Iran Launches New Waves Of Missile Strikes On Israel As Netanyahu Vows Further Attacks

By RFE/RL June 14, 2025

Tehran launched fresh missiles strikes against Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed further attacks against Iran in a military operation that has targeted the nuclear and military facilities of his country's arch enemy.

Shortly after midnight on June 14, Israel said its military had intercepted a new round of Iranian surface-to-surface missiles in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem on the second consecutive day of Iranian air strikes that followed a damaging Israeli air assault on sites linked to Tehran's nuclear program.

"Sirens sounded in several areas across Israel following the identification of missiles from Iran toward the state of Israel," the military said as the latest conflict between the two countries showed no signs of easing.

"At this time, the [Israeli Air Force] is operating to intercept and strike where necessary to eliminate the threat," it added.

As sirens blared in the early hours of June 14, live television showed a large explosion at around 1:15 a.m. in Tel Aviv. Video later displayed damage to an apartment complex, although details were unclear.

The Israeli military urged civilians to return to the air-raid shelters that they had been forced into a day earlier.

Some four hours later, as day broke in Israel, incoming projectiles were reported in several cities. Many of the missiles were intercepted, although officials reported damage to a number of homes and injuries to at least 10 people in central Israel.

The latest wave followed a tense day of air strikes conducted by both sides, as Israeli forces continued to conduct air strikes on nuclear facilities and other sites across Iran, killing a top general, other military officials, and nuclear scientists.

The activity comes as US President Donald Trump warned Iran to make a nuclear deal "before it is too late" and as the White House said US ground forces had helped shoot down Iranian missiles during the initial two waves of missiles.

One official -- speaking on the condition of anonymity -- told AP that US jets and warships had not so far been used in the operation, but further details were not immediately available.

Separately, a White House official said Trump spoke with Netanyahu by phone, but details of the call were not disclosed.

Earlier, Israeli Brigadier General Effie Defrin said the two waves of incoming missiles on June 13 each numbered around 100 projectiles, "most of which" were intercepted by air defense systems.

Israel's firefighting service said it responded to several "major" incidents resulting from an Iranian missile attack, including efforts to rescue people trapped in a high-rise residential building.

Officials said at least three people had been killed and at least 34 other people had been injured in the Iranian attacks on central Israel.

Meanwhile, among the sites hit in Iran were the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) command site in Tehran, according to Iranian state TV. The strike killed the commander of the corps, Major General Hossein Salami, Iranian officials said.

Unconfirmed reports early on June 14 said that two projectiles hit Tehran's Mehrabad Airport, igniting a fire there.

Iran's representative told the UN that 78 people had been killed and more than 320 had been injured in the Israeli strikes.

Trump, who has been pressing for negotiations between Washington and Tehran regarding Iran's nuclear program, wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, "There is still time to make this slaughter...come to an end,"

"Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire...JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE."

Trump said later in an interview with ABC News that Iran "got hit about as hard as you're going to get hit. And there's more to come, a lot more."

Netanyahu said the strikes aimed "to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel's very survival and that it would continue "for as many days as it takes to remove this threat."

"We struck at the heart of Iran's nuclear enrichment program. We targeted Iran's main enrichment facility at Natanz.... We also struck at the heart of Iran's ballistic missile program," he said in a video statement. Israel also hit Iranian nuclear scientists "working on the Iranian bomb," he added.

Amid the attacks, Netanyahu said his fight was not with the Iranian citizens and called on them to remove the "brutal dictatorship that has oppressed you for 46 years,"

Israel's military said some 200 jets were involved in the massive raids on Iran, and Israeli TV reported that the Mossad intelligence agency may have set up a secret base inside Iran as part of the effort.

Iran's supreme leader warned that Israel would suffer severe consequences for launching the attacks.

"With this crime, the Zionist regime has set itself for a bitter and painful fate and it will definitely receive it," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement.

Smoke Rises From Natanz Nuclear Site

The Natanz uranium enrichment facility was hit "several times," Iranian state TV reported, showing images of heavy smoke billowing from the site.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed Natanz had been a target but said it had not detected increased radiation levels at the site.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, citing Iranian officials, told the UN Security Council that the above-ground section of the Natanz site was "destroyed."

Israeli officials said the operation the mission was "still in the beginning."

A strike was also reported at the Fordow enrichment facility some 100 kilometers southeast of Tehran and a nuclear research facility in Isfahan.

Residential areas in Tehran and several other cities also were hit, according to the official IRNA news agency, which reported that the strikes killed a number of people, including women and children, in a residential complex in Tehran.

The United States, Israel's strongest ally, said Washington was not involved in the Israeli attacks on Iran.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement Israel advised Washington that it believed the strikes were necessary for its self-defense. He also warned Iran against targeting US interests or personnel.

The United States and Iran have been holding tense, high-level negotiations on Iran's nuclear ambitions. A sixth round of talks had been scheduled for June 15 in Oman.

Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff was scheduled to travel to Oman for the next round of talks with the Iranian foreign minister, although the prospects for that session is now unclear.

Iran: Nuclear Efforts For Civilian Use

Iran has consistently claimed its nuclear efforts are solely for civilian and not military uses.

Iran has been working on a counteroffer after rejecting a US proposal for a deal that Khamenei described as "100 percent" against national interests.

In a phone conversation with Trump earlier this week, Netanyahu raised the possibility of strikes against Iran, according to the Wall Street Journal, and Trump urged Netanyahu to hold off as negotiations continue.

In a social media post on June 12, Trump said the United States wanted to negotiate with Iran, though he also warned that an Israeli strike on Iran was likely.

Earlier on June 12, the IAEA formally declaring Iran "noncompliant" with its nonproliferation obligations for the first time since 2005.

The 35-member IAEA board voted 19-3 with 11 abstentions to adopt the resolution, which had been put forward by the United States and its trio of European allies -- Britain, France, and Germany.

With reporting by AP and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-israel-nuclear-tel-aviv- tehran-trump-netanyahu-khamenei/33442470.html

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Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Iran Launches New Waves Of Missile Strikes On Israel As Netanyahu Vows Further Attacks

Smoke Rises From Natanz Nuclear Site

Iran: Nuclear Efforts For Civilian Use