TEHRAN: Iran has launched a large-scale retaliatory strike on Israeli military targets in what it calls Operation True Promise III, a senior Iranian commander announced Friday night.
The escalation comes just hours after a deadly Israeli airstrike hit residential areas and strategic facilities in Tehran and elsewhere, killing several top Iranian military leaders and nuclear scientists.
Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi, a senior advisor to the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), told Iranian state television that the operation targeted three Israeli airbases believed to have been involved in launching attacks on Iran.
Speaking to Tasnim News, General Vahidi said missiles struck Nevatim and Ovda airbases—key Israeli military installations said to house command-and-control systems and electronic warfare capabilities—as well as Tel Nof airbase near Tel Aviv. Additional strikes reportedly targeted Israel’s Ministry of Defense and military-industrial sites in central Tel Aviv.
Vahidi further said that 150 targets were identified and hit in a multi-phase assault involving hundreds of ballistic missiles, which it said managed to penetrate Israel’s multi-layered air defense system.
The Iranian assault follows an early morning Israeli attack on June 13 that killed several senior military officials, including Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri, Chief of Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, and Major General Hossein Salami, commander of the IRGC. At least six Iranian nuclear scientists were also reported killed.
In a televised statement, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned the Israeli attack and vowed severe retribution. “With this crime, the Zionist regime has prepared for itself a bitter, painful fate, which it will definitely see,” he said.
The Israeli government has not yet issued an official response to Iran’s claims.
