June 13, 2025 - Israel carried out a series of airstrikes across Iran early this morning targeting, what it said, were nuclear and military facilities in the country. Senior Iranian military officials and nuclear scientists as well as civilians are said to have been killed in the attacks, according to Iranian media.

According to Al Jazeera, among the dead are Hossein Salami, commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, and nuclear scientists Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi and Fereydoun Abbasi.

Israeli military sources claimed five waves of fighter jet attacks involving hundreds of strikes in at least eight locations across Iran, including Tehran and a nuclear research centre in Tabriz. As per reports, Iran’s primary nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz was also said to have been targeted under "Operation Rising Lion".

Israel is calling it a “fight to preserve our existence” accusing Iran of taking its nuclear programme to a “point of no return”, and therefore, Israel claimed it could not “wait for another moment to act”.

“This operation will take as long as is needed to complete the task of fending off the threat of annihilation against us,” Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said.