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn't get it done. "Make a deal, before there is nothing left." ABC/Reuters/AP
BBC News
20 hours ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Israel's overnight strike on Iran in maps and images
Israel has hit Iran with its biggest wave of air strikes in years, targeting the country's nuclear programme, and is promising to continue its military figures and nuclear scientists were killed in the overnight strikes and there are unconfirmed reports that civilians, including children, were also among the victims. In response, Iran launched about 100 drones towards Israel, most of which were intercepted, according to the Israeli said it had launched a another wave of strikes on Friday evening, with reports of more explosions in Iran, but the scale of that attack and the damage caused is not yet analysed by the BBC shows multiple strikes overnight in the capital Tehran as well near three reported military sites and Iran's main nuclear facility in Natanz. What has Israel targeted? Israel's military said it had struck "dozens of military targets, including nuclear targets in different areas of Iran". It later released a map of the sites it said it had hit which included nuclear facilities, missile facilities and radar defences, as well as scientists and military commanders. Multiple strikes in Tehran Explosions were first reported in Tehran at about 03:30 local time (01:00 BST), with Iranian state TV saying residential areas were among those were heard in the north-east of the capital and explosions reported at the airport, according to analysis by the US-based Institute for the Study of BBC has confirmed one of the locations as the site where Iranian media reported that former head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation Fereydoon Abbasi and nuclear scientist Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi were killed. Iran has confirmed that at least six of its nuclear scientists were killed. Iranian state media showed footage of fires burning in buildings and plumes of smoke rising from the city's skyline. Key Iranian commanders have also been killed, including the chief of staff of the armed forces, and the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Nuclear facilities targeted Among the other sites hit is Iran's main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, in the centre of the country. Iranian state TV said it was struck several times, with pictures showing black smoke billowing from the site. Israel's military said the strikes had caused significant facility, about 225km (140 miles) south of Tehran, has enrichment plants above and below can be used to produce fuel for commercial nuclear power plants, research reactors or weapons depending on the level of Institute for Science and International Security said satellite images show damage and destruction to several buildings around the complex, including the pilot fuel enrichment plant, which holds centrifuges and research facilities, as well as the on site electrical substation that provides power to the facility. The global nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said it was informed by Iranian authorities that there has been no increase in radiation levels at the Natanz has long maintained that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes only. It has several facilities around Iran, at least some of which have been targeted in the Israeli many countries - as well as the IAEA - are not convinced Iran's programme is for civilian purposes alone. It has nuclear facilities spread across much of the country. The strikes come as US talks over Iran's nuclear programme, which began in April, appear to have stalled in recent days. The next round of talks was scheduled for President Donald Trump has urged Iran to "make a deal" on its nuclear programme, "before there is nothing left". Other world leaders have called for restraint on both head Rafael Grossi said nuclear facilities "must never be attacked" and such strikes have "serious implications for nuclear safety, security and safeguards, as well as regional and international peace and security".In a statement to board members, he called "on all parties to exercise maximum restraint to avoid further escalation", saying "any military action that jeopardises the safety and security of nuclear facilities risks grave consequences for the people of Iran, the region, and beyond".
LBCI
a day ago
- Politics
- LBCI
Hezbollah warns Israel's Iran strikes 'threaten to ignite the region'
Hezbollah warned Friday that Israel's strikes on Iran "threaten to ignite the region." The group, which fought a two-month war with Israel last year, condemned the "brutal Israeli aggression" against Iranian nuclear facilities and scientists and said Israel was "engaging in adventures that threaten to ignite the entire region." AFP
The Guardian
a day ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
What has Israel hit in Iran and who were the generals and nuclear scientists killed?
More than 200 Israeli jets were involved in air raids on at least 100 targets in Iran in five waves of strikes, including at the key Natanz nuclear site as well as at ballistic missile sites. Israel also killed at least six senior Iranian nuclear scientists and a number of senior Iranian officials, including its most senior military officer and the head of the Revolutionary Guards. About a dozen different sites appear to have been attacked, including in Tehran, Tabriz, Isfahan and Kermanshah. What nuclear sites were attacked? The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed strikes at the Natanz nuclear site about 135 miles south east of Tehran, Iran's most significant nuclear enrichment site, that began at just after 4am local time. Protected by heavy concrete walls, Natanz's centrifuge facilities are located underground and the site has been targeted for sabotage operations on multiple locations. Construction work had been under way to expand the site. Natanz is where Iran has produced much of its nuclear fuel – including a stockpile of highly enriched uranium that the west has suggested could be used in a future nuclear weapon. It is unclear how much damage was done during the attack, but video footage posted online appeared to show the aftermath of massive explosions. However, on Friday morning the IAEA said their had been no reported nuclear contamination from the Israeli attack. At the time of writing, the IAEA – quoting Iranian authorities – said a number of other key Iranian sites including the Fordow nuclear enrichment site, the Isfahan nuclear site and the Bushehr nuclear power plant had not been hit. What else was hit? Early reports suggest Bid Kaneh, which hosts several missile development and production sites, was also hit on Friday morning. Iran has confirmed a number of senior military figures and scientists were also assassinated, some in strikes on private residences, pointing to a military operation going far beyond Israel's stated intention of preventing Tehran crossing the threshold for acquiring a nuclear weapon. Among those killed were the chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, Mohammad Bagheri, and the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hossein Salami, suggesting a broader 'decapitation' strike aimed at weakening the Iranian regime. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, expressed hope the attacks would trigger the downfall of Iran's theocracy, saying his message to the Iranian people was that Israel's fight was not with them, but with the 'brutal dictatorship that has oppressed you for 46 years'. Who were Salami and Bagheri? Both officers were closely associated with the centres of power in Iran's security hierarchy having risen through the ranks after the Iranian revolution in 1979. Salami began his career in the IRGC in 1980 during the Iran-Iraq war, becoming deputy commander in 2009 then, a decade later, commander of the 125,000-strong force that has played a key role in Iran's forward foreign policy in the region. Salami had been sanctioned by the UN and US for his involvement in Iran's nuclear and military programmes. 'If you make the slightest mistake, we will open the gates of hell for you,' Salami warned Tehran's foes during a tour of an underground missile base in January. Mohammad Bagheri, who was in his early 60s, had also risen through the IRGC, like Salami fighting in the Iran-Iraq war with a background in military intelligence before being appointed chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran – the country's highest military position – in 2016. His position made him, formally at least, the second most powerful figure in Iran after the Supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Some press reports have suggested Bagheri was one of the revolutionary students that seized the US embassy in 1979. Gholamali Rashid, the deputy commander in chief of the armed forces, was also reported as having been killed. It was also reported that Ali Shamkhani, a key adviser to and confidant of Khamenei, was also killed in a strikes on an apartment block in Tehran. Who were the scientists who were killed? Israel has a history of targeting Iranian nuclear scientists, and this attack was no exception with at least six scientists being killed on Friday. The Tasnim news agency named the six scientists including Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, who was the president of the Islamic Azad University of Iran, a theoretical physicist and the president of the Islamic Azad University in Tehran. Also killed was Fereydoun Abbasi, a former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. Tasnim additionally named Abdolhamid Minouchehr, Ahmadreza Zolfaghari, Amirhossein Feqhi, Motalleblizadeh, as other scientists who were killed.
Wall Street Journal
a day ago
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Netanyahu Says Operation ‘Rising Lion' Will Last ‘as Many Days as It Takes'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a seven-minute video in which he confirmed a military operation against Iran called 'Rising Lion' had begun and could last 'as many days as it takes.' 'We struck at the heart of Iran's nuclear enrichment program. We struck at the heart of Iran's nuclear weaponization program. We targeted Iran's main enrichment facility in Natanz. We targeted Iran's leading nuclear scientists working on the Iranian bomb. We also struck at the heart of Iran's ballistic missile program,' he said.
