Latest news with #IsraelAirStrike
Asharq Al-Awsat
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Israel Killed 30 Iranian Security Chiefs and 11 Nuclear Scientists, Israeli Official Says
Israel killed more than 30 senior security officials and 11 senior nuclear scientists to deliver a major blow to Iran's nuclear ambitions, a senior Israeli military official said on Friday in summarizing Israel's 12-day air war with Iran. In the United States, an independent expert said a review of commercial satellite imagery showed only a small number of the approximately 30 Iranian missiles that penetrated Israel's air defenses managed to hit any militarily significant targets. "Iran has yet to produce missiles that demonstrate great accuracy," Decker Eveleth, an associate research analyst at the CNA Corporation specializing in satellite imagery, told Reuters. In Israel, the senior military official said Israel's June 13 opening strike on Iran severely damaged its aerial defenses and destabilized its ability to respond in the critical early hours of the conflict. Israel's air force struck over 900 targets and the military deeply damaged Iran's missile production during the war that ended with a US-brokered ceasefire, the official said. "The Iranian nuclear project suffered a major blow: The regime's ability to enrich uranium to 90% was neutralized for a prolonged period. Its current ability to produce a nuclear weapon core has been neutralized," the official said. Iran, which denies trying to build nuclear weapons, retaliated against the strikes with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites and cities. Iran said it forced the end of the war by penetrating Israeli defenses. Iranian authorities said 627 people were killed in Iran, where the extent of the damage could not be independently confirmed because of tight restrictions on the media. Israeli authorities said 28 people were killed in Israel. Eveleth, the independent US expert, said Iran's missile forces were not accurate enough to destroy small military targets like US-made F-35 jet fighters in their shelters. "Because of this the only targets they can hit with regularity are large cities or industrial targets like the refinery at Haifa," he told Reuters. Iranian missile salvos, which were limited by Israeli airstrikes in Iran, did not have the density to achieve high rates of destruction, he wrote on X. "At the current level of performance, there is effectively nothing stopping Israel from conducting the same operation in the future with similar results," he wrote. In a statement on Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he had directed the military to draft plans to safeguard air superiority over Iran, prevent nuclear development and missile production, and address Iran's support for militant operations against Israel. Israel's military Chief of Staff Lieutenant General, Eyal Zamir, said on Friday the outcome in Iran could help advance Israeli objectives against the Iranian-backed Palestinian Hamas group in the Gaza Strip. Zamir told troops in Gaza an Israeli ground operation, known as "Gideon's Chariots," would in the near future achieve its goal of greater control of the Palestinian enclave and present options to Israel's government for further action.
Reuters
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Israel killed 30 Iranian security chiefs and 11 nuclear scientists, Israeli official says
June 27 (Reuters) - Israel killed more than 30 senior security officials and 11 senior nuclear scientists to deliver a major blow to Iran's nuclear ambitions, a senior Israeli military official said on Friday in summarizing Israel's 12-day air war with Iran. The June 13 opening strike on Iran, 1,500 km (930 miles) away, severely damaged its aerial defences and destabilised its ability to respond in the critical early hours of the conflict, the official said. Israel's air force struck over 900 targets and the military deeply damaged Iran's missile production during the war that ended with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire, the official said. "The Iranian nuclear project suffered a major blow: The regime's ability to enrich uranium to 90% was neutralized for a prolonged period. Its current ability to produce a nuclear weapon core has been neutralized," the official said. Iran, which denies trying to build nuclear weapons, retaliated against the strikes with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites and cities. Iran said it forced the end of the war by penetrating Israeli defences. Iranian authorities said 627 people were killed in Iran, where the extent of the damage could not be independently confirmed because of tight restrictions on the media. Israeli authorities said 28 people were killed in Israel. In a statement, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Friday he had directed the military to draft a plan to safeguard air superiority over Iran, prevent nuclear development and missile production, and address Iran's support for militant operations against Israel.
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israeli strike on Tehran's Evin prison unacceptable, France says
PARIS (Reuters) -France's foreign minister on Monday accused Israel of putting two of its citizens in danger after an air strike hit Tehran's Evin prison and he said all strikes had to stop immediately to open the door to renewed diplomacy. Israel struck Tehran's most notorious jail for political prisoners, but also where a number of foreign nationals are held, in a potent demonstration that it was expanding its targets beyond military and nuclear sites to aim squarely at the pillars of Iran's ruling system. "The strike targeting Evin prison in Tehran, put our citizens Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, who have been held for three years, in danger. It is unacceptable," Jean-Noel Barrot said on social media X. France in May filed a case at the World Court against Iran for violating the right to consular protection a bid to pressure Iran over the detention of its two citizens. Barrot, who asked that French diplomatic staff be given access to them as quickly as possible, said they had not been impacted by the damage on site. "All strikes must stop now to open the way for negotiations and diplomacy," Barrot said.
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israeli strike on Tehran kills bodyguard of slain Hezbollah chief
BEIRUT (Reuters) -A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday. The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah's slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group. They travelled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil's son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran's air strikes against Israel from Lebanon. Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike. Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut's southern suburbs in September. Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.
Reuters
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Israeli strike on Tehran kills bodyguard of slain Hezbollah chief
BEIRUT, June 21 (Reuters) - A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday. The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah's slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group. They travelled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil's son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran's air strikes against Israel from Lebanon. Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike. Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut's southern suburbs in September. Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.
