Smoke rises up after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 13, 2025.

Israel attacked Iran's capital early Friday in strikes that targeted the country's nuclear program and raised the potential for an all-out war between the two bitter Middle East adversaries. It appeared to be the most significant attack Iran has faced since its 1980s war with Iraq, with multiple sites around the country hit.

The leader of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was feared dead, Iranian state television reported, a development that would be a major body blow to Tehran's governing theocracy and an immediate escalation of the nations' long-simmering conflict. The report offered few details about what happened to Gen. Hossein Salami but said that another top Guard official, as well as two nuclear scientists, were also feared dead.

Israeli leaders said the attack was necessary to head off what they described as an imminent threat that Iran would build nuclear bombs, and they warned of a reprisal that could target civilians in Israel.

In Washington, the Trump administration, which earlier cautioned Israel against an attack amid continuing negotiations, said that it had not been involved in the attack and warned Iran against retaliations against U.S. interests or personnel.

Multiple sites in the capital were hit in the attack, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said targeted both nuclear and military sites. Also targeted were officials leading Iran’s nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal.

The assault came amid warnings from Israel that it would not permit Tehran to build a nuclear weapon, though it remains unclear how close the country actually is to achieving that.

Netanyahu said in an address on YouTube that the attacks will continue “for as many days at it takes to remove this threat.”

The attack followed increasing tensions that led the U.S. to pull some diplomats from Iraq’s capital and to offer voluntary evacuations for the families of U.S. troops in the wider Middle East.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel took “unilateral action against Iran” and that Israel advised the U.S. that it believed the strikes were necessary for its self-defense.

“We are not involved in strikes against Iran, and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” Rubio said in a statement released by the White House that warned Iran against targeting U.S. interests or personnel.

The attack comes as tensions have reached new heights over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program.

The Board of Governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency for the first time in 20 years on Thursday censured Iran over its refusal to work with its inspectors. Iran immediately announced it would establish a third enrichment site in the country and swap out some centrifuges for more-advanced ones.

There are multiple assessments on how many nuclear weapons Iran could potentially build, should it choose to do so. Iran would need months to assemble, test and field any weapon, which it so far has said it has no desire to do. U.S. intelligence agencies also assess Iran does not have a weapons program at this time.

Benchmark Brent crude spiked on news of the attack, rising nearly 5%.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that his country carried out the attack, without saying what it targeted.

“In the wake of the state of Israel’s preventive attack against Iran, missile and drone attacks against Israel and its civilian population are expected immediately," he said in a statement.

The statement added that Katz “signed a special order declaring an emergency situation in the home front.”

“It is essential to listen to instructions from the home front command and authorities to stay in protected areas,” it said

Both Iran and Israel closed their airspace.

As the explosions in Tehran started, President Donald Trump was on the lawn of the White House mingling with members of Congress. It was unclear if he had been informed, but the president continued shaking hands and posing for pictures for several minutes.

Trump earlier said he was urging Netanyahu to hold off from taking action for the time being while the administration negotiated with Iran.

“As long as I think there is a (chance for an) agreement, I don’t want them going in because I think it would blow it,” Trump told reporters.

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Iran doubles down as US signals Israel could strike despite nuclear talks

Iranian authorities have remained defiant amid concerns that Israel could launch an attack on Iran as the global nuclear watchdog adopts another Western-led censure resolution.

Even as Oman confirmed on Thursday that it will host a sixth round of talks on Sunday between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s nuclear programme, reports by outlets such as The New York Times, quoting officials in the US and Europe, warned that Israel is “ready” to attack Iran, even without military backing from Washington. Israel has long threatened to attack Iran’s nuclear sites.

The administration of US President Donald Trump also carried out a partial evacuation of embassy staff in Iraq and dependants of US personnel across the Middle East in a sign of escalating tension in the region.

“I don’t want to say imminent, but it looks like it’s something that could very well happen,” said Trump at a White House event on Thursday, commenting on the likelihood of an Israeli strike.

“We will not give in to America’s coercion and bullying,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a televised speech in the western city of Ilam on Thursday, pointing out that Iran resisted eight years of invasion in the 1980s by neighbouring Iraq, which was backed by many foreign powers.

Hossein Salami, commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), told state television that if Israel attacks, it would be met with a “history-making” response that would go far beyond Iran’s two rounds of retaliatory strikes on Israel last year.

He said Iran is not “defenceless and encircled” like Gaza, where the Israeli military has killed more than 55,000 Palestinians since October 7, 2023.

Speaking to a crowd in Tehran, IRGC Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani said Iran’s armed forces have made significant strides in improving their attacking capabilities in the months since the previous missile barrages launched against Israel.

“If they think the axis of resistance and Iran have been weakened and then boast based on that, it is all a dream,” said the commander, who leads the external force of the IRGC, which is tasked with expanding Iran’s regional influence.

Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, announced on Thursday that he has given the order to launch more military exercises after a series of large-scale drills were held across Iran earlier this year. An array of missiles and drones, warships, special forces and even underground missile bases featured in those drills.

On Wednesday, Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh reiterated that all US military bases in countries across the region are legitimate targets if conflict breaks out with the US.

He said Iran had successfully launched an unnamed ballistic missile last week with a 2,000kg (4,410lb) warhead and promised casualties “on the other side will be greater and would force the US to leave the region”.

Iran to build third enrichment site

After days of deliberation, the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Thursday passed a resolution to censure Iran over its advancing nuclear programme and several outstanding cases involving unexplained nuclear materials found at Iranian sites.

The resolution was put forward in Vienna by the US along with France, Germany and the United Kingdom, the three European nations who are still party to Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which Trump unilaterally abandoned in 2018.

The global nuclear watchdog has adopted several Western-led censure resolutions against Iran over the past few years, but the one on Thursday was the most serious in nearly two decades because it alleges Iran is not complying with its nuclear nonproliferation obligations.

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs branded the accusation “completely baseless and fabricated” and said Western powers are using the international body as a tool for exerting political pressure.

Tehran’s response was also significant. The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and the Foreign Ministry jointly announced that the country would build its third uranium enrichment site at a “secure” location.

They added that first-generation centrifuges will be replaced with sixth-generation machines at the Fordow enrichment plant, which will considerably boost Iran’s ability to create highly enriched uranium.

The Natanz and Fordow facilities, both built deep underground to protect them against bunker-buster munitions used by the US and Israel, are currently the only facilities enriching uranium in Iran. They are both under heavy supervision by the IAEA.

Iran is now enriching uranium up to 60 percent and maintains that its nuclear programme is strictly peaceful and has civilian uses, such as power generation and the manufacture of radiopharmaceuticals. Uranium must be at 90 percent purity to build nuclear weapons.

‘Zero’ enrichment demand looms over talks

Iran and the US are once again heading to Muscat even as they still disagree over enrichment, the key issue for any potential agreement.

The 2015 nuclear deal allowed Iran to enrich uranium up to 3.67 percent under IAEA monitoring, but Trump, who now says he is less confident about a deal with Iran, has insisted on “zero” enrichment taking place inside Iran.

Tehran, which this week rejected another US proposal that included zero enrichment, is slated to offer a counterproposal soon to try to advance the negotiations.

Ideas for a nuclear consortium that includes Iran’s neighbours to bolster trust have so far failed to provide any breakthrough.

Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Mossad chief David Barnea are expected to meet with US envoy Steve Witkoff on Friday before he heads to the Omani capital for the latest round of talks.

Tehran leans on national sentiment

In Tehran’s Vanak Square, authorities this week installed a huge sculpture of Arash Kamangir (Arash the Archer), a hero in Iranian mythology.

The story of Arash involved the hero putting his life in danger by climbing Mount Damavand – the highest peak in Iran at 5,609 metres (18,402ft) and a symbol of national pride – to use his archery skills to set Iran’s borders. In the story, his arrow flies for days before setting Iran’s boundaries with Turan, a historical region in Central Asia.

The story is one that evokes a sense of national pride among all Iranians. When images of the sculpture went viral on social media, some Iranians praised the move while others criticised it as an attempt to tap nationalist sentiment at a time when Iran may be attacked.

But even with the spectre of war seeming to loom over Iran again, markets in the country have remained relatively stable in recent weeks as they anticipate the results of negotiations with the US.

The Iranian rial changed hands in Tehran for about 840,000 per US dollar on Thursday, having only slightly dipped compared with the days before and its news of more military and political pressure on Iran.

“Most people I’ve spoken to here are following the news of the talks with the US and Israel’s threats very closely, but there’s no panic,” a 36-year-old vendor at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar told Al Jazeera, asking to remain anonymous.

After years of stringent sanctions, along with local mismanagement, Iran has been facing consistently high inflation. It currently stands above 30 percent. Iranians are also cut off from international payment networks and banned from most international services due to the sanctions.

“Nobody wants a war,” the vendor said. “We have enough problems as is. I really hope they reach a deal.”

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Trump warns of ‘chance of massive conflict’ amid Israel-Iran tensions

US President Donald Trump speaks at the White House, June 12.

United States President Donald Trump has warned that there is a “chance of massive conflict” in the Middle East, confirming that an Israeli attack on Iran is “possible”.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Trump said he would “love to avoid the conflict” and suggested that the US would like Israel to hold off on plans to strike Iran’s nuclear sites while Washington and Tehran continue their negotiations.

“I want to have an agreement with Iran. We’re fairly close to an agreement … I’d much prefer an agreement,” the US president said.

“As long as I think there is an agreement, I don’t want them [the Israelis] going in because I think that would blow it – might help it actually, but it also could blow it.”

Yet, Trump said that an Israeli attack “could very well happen” without elaborating whether the US would participate or assist in any strikes.

His comments came a day after the US pulled some of its diplomats from the region and put its embassies on high alert amid reports of a possible Israeli attack on Iran.

“There’s a chance of massive conflict,” Trump said.

“We have a lot of American people in this area. And I said: We’ve got to tell them to get out because something could happen soon, and I don’t want to be the one that didn’t give any warning, and missiles are flying into their buildings. It’s possible.”

Later on Thursday, the US president reiterated his commitments to diplomacy with Iran. “My entire Administration has been directed to negotiate with Iran,” he wrote in a social media post. “They could be a Great Country, but they first must completely give up hopes of obtaining a Nuclear Weapon.”

Nuclear talks

US and Iranian officials have held several rounds of talks since April to reach a nuclear deal to avert war.

Trump’s stated position is that Iran will never be allowed to obtain nuclear bombs.

Tehran denies seeking a nuclear weapon, but it stresses that it has a right to domestically enrich uranium – a process of altering the uranium atom to produce nuclear fuel.

But US officials have suggested that Iran must give up its enrichment capabilities to ensure that it cannot militarise its nuclear programme.

Despite the apparent impasse, the talks have continued. US and Iranian officials are scheduled to hold a sixth round of negotiations in Oman on Sunday.

Trump previously expressed optimism about the chances of reaching an agreement.

But tensions spiked in recent days.

Earlier this week, Iran said it obtained a trove of secret documents on Israel’s own undeclared nuclear arsenal.

While Israel has not publicly said that it will attack Iran, the US move to partially evacuate its embassy in Baghdad and pull personnel from diplomatic posts across the Middle East on Wednesday raised concerns that violence could break out.

Moreover, the United Nations nuclear watchdog (IAEA) passed a resolution, put forward by the US, the United Kingdom, France and Germany, on Thursday that accused Iran of failing to comply with its nuclear obligations.

Tehran forcefully rejected the measure, accusing Washington and its allies of politically exploiting the international body.

During his first term, in 2018, Trump nixed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which saw Iran scale back its nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions against its economy.

Since then, the US has been piling sanctions on Iran. Tehran has responded by escalating its nuclear programme.

Iran warns against ‘aggression’

Early in his second term, Trump signed an executive order to tighten sanctions against Iran to choke off the country’s oil exports, particularly to China. But the US president has also stressed repeatedly that he does not want war.

Israel has been claiming for more than 20 years that Iran is on the cusp of obtaining a nuclear weapon.

In recent months, Israeli officials have suggested that they see an opportune moment to strike Iran, after the blows that Tehran’s regional allies suffered last year, including the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the weakening of Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“Israel has never been stronger and the Iran terror axis has never been weaker,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in February.

Iran has been warning that it would retaliate harshly against any Israeli attack.

“Iran is currently at its highest level of military readiness, and if the United States or the Zionist regime attempts any act of aggression, they will be caught by surprise,” an unidentified Iranian official told Press TV on Thursday.

It is unclear whether Israel has the military power to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities, built deep underground and inside mountains, without direct US involvement – the billions of dollars in military aid that the US gives Israel every year notwithstanding.

Since the outbreak of the war on Gaza in October 2023, Iran and Israel have exchanged several rounds of attacks.