Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that Israel has “paved the way to Tehran,” as the IDF continued to bombard Iranian military and nuclear targets in and around the Iranian capital. The ongoing campaign, now entering its third day, marks the most direct and sustained Israeli assault on Iranian territory in history.
“This is just the beginning,” Netanyahu said in a video statement released Motzei Shabbos. “We will hit every site, every target belonging to the ayatollahs’ regime — everything they’ve experienced until now will be nothing compared to what they will feel in the coming days.”
The prime minister called the campaign a preemptive defense of the Jewish state against what he called a “double threat”: Iran’s nuclear weapons program and its increasingly sophisticated ballistic missile capabilities. “Very soon, you will see IAF planes above Tehran’s skies,” he added.
Within hours of Netanyahu’s remarks, explosions were reported throughout Tehran. Iran’s oil ministry confirmed that two fuel depots in the capital had been struck by Israeli airpower. Local residents reported large plumes of smoke rising into the night sky as emergency services scrambled to contain multiple fires.
A particularly significant strike hit the South Pars gas field — a critical piece of Iran’s energy infrastructure. The semi-official Tasnim news agency reported a massive explosion at the site, followed by a fire that temporarily halted the production of 12 million cubic meters of natural gas. Iran later claimed that the fire had been extinguished, though independent verification remains difficult due to restricted access.
Separately, Tasnim reported that one of the Iranian Defense Ministry’s headquarters buildings in Tehran was damaged in an Israeli drone strike. “In an attack on Tehran this evening by the air force of the Zionist regime, the headquarters of the defense ministry was targeted. One of the headquarters’ buildings was lightly damaged,” the agency reported. The Iranian Defense Ministry has not issued an official statement.
Defense Minister Yisrael Katz echoed the prime minister’s hardline stance. In a blunt post on social media platform X just after midnight Sunday, Katz wrote: “Tehran is burning.” The post followed his earlier warning that continued Iranian missile strikes on Israeli cities would trigger a devastating response. “If [Iran’s leader Ali] Khamenei continues to fire missiles at the Israeli home front, Tehran will burn,” Katz said.
A fourth barrage of Iranian missiles was launched toward Israel on Shabbos, killing at least three civilians in the northern Israeli city of Tamra. In response, the Israeli Air Force intensified its campaign, striking a series of high-value military targets in and around Tehran.
Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, an IDF spokesperson, told reporters that Israeli fighter jets have achieved near-total air superiority over western Iran, including the skies above Tehran. “Air Force pilots are continuing to strike and carry out significant blows in various areas in Iran — a sequence of strikes that has not stopped for 40 hours, including over 150 targets,” Defrin said.
Defrin said that Israel’s current focus is Tehran — “the nerve center of the murderous terror regime that poses a threat to the entire Western world.” Defrin said Israeli jets were hitting military industry sites, uranium enrichment facilities, and top military officials.
The IDF also released footage showing strikes on Iranian missile launchers and convoys believed to be transporting weapons. A large underground weapons depot in western Iran — reportedly used to house and launch dozens of ballistic and cruise missiles — was also destroyed in what officials said was a key blow to Iran’s long-range attack capabilities.
The IDF says that at least 20 senior Iranian military officials have been killed in the strikes since the campaign began late Friday. Among them:
Mohammad Bagheri, head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ (IRGC) ballistic missile division
Gholam-Reza Marhabi, head of Iran’s military intelligence
Ali Shamkhani, top adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who succumbed to wounds sustained in Friday’s initial strike
Two IRGC members killed in a strike on the Zarandiyeh Basij base
Police Chief Major Habibollah Akbarian and Second Lieutenant Amir Hossein Seifi, killed in a drone strike west of Tehran
These deaths mark the most significant decapitation strike against the IRGC leadership history.
While Israel has struck uranium enrichment facilities at Natanz and Isfahan, the underground Fordo facility remains untouched — for now. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed Saturday that four major buildings at Isfahan had been damaged, including a uranium conversion plant and a fuel fabrication site.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told the UN Security Council that the above-ground structures at Natanz had been destroyed, while the centrifuge hall deep underground appeared intact but may have sustained power damage.
Israeli officials have hinted that Fordo may be targeted next. According to Channel 12, U.S. President Donald Trump told Netanyahu that Washington would consider striking Fordo directly if it became clear that Iran intended to accelerate its nuclear weapons development from that location.
During a late-night emergency cabinet meeting in a fortified underground bunker, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir told ministers that Israel’s current operation is “a fight for the very existence of the Jewish people.”
“History will not forgive us if we do not act now,” he said. “This is the last opportunity to effect change.”
President Yitzchak Herzog called on the international community to stand firmly with Israel. “This is not our war alone,” he said. “This is a war between a terrorist jihad and a future of partnership and peace.”
He accused the Iranian regime of working “for generations” to destroy the Jewish people, to spread antisemitism and terrorism, and to develop nuclear weapons with the goal of Israel’s annihilation.
In a separate English-language video statement, Netanyahu revealed “chilling intelligence” — that Iran not only aimed to develop nuclear weapons for itself, but also intended to share them with proxy groups such as Hezbollah and the Houthis.
“That’s nuclear terrorism on steroids,” the prime minister said. “That would threaten the entire world.”
He added that “senior Iranian leaders are already packing their bags. They sense what’s coming.”
Netanyahu said that Israel’s actions have the full backing of the United States and thanked President Trump personally, also wishing the U.S. armed forces a happy birthday.
Israeli officials remain tight-lipped about the next phase of operations. One senior official, speaking to Channel 12 on condition of anonymity, noted that while there is currently no official policy to topple the Iranian regime, “if Iran continues to harm the civilian populace and cross red lines, all options will be on the table.”
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One Response
“During a late-night emergency cabinet meeting in a fortified underground bunker, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir told ministers that Israel’s current operation is “a fight for the very existence of the Jewish people.””
The Zionists endlessly propagandize and lie. This is heresy and also lies. The “Jewish People” would always have been better off without Zionism, not with it. The Jewish people live all over the world. Rather, the war that the Zionists are waging, like all of their wars, only is for their own pseudo-State, not “the Jewish people”.