Israel Launches Attack on Iran's Nuclear Facilities -- 3rd U

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Dow Jones NewsJun 13, 5:11 AM UTC
DJ Israel Launches Attack on Iran's Nuclear Facilities -- 3rd Update

By Dov Lieber and Alexander Ward

 

Israel launched multiple waves of attacks on Iran's nuclear program and military leadership overnight, killing top military leaders including the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and striking dozens of targets in an operation that pushes the region into a new conflict with uncertain consequences.

 

The attacks went well beyond Iran's uranium enrichment facilities and other sites to include decisionmakers who might direct retaliatory attacks on Israel and who help prop up the country's theocratic rulers.

 

Israel said the attack targeted Iran's nuclear and military sites, as well as Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists. Dozens of planes carried out the initial attack before dawn Friday, followed by another four waves of strikes.

 

Israel's spy agency Mossad was conducting operations inside Iran, including hunting for leadership targets in Tehran, a person familiar with the operations said Friday.

 

Iranian state media said IRGC commander Hossein Salami, top military officer Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri and Maj. Gen. Gholam Ali Rashid were among those killed, punching a deep hole in Iran's military leadership. Salami was killed in a dawn strike on the Guard's command headquarters, the IRGC said.

 

"We struck at the heart of Iran's nuclear enrichment program," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. "We struck at the heart of Iran's nuclear weaponization program. We targeted Iran's main enrichment facility in Natanz. We targeted Iran's leading nuclear scientists working on the Iranian bomb. We also struck at the heart of Iran's ballistic missile program."

 

Iranian state TV reported explosions and showed smoke rising in the capital, Tehran. Netanyahu said the operation would continue for "as many days as it takes."

 

The strikes came hours after U.S. and Israeli officials had warned an attack was imminent and cut short a U.S.-led effort to resolve the standoff over Iran's nuclear program diplomatically.

 

Iran warned it would respond to the attacks and blamed the U.S. for supporting them.

 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. wasn't involved in the strikes, noting that Israel advised the Trump administration that it would take action for its own self-defense. He warned Iran not to attack U.S. interests or personnel in the Middle East.

 

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared a state of emergency and warned his population that Iran was expected to retaliate for the attack by firing missiles and drones at Israel.

 

President Trump said on social media that he remains committed to finding a diplomatic solution but that Iran must give up the possibility of developing a nuclear weapon.

 

The attack comes just days before U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff was to meet his Iranian counterparts in Oman for a sixth round of nuclear talks. The U.S. has said Iran must give up the ability to enrich uranium needed to build a bomb. Iran has refused, leaving the talks at an impasse.

 

The Israeli military official said Iran had been secretly working to build a nuclear weapon in recent months.

 

Israel's move to try to resolve the issue militarily is a gamble. Iran has dispersed its nuclear sites across the country and has buried them deep underground.

 

Any military strike would require a sustained effort and several rounds of fighting before either the regime agrees to give up its nuclear program or is toppled, former Israeli officials and security experts said.

 

Western and Israeli officials have said military action could set back an Iranian nuclear program at least a year, but there is considerable uncertainty over the estimate.

 

Meanwhile, Iran is expected to respond with attacks of its own that could send the conflict spiraling. The two exchanged direct blows last year for the first time, with Iran firing hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel. Israel responded with strikes that damaged Iran's missile program and took out much of its air defense, leaving it more vulnerable to an attack on its nuclear program.

 

"If a conflict is imposed on us," Iranian Defense Minister Amir Aziz Nasirzadeh said Wednesday, "all U.S. bases are within our reach, and we will boldly target them in host countries."

 

An attack also could spur Iran to build a nuclear weapon. Tehran will also likely stop cooperating with international inspectors, leaving its program more opaque to the U.S. and its allies.

 

Advocates of a strike said Israel had a limited window of opportunity to exploit the damage it has done to Iran's air defenses and to allies such as the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, which might previously have joined a retaliatory strike on Israel.

 

Netanyahu and Katz decided on Monday that the attack would begin Friday, an Israeli security official said. The prime minister raised the possibility of strikes with Trump in a phone conversation Monday, according to two U.S. officials. Soon after, the U.S. began moving some diplomats and military dependents out of the Middle East.

 

Write to Dov Lieber at [e-mail] and Alexander Ward at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

 

June 13, 2025 01:11 ET (05:11 GMT)

 
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