Israel launches strikes on Iran’s nuclear, military sites killing 2 key leaders

(NewsNation) — In a sweeping military operation launched late Thursday night, Israel struck multiple high-value targets across Iran. The coordinated attack — dubbed Operation “Rising Lion” — targeted a wide range of Iranian military, nuclear and leadership assets, according to Israeli officials.

Iranian state television is reporting that the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Tehran has been hit in Israeli airstrikes, with fire and smoke seen rising from the site.

Local media say the head of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami, and the chief of Iran’s military, Mohammad Bagheri, may have been killed in the attack, according to multiple reports.

Nuclear scientists Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi are also reported to be dead.

Israel conducted the preemptive strike against Iran, Defense Minister Israel Katz said, announcing a “special emergency home front” across the Middle Eastern country.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed they targeted Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. Dozens of Israeli Air Force jets struck multiple military and nuclear sites across Iran in what the IDF describes as the first stage of a broader operation, one some worry may result in widespread regional conflict.

The Israeli Air Force struck sites in Kermanshah, Tabriz and Natanz, as well as Tehran.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an address Iran is working on “the new plan to destroy Israel.”

Netanyahu said the strike targeted the core of Iran’s nuclear enrichment and weaponization program, including the main facility in Natanz and key ballistic missile sites. He also confirmed Iranian nuclear scientists were among the targets.

He added that “Operation Rising Lion” will continue “for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.”

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Israeli forces struck key sites in Natanz, targeting enrichment facilities, weapons programs, nuclear scientists and missile production infrastructure.

Netanyahu warned Iran could soon mass-produce missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, calling the threat “intolerable.”

Katz said a missile and UAV attack is expected imminently on Israel in response.

A U.S. official tells NewsNation that there was “no US involvement or US assistance.”

The IDF accuses Iran of being on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons and states this action is meant to eliminate what it calls an existential threat.

The Iranian government has vowed to retaliate.

The scale and targets of the attack are unknown, but the U.S. pulled some troops and nonessential personnel out of Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain on Wednesday, citing regional tensions.

“We gotta tell them to get out because something could happen soon and I didn’t want to not give them a warning, if it should happen,” President Donald Trump said Thursday when asked about the decision.