13 June 2025
In retaliation for Israel's missile strike on Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities and other sites—which claimed the lives of the Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, the Commander of the IRGC, and the head of Iran’s Emergency Command—Iran sent more than 100 combat drones towards Israeli territory.
The Israeli strike—which occurred days before Iranian and U.S. officials were scheduled for the now-cancelled sixth round of nuclear deal discussions—is the largest attack on the Islamic Republic since the 1980s Iran-Iraq war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated the strikes on Iranian nuclear installations were “very successful" in a televised address, adding Israel will attack Iran “until the threat is removed.”
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had his own response on social platform X, vowing retribution for Israel’s attacks.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry also warned it would hold the United States responsible for Israeli military actions.
Israel's attack on Iranian nuclear sites came one day after the United Nations' nuclear sentinels — the IAEA Board of Governors — declared Iran in noncompliance with its nuclear-safeguard obligations for the first time in 20 years.
“If Iran does not come back to the negotiating table — as the U.S. has already called on it to do — then I think, and I fear, Israel will have to take successive rounds of action to take out what’s left of Iran’s nuclear program,” said Firas Maksad, managing director for the Middle East and North Africa practice at Eurasia Group.
See Iran's Drone Attack on Tel Aviv
