In a dramatic escalation of tensions, Iran unleashed a volley of ballistic missiles on Israel Friday, launching a retaliatory strike just hours after an Israeli offensive decimated key Iranian military leadership and targeted sensitive nuclear infrastructure.
Air raid sirens pierced the air across Israeli cities, with loud explosions rocking multiple areas as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the nation, warning of “several waves of Iranian attacks” and urging citizens to remain vigilant.
Eyewitnesses and media reports described plumes of smoke rising over the Tel Aviv skyline, while Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed responsibility for striking dozens of military and strategic locations within Israel.
Emergency services reported that multiple people were trapped in a damaged high-rise building in central Israel, underscoring the human cost of the intensifying conflict.
The missile barrage followed a sweeping Israeli air campaign earlier in the day, which reportedly struck around 200 Iranian targets, including nuclear enrichment sites. The Israeli military claimed the strikes killed several top commanders, including much of the IRGC’s air force leadership, dealing a significant blow to Tehran’s military command structure.
The rapid succession of strikes and counterstrikes marks one of the most serious escalations between the two regional powers in recent history, igniting concerns of a broader conflict with global implications.
As the two sides traded blows, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to bring Israel “to ruin” during a televised address.
“The armed forces of the Islamic republic will inflict heavy blows upon this malevolent enemy,” Khamenei told the nation.
In the onslaught’s wake, Trump urged Iran on Friday to “make a deal” on its nuclear programme, warning of “even more brutal” attacks to come.
Read also: Israel Strikes Iran’s Nuclear Sites, Top Commanders Hit
The United States has distanced itself from Israel’s military campaign against Iran, emphasizing that it played no role in the operation and issuing a stern warning to Tehran against targeting American personnel or interests in the region. In response, Iranian officials dismissed the U.S. position, declaring that Washington would be held “responsible for the consequences” of what they termed complicity by association.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking in stark and defiant terms, confirmed that Israeli forces had struck at the core of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, including targeting senior nuclear scientists and hitting the primary uranium enrichment facility in Natanz. He described the mission as a direct blow to “the heart of Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme,” and vowed that the operation would persist “as many days as it takes.”
According to Israeli military intelligence, Iran was nearing the so-called “point of no return” in its nuclear ambitions—a threshold beyond which Tehran would be capable of rapidly developing a nuclear weapon, a prospect Israel has long pledged to prevent.
The airstrikes reportedly claimed the lives of some of Iran’s most senior military figures, including Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Mohammad Bagheri and the Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), General Hossein Salami. Their deaths mark a profound loss for the Iranian military establishment and signal the extraordinary scope of Israel’s offensive.
Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, firmly rejected international appeals for restraint, insisting in a statement that “no nation would tolerate such acts of aggression without responding.” He characterized the strikes as a grave provocation and warned that Iran’s response would be measured, but unwavering.
As the crisis intensifies, regional and global actors are bracing for the possibility of wider conflict, with diplomatic channels scrambling to contain the fallout from what is now a rapidly escalating confrontation between two of the Middle East’s most powerful adversaries.