Iran Retaliates After Israeli Attack

BY ANDREW DOWELL AND DOV LIEBER

Israel and Iran traded attacks Friday hours after a wave of Israeli planes and drones targeted Tehran’s nuclear program and military leadership, prompting Iran to retaliate and accuse Israel of starting a war.

The Iranian missile strikes targeted central Tel Aviv, after Israel said it had detected dozens of missiles launched from Iran. Magen David Adom, which manages Israel’s emergency medical response, said on X that Iran’s missile strikes had injured 34. Israel said that fewer than 100 surface-to-surface missiles were launched by Iran and that most were intercepted or failed to reach their targets.

The Israeli military said early Saturday that it had detected dozens of missiles fired at Israel from Iran in a new round of attacks and said that defense systems had inter-

cepted some of them. The public was told to seek shelter until further notice. About half an hour later, Israeli authorities said people could leave their shelters.

The Israeli military said search-and-rescue forces were operating around the country where there were reports of fallen projectiles.

Earlier Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said the country’s military operation would last “as many days as it takes,” with a senior official saying Israel planned out 14 days of strikes.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said armed forces would “bring Israel to its knees” in retaliation for the early Friday strikes, adding that the “Zionist regime won’t escape unpunished.” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi asked the United Nations in a letter Friday to condemn Israel’s attacks.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called for a halt to the strikes between Israel and Iran. “Enough escalation. Time to stop. Peace and diplomacy must prevail,” he wrote on X.

Israel’s strikes on Iran killed 78 people, including top military commanders, and wounded more than 320, the Islamic Republic’s envoy to the U.N. said at an emergency U.N. meeting.

President Trump told The Wall Street Journal on Friday that he was aware of Israel’s plans to attack Iran. The U.S. assisted Israel in defending against Iran’s counterattack, a U.S. official said. In the hours leading up to Iran’s response to Israel’s attack, U.S. jet fighters mobilized around the region to defend U.S. troops and interests, the official said.

Trump monitored the situation Friday, attended a National Security Council meeting and held calls with the world leaders, a White House official said without providing further details.

Israel’s strategy with Iran is similar to the one it employed to devastating effect against Hamas and Hezbollah, where covert actions swiftly transition to high-power strikes with sophisticated weaponry.

In the attack’s first hours, Is-rael said it killed military leaders— including senior members of the Revolutionary Guard and its air force—in an effort to disrupt Iran’s chain of command, isolate Khamenei and make it harder for Iran to defend itself.

The commander of Iran’s feared Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, boasted on Thursday before the strikes began that his country was ready to handle any Israeli attack. “We are fully prepared for any scenario, under any circumstances,” he said.

By dawn Friday, he was dead, killed in what is shaping up to be a broad Israeli air campaign aimed not only at destroying Iran’s capacity to build nuclear weapons but to ensure that the country is hobbled politically and militarily.

Israel’s military also said it did significant damage to the Natanz nuclear facility, a key site for producing the fissile material needed to build a bomb, as well as air-defense installations and parts of Iran’s missile arsenal. Strikes hit across the country, including in the tony neighborhoods of north Tehran. Israel also targeted Iranian nuclear scientists. State media named at least five who were killed.

In all, Israel carried out five waves of strikes with hundreds of warplanes early Friday, then resumed the attack in the afternoon.

“This is not a symbolic strike,” said Mark Dubowitz, who heads the think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “It’s a decapitation campaign targeting Iran’s nuclear brain trust and command infrastructure.”

The complex mix of targets went well beyond Iran’s uranium- enrichment facilities and other sites to include decision makers who might direct retaliatory attacks on Israel and who help prop up the country’s theocratic rulers. 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.

Mossad also smuggled explosive drones and other guided weapons into Iran ahead of the campaign, the person said. As the strikes got under way, Mossad assets on the ground used the weapons to attack Iranian air defenses and ballistic-missile launchers, helping clear a path for the warplanes and blunting Iran’s ability to respond.

In addition to killing Salami, Israel took out top military officers Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri and Maj. Gen. Gholam Ali Rashid, the Revolutionary Guard said. Israel’s military said it killed most of the leadership of the Guard’s air force—including its commander and the head of its drone operations— as they gathered to meet in an underground command center.

“It’s important to emphasize: we are only at the beginning of what is likely to be a very different event from previous direct clashes between Israel and Iran,” said Danny Citrinowicz, a senior Iran researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies.

The attacks caught Iran’s leadership by surprise and echoed the approach Israel took last fall against Lebanese militia and Iranian ally Hezbollah. Over a two-month campaign, Israel struck Hezbollah’s rank and file, wiped out much of its arsenal and killed most of its top leaders in attacks on meetings and bunkers.