Israel launched widescale strikes against Iran on Friday during a prolonged operation to nullify the country’s nuclear programme and neuter its military command.
Israel’s military said it had struck “dozens of military targets, including nuclear targets in different areas of Iran” as part of Operation Rising Lion.
Iran’s Natanz nuclear site was “significantly harmed” by the attack while several high profile military figures were eliminated, including Hossein Salami, the commander-in-chief of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards.
Iran launched about 100 drones towards Israeli territory in retaliation.
Buildings in residential areas across Tehran were damaged (Photo by Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)Some 200 Israeli fighter jets took part in the strikes, hitting more than 100 targets in Iran, military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “We are at a decisive moment in Israel’s history.
“Moments ago, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival. This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.”
A firefighter calls out his colleagues at the scene of an explosion in a residence compound in northern Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Israel had “unleashed its wicked and bloody” hand in a crime against Iran and that it would receive “a bitter fate for itself”.
A video shared by the Israeli military showed that the areas targeted were in the western parts of Iran.
Here, The i Paper takes a look at what happened and the sites that were hit in Iran.
Explosions were reported in Tehran, Iran’s capital, at around 3.30am local time (1am BST).
Israel attacked military bases around Tehran, including Parchin, and residential homes at two highly secure complexes for military commanders, according to the New York Times.
Multiple residential buildings were also attacked, in what appears to be targeted assassinations, the newspaper said, citing four senior Iranian officials.
Among the locations hit in Tehran were upscale northern neighborhoods such as Qeytariyeh, Niavaran, Nobonyad, Mahallati, Kamraniyeh, Saadatabad, and Andarzgoo, according to Anadolu news agency. Other areas struck included Mehrabad, Narmak, Sattarkhan, Farahzadi, and additional districts across the capital.
Several children were killed in one of the strikes, according to Iranian state media.
At least two nuclear scientists – Fereydoun Abbasi and Mohammad Mehdi – were killed in the capital. A total of six nuclear scientists were killed in the strikes, Iranian state media reported.
The headquarters of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards corps, also in Tehran, was hit, according to the country’s state media.
The unit said its top commander, Hossein Salami, was killed. was also reportedly killed.
Other key officials killed were General Gholam Ali Rashid, a senior IRGC commander; Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Iranian military chief of staff; and General Gholam Ali Rashid, a senior IRGC commander. It was not immediately clear if they were all killed in Tehran or in other parts of the country.
Iran’s main enrichment facility in Natanz was hit by Israeli strikes (Photo: Maxar Technologies/Reuters)Natanz
Hours after the initial strikes, explosions were reported at the country’s main uranian enrichment facility Natanz in Isfahan, according to Iranian media and witnesses.
Natanz is located about 225km south of the capital.
The Israel Defence Forces claimed they caused “significant damage” to Natanz, the core of the country’s nuclear programme.
An IDF spokesperson said that: “Underground halls housing centrifuges, electrical systems, and key infrastructure supporting Iran’s nuclear weapons program were targeted and hit.”
Smoke billowing from explosions in what appears to be Natanz after Israel announced it had carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites in the Islamic republic (Photo: IRINN / AFP)Iranian state TV aired a report from the facility, where black smoke can be seen rising from the site.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the global nuclear watchdog, said on Friday there was no increase in radiation levels at the Natanz nuclear site, citing information given to them by Iranian authorities.
The IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said the country’s nuclear facilities at Isfahan and Fordow had not been hit by Israel’s strikes.
Isfahan hosts a range of military and nuclear facilities, including Natanz.
The Israeli military said it had been forced to act by new intelligence information showing that Iran was “approaching the point of no return” in the development of a nuclear weapon.
But a source familiar with US intelligence reports said there had been no recent change in the US assessment that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon.
Iran argues that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes only, but the IAEA and other countries have cast doubt on these claims.
The IAEA previously said Iran had enriched uranium to 60 per cent purity, which is close to weapons grade. The amount held by Iran would be enough to make nine nuclear bombs, the watchdog said.
The IAEA’s Board of Governors on Thursday declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in almost 20 years.
A list of nuclear facilities in Iran” created in Istanbul, Turkiye (Photo: Ufuk Celal Guzel/Anadolu via Getty Images)Explosions were reported near a nuclear research centre and two military bases around the city of Tabriz.
Tabriz has an underground missile silo and is one of Iran’s launch sites, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a Washington think tank.
Targeting Iran’s launch sites could affect Iran’s ability to strike back.
The launch sites in the west of Iran appear to have been targeted and are key as they are closer to Israel and therefore pose a bigger threat.
Iranian news outlet Fars News reported a renewed strike by Israel on Tabriz hours after the initial explosions.
Kermanshah
Multiple videos circulated online have shown plumes of smoke rising from an area close to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base in Kermanshah province, the BBC reported.
Iran has a significant military presence in the area and has conducted military drills there in preparation for a potential escalation in tensions with Israel.
Qasr-e Shirin, a city in Kermanshah, was reportedly targeted.
Explosions were reported in Khorramabad, which is home to the Imam Ali base, one of Iran’s two underground missile silos.
Missiles are also reportedly produced at the complex.
Other sites
Turkish news agency Anadolu said explosions were reported in several other cities including Qom, Hamedan, Piranshahr, West Azerbaijan, Ilam, and Arak, according to local sources.
The Parchin nuclear facility was also reportedly targeted.
The country’s oil refining and storage facilities did not sustain damages and their activities are ongoing, according to the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company.
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