Al Mayadeen – June 13, 2025
Israel launches new wave of strikes on Iran
Israeli strikes hit Natanz nuclear facility and Tabriz Airport, escalating tensions as multiple Iranian provinces come under attack.
The Israeli occupation continued its cross-border aggression against Iran on Friday, launching a wave of coordinated strikes targeting multiple provinces across the country.
Iranian state media reported that one of the key targets was the Natanz nuclear facility in Isfahan province. The site, a cornerstone of Iran's nuclear infrastructure, has previously been the focus of Israeli sabotage operations.
In the northwest, a fire broke out at Tabriz Airport in East Azerbaijan Province following a direct Israeli strike.
Footage shared online showed smoke and flames rising from the airport, accompanied by the caption, "Tabriz Airport Now." Iranian television also reported hearing explosions in the vicinity.
Tasnim News Agency confirmed that earlier in the day, at least ten different sites in East Azerbaijan Province were struck, with the attacks resulting in the deaths of at least three individuals. The agency described the offensive as part of a larger campaign aimed at destabilizing Iran’s critical infrastructure.
Al Mayadeen’s correspondent reported that additional Israeli aggression extended to the western provinces, targeting the cities of Qasr-e Shirin and Kangavar in Kermanshah province, marking a significant geographic spread of the Israeli attacks.
On another note, the Iranian Fars news agency reported 78 martyrs and 329 injuries as a result of the Israeli aggression on residential areas in Tehran.
Additionally, the IRGC reported the martyrdom of the Commander of the IRGC's aerospace force, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the Commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force's Air Defense General Davood Sheikhian, and the Deputy for Operations Affairs of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Brigadier General Mehdi Rabbani, along with his wife and children.
This comes after Al Mayadeen confirmed that the Commander-in-Chief of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), Major General Hossein Salami, and the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, along with his daughter, have been martyred in the Israeli aggression on Iran.
Iranian media also confirmed the martyrdom of the Commander of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbia Central Headquarters, Major General Gholam Ali Rashid, and his son in the attack.
Meanwhile, the advisor to the Leader of the Islamic Republic, Admiral Ali Shamkhani, has been severely injured and has since been hospitalized. Additionally, six nuclear scientists were confirmed killed in the Israeli aggression.
The scientists have been identified as Abdulhamid Minouchehr, Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari, Seyed Amir Hossein Faghahi, Khalil Motallebzadeh, Mohammad Mahdi Tehranchi, and Fereydoun Abbasi.
'Israel' launches massive aggression on Iran
The first wave of attacks was carried out on Friday at dawn. "Israel" targeted residential buildings, nuclear facilities, and military infrastructure across Iran.
In an official statement, the occupation military said it carried out a “precise, preemptive strike” in Iran, “with the goal of damaging Iran’s nuclear program."
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Iran reported hearing multiple explosions in the capital, Tehran. Footage circulating on social media documented severe damage to a number of residential buildings in the Iranian capital.
The Israeli military dubbed the operation “Rising Lion".
Strikes have been confirmed in the following locations:
- The capital, Tehran, and military sites in the surrounding area.
- The city of Natanz, where explosions were reported at the main uranium enrichment facility.
- The city of Tabriz, where explosions have been reported near a nuclear research centre and two military bases.
- The city of Isfahan, south of Tehran.
- The city of Arak, southwest of Tehran.
- The city of Kermanshah, west of Tehran, where an underground facility storing ballistic missiles was hit near the Iraqi border.
According to Iranian media, Hossein Salami, commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff of the Iranian military, were among those killed in the Israeli attack.
State-run news outlet Nour News said Khamenei adviser Ali Shamkhani was “critically injured”.
According to Tasnim, the commander of Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters, Major-General Gholamali Rashid, was killed.
Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, who is reporting from the Iranian capital, Tehran, said that aside from military officials, two top nuclear scientists, Fereydoon Abbasi and Mohammad Tehranchi, were also killed in targeted assassinations.
Abbasi was the former chief of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, while Tehranchi was the head of the Islamic Azad University.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/13/israel-attacksiran-what-we-know-so-far
Iran launches hundreds of drones toward 'Israel' to overwhelm systems
Iran has launched hundreds of drones toward "Israel" in the first tier of the Iranian retaliation for the Israeli aggression on Iranian territories.
Iranian media reported on Friday that hundreds of Shahed drones were launched toward the occupied territories in a coordinated retaliatory attack aimed at engaging and overwhelming its air defense systems.
The move comes in response to recent Israeli aggression against the Islamic Republic.
The Israeli army spokesperson confirmed, "In recent hours, Iran has launched more than 100 drones toward Israel, and all air defense systems are working to confront them."
Israeli media further claimed that drones were launched not only from Iran but also from Iraq, with over 200 drones identified in total. Multiple interceptions were reportedly taking place in the Syrian airspace.
Netanyahu flees
Amid the aerial threat, Israeli media disclosed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plane was evacuated from the occupied territories. He remains inside "Israel" in what has been described as a secure location.
Warnings were issued by Israeli media, cautioning settlers of potential severe Iranian retaliation, noting that previous Iranian strikes targeted only military and strategic sites but resulted in casualties.
Sayyed Khamenei warns of harsh consequences
In response to the Israeli attack, the leader of the Islamic Revolution and the Islamic Republic of Iran, Sayyed Ali Khamenei, forcefully condemned "Israel" for what he described as a ﾓdirty and bloody crimeﾔ carried out on Iranian territory, promising a resolute and decisive response.
In a message addressed to the Iranian people, Sayyed Khamenei declared, “To the great Iranian nation! The Zionist regime has committed a crime in our dear country today at dawn with its satanic, bloodstained hands. It has revealed its malicious nature even more than before by targeting residential areas.”
He warned that the regime must brace for retribution. “That [Zionist] regime should anticipate a severe punishment. By God’s grace, the powerful arm of the Islamic Republic’s Armed Forces won’t let them go unpunished,” the Leader stated with unwavering resolve.
Sayyed Khamenei emphasized that such aggression will not go unanswered, reiterating that the perpetrators “must be severely punished.” He stressed that justice would be swiftly served.
'Israel' launches massive aggression on Iran
On Friday at dawn, "Israel" launched a major attack on Iran, targeting residential buildings, nuclear facilities, and military infrastructure across Iran.
The Israeli occupation military confirmed the launch of a broad aerial offensive targeting Iran’s nuclear program. In an official statement, the occupation military said it carried out a "precise, preemptive strike" in Iran, "with the goal of damaging Iran’s nuclear program."
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Iran reported hearing multiple explosions in the capital, Tehran. Footage circulating on social media documents severe damage to a number of residential buildings in the Iranian capital.
It dubbed the operation “Rising Lion.”
'Israel' assassinates IRGC cmdr Salami, Iranian nuclear scientists
Al Mayadeen confirmed that the Commander-in-Chief of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), Major General Hossein Salami, and the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, have been martyred during the Israeli aggression on Iran.
Later, Iranian media confirmed the martyrdom of the Commander of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbia Central Headquarters, Major General Gholam Ali Rashid, and his son in the attack.
Meanwhile, the advisor to the Leader of the Islamic Republic, Admiral Ali Shamkhani, has been severely injured and has since been hospitalized.
Additionally, six nuclear scientists were confirmed killed in the Israeli aggression.
The scientists have been identified as Abdulhamid Minouchehr, Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari, Seyed Amir Hossein Faghahi, Khalil Motallebzadeh, Mohammad Mahdi Tehranchi, and Fereydoun Abbasi.
Israeli terrorism against Iran’s military commanders, scientists bears Western hallmark
By Iqbal Suleman
The genocidal Israeli regime launched an all-out war on the Islamic Republic of Iran on Friday, June 13, in brazen contravention of international law amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
It bombed Iran’s nuclear civilian infrastructure and assassinated some veteran nuclear scientists, as well as high-ranking military commanders, in indiscriminate attacks.
Western countries have again refused to condemn these unlawful and barbaric actions by the Israeli regime led by war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, who claims to be launching this war on behalf of the “civilized West” against “barbaric Muslims.”
The reaction of Western countries indicates that they have no commitment to international law or any concern for the lives of Muslims, from Palestine to Iran to Yemen.
They urge Iran to show restraint but refuse to call out the unlawful actions of the Israeli regime. This stems from a deep-rooted Western Islamophobia. These wars against Muslim countries have been incessant after Palestine was depopulated and occupied and the Zionist entity was created through illegal means in 1948.
Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, the Iranian government and people have been the greatest supporters of the struggle for Palestinian national liberation. The people in the Global South remember the principled position taken by Iran in 1979, immediately after the revolution to cut off all economic and diplomatic relations with Apartheid South Africa and Apartheid Israel.
Iran has supported Palestinian liberation movements politically, financially, and militarily. This is the actual reason for Israel’s war on Iran. Its stated reason is to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, but its actual reason is regime change.
Iran poses no nuclear threat to Israel or any other entity in the world. Iran does not have a nuclear weapon and there is a religious decree against it in the Islamic Republic.
Israel, on the other hand, possesses nuclear weapons. The US Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, told the Senate Intelligence Committee in March 2025 that the intelligence community “continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.”
The record shows that Netanyahu is a chronic liar, but the Western media seems to continue to peddle his lies. In two short sentences, Malcolm X describes the power of the media:
“The media is the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent look guilty and to make the guilty look innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.”
How apt and accurate are the words of the great Malcolm X. It behoves us to rewind our minds to the US invasion of Iraq and the shameful conduct of the mainstream Western media.
War, War, War, War is all you need. Remember the song by the five-piece band WAR CRIMINALS. The songwriter was Netanyahu, on vocals and lead guitar, George Bush, on rhythm guitar and vocals, Tony Blair, on drums and vocals, Donald Rumsfeld, on backing vocals and harmony Colin Powell.
They sounded awful. They were always out of tune (truth). But the mainstream media promoted their lies as though it were the gospel truth and in the process manufactured consent for the unjustified and unlawful war on Iraq.
After the 9/11 attacks in the US, the mainstream media went into overdrive in pushing the narrative of the Muslim terrorist and the “war on terror.” This “war on terror” was used as a means to advance the Islamophobia project.
The language and the imagery used by the media were powerful and repetitive until the construct of the Muslim terrorist was firmly entrenched in the public mind.
The medieval Mideasterner, primitive, dirty, and bloodthirsty, seeking to impose “Sharia law” in the West and wanting to slaughter all Westerners. There was no mistaking who the terrorist was. He wore a beard. She wore a headscarf.
The public mind was conned into believing this Islamophobic trope and bought into the justification of the unlawful wars. Mainstream outlets like the New York Times, BBC, and CNN showed that they lacked the basic journalistic methods that a student learns in Journalism 101.
It was 2003 when the American-led invasion and occupation of Iraq took place. An atrocious war that, according to the medical journal Lancet, killed approximately 600,000 Arab Muslim people in Iraq. The war created 3.9 million Iraqi refugees.
The stated reason for the war was that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and was about to produce nuclear weapons. The other stated reason was that the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein, once the darling of the West, had an operational relationship with Al Qaeda and was somehow linked with the September 11 attacks on the US.
The illegal war was based on lies. By repeating these lies and flooding the public mind, the mainstream media succeeded in manufacturing consent for war.
The prime mover orchestrating the war against Iraq was Netanyahu, who in 2002 stated that “There is no question whatsoever that Saddam is seeking, is wanting, and is advancing towards the development of nuclear weapons.”
Today, the very same Netanyahu is the one who claims that Iran is a nuclear threat and has brazenly launched an unlawful war on another Muslim country.
His lies are repeated like a mantra in mainstream media. Netanyahu has been telling the world for the last three decades that Iran is on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon.
What are the facts though? Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, has pronounced that it is immoral, unlawful, and un-Islamic to produce a nuclear weapon.
Iran maintains that its nuclear programme is for civilian use only. Iran abided by the terms of the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), which was signed in 2015 by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, including the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, China, and France, as well as the European Union.
It was, however, the United States that unilaterally tore up the agreement that it was a signatory to. Under the JCPOA, the inspectors from the IAEA had unfettered access to all of Iran’s nuclear facilities and there was transparency on Iran’s nuclear programme.
In 2002, Iraq complied with the terms of UN resolution 1441, but America, without any consideration to international law, went to war with Iraq at the behest of Israel.
Even according to US intelligence agencies, Iran is not on the verge of producing a nuclear weapon as Netanyahu would have us believe. Israel, however, has a nuclear weapon. Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. It has invaded its neighbours in Lebanon and Syria. It unlawfully occupies and steals land from Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria.
The Israeli regime has publicly stated that it wants to expel Palestinians from Gaza. Yet the world powers and the mainstream corporate media seem fine with a nuclear Israel behaving the way it is.
You would expect the mainstream media to question the narrative presented by the American and Israeli regimes. Surely, after the imperialist wars against Afghanistan and Iraq and the current Israeli genocide in Palestine, the public should never believe anything that seeks to justify this Islamophobic war on Iran.
The media in the West is neither independent nor cultivated by democratic values. Millions of us, as ordinary citizens from all over the world, took to the streets to oppose the American war on Iraq, but the media were not listening to the democratic voices of the people. It served the interests of its corporate and elite paymasters.
In 2002, Netanyahu, whilst zealously beating the drums of war against the Muslim people of Iraq, stated that “If you take out Saddam, Saddam’s regime, I guarantee you, it will have enormous positive reverberations throughout the region.”
Positive reverberations? Six hundred thousand Arab civilian deaths. 3.9 million refugees. The creation of the Daesh terrorist group, the spectre of head chopping, civil strife, blood everywhere, and the complete destruction of the infrastructure of the Arab country.
This is simply another Islamophobic war launched by Netanyahu and his allied criminals in the West.
In the Global South, we don’t listen to the music of war criminals. We remember the lyrics of Bob Marley: “You can fool some people some time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time, get up, stand up, stand up for your rights, get up, stand up, don’t give up the fight.”
Iqbal Suleman is a research associate at the Media Research Network, South Africa.
(The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press TV.)
Iran: American government responsible for the Israeli attack on Iran
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has summoned the caretaker of Switzerland’s embassy in Tehran to protest the Israeli regime’s military operation against the country.
Nadine Lozano, the Swiss Ambassador to Tehran, whose country represents Washington’s interests in Tehran, was summoned by the Director General for the Americas Department at the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Issa Kameli, on Friday.
Kameli conveyed Iran’s deep outrage and strong protest over the Israeli regime’s aggressive act and the United States’ support for it.
He said the Israeli regime’s gross crime in committing a military aggression against Iran is a breach of all international norms and the United Nations Charter.
The Iranian diplomat pointed to the US's full support for Israel and held the American government responsible for the “very dangerous and widespread consequences of the regime’s adventurism.”
He warned against the US military support for the Israeli regime, including its prevention of Iran's right to legitimate defense.
“It cannot be imagined that the Zionist regime’s aggressive measures against Iran are carrying out without cooperation, coordination and at least a green light from the United States,” Kameli said.
He emphasized that the US must be held accountable for its illegal attitude.
The Swiss envoy assured that she would immediately convey Iran’s message to the US government.
In brazen contravention of international law, the Israeli regime launched an all-out war on Iran on Friday by bombing the country’s nuclear civilian infrastructure and assassinating some veteran nuclear scientists, as well as high-ranking military commanders.
The attacks killed a number of military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians.
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/06/13/749761/Iran-Switzerland-summons-Israel-aggression
