“WE WANT TO DEGRADE, DISRUPT, AND ELIMINATE THIS THREAT,” – Israeli Military
Israel launched a preemptive strike on Iran early Friday, targeting Iranian nuclear facilities, senior military leaders and research scientists in a major escalation against Tehran.
Israel Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed in a statement that its jets have completed the first-stage attack, notably strikes on dozens of military targets, including nuclear targets in different areas of Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video address that the goal of the ongoing operation is “to strike Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, Iran’s ballistic missile factories, and Iran’s military capabilities,” and will continue “for as many days as it takes.”
The head of the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate said Iran is rapidly advancing its nuclear development in a video released by the Israeli army after Israel launched large-scale strikes against Iran, saying it had targeted nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders.
“We want to degrade, disrupt, and eliminate this threat,” Major General Shlomi Binder said as he spoke to intelligence officers in what the army said was an air force underground command centre in Tel Aviv from which the strikes were directed.
Israel said it was the start of a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon. Reports from Iran, have indicated that key personnel in the Nuclear Scientists and military personnel have been targeted and killed.
Chief Commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Hossein Salami and Deputy Army Commander Gholam-Ali Rashid were killed as a result of the airstrikes, the official news agency IRNA reported.
The Israeli airstrikes also killed two Iranian nuclear scientists, identified as Mohammad-Mehdi Tehranchi and Fereydoun Abbasi, the report said.
Iran’s supreme leader adviser and guards commander Ali Shamkhani was reported to be “critically injured” in Israel’s attack, according to local media.
U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said that Iran reported “no elevated radiation levels” and that he was ready to travel to Iran to assess the situation there after Israel carried out widespread military strikes that hit the sprawling nuclear complex at Natanz. “They have also reported that at present, the Isfahan and Fordow sites have not been impacted,” Grossi said, adding the development was “deeply concerning.”
Grossi urged all parties “to exercise maximum restraint to avoid further escalation.”
