Iran strikes Tel Aviv in retaliation for Israeli attacks on nuclear sites and top military leaders

Iran launched a barrage of missiles at Israel on Friday in a dramatic and deadly retaliation for overnight Israeli airstrikes that targeted key Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure. Explosions rocked Tel Aviv and other areas, wounding at least five people and sending shockwaves through a region already on edge.

Air raid sirens wailed across Israeli cities as Iranian rockets pierced the skies, marking one of the most serious direct confrontations between the two nations in decades. The attacks came just hours after Israeli jets struck nuclear enrichment facilities and military compounds deep inside Iran, killing at least three senior military commanders and several nuclear scientists.

The Israeli strikes, described by officials as preemptive and highly coordinated, hit sensitive targets including uranium enrichment facilities, ballistic missile storage sites, and a major refinery. It is believed to be the most extensive assault on Iran since the Iran–Iraq War of the 1980s.

The escalation follows weeks of rising tensions, with Iran having recently announced plans to activate a third nuclear enrichment facility—just after the UN’s nuclear watchdog censured the country for failing to meet nonproliferation standards. The Israeli government, under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has long warned of a preemptive strike against Iran's nuclear program, and this week’s developments appeared to mark the fulfillment of that threat.

On Thursday, Netanyahu’s government narrowly survived a no-confidence vote in the Knesset, signaling deep domestic divisions as the country enters a potentially wider conflict.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned the Israeli strikes, vowing that Tehran would not let Israel “escape safely from this great crime they committed.” He warned of further retaliation and called on Iran’s allies to respond.

In Tel Aviv, Prime Minister Netanyahu defended the operation as essential to “roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival,” adding that the military had “prepared this operation for months.”

US President Donald Trump, speaking from Washington, urged restraint while also calling on Iran to return to negotiations. “Make a deal before it’s too late,” he said, while reiterating that US forces were not involved in the Israeli operation.