The decades-long showdown, muscle flexing, and verbal sparring between Iran and Israel reached a new milestone in the early morning hours of Friday, June 13, as Israel carried out massive attacks on Iran’s nuclear and military infrastructure and repelled retaliatory missile and drone barrages from Iran over Israeli civilian centers.
Trump praised Operation Rising Lion in an ABC News interview on Friday. “We gave them [Iran] a chance, and they didn’t take it. They got hit hard, very hard.
Sirens went off across Israel around 3 AM on Friday as the population scrambled out of bed for the nearest bomb shelter, anticipating the all-too-familiar sound of rocket interceptions overhead. But no interceptions came, and the early morning hours remained uncannily quiet.
When sirens stopped, a series of cell phone notifications alerted the population that the Israeli Air Force (IAF) had initiated Operation Rising Lion to cripple Iran’s nuclear capabilities and that Israel was now under a new state of emergency for Iranian retaliation.
Operation Rising Lion
The opening salvos of Rising Lion involved over 200 IAF jets easily traversing Syrian and Iraqi airspace to drop more than 330 munitions on key Iranian targets. The operation unfolded in five successive waves throughout Friday morning and afternoon, causing devastating damage to Iran’s uranium enrichment and nuclear facilities, destroying ballistic missile depots, launch sites, military and defense infrastructure, and executing targeted strikes on top Iranian military and nuclear officials. Reports confirmed 78 dead with more than 300 wounded.
The Natanz uranium enrichment facility, Iran’s largest underground nuclear site with the infrastructure to enrich military-grade uranium, was attacked multiple times while the country’s other two enrichment centers at Fordo and near Isfahan were not hit.
The attack had been years in planning, evident by Mossad operations to smuggle weapons systems, drones, and commandos inside Iran that were activated on Friday morning to destroy Iran’s surface-to-air defense systems, allowing Israeli jets to have air superiority.
The objective was to cripple Iran’s nuclear program. For two months, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration had engaged the Iranian regime in talks concerning the future of its nuclear program and concerns over obtaining nuclear weapons. As talks faltered and stalled, Israel grew increasingly concerned at the possibility that Iran was on the verge of producing a nuclear weapon if not already possessing one.
Tensions escalated early last week as Netanyahu upped his rhetoric of preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, while the Iranian regime warned that any attack on its soil would trigger a retaliation beyond Israel’s comprehension. Both sides boast conventional military capabilities and weapons yet to be revealed that would inflict devastating damage. All the while, Trump urged restraint on both sides to let the diplomatic process take its time, especially as the next round of nuclear talks was scheduled for Sunday.
By the middle of last week, tensions had escalated. U.S. embassies in the Middle East ordered an evacuation of all nonessential personnel. Navy vessels in Bahrain were placed on high alert, while oil tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz were required to elevate their security status to Maritime Security (MARSEC) level 3. These measures were implemented on credible military intelligence that Iran had enriched enough uranium to build 15 nuclear bombs.
An Israeli official speaking to the Times of Israel exposed how this was all a ruse. The verbal tension between Trump and Netanyahu, Trump’s plea for restraint before the weekend talks, and even other peripheral dialogues over new hostage deals in Gaza, and the potential collapse of Netanyahu’s coalition government earlier this week, had been a distracting ruse to convince Iran that an Israeli attack would not happen before Sunday.
Trump praised Operation Rising Lion in an ABC News interview on Friday. “We gave them [Iran] a chance, and they didn’t take it. They got hit hard, very hard. They got hit about as hard as you’re going to get hit. And there’s more to come. A lot more.” On Truth Social, Trump stated: “I gave Iran a 60-day ultimatum to ‘make a deal.’ They should have done it. Today is day 61. I told them what to do, but they just couldn’t get there.”
Although the U.S. military played no role in Israel’s Friday morning strikes, Trump’s administration was kept informed of Israel’s surprise attack.
Iran Retaliates Against Israel
Soon after Israeli jets entered Iranian airspace in the early hours of Friday morning, Iran launched a drone barrage numbering between 500 and 800 drones, according to different reports, that was expected to reach Israel before 11:30 a.m. The barrage was successfully intercepted outside of Israeli airspace by the IAF with assistance from British jets arriving in the region from Cyprus.
The Friday afternoon hours in Israel were quiet and peaceful, but tensions were palpable. Schools and workplaces had closed, and shabbat gatherings were canceled, but the tranquility in grocery stores, on the street, and at the few cafes that remained open exuded the peaceful calm before the storm that permeates Israeli society.
The major Iranian response came around 9 p.m. on Friday and lasted until about 5 a.m. on Saturday. The first wave of ballistic missiles from Iran targeted highly populated centers between Jerusalem, Beer Sheva, Tel Aviv, and Netanya. Of the hundreds of missiles intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome, several made impact, striking residential neighborhoods in the cities of Rishon LeZion and Ramat Gan, killing three.
The second wave came less than an hour later and focused on the country’s northern region and the economic heartbeat around Haifa. Successive waves of lesser intensity, and involving drones and missiles, set off continuous sirens throughout the country as interceptions could be heard throughout the night until around 5 a.m.
In the past 24 hours alone, Israel’s intelligence backed precision, strategic creativity, and military capabilities have taken out some of Iran’s top leadership and inflicted crippling damage to their nuclear, military, and defense infrastructure. Other strategic targets — such as petroleum and maritime assets and other nuclear facilities — have also been left intact as leverage against future strikes, with Iranian airspace completely vulnerable. Iran’s response, on the other hand, was expected, following the same tactical playbook as their previous air assaults on Israel by indiscriminately bombarding civilian centers with missile barrages in the hopes of overwhelming Israel’s air defense systems.
Meanwhile, neighboring Arab countries, such as Jordan, and governments in Germany, France, the UK, and the U.S. are in coordination to defend Israeli airspace, while Iran’s regional proxy, Hezbollah, has voiced their desire to sit this round out.
The spat is far from over. As of Saturday afternoon local Israeli time, warnings are circulating of another expected Iranian missile barrage this evening, while Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has vowed to make Tehran burn.
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