Israel’s air campaign Thursday night damaged or destroyed a significant number of high-profile targets in the country, including the main Iranian nuclear facility at Natanz and a number of Iranian military and political leaders.
About 200 fighter jets conducted the airstrikes in several waves. In addition, teams from the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, smuggled drones and other guided munitions into Iran. These were used to destroy Iranian air defenses and missile-launchers during the attack.
In addition to attacks on Iranian nuclear infrastructure, Israel also attacked Iran’s leadership. Strikes killed Mohammad Bagheri, the chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces; Hossein Salami, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC); Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC air force; and Ali Shamkhani, an important diplomat and an advisor of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who participated in U.S.-Iran negotiations over the Iranian nuclear program.
In a statement released shortly after the beginning of hostilities, Israel’s President Benjamin Netanyahu alleged that Iran had acquired enough sufficiently enriched nuclear material to construct nine nuclear bombs and argued that the air campaign was “a targeted military operation to roll back the threat to Israel’s very survival.” The strikes will go on “for as many days as it takes,” he continued.
The level of American involvement with the strikes is not yet clear. Secretary of State Marco Rubio released a statement late Thursday night declaring that “Israel took unilateral action against Iran” and that “we are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region.” But President Donald Trump stated Friday that the U.S. knew about the attacks in advance, and some sources have alleged that the U.S. also provided Israel with intelligence for the operation.
Iranian retaliation for the attack has been limited so far. Drones were launched from Iran following the strikes, but most or all were destroyed by Israeli air defenses; there have been no reports of significant damage from Iranian retaliation strikes.
Trump told reporters that the Israeli campaign was “excellent”.
“We gave them a chance and they didn’t take it,” he said. “They got hit hard, very hard. They got hit about as hard as you’re going to get hit. And there’s more to come.”
The president urged the Iranians to accept the diplomatic alternative, saying that the country should make a deal “before there’s nothing left.”
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