Social media<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n After Netanyahu claimed Israel had targeted the nuclear facility at Natanz, the UN nuclear watchdog confirmed that Natanz had been hit. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe IAEA is closely monitoring the deeply concerning situation in Iran,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n
The agency said it was in contact with Iranian authorities regarding radiation levels in the area. In a later statement, it said it had not observed an increase in radiation. <\/p>\n
The Israeli military said it had killed three of the most senior men in Iran\u2019s military and its nuclear program. <\/p>\n
Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, head of the secretive Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was the highest-profile of those killed. In its initial statement, Israel also said it killed Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff of Iran\u2019s armed forces, and Gen. Gholam Ali Rashid, leader of Iran\u2019s emergency command. <\/p>\n
Later, the IDF said it had killed Ali Shamkhani, a close aide to Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC\u2019s air force. <\/p>\n
Many of the strikes on Tehran appear to have been targeting these senior officials. Last year, Israel demonstrated its ability to assassinate its adversaries in highly targeted attacks on Iranian soil. In July 2024, it killed Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas \u2013 the Iran-backed militia in Gaza \u2013 by remotely detonating a bomb that had been hidden in his room in Tehran. <\/p>\n
While Friday\u2019s strikes appeared extremely targeted, there have been reports of civilian casualties. <\/p>\n
The IDF said that Iran had launched more than 100 drones towards Israeli territory, and that Israel\u2019s air defenses were preparing to intercept them. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re expecting difficult hours,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n
Following previous Israeli attacks against Iran and its proxies in the region, Tehran fired back with huge salvos of ballistic missiles. <\/p>\n
The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank in Washington, DC, said it was \u201cpossible that Israel somehow disrupted Iran\u2019s response by targeting Iran\u2019s ballistic missile launch sites and stockpiles.\u201d <\/p>\n
Early afternoon, Iranian media reported that Israel had launched a fresh strike on the northwestern city of Tabriz. Tamsin news agency said the Tabriz Airport had come under \u201cheavy Israeli attack.\u201d <\/p>\n
After learning the extent of Israel\u2019s attack, Trump urged Iran\u2019s leaders to agree to a new nuclear deal \u201cbefore there is nothing left\u201d of their country. <\/p>\n
Trump said he had given Iran \u201cchance after chance\u201d to make a deal. \u201cJUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,\u201d he wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform. <\/p>\n
Under a 2015 nuclear deal struck by President Barack Obama, Iran agreed to drastically limit its number of centrifuges and cap uranium enrichment at levels far below those required to make weapons, in exchange for sanctions relief. <\/p>\n
But during his first term as president in 2018, Trump withdrew from the deal, saying the \u201crotten structure\u201d of the agreement was not enough to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb. He ramped up sanctions on Iran and threatened to sanction any country that helped the regime obtain nuclear weapons. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In his second term, Trump has revived efforts to strike a new nuclear deal with Iran. <\/p>\n
Just hours before Israel\u2019s attack, the president on Thursday cautioned Israel against launching a strike while talks are ongoing. US officials have held several rounds of high-stakes nuclear talks with Iran in recent weeks, demanding that Tehran stop all uranium enrichment activity. <\/p>\n
Iran has long claimed that its nuclear program is peaceful. It has said it wants to keep enriching uranium for civilian purposes, like building a nuclear reactor, and not for weapons. <\/p>\n
\u201cZero nuclear weapons = we DO have a deal. Zero enrichment = we do NOT have a deal,\u201d Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an X post last month, setting out Tehran\u2019s red lines in the talks. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n
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