CNN
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Israel launched an unprecedented wave of strikes in Iran just before sunrise on Friday morning, crashing into a critical location in the country’s nuclear program and residential areas in Tehran’s upscale areas, killing some of the country’s tallest military leaders.
CNN analysis of satellite images and dozens of videos shared on social media provides insight into how a wide range of operations have been unfolded across the country. The attack landed hundreds of miles from Tel Aviv and the strike continued until the afternoon as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that artillery could last for several days.
The Israeli military said it used 200 fighter jets, known as “Rising Lion,” in surgical operations. Based on reviews of strike targets, the attack had several prongs. Heavy strikes against at least one of Iran’s uranium enrichment sites, stockpiling ballistic missiles and a more targeted strike in Tehran to decapitate the regime’s military leaders. It aimed to stop Israel saying it was Tehran’s rapid progress in the development of nuclear weapons.
Videos geolocated and verified by CNN reveal that multiple residential areas have been hit across Tehran, including the north, west and east. Aftermath footage showed crowds and paramedics surrounding collapsed buildings in a densely populated area.
Israeli operations came after years of threat and days of speculation.
Earlier in the week, the US made an effort to withdraw non-essential staff from locations around the Middle East. On Thursday, President Donald Trump told White House reporters he didn’t want to target Iran to Israel while talking to reach a new deal to limit Iran’s nuclear enrichment.
In retaliation, Iran launched more than 100 drones towards Israeli territory, Israeli forces said, and then barrage of ballistic missiles.
Here’s what we know about how the Israeli attacks unfolded in minutes: Always a local in Iran.
The first report of the explosion in Tehran took place on Friday around 3:30am local time. Videos of CNN planted on Earth showed that emergency services were burning several floors of apartment blocks in northern Tehran when they arrived at the scene.
Seven miles west of these buildings (still north of the city) showed damage from a strike in the upscale Siamlan Town area in another video. The entire wall was stripped of one of the buildings and people saw them climbing inside the tile bleach inside.
One strike crashed into the centre near Lale Park, the site of the 2022 death protest of Mahasa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died after Iranian moral police custodyed her for being detained for not wearing her scarf properly.
Beyond the capital, the video showed a strike at Piranshaar military base in western Iran, about 350 miles (about 560 km) from Tehran. The video shows a series of rapid explosions illuminated the dark night sky, with smoke rising in the distance.
Ammunition researcher and former U.S. Army Senior Explosives Engineer Trevor Ball told CNN in a video showing “rocket motor burning” coinciding with a strike on a ballistic missile storage facility.
The strike also collided with the Natantz nuclear facility, about 150 miles (240 km) south of Tehran. Social media footage showed a large fireball rising from the site. CNN has acquired radar images from Umbra, a space imaging company that has damaged several areas of the facility. Other satellite images reviewed by CNN showed more clearly the same damage. A black plume of smoke rising from multiple locations throughout the site.
Natantz’s nuclear facility, according to a 2003 report from the Institute of Science and International Security, which includes satellite images of the site under construction in 2002, shows that the latest attacks do not appear to have collided with underground buildings, but the total extent of the damage is still unknown.
Iran’s nuclear energy agency said its main nuclear enrichment facility “had no serious damage,” and “no radiation leaks causing concern to people” after Israel attacked it. Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for Iran’s atomic energy organization, told Iran’s state media that the damage lies at the ground level from the underground facilities of the factory.
“The radiation levels outside the Natantz facility remained unchanged,” said Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Monitoring Agency, the International Atomic Energy Monitoring Agency, but added that “radiation levels exist within the facility.”
Shortly after the first explosion shook Tehran, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced that it had launched a preemptive attack on Iran’s nuclear program.
It said it would use jets to attack “dozens of military targets, including nuclear targets in various regions of Iran.”
The statement came at 3:44am in Israel. Israel is 30 minutes behind Iran’s timezone.
Within minutes, Secretary of State Marco Rubio emphasized that the United States was “not involved” in Israel’s strike and that Israel’s actions were “unilateral.”
“Let me be clear: Iran should not target our interests or personnel,” Rubio said in a statement from X, predicting Iran’s potential response.
Just a mile west of the strike in the town of Siamran, the daytime video showed the aftermath of the strike in Tehran’s Chiser district. A huge hole was blown off on the top two floors of the building, with twisted iron bars hanging from the concrete structure.
Tehran residents later told CNN how they woke up in their homes “shaking” from the Israeli attack.
A 17-year-old Iranian, who asked to remain anonymous, said people were “screaming” on the streets. “I didn’t know what was going on. It was really scary,” the teenager said.
Listen from Netanyahu after Israel begins strike against Iran
When evidence of Israel’s strike began to pour in, Netanyahu made a televised speech, saying that Israel had acted “to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.” He said the surgery would continue as long as it would be “to remove these threats.”
Netanyahu claimed that Iran produced well-enriched uranium for nine nuclear weapons. In a report sent to member states on May 31, the IAEA also determined that Iran had sufficient uranium enriched to 60% purity near the weapons grade to create nine nuclear weapons.
“Iran could produce nuclear weapons in a very short time. It could take a year. It could take a few months,” Netanyahu said. “This is a clear and current danger to Israel’s survival.”
The prime minister claimed that Israel had hit Iran’s major enrichment facility in Natanz, which was supported by a video on the site.
As the sun rose, the full extent of Israel’s attacks became clear. Videos published after 6am showed the aftermath of the strike against military bases and cargo terminals in Iraq and adjacent West Kermansha region over 250 miles from Tehran and 167 miles from Baghdad.
After Netanyahu claimed that Israel had targeted Natanz’s nuclear facility, UN nuclear observers confirmed that Natanz had been attacked.
“The IAEA is closely monitoring the deep situation regarding the Iranian situation,” he said.
The agency said it was in contact with Iranian authorities regarding the local radiation levels. A later statement said no increase in radiation was observed.
Israeli forces said they killed the Iranian army and three most senior men in its nuclear program.
Major General Hossein Salami, head of the Secret Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), was the best property of those killed. Israel said in its first statement it had killed Major General Mohammad Bageyeri, the chief of staff of the Iranian army, and General Golam Ali Rashid, the leader of Iranian emergency headquarters.
The IDF then said they killed Iran’s highest leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Ali Shamhani, a close aide to IRGC’s air force commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
It appears that many of Tehran’s strikes were targeting these senior officials. Last year, Israel demonstrated its ability to assassinate its enemy with highly targeted attacks on Iranian soil. In July 2024, he killed Hamas political leader Ismail Honey, Hamas political leader, by remotely detonating a bomb hidden in a Tehran room.
Friday’s strike appeared to be highly targeted, but there have been reports of civilian casualties.
The IDF said Iran has fired more than 100 drones towards Israeli territory, and Israeli air defenses are preparing to intercept them.
“I’m hoping for a difficult time,” he said.
Following previous Israeli attacks on proxies in Iran and the region, Tehran fought back with a massive salvos of ballistic missiles.
“Israel targeting Iran’s ballistic missile launch sites and stockpiles could somehow disrupt Iran’s response,” the War Institute, a think tank in Washington, DC.
Early in the afternoon, Iranian media reported that Israel had launched a new strike in the northwest city of Tabriz. Tamsin News Agency said Tablis Airport was struck by “a heavy Israeli attack.”
After learning of the extent of Israel’s attack, Trump urged Iranian leaders to agree to a new nuclear deal “nothing remains in their country.”
Trump said he gave Iran a “post-chance chance.” “Do that before it’s too late,” he writes about Truth Social, a social media platform.
Under the 2015 nuclear deal that was hit by President Barack Obama, Iran agreed to significantly limit the number of uranium enrichment in centrifuges and caps to levels well below the level required to build weapons in exchange for sanctions relief.
However, during his first term as president in 2018, Trump withdrew from the contract, saying the “rotten structure” of the deal was not enough to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb. He threatened to tighten sanctions against Iran and sanction the nation that helped the regime acquire nuclear weapons.
In his second semester, Trump revived efforts to launch a new nuclear deal with Iran.
Hours before the Israeli attack, the president warned Israel on Thursday against the launch of a strike while consultations are underway. US authorities have held several high-stakes nuclear talks with Iran in recent weeks, demanding Tehran to halt all uranium enrichment activities.
Iran has long argued that its nuclear program is peace. They say they want to enrich uranium for civilian purposes, not for weapons, but for nuclear reactors.
“Zero Nuclear We have a Trade. Zero Enrichment = We have no Trade,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araguchi said in a post last month on X, setting the red line for Tehran in discussions.