Iran retaliates with missile attacks on Israel after strikes on nuclear, military sites

Ag AFP

TEHRAN: Iran fired a barrage of 100 ballistic missiles at Israel in a counter-strike on Friday, after an unprecedented onslaught hammered the Islamic republic’s top military brass and targeted its nuclear facilities and bases. The Iranian media put the number of missiles at 150.

Air raids sirens and explosions rang out across Israel after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to the airways to issue a word of caution, saying he expected “several waves of Iranian attacks” in response.

Smoke could later be seen billowing above the skyscrapers in downtown Tel Aviv, according to an AFP journalist, as Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it attacked dozens of targets in Israel.

Several people were trapped in a high-rise building in central Israel, the firefighting service said.

Israel’s firefighting service said its teams were responding to several “major” incidents resulting from an Iranian missile attack, including efforts to rescue people trapped in a high-rise building.

“Firefighting crews are handling several major incidents, mainly in the Dan region” around Tel Aviv, a statement said, adding that “firefighters are working in a high-rise building to rescue trapped individuals and extinguish a fire, as well as responding to two additional destruction sites.”

The salvo came hours after Israel said its wide-spread air raids had killed several top Iranian generals, including most of the senior leadership of the Revolutionary Guards’ air force, following several rounds of strikes that hit about 200 targets including nuclear facilities.

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.

Responding to the strikes, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned the Israeli operation as a “crime” carried out by “satanic, bloodstained hands”. He warned that Israel should expect “a severe punishment” and that “the powerful arm of the Islamic Republic’s Armed Forces won’t let them go unpunished.”

“The Zionist regime has prepared for itself a bitter, painful fate,” Khamenei added, signalling a likely intensification of hostilities.

The US underlined that it was not involved in the Israeli action and warned Iran not to attack its personnel or interests, but Tehran said Washington would be “responsible for consequences”.

Netanyahu said Israel -- the Middle East’s only, if undeclared, nuclear power -- struck at the “heart of Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme”, taking aim at scientists and the main uranium enrichment facility in Natanz.

The strikes would “continue as many days as it takes”, the Israeli premier said, while the military said intelligence showed Iran was approaching the “point of no return” on its nuclear programme.

The strikes killed Iran’s highest-ranking military officer, armed forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri, and the head of the Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, Iranian media reported.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi rejected “calls for Iran to show restraint in the face of Israeli aggression”, according to a statement.

Earlier, Israel carried out attacks on Iran in a series of air raids on Friday, striking 100 targets including Tehran’s nuclear and military sites, and killing a total of 78 people including senior figures, among them the armed forces chief and top nuclear scientists.

More than 200 Israeli Air Force fighter jets hit more than 100 nuclear, military and infrastructure targets across Iran, including its main nuclear facility in Natanz.

The Israeli army said it had damaged the Natanz uranium enrichment site’s underground structures, including a multistorey enrichment hall with centrifuges, electrical rooms and additional supporting infrastructure.

It added that “vital infrastructure at the site that allows for its continuous functioning and the continued advancement of the Iranian regime’s project to obtain nuclear weapons was attacked”.

The Israeli military said it struck Iran’s nuclear facility in Isfahan as it pressed on with its strikes on the Islamic republic. “I can now confirm that we struck the nuclear facility in Isfahan. The operation is still ongoing,” military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin told journalists.

A “massive explosion” was heard Friday in Isfahan, a major city in central Iran, in a province that is home to several nuclear facilities, Mehr news agency said.

Iran admitted on Friday that several top commanders and six nuclear scientists were killed in Israeli strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders.

Below is a list of the commanders and scientists killed:

Mohammad Bagheri: A former IRGC commander, Major General Bagheri was the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces from 2016.

Hossein Salami: He was the commander-in-chief of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps, or IRGC. Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, appointed Salami, who was born in 1960, as head of the IRGC in 2019. Gholamali Rashid: Major General Rashid was head of the IRGC’s Khatam al Anbia headquarters. He previously served as deputy chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces.

Amir Ali Hajizadeh: He was the head of the Revolutionary Guards’ Aerospace Force. Israel has identified him as the central figure responsible for directing aerial attacks against its territory.

Ali Shamkhani: He was one of Iran’s most influential politicians and a close confidant of Ayatollah Khamenei. He had been overseeing nuclear talks with the United States as part of a committee named by the supreme leader to direct the negotiations.

Nuclear Scientists included:

Fereydoun Abbasi, a nuclear scientist, served as head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation from 2011 to 2013.

Mohammad Mehdi Tehranji: He was a theoretical physicist and the president of the Islamic Azad University in Tehran.

Iranian news agency also identified four other slain scientists as:

Abdolhamid Minouchehr: holder of a PhD in nuclear engineering, who served as dean of the nuclear engineering faculty at Shahid Beheshti University and conducted extensive research on improving the efficiency and safety of nuclear plants.

Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari: professor of nuclear engineering at Shahid Beheshti University.

Amir Hossein Faghihi: who belonged to the engineering faculty at Shahid Beheshti University and previously served as vice president of the AEOI and head of the Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute.

Motallebzadeh: a nuclear scientist who was targeted and killed along with his wife.

President Masoud Pezeshkian said that Iran would make Israel “regret” its deadly attack which targeted multiple areas including nuclear sites.

“The Iranian nation and the country’s officials will not remain silent in the face of this crime, and the legitimate and powerful response of the Islamic Republic of Iran will make the enemy regret its foolish act,” Pezeshkian said in a video statement aired on state TV.

Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation said Friday that most of the damage from Israeli air strikes targeting its underground uranium enrichment facility at Natanz was at ground level.

“Most of the damage is on the surface level,” said the organisation’s spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi, adding that there had been “no casualties” at the facility where the enrichment centrifuges are housed underground.

Confirming Natanz had been among Israel’s targets, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said radiation levels outside the site “remained unchanged”.

Quoting the Iranian authorities as saying, the IAEA said aboveground section of Natanz enrichment plant was ‘destroyed’.

Separately, US President Donald Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, the White House said, after Israel struck Iran’s military leadership and nuclear facilities and Tehran retaliated.

The call was confirmed by a White House official to AFP on condition of anonymity. Trump had earlier said that he had been made aware of the Israeli strikes before they happened on Thursday.

Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman held a phone call on Friday with US President Donald Trump, reported the Saudi media. During the conversation, both leaders emphasised the importance of restraint and de-escalation, highlighting the urgent need to resolve all disputes through diplomatic means. The Crown Prince and President Trump also reaffirmed the importance of continued joint efforts to maintain peace, security, and stability across the Middle East.

Separately, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a statement that he had received a call from Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. He said he was briefed by the Israeli premier on evolving situation regarding attacks on Iran.

Modi said: “I shared India’s concerns and emphasised the need for early restoration of peace and stability in the region.”