ISRAEL HITS IRAN’S NUCLEAR SITES

TEHRAN: Israel’s attack on multiple areas of Iran, including the capital Tehran, wounded at least 95 people, an emergency services official told state TV.

“So far, 95 people were injured and taken to medical centres in 12 different provinces that were targeted,” national emergency services spokesperson Mojtaba Khaledi told state TV. 

The Israeli military said it hit the underground uranium enrichment centrifuges at Iran´s vast Natanz facility as part of the wave of strikes it carried out on Friday.

“The underground area of the site was damaged. This area contains a multi-storey enrichment hall with centrifuges, electrical rooms and additional supporting infrastructure,” the military said in a statement.

“In addition, critical infrastructure enabling the site´s continuous operation and the Iranian regime´s ongoing efforts to obtain nuclear weapons were targeted,” it added.

Israel said Friday it had carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites, promising to continue its campaign and “achieve much more”. Blasts were reported in Tehran and at a key uranium enrichment site.

Here is what we know so far:

• Israel’s military said its jets carried out strikes on “dozens of military targets, including nuclear targets in different areas of Iran”.
• It said 200 jets were involved in the raids, striking about 100 targets.
• Blasts reported in the capital, where state television said fire and smoke were seen at a key site for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the city’s east.
• Damage to residential buildings and civilian deaths were also reported.
• State television said Natanz, in Iran’s central Isfahan province and home to a key nuclear site, had been hit “several times”.
• The UN nuclear watchdog confirmed Natanz was among the sites targeted in the attacks and said it was in touch with Iranian authorities and its inspectors in the country “regarding radiation levels”.
• Additional strikes were reported against three military sites in Iran’s northwest.
• Iranian state media confirmed the deaths of Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami and armed forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri in the attacks.
• It also reported 50 people, including women and children, had been injured.

Israel’s military said Iran launched about 100 drones toward Israel on Friday and that it was making an effort to shoot them down, following a wave of Israeli air strikes across the Islamic republic.

“Iran launched approximately 100 UAVs towards Israeli territory, which we are working to intercept,” military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin told journalists.

He added that Israel’s strikes on Iran involved 200 fighter jets striking about 100 targets across Iran.

“The Zionist regime has committed a crime in our dear country today at dawn with its satanic, bloodstained hands,” said Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei following Israeli strikes on Iran.

“That regime should anticipate a severe punishment. By God’s grace, the powerful arm of the Islamic Republic’s Armed Forces won’t let them go unpunished.”

“With this crime, the Zionist regime has prepared for itself a bitter, painful fate, which it will definitely see,” he warned. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that a wave of Israeli strikes on Iran had been “very successful,” warning they were only the opening salvos in a broader campaign against the Islamic republic.

“We carried out a very successful opening strike, and with God’s help, we will achieve much more,” Netanyahu said in a video statement. He had earlier stated that the strikes on Iran would continue for “many days”. 

Iran’s armed forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri was killed Friday in during Israeli attacks that hit multiple cities including the capital, state television reported.

“Major General Mohammad Bagheri chief of staff of the armed forces was martyred,” the broadcaster said.

Additionally, according to state media, other Iranian officials were also killed in separate Israeli attacks.

These officials include Chief Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami, Mohammad-Mehdi Tehranchi, a nuclear scientist and president of Islamic Azad University, Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari, a nuclear engineering professor at Shahid Beheshti University, Fereydoun Abbasi, also a nuclear scientist and former head of Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, and Commander of Khatam al-Anbia Headquarters Major General Gholamali Rashid. 

Initial reports from Iranian state media indicate that the Israeli military has launched a series of airstrikes across at least six locations in Iran, Al Jazeera reported.

The attacks, which began in recent hours, have reportedly occurred in two waves, with unconfirmed reports suggesting a third wave may now be underway.

Strikes have been confirmed in the following key areas:

• Tehran: The Iranian capital and surrounding military sites have been targeted.
• Natanz: Explosions have been reported in Natanz, the location of Iran’s main uranium enrichment facility.
• Tabriz: Near a nuclear research center and two military bases in Tabriz, northwest of Tehran, explosions have been heard.
• Isfahan: The city of Isfahan, south of Tehran, has also been hit.
• Arak: Strikes were confirmed in Arak, southwest of Tehran.
• Kermanshah: The city of Kermanshah, west of Tehran, has also experienced attacks. 

Israel has fully coordinated with Washington on Iran and notified the United States before its strike on Iranian targets, state broadcaster Kan quoted an Israeli official as saying on Friday.

The official, who was not named, told Kan that recent reports of rifts between Israel and Washington were false, but had not been denied as part of a media ruse to confuse Iran.