Iran has launched more than 100 drones toward Israel in a large-scale retaliatory attack, further escalating a deepening conflict triggered by Israeli strikes on Iranian soil. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed the drone assault early Friday and stated that its air defense systems, including Iron Dome and David’s Sling, were fully activated to intercept the incoming threat.
The drone attack follows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declaration that recent Israeli strikes, which reportedly killed top Iranian military officials and damaged nuclear facilities, marked the beginning of a wider military campaign to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
“We carried out a very successful opening strike,” Netanyahu said in a televised statement. “We have hit senior command, we have hit senior scientists working on atomic bombs, and we have hit nuclear facilities. With God’s help, we will achieve much more.”
Iranian state television reported the deaths of Armed Forces Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Commander Hossein Salami in the Israeli strikes. Iran has vowed to deliver a “crushing response” to what it considers an act of war.
The current hostilities are the latest, and most intense, episode in decades of animosity between Israel and Iran, two bitter rivals with a long and volatile history.
Key Moments in Israel-Iran Tensions:
1979: Iran’s pro-Western monarch, Mohammed Reza Shah, who maintained close ties with Israel, is ousted in the Islamic Revolution. The new Shi’ite theocracy adopts fierce anti-Israel ideology.
2009: Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calls Israel “a dangerous and fatal cancer” in a public speech.
2018: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu applauds U.S. President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal after years of Israeli lobbying.
2020: Israel welcomes the U.S. drone strike that kills Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad.
2021: Iran blames Israel for the assassination of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a key figure in Iran’s suspected weapons program. Israel does not comment.
April 2024: A suspected Israeli airstrike on the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus kills seven IRGC officers. Iran retaliates with an unprecedented barrage of drones and missiles on Israeli territory, prompting an Israeli strike inside Iran on April 19.
October 2024: Iran fires more than 180 missiles at Israel, claiming revenge for the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.
June 2025: Israel confirms launching strikes inside Iran aimed at crippling nuclear infrastructure and eliminating scientists believed to be developing nuclear weapons, stating the operation will last “many days.”
As international leaders call for restraint, fears of a broader regional war are growing. The conflict now appears to be entering a sustained and potentially explosive phase, with both nations exchanging direct strikes, a development unprecedented in the history of their long-standing shadow war.
Written By Rodney Mbua
