Jerusalem3:16 a.m. June 13
Tehran4:46 a.m. June 13
Israeli Strikes Target Iran’s Nuclear Program
Residents of Tehran, the Iranian capital, reported hearing huge explosions and Iranian state television broadcast images of smoke and fire billowing from buildings.
Explosions rocked Tehran early Friday morning, as Israeli warplanes carried out an large attack on Iran that Israeli officials claimed was intended to cripple its nuclear program. The strikes raised fears of the long-simmering conflict between the two countries could escalate into a war involving the most powerful militaries in the Middle East.
Neither the scale of the attack nor the damage it caused was immediately clear but an Israeli military official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity to comply with protocol, said the strikes had targeted elements of Iran’s nuclear program and long-range missile capabilities.
The defense minister, Israel Katz, declared a special emergency across Israel, saying a counterattack “is expected in the immediate time frame.” Sirens rang out in Jerusalem and other cities.
Residents of Tehran, the Iranian capital, reported hearing huge explosions, and Iran’s state television and the Tasnim news agency broadcast explosions across the city, with smoke and fire billowing from buildings. One Iranian senior official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said fighter jets had taken off to intercept the Israeli warplanes.
Mohammad Jamali was standing on a roof in Tehran near Chitgar lake when he saw what appeared to be two jets moving fast and attacking what he believed to be nearby military bases. “What I can see is two massive flames and smoke coming from two military bases in eastern Tehran,” he said.
In Washington, a U.S. official said no American airplanes were involved in the strikes.
The Israeli strike followed months of disagreement between President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel over how to handle Iran. Mr. Netanyahu has long proposed using military force to derail Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
On Thursday, Mr. Trump said again that he did not want Israel to launch an attack, predicting that doing so would scuttle the chance of a diplomatic solution. “I think it would blow it,” he said. Then he added a nod to the other side of the equation, saying that an attack “might help it, actually, but it could also blow it.”
Several months ago, Mr. Trump waved off an Israeli plan to strike at Iran, insisting that he wanted a chance to negotiate a deal with Tehran. Two weeks ago, Mr. Trump said that he had warned Mr. Netanyahu against launching a strike while the United States was negotiating with Iran.Those talks faltered in recent weeks, however, and it was unclear how much effort Mr. Trump had made to prevent this latest attack.
Here is what else to know:
The strike did not come as a surprise. Last year, the Israeli government damaged the Iranian air defense system during its attacks on Iran last year and had planned for months to take advantage of Tehran’s weakness to mount further attacks. President Trump and his most senior aides knew these strikes were likely coming, according to three people briefed on the matter. It’s unclear what — if anything — Trump did to try to deter Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from taking this action.
Anticipating a regional escalation, the United States withdrew diplomats from Iraq on Wednesday and authorized the voluntary departure of families of U.S. soldiers posted elsewhere in the Middle East. A British government agency also warned on Wednesday of an escalation that could pose greater risks to ships in the Persian Gulf.
The attack came as the United States was leading efforts to negotiate an agreement with Tehran that would limit Iran’s ability to produce nuclear weapons and a day after the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, censured Iran for not complying with its nuclear nonproliferation obligations.
Crude oil prices have jumped sharply following the Israeli attack, with the Brent crude oil future price jumping 8 percent to $75 a barrel. Iran lies on the northern side of the Strait of Hormuz, at the exit of the Persian Gulf, positioning Iran to block much of the oil exports of Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and smaller Persian Gulf states if it wishes to do so in retaliation for the Israeli strike.
Netanyahu said in a video statement that Israel’s operation would continue “for as many days as it takes.”
The strikes on Iran have had an immediate impact on civilian flights in the region, especially over or near Tehran. “Some flights are routing around the city or diverting, but there are many flights currently transiting Iranian airspace,” the aviation tracker Flightradar24 said. The aviation tracker said flights had started to divert away from Iran as a whole.
An Israeli military official briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity in line with army rules said that Israeli intelligence indicated that Iran had been advancing a secret program to assemble a nuclear weapon and said that the country now had enough material to rapidly assemble nuclear bombs. He added that the project was reaching a point of no return.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that the United States was “not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region.” He added that “Israel advised us that they believe this action was necessary for its self-defense.”
He ended his statement with a warning to Iran against any form of retaliation aimed at the U.S. forces in the region: “Let me be clear: Iran should not target U.S. interests or personnel.”
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, just issued his first remarks since the Israeli attack on Iran, in a video statement. Netanyahu said that Israel had attacked Iran’s main nuclear “enrichment facility in Natanz,” as well as “Iran’s leading nuclear scientists.” He accused Iran of advancing its nuclear program, calling it “a clear and present danger to Israel’s very survival.”
Netanyahu said Israel had acted to stop Iran “buying for time” amid ongoing talks with the United States. He praised President Trump for “leadership” without commenting on whether the United States had backed the strike.
Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, the Israeli military’s chief spokesman, said Israel could not “allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon that would be a danger to Israel and the entire world.”
“We have no choice,” he said in video shared with reporters. “We are operating against an imminent and existential threat.”
A U.S. defense official said that air defense systems were being deployed to protect the more than 40,000 American troops scattered at more than a dozen military bases in the region, but declined to say what role the United States was taking in Israel’s defense in the event of Iranian retaliation.
Shortly after the strike against Iran on Friday, Israel’s defense minister said the country was bracing for a retaliatory missile and drone attack “in the immediate time frame.”
The defense minister, Israel Katz, said he had signed an order declaring a “special emergency” and called on the public to follow guidelines from the authorities, and to remain in protected areas.
The Israeli military’s Home Front Command issued new guidelines early on Friday morning, limiting activities to only those deemed “essential.” It placed a prohibition on most educational activities, gatherings and work.
Shortly before those announcements, sirens sounded in Jerusalem early on Friday morning. Around that time, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, posted on social media that he was at the embassy in Jerusalem, where he would remain all night, and was “closely following” the situation.
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!” Mr. Huckabee said.
Some 40,000 U.S. military personnel are stationed in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere in the Middle East to defend American bases and interests in the region, including the defense of Israel. The aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, armed with F-35 fighter jets, is currently in the Arabian Sea.
But those forces were on higher alert on Thursday in preparation for possible retaliatory strikes by Iran. Military planners were weighing how and when to move some military aircraft out of the immediate area, to reduce the chance of them being struck by retaliatory fire.
Oil prices have surged to their highest level in months on concerns that Israel’s strikes on Iran could disrupt oil supplies. Benchmark prices in the United States topped $72 a barrel, up nearly 6 percent. Iran produces roughly 3 percent of the world’s oil, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency.
Residents in the Iranian cities of Isfahan, Arak and Kermanshah, which house military and industrial complexes, have reported hearing explosions.
One of the more than 1,000 people who were participating in a virtual town hall discussion about about diplomacy with the United States when the strikes began was Mohammadreza Karchi, a prominent sociologist. He is among those still connected to the call, and says that explosions continue to rock Tehran and terrified residents in his neighborhood, Satar Khan, have swarmed to the streets, some in their pijamas.
A senior Iranian official said that a compound in Tehran where senior military commanders live, Shahrak Shahid Mahalati, had been attacked and that three residential buildings had been demolished.
An Israeli military official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity to comply with protocol, said the strikes in Tehran were aimed at targets related to Iran’s nuclear program and the Iranian regime’s long-range missile capabilities. The official added that Israel was conducting dozens of strikes in multiple areas of Iran.
Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, said in a post on social media early on Friday morning that he was at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and would remain all night as he was “closely following” the situation.
A man standing on a roof in Tehran, Mohammad Jamali, said that he could see two Israeli jets attacking an airbase of the Revolutionary Guards. “What I can see is two massive flames and smoke coming from two military bases in eastern Tehran,” he said.
Tehran’s sky has been cleared of civilian flights. An Iranian journalist, Mohsen Salehikhah, said in an interview that he lives in the eastern part of Tehran and heard five explosions.
The Israeli strikes followed months of extensive preparations for the attack, which accelerated after Israel’s success in the war against Hezbollah and the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, according to two Israeli defense officials familiar with the details of the operation.
The officials said that prior to the strike, Israel committed to the Trump administration that it would not attack Iran without first notifying the United States.
A U.S. official on Thursday confirmed Israeli strikes in Iran were underway. The official said that no U.S. aircraft were involved in the attack, but offered no other details on scope, size or locations of intended targets.
President Trump and his most senior aides knew these strikes were likely coming, according to three people briefed on the matter. It’s unclear what — if anything — Trump did to try to deter Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from taking this action.
Just a few hours ago, President Trump was arguing for negotiations between the U.S. and Iran for a nuclear deal to continue. He said he did not want to see Israel strike Iran. His main negotiator, Steve Witkoff, was preparing for talks overseas on Sunday in Oman.
Iran’s state television and the Tasnim news agency are showing images of explosions across Tehran, with smoke and fire billowing from buildings.
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