What happened overnight? Israel launched a widespread attack on Iran aimed at targets including its nuclear facilities, military commanders and scientists, claiming it took unilateral action because Tehran had begun to build nuclear warheads. Israel said 200 Israeli fighter jets participated in the operation, striking 100 targets. What sites were hit? Nuclear facilities Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz was hit, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. It is unclear how much damage was done, but video footage posted online appears to show the aftermath of massive explosions. Natanz is partially above ground, with halls of centrifuges spinning uranium gas for its nuclear programme. Quoting Iranian authorities, the IAEA said a number of other key Iranian sites – including the Fordow nuclear enrichment site, the Isfahan nuclear site and the Bushehr nuclear power plant – had not been hit. Military installations and other targets Israel said it had destroyed dozens of radar installations and surface-to-air missile launchers. Sites in the capital, Tehran, were hit, including the headquarters of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards, one of the main power centres within the country’s theocracy. Footage from security cameras in the capital showed two of the explosions. Footage and photographs taken after the Tehran strikes showed burning buildings and people out on the streets. Who are the generals and scientists who were targeted? Iranian state media said the head of the Revolutionary Guards, Gen Hossein Salami, the army chief of staff, Maj Gen Mohammad Bagheri, and the commander of the Khatam al-Anbia joint forces headquarters, Maj Gen Gholamali Rashid, had been killed in the strikes, as well as six nuclear scientists, including Fereydoun Abbasi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization from 2011 to 2013. How has Iran reacted? Iran has fired about 100 drones at Israel, as the country’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, threatened “severe punishment”. Iraq said more than 100 Iranian drones had crossed its airspace, and a short time later neighbouring Jordan said its air force and defence systems had intercepted several missiles and drones that had entered its airspace for fear they would fall in its territory. What is the background? Justifying the attack, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Iran was not only building up its supply of fissile enriched uranium, with enough for nine warheads, but also that it had taken unprecedented steps towards building bombs. The IAEA board ruled on Thursday that Iran was in violation of its obligations under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, for its failure to cooperate fully with IAEA inspections and amassing an estimated 400kg of highly enriched uranium. Western intelligence assessments until now have generally said that while Iran is stockpiling the components of a bomb, it had not taken the final decision to build one. The attack on Iran comes a few days before a fresh round of US-Iranian talks were due in Oman aimed at finding a diplomatic solution to the standoff over Iran’s nuclear programme, which has expanded rapidly since 2018 when the US president, Donald Trump, withdrew from an international deal constraining it.
Author: Guardian staff