Following a week of missile exchanges between Israel and Iran, the Israeli military said Saturday, June 21, that it hit one of Tehran’s nuclear research facilities overnight, according to The Associated Press. An Israeli military spokesman added that despite its “amazing achievements,” the country will continue bombing Iran “until the threat is removed.”
Israel damages Iranian centrifuge sites, kills top military leader
In overnight strikes Saturday, Israel reportedly launched two waves of missiles that damaged two centrifuge production sites in Isfahan, one of which was previously hit within the first 24 hours of Israel’s opening salvo against Iran on June 13. Other centrifuge production sites have been hit in recent days, the AP quotes an Israeli military official as saying.
While the death toll sits somewhere between 430 and 720 Iranians, depending on different sources, and 20 Israelis, no casualties were reported from the Isfahan strike, the province’s deputy governor for security affairs, Akbar Salehi, confirmed.
However, many of Iran’s top military leaders and nuclear scientists have been killed since the fighting began eight days ago, including Saeed Izadi, leader of the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force, an overseas division of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has said that Izadi financed and armed Hamas in the lead up to its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which sparked the now 20-month war in Gaza.
Another five members of the Revolutionary Guards have been killed, Reuters reports, citing Iranian state media.
Meanwhile, Iran launched its own wave of drones and missiles into Israel Saturday, which an Israeli official described as a “small barrage” that didn’t cause significant damage. Israel claims its defense system has disarmed more than 50% of Iran’s launchers, “creating a bottleneck” that’s “making it harder for [Tehran] to fire towards Israel,” the official said.
Israel prepared for ‘prolonged campaign,’ Iran halts nuclear negotiations
In its ongoing quest to eradicate Iran’s nuclear capabilities, Israeli military Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has instructed his forces to prepare for a “prolonged campaign,” according to chief military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin. “We are deepening our strikes night after night and we have amazing achievements,” Defrin said, adding, “We will continue until the threat is removed.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Friday, June 20, during a meeting with European officials in Geneva that Tehran will not resume negotiations regarding its nuclear program with the U.S., so long as Israel continues to launch its attacks. A day later, on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Araghchi added that U.S. involvement in the conflict between Iran and Israel “would be very unfortunate,” and “very, very dangerous for everyone.”
In response, President Donald Trump said that it’s difficult for Iran to place preconditions on the negotiations, given that Israel is currently outperforming Tehran in the aerial battlefield. “I think it’s very hard to make that request right now. If somebody is winning, it’s a little bit harder to do than if somebody is losing,” Trump told reporters. He added, “But we’re ready, willing and able, and we’ve been speaking to Iran, and we’ll see what happens.”
The current war between Israel and Iran began June 13, when Jerusalem carried out airstrikes on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility as part of a broader attack involving more than 200 fighter jets. The military said that dozens of Iranian radar sites and missile launchers were destroyed in that initial wave of strikes.
Tehran then launched a series of strikes on Jerusalem, which injured at least 34 people. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that Iran fired fewer than 100 rockets during the attack.
In the week since, at least 722 people have been killed in Iran, including 285 civilians, as well as 2,500 people who have been wounded, the AP reports, citing numbers from a Washington-based human rights group that tracks Iran. In Israel, at least 24 people have been killed and hundreds more wounded, according to the country’s Magen David Adom emergency service.
Will the US get involved?
To achieve its ultimate goal of completely wiping out Tehran’s nuclear capabilities, Israel would need the help of the U.S., and specifically, its Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) and the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber required to transport it. That weapon is the only one capable of taking out Iran’s underground Fordo nuclear facility.
Tehran continues to maintain that its nuclear program serves civilian purposes only, something U.S. intelligence agencies corroborate. However, Trump has disputed such reports from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, saying, “I don’t care what she said. I think they’re very close to having one,” in reference to a nuclear bomb.
Israel is widely believed to have a nuclear arsenal of its own, though it has never openly acknowledged the existence of one.
There has also been a bipartisan effort in Congress to keep the U.S. out of the conflict, but Trump has said he plans to make a decision about U.S. involvement within the next two weeks.
“I have a message directly from the president, and I quote, based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a briefing Thursday, June 19.