Israel strikes again in Iran, which promises revenge on all its allies

Israel and several Western countries suspect Teheran of wanting to acquire nuclear weapons, which Teheran denies.

Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu has announced that Israel’s military operation against Iran will last “as many days as necessary”.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed that the strategic uranium enrichment site at Natanz, 300km from the capital Tehran, was targeted.

The Iranian armed forces warned that there would be “no limits” to their response. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei promised Israel a “painful” fate.

A few hours after the first strikes, the Israeli army announced that it had intercepted around one hundred drones launched from Iran.

The Israeli operation, carried out by 200 aircraft against around 100 targets, also hit residential areas in Teheran, according to the official Irna news agency. Around fifty people were injured. Provisional figures put the number of wounded at around 50, and the number of dead at several, including children.

Six scientists from Iran’s nuclear program and several high-ranking dignitaries perished in the forward. These included Mohammad Bagheri, Iran’s Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces. He was the second-highest-ranking member of the Iranian military hierarchy, after the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Hossein Salami was also killed by the strikes. Hossein Salami was head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an ideological army existing alongside the national armed forces. He was also known to be close to the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, and a fervent critic of Israel.

US President Donald Trump confirmed on Fox News that he had been informed in advance of the Israeli operation. “Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb, and we hope to return to the negotiating table,” he said.

“I gave Iran many chances to make a deal,” Trump said on Truth Social. “I told them, in the strongest possible terms, to ‘just do it’ (…) they simply didn’t.”

There has already been much death and destruction, but “there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end,” he said again.”Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian empire.”