Open this photo in gallery: Israel's Iron Dome air defence system fires to intercept missiles over Tel Aviv, on Friday, as Iran launches a counter-attack after Israel's earlier strikes on its nuclear facilities.Leo Correa/The Associated Press Iran and Israel fired barrages of missiles at each other early Saturday following an Israeli offensive targeting Tehran’s nuclear program and military targets, as the United Nations warned that the deadly exchange of blows between the two countries threatened a conflagration with “enormous global consequences.” The initial Israeli offensive, waged by drone and fighter jets, destroyed surface infrastructure at a key Iranian enrichment facility and killed senior figures in the country’s armed forces and nuclear science programs. Israel said it had acted without U.S. support as a matter of self-preservation, claiming that Iran was days from securing enough military-grade uranium to make multiple nuclear bombs. Iran, calling Israel’s actions an illegal attempt to sabotage diplomacy, responded with dozens of missiles fired at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, some of which struck buildings, injuring dozens and damaging a residential building near the headquarters of the Israel Defense Forces.
Waves of missiles set off sirens across the country Friday night and into the early morning Saturday. Israel’s military also warned about the “the infiltration of hostile aircraft.” Both sides pledged further attacks in the days to come, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying “more is on the way” and calling on Iranians to revolt against the regime that governs their country. Analysis: Israel’s attack on Iran puts a leader addicted to war in the spotlight Explosions above Tel Aviv as missiles launched by Iran are intercepted.
Iran is retaliating after Israel's attacks on its underground nuclear site and the killing of top military commanders. Reuters Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, accused Israel of starting a war, warning that his country “will not allow them to escape safely from this great crime they committed.” Scenes of destruction emerged from both countries. In Iran, white smoke rose from key military facilities.
In Israel, streaks of light crossed the night sky and explosions rang out as waves of incoming missiles flew into salvos of missile defence. Earlier in the day, Israel claimed to have “significantly damaged” Iran’s main uranium-enrichment facility near the central city of Natanz. Iranian media reported that Major-General Mohammad Bagheri, the chief-of-staff of Iran’s armed forces, and Major-General Hossein Salami, the commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards, had been assassinated in separate attacks.
Another top general and at least six scientists involved in the country’s nuclear program were also killed. Ali Shamkhani, a top adviser to Ayatollah Khamenei, was reported to be critically injured. 1 / 14 Israeli warplanes carried out a second attack Friday on targets in the northwestern city of Tabriz and Mr. Netanyahu said the operation would continue for “as many days as it takes.” In an English-language video Friday evening, Mr. Netanyahu suggested that the attacks were conducted with regime change in mind, repeating a slogan used by Iranian anti-government protesters.
“The Islamic regime, which has oppressed you for nearly 50 years, threatens to destroy my country, the state of Israel,” Mr. Netanyahu said, in comments addressed to Iranians. “The objective of Israel’s military operation is to remove this threat, both the nuclear threat and the ballistic missile threat to Israel.” “And as we achieve our objective, we are also clearing the path for you to achieve your objective, which is freedom,” he added, urging people in Iran to stand up “for your freedom from an evil and oppressive regime.” Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says it launched operation 'rising lion,' to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s survival. The Associated Press The Tehran Times reported that 78 people had been killed and 329 were injured in the waves of airstrikes.
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that the Natanz enrichment facility had been hit hard, and said it was closely monitoring radiation levels. On Thursday, the IAEA reported that Iran was not complying with its nonproliferation obligations, the first such ruling against the country in two decades. On Friday, the IAEA said it was aware of Iranian reports on additional strikes against nuclear sites at Esfahan and Fordow, where Iran is believed to have enrichment facilities.
Director General Rafael Grossi told an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council that he had no information about the extent of damage. He said the earlier attack on Natanz had destroyed above-ground parts of the pilot fuel enrichment plant, as well as the electrical infrastructure there. “There is no indication” of an attack on underground facilities at Natanz, he said, although the loss of power may have damaged subterranean centrifuges.
The scale of attacks by Israel show “there was an intention to meaningfully damage the program, not simply to send a signal,” said Darya Dolzikova, a senior research fellow in proliferation and nuclear policy at the Royal United Services Institute, a British defence think tank. Iran has, however, built some of its most sophisticated nuclear production operations below ground, in some cases at a depth estimated at 80 metres or greater. It’s not clear Israel possesses the capability to easily destroy such facilities.
The timing of the Israeli strikes was something of a surprise, coming one day after it was announced that U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, would meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Oman on Sunday to continue talks aimed at getting Iran to peacefully give up its nuclear program. Trump says Iran must make deal ending its nuclear program, as U.S. distances itself from Israel’s attack At the emergency UN Security Council meeting, Rosemary DiCarlo, under-secretary-general for political and peacebuilding Affairs called for restraint, saying “we must at all costs avoid a growing conflagration that would have enormous global consequences.” But neither Iran nor Israel offered any sign of concessions. Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, accused Israel of acting “to kill diplomacy, to sabotage negotiations and to drive the region into wider conflict.” Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon responded by accusing Iran of preparing to execute a “multifront plan” with its proxies in the region to attack with missiles and border infiltrations.
He also claimed Tehran had nearly attained sufficient material to build a nuclear bomb. “Eighty years ago, the Jewish people made a promise to ourselves: ’never again.’ That promise applies to a nuclear Holocaust as well,” he said. While Mr. Trump on Friday urged Iran to negotiate a nuclear deal with the West “before there is nothing left,” analysts said there is little likelihood that Tehran will now agree to any deal to curb its nuclear program.
“This will definitely stop negotiations,” Iranian international affairs analyst Pooya Mirzaei told The Globe and Mail. He said Israel had effectively killed the nuclear negotiations in Oman. “Israel is afraid of normalization between Iran and Western countries, especially the United States,” he said.
Many Iranians were stunned by the televised images of missile strikes on residential buildings in Tehran. “I am still shocked,” said Zakiyeh Yazdanshenas, a security studies specialist at the University of Tehran. “I didn’t expect something like this happened when Iran is in the midst of nuclear negotiations,” she told The Globe.
“I hope we witness de-escalation as soon as possible.” Iranians in Canada reeling as Israel’s fatal attacks reverberate through diaspora The Times of Israel newspaper, quoting anonymous military sources, reported that Friday’s attack had been facilitated by a secret drone base that Israel’s Mossad intelligence service had built and maintained inside Iran. The drones carried out the first wave of strikes just before dawn, knocking out dozens of radars and air-defence systems in the west of the country, allowing Israel’s F-35 fighter jets to carry out the rest of the operation almost unchallenged. State media in Iran, however, reported downing two Israeli jets and capturing an Israeli pilot.
Friday marked the third time that Israel and Iran have exchanged direct fire over the past 14 months, a period during which Israel has also waged a victorious war against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon and exchanged long-range strikes with Yemen’s Houthis, another Iranian proxy. A timeline of the Israel-Iran conflict and tensions between the two countries
