✪ ISRAEL: OPERATION RISING LION

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he Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a massive and devastating set of preemptive airstrikes on Iran’s leaders, its military, its nuclear sites, and its refineries early Friday morning local time.

In five waves, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) carried out hundreds of missions across distances that were once thought to be too far for Israeli fighter jets to travel without refueling.

The Iranians appeared to have been taken by surprise. And Iranian air defenses, which had already largely been destroyed last year in Israeli retaliations to Iranian missile attacks, appeared to be nonexistent or were damaged even further.

Iran’s so-called “Supreme Leader,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, appeared to have survived, but senior leaders of Iran’s military did not, nor did key nuclear scientists. And Iran’s nuclear facility at Natanz appeared to have been badly damaged, if not destroyed, in the attacks.

The IDF issued a statement describing “Operation Rising Lion:”

A short while ago, following the directive of the political echelon, the IDF launched a preemptive, precise, combined offensive based on high-quality intelligence to strike Iran’s nuclear program, and in response to the Iranian regime’s ongoing aggression against Israel. A short while, dozens of IAF jets completed the first stage that included strikes on dozens of military targets, including nuclear targets in different areas of Iran.

The public is requested to follow the instructions of the IDF Home Front Command, which will be updated as necessary, and act calmly and responsibly. The IDF and the relevant authorities are prepared for a wide range of scenarios in defense and offense that may be needed.

For years, the Iranian regime has been waging a direct and indirect campaign of terror against the State of Israel, by funding and directing terrorist activities via its proxies across the Middle East, while advancing toward obtaining a nuclear weapon. The Iranian regime is at the head of the axis responsible for all terrorist attacks against the State of Israel since the beginning of the “Swords of Iron” War, including by arming and funding the Hamas terror organization which was responsible for the October 7th Massacre. During the “Swords of Iron” War, Iran even directly attacked Israel twice, firing hundreds of missiles toward the State of Israel.

The Iranian regime has proclaimed that its objective is to destroy the State of Israel. Senior officials in the Iranian regime have publicly declared their intent to destroy Israel, and are operating to achieve this together with their proxies in the Middle East. Today, Iran is closer than ever to obtaining a nuclear weapon. Weapons of mass destruction in the hands of the Iranian regime are an existential threat to the State of Israel and a significant threat to the wider world. The State of Israel will not allow a regime whose objective is to destroy the State of Israel to obtain weapons of mass destruction.

The IDF has conducted a process of preparations for a campaign on the frontline and on the home front. The resilience of Israel’s citizens will be an important factor of the campaign.

The IDF is ready to continue to act as required. The State of Israel has the obligation to act in defense of its citizens and will continue to do so everywhere it is required to do so, as we have done in the past.

The IDF is conducting an ongoing situational assessment and will update on any developments.

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Separately, the IDF released a statement explaining that the Iranian nuclear program had reached a crucial threshold, and that there had been no choice but to act, given the failure of Iran’s negotiations with the U.S.

In recent months, accumulated intelligence information has provided evidence that the Iranian regime is approaching the point of no return. The convergence of the Iranian regime’s efforts to produce thousands of kilograms of enriched uranium, alongside decentralized and fortified enrichment compounds in underground facilities, enables the Iranian regime to enrich uranium to military-grade levels, enabling the regime to obtain a nuclear weapon within a short period of time. Additionally, in recent years, and more so since the beginning of the war, concrete progress has been identified in the Iranian regime’s efforts to produce weapons components adapted for a nuclear bomb.

The Iranian regime has been working for decades to obtain a nuclear weapon. The world has attempted every possible diplomatic path to stop it, but the regime has refused to stop.

The IDF is revealing for the first time that the Iranian regime is advancing a secret plan for the technological advancement of all parts of the development of a nuclear weapon. In the framework of this plan, senior nuclear scientists in Iran have been working to secretly develop all components needed for developing a nuclear weapon.

In recent months, this program has accelerated significantly, bringing the regime significantly closer to obtaining a nuclear weapon. This is clear evidence that the Iranian regime is operating to obtain a nuclear weapon.

The State of Israel has been left with no choice. The IDF has the obligation to act in defense of the civilians of Israel and will continue to do so.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published a speech in which he described the necessity of the attack, and appealed directly to the Iranian people as he has done before; to rise up against their leaders.

The Government Press Office revealed that Netanyahu had placed a note of prayer in the Western Wall — the holiest site in Judaism — on Thursday, quoting Numbers 23:24: “‘A people that rises up as a lioness, and as a lion lifts himself up’.”

Air raid sirens were sounded throughout Israel on Friday morning — not because of a specific threat, but to warn the public that the country was now at war with its greatest enemy.

Israeli airspace was closed to civilian aircraft, and two small Israeli airlines moved their operations to Cyprus.

Iran attempted to put on a brave face after the attacks, vowing to retaliate, “Blood for blood.” But it was not clear what it could do. Its air defenses had been destroyed; its terrorist proxies, who launched the war against Israel on October 7, 2023, had been decimated; and much of its general military staff were dead, or in hiding.✪

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ran has launched 100 drones against Israel in its first response to massive Israeli airstrikes against the regime and its nuclear sites early Friday. The drones were expected to take several hours to arrive.

It was not clear what munitions the drones were carrying. In April 2024, in Iran’s first direct attack against Israel, slow-moving drones were accompanied by ballistic missiles. Almost all of them were shot down.

The Jerusalem Post reported:

IDF Spokesman Effie Defrin on Friday morning told a press conference that Iran had launched over 100 drones toward Israel in recent hours. He also noted that over 200 IDF aircraft have attacked over 100 targets in Iran with over 330 munitions. He did not say when they would reach Israel, but in April 2025 [sic], it took such drones several hours.

Israel’s airstrikes succeeded in knocking out much of the general staff of the Iranian military, as well as damaging nuclear sites, military installations, and oil refineries, dealing a potentially devastating blow.Iran has no air defenses, after Israeli retaliation following the Iranian ballistic missile attacks of April 2024 and October 2024 managed to destroy most of Iran’s Russian-made surface-to-air (SAM) missile batteries.

Israel explained that it attacked Iran because the regime was near creating a nuclear weapon, and that it would have been capable of fielding 10-15 nuclear warheads. ✪

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resident Donald Trump has urged Iran’s remaining leadership to come to the negotiating table and make a deal because Israel has “the most lethal” American military equipment and more is on the way.

Israel launched what it classified as “pre-emptive, precise, confined [and] defensive” strikes on the Iranian leadership, military equipment, and nuclear facilities overnight into Friday morning. The strikes were followed by a chorus of calls from world leaders for Israel and Iran to find a diplomatic solution, with U.S. President Donald Trump framing the choice for Tehran as being between accepting a peace deal and utter oblivion.

Writing on Truth Social on Friday morning, President Trump related that:

“I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to ‘just do it’ but said they “just couldn’t get it done.” “This is a serious matter,” the President said, because “the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, [by far], and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come.”

Iranian hardliners had been brave in negotiations but they are “all [dead] now, and it will only get worse,” he said.

President Trump told Iran there was still time to avert even worse destruction and death by coming to the negotiating table and signing a deal. “Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left… [Just do it, before it is too late],” he wrote.

As reported earlier, senior Iranian military leaders including Major General Hossein Salami, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and nuclear scientists had been eliminated by Israeli strikes.

Air missile launches from Israel’s fleet of F-16 fighters were apparently supported by ground-launched drone strikes smuggled into Iran by Mossad, in a mode allegedly similar to recent Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian airbases, circumventing air defence by launching drones immediately next to their targets.✪

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ran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) confirmed in the early hours of Friday morning local time that Israeli airstrikes on targets in the country eliminated Major General Hossein Salami, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Major General Hossein Salami

Other arms of Iran’s state news apparatus confirmed several other high-profile regime members, including two nuclear scientists, were killed in the strikes. While unverified reports suggested that Salami may be far from the only high-ranking Iranian regime official to have been targeted successfully in the operation, he is the only one whose death the Iranian government has confirmed at press time.

Salami has sustained a place as one of the most prominent and belligerent senior leaders in the Iranian Islamist regime, regularly threatening attacks on America and Israel. In what was perhaps his final public appearance on Thursday, Salami declared that his forces were “war-tested and experienced,” prepared for war against its enemies.

The IRGC is both a U.S.-designated terrorist organization and a formal wing of the Iranian Armed Forces. Among its chief operations is to sustain relations between the Iranian terror state and its jihadist proxies, such as the Houthis in Yemen and Lebanese Hezbollah, and with fellow rogue states such as Venezuela and Cuba.

IRNA confirmed Salami’s death in a brief message that offered no details on the occurrence. It confirmed that Salami died in Tehran and claimed him a victim of “assassination.” In a separate report, the state news outlet confirmed a barrage of airstrikes over the capital city by the Israeli Air Force.

Another Iranian state media outlet, PressTV, reported early Friday that the strikes had “martyred” … several other senior IRGC commanders and nuclear scientists.

“Veteran nuclear scientists Mohammad-Mehdi Tehranchi and Fereydoon Abbasi have also been martyred in the attack,” PressTV reported, adding confirmation for now that at least one Iranian military leader, the Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Major General Bagheri, is still alive and in Iran’s war room plotting the nation’s response.

The Times of Israel, citing Iranian state television, reported that Israel apparently also bombed one of the most prominent uranium enrichment facilities in the country, the Natanz facility, several times. Scattered but anonymous reports about potential disruptions in Iran by undercover Mossad agents have also surfaced, though Israel has not confirmed them.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the airstrikes during a national address on Friday morning, identifying the strikes as “Operation Rising Lion.”

“This operation will continue for as many days as it takes,” he asserted, stating that Iranian officials were actively taking steps to “weaponize” its enriched uranium stockpile, calling Tehran a “clear and present danger to Israel’s survival.”

Netanyahu continued:

“We are defending the free world from the terrorism and barbarism that Iran fosters and exports across the globe. Many around the world — even if they won’t say so openly — know in their hearts: thanks to your determination and courage, citizens of Israel, and thanks to the bravery of Israel’s fighters, the world will be a safer place.”

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Salami was one of the most powerful people in Iran and a top military leader; his loss will significantly damage Iran’s military operations. The general regularly threatened to attack neighboring Israel and celebrated the deadly activities of Iranian proxies such as Hamas, whose brutal terror spree against Israel on October 7, 2023, prompted Israel to declare war against Hamas in its enclave in Gaza.

“The enemy sometimes threatens us with military action. We have always said, and we say today, that we stand fully ready for any scenarios, situations, and circumstances,” Salami said in a speech on Thursday. “We are war-tested and experienced. We have built strength and developed a strategy in our plans. We monitor the depth of the enemy’s army and … have practiced our plans.”

The general was responding to widespread reports that Israel was preparing an attack over Iranian territory in response to alarming reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) this week indicating that Iran was rapidly nearing possession of enough fissile material to build a nuclear weapon. The IAEA, a U.N. agency, declared Iran in violation of several non-proliferation commitments in a resolution passed on Thursday, which expressed particular concern regarding evidence of rapidly accelerating uranium enrichment activities.

The resolution followed a report by the head of the agency, Rafael Grossi, on Monday that warned Iran was maintaining illicit enrichment sites and attempted to “sanitize” them when caught, meaning the IAEA could not credibly verify whether the activity occurring there was consistent with the nation’s nuclear commitments or not.

The Atomic Energy Agency of Iran responded to the IAEA’s condemnation on Thursday by announcing the debut of yet another uranium enrichment facility to be built in the near future.

IRNA reported.:

“The head of the Atomic Energy Organization has issued orders to establish a new uranium enrichment facility in a secure location and to replace first-generation centrifuges at the Fordow enrichment site with advanced IR-6 machines.”

The Israeli airstrikes occurred shortly before a scheduled sixth round of nuclear talks between diplomats from Iran and America, previously expected to occur on Sunday. Neither party has addressed going through with nor canceling the talks at press time following the attacks. Throughout the first five rounds of negotiations, however, Salami was consistently in the public eye, threatening America rather than embracing diplomacy.

“These are serious warnings to the Zionist [Israeli] and American authorities … if you make the slightest mistake, we will open the gates of hell for you,” Salami proclaimed in May.

Salami regularly appeared in Iranian state media condemning America as a “small and weak” country with no true political allies and predicted the collapse of the states of both Israel and America. ✪

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n Thursday evening, the long-anticipated Israel strikes began, targeting the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear sites and other key military facilities. The objective of Operation Strength of a Lion is to end the Iranian nuclear threat once and for all, as well as to destroy, as much as possible, the Islamic Republic’s ability to continue to wage war against the Jewish state via its proxies, Hamas, Hizballah, and the Houthis. The entire state of Israel was on emergency alert; the Israeli Home Front Command issued instructions to all Israeli citizens to comply with guidelines that would be issued as part of “preparations for a significant threat.”

Almost immediately after the air strikes began in Tehran, the propaganda war also entered a new phase. The Iranian military posted on X: “Remember, we didn’t initiate it.”

Ah, but it did. The Islamic Republic of Iran initiated this Israeli strike on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas operatives, funded and directed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, brutally tortured and murdered 1,200 Israelis. The Islamic Republic of Iran initiated this Israeli strike when its leaders regularly screamed “Death to Israel” (as well as “Death to America”) and repeatedly vowed to destroy Israel. As recently as May 17, the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei, declared: “The Zionist regime, which is the dangerous and lethal cancerous tumor of this region, must undoubtedly be removed, and it will be.”

In fact, the Islamic Republic of Iran initiated it by regarding Israel as an enemy from its earliest days. The Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who founded the Islamic Republic in 1979, replaced the Israeli embassy in Tehran with an embassy of “Palestine.” He decreed that the last Friday of the Muslim fasting-and-feasting month of Ramadan would henceforth be known as Al-Quds Day. Al-Quds is the name that modern-day Arabs and Muslims use for Jerusalem, and Al-Quds Day from its inception was the occasion for an orgy of hatred for Israel, jihadist saber rattling, and declarations that the Jewish state would soon be completely destroyed and a new genocide of the Jews would begin.

Al-Quds Day quickly became a global observance, with its bloodlust and demonic glorification of murder becoming commonplace in all too many European and North American cities as well as in Iran. And yet now, as Israeli bombs fall in Tehran and at the Natanz and Fordow nuclear sites, the Iranian military takes to X to declare that they didn’t initiate it.

In reality, Iran has no reason to regard Israel as an enemy at all. Israel poses no threat to Iran. They do not share a common border. Israel has no territorial claims against Iran. Iran, for that matter, does not claim Israeli territory. They do not have competing economic interests. The only reason why the Islamic Republic of Iran burns with hatred toward Israel and has been working toward its destruction for over forty years now is because it is an Islamic Republic.

The existence of Israel is an insult to Islam. The Qur’an tells Muslims: “Drive them out from where they drove you out.” (2:191). The Arab Higher Committee ordered the Arabs to flee the new Jewish state in 1948, as the Arab leaders were confident that they would soon destroy the new state, and then the Arabs would be able to go home. Instead, Israel won. Nevertheless, the imperative to “Drive them out from where they drove you out” still applies, for the land of Israel was once the property of the Ottoman Empire, and was ruled by Islamic law.

Extrapolating from Qur’an 2:191, it is a staple of Islamic doctrine that any land that was once under Sharia rule must be ruled by Muslims forever. The command to drive the non-Muslims out is considered to come from the supreme god himself; it is not to be ignored, and cannot be negotiated away. As soon as Iran became an Islamic Republic, it was therefore duty-bound to regard Israel as its mortal enemy. And it did so, with alacrity.

So yes, the Islamic Republic did indeed initiate this conflict. If it didn’t pursue Israel’s destruction so relentlessly, the Israelis would have no quarrel with Iran. But Israel is determined to survive, and so it struck Iran on Thursday.

Now the world holds its breath. The Islamic Republic is sure to retaliate. As the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, stated not long before the Israeli strike began, quoting Psalm 122:6: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” 

Indeed. And for the peace of all the people of the world, that this conflict may somehow bring us into a new era of freedom and respect for the dignity of every human being. Or at very least, that it will relieve the Iranian people of the vile regime they have suffered for so long now. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and of Tehran: pray for the Iranian people, who deserve better than the Islamic Republic. ✪

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srael, its allies, and regional Arab countries together intercepted Iranian drones fired in retaliation for the massive Israeli airstrike launched early Friday, stopping them before they reached Israeli airspace.

As reported earlier, Iran launched 100 drones at Israel after the Israeli Air Force (IAF) hit targets across Iran in a surprise attack that hit Iranian military leadership and nuclear sites in several waves.

Israelis were advised to remain near bomb shelters. However, the Jerusalem Post reported, the drones were all intercepted outside Israel — as in an earlier Iranian attack on Israel in April 2024.

The Post explained:The IDF’s Home Front Command rescinded the order to stay near sheltered areas nationwide on Friday morning, following a reduced threat analysis after the military said it intercepted drones launched from Iran.The IDF has not officially confirmed that every single drone was shot down, and there could be many more launched, but at this time, enough were shot down to make the home front instructions temporarily more lenient. The instructions could quickly become strict again at some point if and when Iran launches another large attack.Israel shot down the drones by scrambling aircraft as soon as Iran was confirmed to have launched the drones.

As in April 2024, several countries reportedly participated in shooting down Iranian drones that crossed into their airspace:

Meanwhile, Israel continued its assault on Iran’s remaining air defenses. The IDF said in a statement:

In recent hours, Israeli Air Force fighter jets, guided by precise intelligence from the Intelligence Directorate, completed a large-scale strike against the aerial defense array of the Iranian regime in western Iran. As part of the strikes, dozens of radars and surface-to-air missile launchers were destroyed.

Throughout the war, the IDF has systematically targeted the aerial defense systems of the Iranian regime and its proxies across the Middle East. These strikes enhance the Israeli Air Force’s freedom of aerial operation.

Israel was said to have neared complete air supremacy over Iran, meaning that it would be able to attack Iranian targets at will. ✪

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everal European leaders urged Israel and Iran to de-escalate after Jerusalem launched a “pre-emptive” strike on Iranian military leaders and facilities over night.

Iran’s Ayatollah has vowed “harsh punishment” in revenge after Israel launched targeted strikes overnight and launched a flight of suicide bomb drones, but European leaders urged both sides to stay their hands and engage in diplomacy. The United Kingdom, which has given Israel the cold shoulder in many respects since the new left-wing government took power last year rushed to assert it was “not involved in what happened overnight” and said its goal is to “prevent escalation.”

Government minister Sarah Jones spoke to Times Radio on Friday morning noted the Labour Government had already blocked the sale of some arms to Israel because of  the “intolerable… military expansion” in Gaza but wasn’t drawn on whether that stance would now change either way. The minister also didn’t respond when asked on whether the United Kingdom would help defend Israel from missile attacks, as it had done in the past.

The Times’ defence editor further asserted “sources” had said there were presently no plans to “protect Israel as Iran retaliates like it did before”” but noted this may later change.

Meanwhile, the British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his chief diplomat David Lammy — who has been at the forefront of UK criticism of Israel in recent months — expressed their disquiet at the strikes. Starmer said they were “concerning” and said no-one was served by the bombings. The Prime Minister said in a statement: “Now is the time for restraint, calm and a return to diplomacy.”

Lammy also expressed concern at a “dangerous moment” and said he urged “all parties to show restraint” over a “serious threat to peace [and] stability in the region.”

The Secretary General of NATO, former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, also spoke out on the strikes on Friday morning during a visit to Sweden. He said:

“It is obviously a rapidly evolving situation, and it is not a unilateral action by Israel so I think it is now crucial for many allies, including the United States, to work, as we speak, to de-escalate. I know that they are doing that and I think that is now the first order of the day”.

Other European states said that while they recognised Israel’s right to defend itself, they still did not approve of the strikes on Iranian military leaders and nuclear facilities overnight. Germany’s Friedrich Merz said he had been notified of the strikes hours in advance by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and reaffirmed “that Israel has the right to defend its existence and the security of its citizens”.

Nevertheless, he called “on both sides to refrain from steps that could lead to further escalation and destabilize the entire region.” reports Die Welt.

France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said his primary goal was France’s national interests and the safety of its citizens. He related in a statement:

“We have repeatedly expressed our serious concerns regarding Iran’s nuclear program, notably in the resolution recently adopted by the International Atomic Energy Agency. We reaffirm Israel’s right to defend itself against any attack. It is essential that all diplomatic channels be used to defuse tensions. France is fully committed to contributing to this.” ✪

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