Iran retaliates and Israel vows more strikes after devastating attack

Iran was reeling and firing missiles and drones Friday after Israel carried out its largest attack ever against Iran, waves of coordinated airstrikes that hit nuclear sites and killed much of the country’s military chain of command along with several nuclear scientists.

Israel’s assault early Friday and Iran’s response immediately raised the prospect of a wider conflict engulfing the Middle East, although Iran’s military capabilities and its proxy militias have been weakened by 20 months of Israeli attacks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the assault as a last resort to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, which Israel calls an existential threat, and he vowed that the attacks would last “as many days as it takes.”

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in a televised statement Friday that Iran would act forcefully to punish Israel for the attack. “Life will be dark for them,” he said. “They started it. They started a war.”

Iran’s United Nations ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, told the U.N. Security Council on Friday that Israel’s strikes had killed 78 people and injured 329 others.

In response, Iran fired “fewer than 100” missiles in two waves toward Israel on Friday, most of which were intercepted by Israel’s robust air defenses, according to Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, an Israeli military spokesperson. But several buildings were hit, some with shrapnel.

At least 40 people were wounded in Tel Aviv, Israel, and the surrounding area, according to a tally from three hospitals. Most of the patients were moderately injured, but a few were in critical condition.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it had struck dozens of targets in Israel “forcefully and with precision,” including military and defense sites, in response to Israel’s attacks.

The Israeli military said that Iranian forces had also launched about 100 drones at Israel and that a missile fired from Yemen had landed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israel said it had shot down many of the drones, and there were no immediate reports of casualties.

Israel’s attack was an audacious attempt to cripple a country that it has been battling for years, with covert operations aimed at killing Iran’s military commanders and nuclear scientists, and direct combat against forces it supports across the Middle East, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, where Israel remains at war.