Israel attacks nuclear program in Iran, drawing waves of missiles | June 13, 2025

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Israel and Iran to halt their attacks on one another, while calling for diplomacy.

“Israeli bombardment of Iranian nuclear sites. Iranian missile strikes in Tel Aviv. Enough escalation. Time to stop. Peace and diplomacy must prevail,” Guterres wrote on X on Saturday.

15 people were reportedly trapped inside a collapsed building late Friday in the Tel Aviv satellite of Ramat Gan as projectiles launched from Iran rained on central Israel throughout the day.

Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv said it has treated seven people hurt by the second Iranian barrage; six had light injuries and the seventh was moderately wounded.

Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept missiles over Tel Aviv as others explode and traces fly over Jerusalem during a missile attack by Iran in retaliation for deadly Israeli attacks on nuclear sites and military leaders.

▶ See more photos of the attacks here

McCoy Pitt, the senior official in the U.S. State Department Bureau of International Organization Affairs told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council Friday that “the consequences for Iran would be dire.”

“Let me be crystal clear,” he said, “no government, proxy, or independent actor should target American citizens, American bases, or other American infrastructure in the region.”

He said Trump wants an end to violence and for Iran to reach a nuclear deal.

“The United States will continue to seek a diplomatic resolution that ensures Iran will never acquire a nuclear weapon or post a threat to stability in the Middle East,” he said. “Iran’s leadership would be wise to negotiate at this time.”

Sirens and the boom of explosions, possibly from Israeli interceptors, could be heard in the sky over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv early Saturday.

AP journalists in Tel Aviv could see what appeared to be at least two Iranian missiles hit the ground, but there was no immediate word of casualties.

The Israeli military said another long-range Iranian missile attack was taking place and urged civilians, already rattled by the first wave of projectiles, to head to shelter. Around three dozen people were wounded by that first wave.

The Iranian outlet Nour News, which has close links with the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, said a fresh wave was being launched.

Although roughly equal in the number of troops, the two militaries bring strikingly different tactics and firepower.

Iran boasts a large standing force but also relies on proxies and undercover operations that have been severely disabled in recent months by U.S. and Israeli actions.

Israel, meanwhile, relies on both subterfuge and robust regular ground and air forces that are apparently unmatched in the region.

It’s unclear how long Iran could keep up firing hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel. However, according to Israeli media reports, the cost of a single Iron Dome interception is about $50,000, while the other systems can run more than $2 million per missile.

▶ Read more about Israel and Iran’s militaries

Iran’s long-range missile attack was a stiff challenge for Israel’s air-defense system, which has intercepted projectiles fired from Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Iran since the start of the war on Oct. 7, 2023.

Those have ranged from short-range rockets to medium-range missiles to attack drones to ballistic missiles like those fired Friday night.

Over the decades, Israel has developed a sophisticated system capable of detecting incoming fire and deploying only if the projectile is headed toward a population center or sensitive military or civilian infrastructure. Israeli leaders say the system isn’t 100% guaranteed, but credit it with preventing serious damage and countless casualties.

▶ Read more about Israel’s air-defense system

Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Friday that Israel’s “barbaric and criminal attack” and targeted killings were against senior military officials and nuclear scientists — but “the overwhelming majority” of victims were civilians, including women and children.

The ambassador said 78 people were killed and over 320 injured in the Israeli attacks.

He said Israel is conducting more “acts of aggression” targeting multiple civilian and military sites across several Iranian cities.

“These atrocities constitute clear acts of state terrorism and flagrant violation of international law,” Iravani said.

In Ramat Gan, rescuers were trying to get out 15 people from a house they were trapped in after it was hit by a missile. The city is east of Tel Aviv.

Yossi Griver from Israel’s home front command said authorities were trying to free them. He said people were eating Friday night dinner when their house was struck, and many are older adults.

The area was badly hit Friday night. The AP saw at least three damaged houses, one where the front was nearly entirely torn off, as well as burnt out cars.

Russian President Vladimir Putin urged de-escalation during his separate calls with the leaders of Israel and Iran earlier Friday.

To Iran, Putin condemned the Israeli attacks and offered condolences for the casualties, including civilians, according to the Kremlin.

In his conversation with Netanyahu, Putin said the Iranian nuclear issue should be solved “exclusively through political and diplomatic means” and urged both sides to return to negotiations, even offering to help mediate.

U.N. nuclear chief Rafael Grossi told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that Israeli strikes destroyed the above-ground section of Iran’s main nuclear facility at Natanz.

He said all the electrical infrastructure and emergency power generators were destroyed as well as a section of the facility where uranium was enriched up to 60%.

The main centrifuge facility underground did not appear to have been hit, but the loss of power could have damaged the infrastructure there, he said.

Iranian state TV reported that the country’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, told British Foreign Secretary David Lammy that Iran does not accept calls for restraint in the face of Israeli aggressions.

Araghchi emphasized that Iran’s response to the Israeli attacks will be “decisive and definite based on the United Nations Charter.”

Lebanese officials announced Friday evening that the country’s airspace would be closed overnight to commercial aircraft. Before the announcement, national air carrier Middle East Airlines had continued to operate flights while many other airlines canceled theirs.

Syria’s civil aviation authority also announced that “some air corridors” in Syrian airspace would remain closed overnight.

Also in Syria, what appeared to be several Iranian drones fell in the southern provinces of Daraa and Quneitra after being shot down by Israeli air defenses. An Associated Press photographer in the area saw one of the fallen drones and nearby houses that had suffered minor damages as a result.

The Israeli military said an Iranian missile landed in Ramat Gan, a city about halfway between the coast and Ben Gurion International Airport.

Sheba Hospital says it’s treating 15 people wounded by Iranian missiles, one critically.

Markets are worried that escalating violence following Israel’s attack on Iranian nuclear and military targets could damage the flow of crude around the world, along with the global economy.

The strongest action was in the oil market, where crude prices jumped 7.3% and returned to where they were early this year. Iran is one of the world’s major producers of oil, and escalating fighting could limit its flow. Markets worry that rising oil prices could push inflation higher.

The S&P 500 fell 1.1% Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.8%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 1.3%.

Israeli police have closed entrances to the Old City of Jerusalem, which is often a flashpoint for protests during times of increased tensions. The limestone passageways of the Jewish Quarter were empty and quiet Friday evening except for a few stragglers. Shops were closed.

The U.S. official did not say how the U.S. provided assistance, however both U.S. Air Force fighter aircraft and destroyer-based missile defenses have intercepted missiles in previous attacks.

The U.S. has been moving assets nearer to Israel to assist in missile intercepts and to provide better protection of U.S. bases in the region.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing operations.

Iranian missiles could be seen from as far away as Beirut, leaving behind yellow streaks like comets as they descended on Israel.

And in other videos posted on social media, the missiles burned fast through the air above Jerusalem’s Old City.

Associated Press journalists reported the rumbling of explosions sounded like a thunderstorm.

Israeli paramedics report five people injured in the Tel Aviv area — one in moderate condition and four lightly injured by shrapnel.

Video taken by AP journalists shows multiple Israeli interceptor rockets slicing through the night sky over Tel Aviv, trailing columns of smoke and occasionally exploding in balls of yellow fire. Some of the Iranian rockets hurtled downward in a straight line, and a few could be seen impacting in flashes of orange that lit up the glittering skyline of Israel’s commercial hub.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed revenge for Israeli attacks in a recorded message to the nation delivered as Iranian missiles flew toward Israel. Khamenei said the military was prepared to counterattack.

“Don’t think that they hit and it’s over. No. They started the work and started the war. We will not allow them to escape safely from this great crime they committed,” he said.

Sirens sounded across Israel and loud booms shook the air as Israeli interceptors could be seen arcing up toward the Iranian missiles. An Israeli military official said dozens of incoming missiles were detected.

The Israeli military’s Home Front Command has instructed people to move into shelters ahead of an expected Iranian missile attack.

The army says Iran has launched missiles, and the safety order applies to the entire country.

Israel’s Channel 13 TV says the missiles are expected to take about 10 minutes to arrive.

Ghassan Hamdan, a doctor and the director of medical relief in the central West Bank area of Nablus, said Israel’s closure of checkpoints in the area had prevented ambulances from being able to ferry patients to the hospital all day.

He said that the portion of the Nablus population living in rural areas outside the city were not able to get to the hospital. In one case, he recounted that an ambulance was unable to reach a woman with health complications from diabetes who needed to be picked up from the village of Duma.

“The gates are closed and there are no soldiers to open them,” he said.

An Israeli military official confirmed earlier in the day to The AP that Israel had closed crossings into the territory.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke to Abbas Araghchi Friday morning and also told him “we need to avoid, at all costs, a deadly confrontation that might get out of control,” U.N. associate spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay said.

Guterres reiterated his condemnation of any military escalation in the Middle East, which the region “can hardly afford,” she said.

Israel had long threatened to strike Iran’s nuclear sites, and successive American administrations had sought to prevent it, fearing it would ignite a wider conflict across the Middle East and possibly be ineffective at destroying Iran’s dispersed and hardened nuclear program.

Israel’s military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said that despite Israel’s attack, “Iran has capability to hurt Israel’s civilian front in a meaningful way.”

Defrin’s briefing was cut short. An Israeli military official says this was due to an incoming Iranian attack on central Israel. The official spoke on condition pending a formal announcement.

French President Emmanuel Macron says a top-level U.N. conference on a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians has been postponed because of renewed tensions in the Mideast.

France and Saudi Arabia were due to co-host the conference in New York next week, and Macron had been scheduled to attend.

Macron said Friday it was postponed for logistical and security reasons and because some Palestinian representatives couldn’t come to the event.

Britain’s top diplomat says he has spoken to Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to urge restraint and calm at “a moment of grave peril in the Middle East.”

Foreign Secretary David Lammy told reporters that the U.K.’s message is “Let’s step back. Let’s have restraint. Let’s return to diplomacy.”

He stressed that Britain has not been involved in the strikes, saying “this is a unilateral act by Israel.”

The Palestinian Red Crescent said that shrapnel from a missile injured three children, ages 6, 7 and 12 in the Palestinian village of Sa’ir, in the south of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The children were being transferred to the hospital.

The report came shortly after Israel’s military said it had intercepted a missile launched at the country from Yemen.

The Fordo nuclear enrichment facility is buried hundreds of meters underground.

Nour News, which is close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, reported on its Telegram channel that two explosions were heard from the area nearby.

Separately, Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported that a radar site near Tabriz was attacked, according to an official in the East Azerbaijan province.

Majid Farshi told IRNA that 11 military sites in East Azerbaijan province have been attacked, and that 18 people were killed, including one Red Crescent aid worker.

American fighter jets are patrolling the sky in the Middle East to protect personnel and installations, according to a U.S. official. The official spoke Friday on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing operations.

It comes at the same time as the Navy has directed the destroyer USS Thomas Hudner, which is capable of defending against ballistic missiles, to begin sailing from the western Mediterranean Sea toward the eastern Mediterranean. A second destroyer also has begun moving forward so it can be available if requested by the White House.