Calling the series of attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, missiles, and military commanders "a decisive moment in Israeli history," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the campaign would continue for as long as necessary.
Iran viewed these attacks as a declaration of war and retaliated with a series of missile launches that left civilians in both countries suffering heavy losses. By the end of June 16, at least 224 Iranians had been killed, while the death toll in Israel stood at 24.
History of the Israel-Iran conflict
Israel and Iran have been engaged in a covert war for decades, with a long history of covert attacks on land, at sea, in the air, and in cyberspace, carried out through various proxy forces and allies in the region.
In 1967, Iran took over the Tehran Research Reactor under the US "Atomic Peace " program.
Israel and Iran were allies before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which established a new theocratic regime with an ideology opposed to Israel's existence. Israel also views Tehran's nuclear ambitions as an existential threat.
When Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, Iran helped establish the Hezbollah movement. According to the U.S. State Department, Tehran also funds other paramilitary forces and groups in Gaza, Yemen, Iraq, and Syria.
In August 2002, Western intelligence agencies and an Iranian opposition group revealed Iran's secret Natanz uranium enrichment facility. In June 2003, Britain, France, and Germany joined nuclear negotiations with Iran. By October 2003, Iran suspended its uranium enrichment activities.
In February 2006, Iran announced it would restart uranium enrichment after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected. Britain, France, and Germany withdrew from the stalled negotiations.
In 2010, the Stuxnet computer virus was discovered to be damaging Iran's centrifuges.
On July 14, 2015, several world powers (including the United States) and Iran announced a comprehensive, long-term nuclear agreement that would limit Tehran's uranium enrichment activities in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
Negotiators for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal pose for a group photo at the United Nations building in Vienna, Austria. Photo: Reuters. |
In 2018, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel had obtained tens of thousands of pages of data on Iran's nuclear program. That same year, US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement.
In July 2020, a mysterious explosion destroyed a centrifuge manufacturing plant at Iran's Natanz nuclear enrichment facility. Iran blamed the explosion on Israel. In November of the same year, Iran's top military nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was assassinated with a remotely controlled machine gun.
On April 11, 2021, an attack targeted Iran's underground nuclear facility at Natanz. Iran blamed Israel, which denied the accusation. On April 16, 2021, Iran began enriching uranium to 60%, the highest purity level ever achieved and a technological advancement from the 90% used for weapons.
On October 7, 2023, after Hamas ignited the most intense conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza to date, Israel killed most of the group's senior leaders, while simultaneously attacking Hezbollah and Houthi targets.
A fire breaks out after a rocket attack on Ashkelon, Israel, in October 2023. Photo: Reuters |
On April 1, 2024, an Israeli airstrike destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, killing 16 people, including two Iranian generals. In retaliation for the Israeli airstrike, on April 14, 2024, Iran launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, firing more than 300 missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Israel intercepted most of these missiles and UAVs with the support of the US-led coalition.
On October 1, 2024, Iran launched its second direct attack on Israel, although the US-led coalition and Israel shot down most of the missiles. On October 26, 2024, Israel launched its first public attack on Iran, targeting air defense systems and sites related to the country's missile program.
June 13, 2025: In a serious escalation, Israel announced that approximately 200 Israeli Air Force aircraft dropped 330 bombs on around 100 targets in six cities, including Tehran and Iran's Natanz nuclear facility, killing several senior Iranian commanders and top scientists (at least 20, according to Reuters).
Iran retaliated by launching approximately 100 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) toward Israel. A barrage of Iranian missiles then lit up the skies over Tel Aviv on the evening of June 13. Israel said most of the missiles were intercepted or did not reach their targets.
On June 14, 2025, Israel expanded its airstrikes to target Iranian energy targets as Iranian missile and drone attacks continued against Israel.
On June 15, 2025, Israel launched airstrikes across Iran and threatened even larger forces after several Iranian missiles evaded Israeli air defenses and struck buildings in the city center.
On June 16, 2025, Iranian missiles struck Tel Aviv and the port city of Haifa. The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed the attack used a new method that caused Israel's multi-layered defense systems to target each other, allowing Tehran to successfully strike multiple targets, but provided no further details.
Over the course of four days, at least 24 Israelis and 224 Iranians were killed, and thousands more were injured.
June 17, 2025: Air raid sirens blare across Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Rescue workers work at the scene after an Iranian airstrike in Bat Yam, Israel, June 2025. Photo: Reuters |
Why did Israel attack at this particular time?
Having long harbored ambitions to destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities, Israel claims that new intelligence indicates Iran "is approaching a point of no return" in its nuclear weapons development.
But a source close to U.S. intelligence reports said there has been no recent change in Washington's earlier assessment that Iran is not developing nuclear weapons and that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has not authorized the continuation of a weapons program that was shut down in 2003.
The impetus for the attack emerged after the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, declared that Iran had failed to meet its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in nearly two decades, following warnings that Tehran possessed enough uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels to build a nuclear bomb.
MAI HUONG (compiled)
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