Israel News, Friday, 13.06.2025  View in browser  200 Israeli fighter jets bombed over 100 locations across Iran overnight into Friday and continued during the day, in what it called “pre-emptive strikes,” targeting nuclear sites and top Iranian officials. The IDF said that strikes killed Iran’s Army Chief of Staff, the Revolutionary Guards chief, the elite Quds Forces commander and three senior nuclear scientists. Israel targeted the Natanz nuclear facility in central Iran, which it says suffered significant damage. Israel declared a country-wide state of emergency in expectation of Tehran’s response. Iran launched over 100 drones towards Israel on Thursday morning. PM Netanyahu said that he assumed Iran’s retaliation “could come in very heavy waves.” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the U.S. was “not involved” in Israel’s “unilateral” action.  

 ■ IRAN – ISRAELI STRIKES: 200 Israeli fighter jets struck over 100 targets across Iran, including nuclear sites and top Iranian officials in what Israel termed “pre-emptive strikes.” The strikes, part of ‘Operation Rising Lion,’ began overnight into Friday and continued throughout the day.

• The IDF said strikes killed Iranian Army Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami and the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Air Force, Amir Ali Hajizadeh. Iranian officials told The New York Times that the commander of the Guards’ elite Quds Force Ismail Ghaani was also killed.
  
• Three senior Iranian nuclear scientists, Fereydoon Abbasi (former head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization and sanctioned by the UN Security Council in 2007) Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi (worked on Iranian nuclear weapons projects and was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2020) and Ahmadreza Zolfaghar, were reportedly killed.
  
• Israel struck the Natanz nuclear facility, which hosts uranium enrichment activities, in central Iran. The IDF said the facility, including its underground complex where centrifuges are located, was damaged “significantly.” Iran’s atomic energy organization reported a radioactive leak at the site, but with no contamination outside of the facility. Later on Friday, the IDF said that Israel had attacked a nuclear site in Isfahan and that the operation was in its early stages.
  
• Later on Friday, Iranian media reported that explosions were heard in the city of Qom and the nearby Fordow underground nuclear facility, as well as the city of Isfahan and the airports in Bushehr and Bushanad. According to Al Jazeera, Israeli drones struck near the airport in Tabriz. The IDF said it destroyed radar positions and surface-to-air missile launchers across the country.
  
• Israeli airstrikes reportedly targeted missile bases near Tehran and in the cities of Kermanshah, Khondab and Khorramabad. Iran’s Nour News reported 78 people were killed and 329 were wounded in strikes on residential areas in Tehran.
  
• Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency established a base for explosive-laden drones inside Iran which was activated during the Israeli strike, an Israeli security source said Friday, launching attacks on surface-to-surface missile launchers at a base near Tehran.
  
• Alongside the airstrikes, the Mossad reportedly carried out several assassination operations inside Iran. According to the security source, Mossad commando units operated in central Iran, deploying precision-guided weapons systems near Iranian surface-to-air missile batteries.
  
• PM Netanyahu said the operation against Iran will “continue as long as necessary to eliminate the existential threat hanging over us.” He described the campaign as “a decisive moment in Israel’s history.”
  
• Israel’s national security adviser said Israel had no current intention to target Iran’s political leadership.
  
• IDF Chief Eyal Zamir said that Israel had “launched the offensive because the time had come, we’ve reached the point of no return,” calling it a “critical campaign to prevent an existential threat from an enemy that openly calls for our destruction.” He added that a “high level of readiness and discipline is required on the civilian home front.”
  
• The IDF said early Friday that Iran was “advancing a secret plan” to obtain nuclear weapons in which “senior nuclear scientists in Iran have been working to secretly develop all components needed for developing a nuclear weapon.”

“Trump, who presumably finds the Israeli action acceptable, will now need to act quickly to extinguish the fire of a regional war, which threatens American interests on other fronts, and is expected to raise oil prices. The Iranian leadership has been considered to be radical for years, but not irrational. It will have to weigh the risks after it was surprised and hit hard in Israel’s opening attack. It’s likely that senior Iranian leaders feel threatened personally after the multiple defense officials were assassinated.” – Amos Harel

■ IRAN STRIKES – RETALIATION: Iran launched at least three waves of ballistic missiles at major Israeli cities including Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa, after the IDF had told the public to go into shelters until further notice.

• During the second barrage of missiles, explosions were heard in the Tel Aviv area, where residents reported direct hits. Over a dozen people were wounded in light to moderate condition, emergency services reported.
  
• On Friday evening, the IDF said it had identified the launch of Iranian missiles at Israel, and told the public to go into shelters until further notice.
  
• Iran fired a second barrage of missiles at Israel, the IDF said. Explosions were heard in the Tel Aviv area, where residents reported direct hits. Seven people were wounded in light to moderate condition in a location in the central Israeli city of Ramat Gan, emergency services report.
  
• Iran launched over 100 drones at Israel on Friday morning, which the IDF mostly intercepted beyond the country’s borders. Jordan said it also intercepted several drones in its airspace, with rocket sirens sounding in Amman.
  
• Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khameinei said that “Israel will not remain unscathed” after the strikes and that Tehran “will not go for half measures” in retaliation. A spokesman for Iran’s armed forces warned that “Iran will respond forcefully to the Israeli attacks” and added that “the United States and Israel will pay the price.”
  
• PM Netanyahu warned of an Iranian counterattack in a public video statement: “I assume there will be an attack against us, and it could come in very heavy waves,” he said. Netanyahu also said that the success of the strike in Iran “will have a positive impact on the situation in Gaza and the hostages.”
  
• The U.S. Air Force deployed an F-15 fighter squadron to Jordan about two weeks ago to help intercept Iranian drones and missiles in the event of an attack on Israel.
  
• The IDF announced the call-up of reserve soldiers on Friday, “as part of preparations for defense and offense across all fronts.”

■ IRAN STRIKES – ISRAELI FRONT: At around 3:45 A.M., rocket sirens sounded across Israel warning of an “extreme alert”, a precaution against an immediate Iranian military response. Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz declared a special emergency status across the country’s home front. Israel’s Home Front Command announced that all schools, workplaces and businesses would close until further notice.

• Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport was closed until further notice. Israeli airlines El Al, Arkia and Israir flew their planes out of the airport after rocket sirens sounded across the country. International airlines also flew their planes out of Israel.

■ IRAN STRIKES – U.S. REACTION: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the U.S. was “not involved” in Israel’s “unilateral” action against Iran, and the top priority was protecting American forces in the region.

• President Trump said that “the U.S. will defend itself and Israel if Iran retaliates,” hours after Israel launched airstrikes across Iran.
  
• Trump told Fox News that, “Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb and we are hoping to get back to the negotiating table. We will see. There are several people in leadership that will not be coming back.” Trump told Reuters on Friday that it was unclear if Iran still had a nuclear program following the Israeli strikes.

“And then there is a final question – how will all this affect the situation in Gaza, where Israel continues to fight a war of attrition against Hamas, and where 53 Israeli hostages, 20 of them believed to be alive, are still held by the Palestinian terror group. Some Israeli officials rushed to brief the media after the strikes on Iran, claiming that this would make reaching a deal with Hamas easier, as the group will feel isolated once Iran’s threat over Israel is removed. But the opposite could also occur: Hamas may lose whatever little trust it had in Trump and his special envoy Steven Witkoff in light of what looks like an American-Israeli deception of Tehran. ” – Amir Tibon

■ IRAN STRIKES – INTERNATIONAL REACTION: German Chancellor Friederich Merz said Israel had a right to defend itself and Iran should not develop nuclear weapons, adding “We call on both sides to refrain from steps that could lead to further escalation and destabilize the entire region.” French President Emmanuel Macron said that France would take part in the defence of Israel in the event of an Iranian attack on the country.

• French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said France had “repeatedly expressed our serious concerns regarding Iran’s nuclear program” and affirmed “Israel’s right to defend itself against any attack.“
  
• Saudi Arabia condemned Israel’s “heinous attacks,” saying the UN’s Security Council bears “a great responsibility to immediately halt this aggression.”
  
• Qatar denounced the Israeli attack as a “flagrant violation” of Iran’s sovereignty and a clear breach of international law.
  
• Hamas praised Iran, saying that it is “paying the price for its steadfast positions in support of Palestine and its resistance, and its adherence to its independent national decisions.

■ HOSTAGES/CEASE-FIRE: Israel is still waiting for Hamas’ response to the most recent cease-fire and hostage-release proposal, details of which were shared by the negotiating team at an Israeli cabinet meeting on Thursday evening.

■ GAZA: Two Israeli soldiers were seriously wounded in a clash with militants in northern Gaza Strip, IDF says
22 wounded Palestinian children, accompanied by relatives, left Gaza on Wednesday via the Kerem Shalom border crossing to be treated in hospitals in Jordan and Italy.

■ HOUTHIS: The IDF said that a Houthi missile fired from Yemen landed near Hebron in the West Bank. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, three children were wounded in the village of Sa’ir, north of the city. 

 Israel declared war after Hamas killed at least 1,200 Israelis and wounded more than 3,300 on October 7. In Gaza, the Hamas-controlled health ministry reports that at least 55,207 Palestinians have been killed. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad hold 56 hostages, soldiers and civilians, dead and alive, including foreign nationals.

The war erupted after 10 months of an intense domestic political and social crisis, due to legislation promoted by the Netanyahu government aimed at dramatically weakening Israel’s judiciary and the prime minister’s corruption trial, amid an escalation of violence between West Bank Palestinians and Israeli settlers, the latter empowered by Israel’s most right-wing government ever.