Israel has launched a sweeping new wave of strikes on Tehran, hitting regime infrastructure across the capital in what the Israeli Defence Forces described as a “broad-scale” operation aimed at completing the destruction of Iran’s air defences and dismantling what remains of its ballistic missile capability, as the US-Israel war on Iran enters its fourth week with no end in sight.
The Israeli military said it had begun a “broad-scale wave of strikes” aimed at regime infrastructure in Tehran. Israel’s army chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, said Israel had destroyed 80 per cent of Iran’s air defences and at least 60 per cent of its ability to launch missiles. Iran activated its own air defences in response. Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB reported defences were activated against “hostile targets” in the east of the capital, and Israel’s military confirmed it had identified missiles launched from Iran toward Israel, with its air defence systems operating to intercept them.
The latest strikes on Tehran included a series of large explosions reported in northern Tehran near the Saadabad Palace complex, following earlier attacks on central Tehran, Karaj, Shahriar, and Shiraz, part of a sustained campaign that has now struck thousands of targets across the country over 21 days.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel and the United States are “protecting the entire world” through their military campaign, claiming Tehran can no longer enrich uranium or manufacture ballistic missiles. “We are winning and Iran is being decimated,” he declared, though he did not provide evidence to substantiate the claims.
The human cost of the conflict has reached devastating proportions. At least 1,444 people have been killed and 18,551 injured by US-Israeli attacks in Iran since the war began on February 28, a figure that includes more than 160 schoolgirls killed in a strike on a primary school in Minab, an incident an Amnesty International investigation attributed directly to the United States.
US forces have struck more than 7,000 targets in Iran since the conflict began, according to the US Central Command. Preliminary figures indicate at least 1,444 dead in Iran, 18 in Israel, 13 US soldiers, and 21 killed in Gulf states.
The conflict continues to metastasise across the region. Saudi Arabia shot down at least a dozen drones over eastern parts of the country, while the UAE said its air defences were responding to incoming missile and drone threats from Iran. Dubai’s government media office confirmed booms heard over the emirate were the result of successful interceptions, while Bahrain’s interior ministry said a fire broke out at a warehouse due to shrapnel from an Iranian attack.
Dubai International Airport temporarily suspended flights after a drone-related incident sparked a fire in the airport’s vicinity, with a fuel tank affected before the blaze was contained. Dubai airport later resumed a limited schedule, with several planned routes cancelled for the day. Saudi Arabia separately said it intercepted 37 drones in its eastern region.
Israel also launched strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, targeting Hezbollah positions, as the Lebanese armed group continued firing at Israeli troops and vehicles along the southern Lebanese border. The United Nations’ human rights chief expressed extreme concern about Lebanon becoming a key flashpoint in the wider conflict, calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
Global energy markets are absorbing the shocks in real time. A near-total halt of tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted the supply of fuel and essential fertilisers, threatening global food security. The Fertilizer Institute warned that nearly 50 per cent of global urea and sulphur exports, as well as 20 per cent of global liquefied natural gas, a key feedstock for nitrogen fertilisers, transit through the strait.
Trump on Friday said he would not negotiate with Iran except on terms of surrender. “There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” he wrote on Truth Social, adding that after Iran’s surrender and the selection of acceptable new leaders, the United States and allies would work to rebuild the country’s battered economy and “make Iran bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.”
Iran’s government has condemned the US-Israel attacks as a breach of the UN Charter and insists it will exercise its right to self-defence for as long as the strikes continue.