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Israel-Iran conflict: what we know Jerusalem, June 14 (AFP) Jun 14, 2025 Israel targeted Iran's air defence capabilities on Saturday, pressing on with a wave of massive attacks it began a day earlier that targeted Iranian nuclear and military facilities, prompting counterattacks by Iran. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned that "Tehran will burn" if Iran fires more missiles at Israel. In a televised address Friday night, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to bring Israel "to ruin". International calls for restraint are multiplying, as fears grow the Middle East could be on the threshold of a broader conflict. Here is what we know:
The air campaign, which has targeted surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missile infrastructure in Iran, has now given Israel "aerial freedom of action from west Iran all the way to Tehran", military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin told journalists. "Tehran is no longer immune," he said, adding that Israel had launched a "massive strike" involving more than 70 fighter jets overnight on targets in the Iranian capital.
AFP images of the city of Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv showed blown-out buildings, destroyed vehicles and streets strewn with debris. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had attacked dozens of targets in Israel. The Israeli military said three people were killed and 76 wounded since Iran began its attacks.
Before the Israeli strikes, they were set to hold a sixth round of negotiations in Oman on Sunday. But Iran said it would be "meaningless" to attend the talks while it was under attack by Israel. Tehran has consistently denied seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, but had been enriching uranium to 60 percent -- far above the 3.67-percent limit set by a largely obsolete 2015 agreement with major powers. However, that is still short of the 90-percent enrichment threshold needed for a nuclear warhead.
Iranian state media reported on Saturday that General Gholamreza Mehrabi, deputy head of intelligence of the armed forces general staff, and General Mehdi Rabbani, deputy head of operations, "were martyred". On Friday, top brass killed included the head of the Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, and armed forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri, with replacements swiftly named by Khamenei. The Revolutionary Guards said its aerospace commander Amirali Hajizadeh was also killed. He was in charge of Iran's ballistic missile arsenal. Iranian media said on Saturday that three more nuclear scientists were killed, bringing the total to nine -- a toll that Israel also reported. Iran's ambassador to the United Nations said 78 people had been killed and 320 wounded in the first wave of Israeli strikes.
A key target was a vast underground uranium enrichment facility in Natanz, which Israel hit several times, according to Iranian state television. Israel said another strike later Friday on Iran's uranium conversion plant in Isfahan damaged infrastructure for reconverting enriched uranium. But Iran said the damage was limited, both in Isfahan and at another uranium enrichment facility at Fordo. burs/kir/jhb/jsa
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