What we know about Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites and military commanders

Israel launched strikes across Iran on Friday, saying they targeted the “heart” of Iran’s nuclear programme.

The Israeli military says Iran has launched a counter-attack of more than 100 drones, which Israel says it has begun to intercept outside of Israeli territory. A state of emergency was declared in Israel.

Hossein Salami, chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards – a powerful branch of the country’s armed forces – was killed, Iranian state media reported, as well as nuclear scientists.

The US said it was not involved in the strikes, which also hit Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility.

When and where did the strikes happen?
Explosions were reported in Iran’s capital Tehran around 03:30 local time (0100 BST).

Iranian state media said residential areas were hit, with blasts also heard north-east of Tehran. The BBC is not able to independently verify these reports.

In Israel, residents were woken by air raid sirens around the same time and received emergency phone alerts.

Israel’s military said it had struck “dozens of military targets, including nuclear targets in different areas of Iran”.

Hours after the initial strikes, an explosion was reported at the Natanz nuclear facility, which is located about 225km (140 miles) south of the capital, according to Iranian state media.

The global nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), later confirmed the Natanz facility had been hit.

The IAEA said it was informed by Iranian authorities that there has been no increase in radiation levels at the Natanz site.

What has Israel said?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes – called Operation Rising Lion – were “a targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival”.

He said the operation would “continue for as many days as it takes to remove the spread”.

“In recent months, Iran has taken steps that it has never taken before, steps to weaponise this enriched uranium.

“If not stopped, Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time. It could be a year. It could be within a few months, less than a year. This is a clear and present danger to Israel’s very survival.”

In his address, Netanyahu also thanked US President Donald Trump for “confronting Iran’s nuclear weapons programme”.

An Israeli military official told the BBC that Iran had enough nuclear material to create nuclear bombs “within days”.

How has Iran responded?
Iran has launched around 100 drones towards Israel on Friday morning, which the Israeli military was working to intercept, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Iran’s foreign ministry said its armed forces would not “hesitate to defend Iran’s sovereignty with full strength and in the manner they deem appropriate”.

In a statement, the ministry called Israel’s operation “acts of aggression” and said “the US government, as the primary patron of this regime, will also bear responsibility”.

What has the US said?
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it was not involved with the strikes and did not provide any assistance.

He said the top priority for the US was to protect American forces in the region.

Trump has yet to comment on the strikes.

In other international reaction, Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said they were “alarmed by the escalation” and that the strikes risked “further destabilising a region that is already volatile”.

What is Iran’s nuclear programme?
Iran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes only. It has several facilities around Iran, at least some of which have been targeted in the Israeli strikes.

But many countries – as well as the global nuclear watchdog, IAEA – are not convinced Iran’s programme is for civilian purposes alone.

This week, the watchdog’s board of governors formally declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in 20 years.

It cited Iran’s “many failures” to provide full answers about undeclared nuclear material and Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium.

An earlier IAEA report said Iran had enriched uranium to 60% purity, enough near weapons grade uranium to make nine nuclear bombs.

Who has been killed?
The IDF said the chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Commander of the Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Commander of Iran’s Emergency Command “were all eliminated in the Israeli strikes across Iran”.

It said its overnight attack focused on “over 100 targets, including senior figures of the Iranian General Staff and leaders of the nuclear program.”

Iranian state media reported that those killed included Hossein Salami, the commander-in-chief of the IRGC, Gholamali Rashid, the commander of Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters, and the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, Mohammad Bagheri.

IRGC-affiliated news agency Tasnim reported six nuclear scientists were also killed in the strikes, of which five have been named:

• Fereydoon Abbasi, former head Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization
• Mohammad Mahdi Tehranchi, who was involved in Iran’s nuclear weapons programme
• Abdulhamid Minouchehr, head of nuclear engineering at Iran’s Shahid Beheshti University
• Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari, a nuclear engineering professor at Shahid Beheshti University
• Amirhossein Feqhi, another nuclear professor at Shahid Beheshti University

Ali Shamkhani, senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was also reported to have been seriously injured, according to Iranian reports.

The BBC is not able to independently verify these reports.

Credit: BBC