Israel’s airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear sites have damaged some aboveground research facilities and infrastructure but do not appear to have eliminated the thousands of centrifuges, buried deep underground, that enrich near-weapons-grade uranium or the hundreds of pounds of material they have already produced, according to a wide range of nonproliferation and Iranian experts.

In launching the attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Iranian program poses an existential threat that Israel intends to destroy. “We struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear enrichment program,” he said in an address to the nation early Friday.

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But judging by reports and statements from both countries, as well as videos and overhead imagery of the sites hit so far — and those as yet unscathed — no irreversible damage has been done, experts said.

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“Until I know that Fordow is gone and until I know where that … highly-enriched uranium is and know whether it’s usable, I consider us on the clock,” said Richard Nephew, a lead U.S. negotiator with Iran under the Obama administration and now a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “That’s all that matters now.”

Fordow, located outside the city of Qom about 100 miles south of Tehran, is one of two large underground enrichment facilities in Iran and the most deeply buried. The other is Natanz, another 100 miles south in the province of Isfahan. The only conventional munition believed capable of damaging their subterranean enrichment bunkers is the United States’ Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a 30,000 pound precision-guided bomb that Israel does not possess.

“Israel can damage key Iranian nuclear facilities, but Israel can’t destroy hardened sites like Fordow without U.S. military assistance,” said Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association. While the Trump administration has already helped defend Israel from Iranian retaliation, Secretary of State Marco Rubio went out of his way in a statement to say that Israel’s strikes were “unilateral” and that there was no U.S. involvement.

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Tzachi Hanegbi, head of Israel’s National Security Council, acknowledged that Iran’s nuclear program “cannot be destroyed through kinetic means.” In an interview early Friday with Israeli Channel 12, he said “only the Americans can make that happen” — though not by supplying its “bunker buster” bomb but with the deal offered by President Donald Trump in which Iran would voluntarily give up its nuclear program in exchange for peace and lifted sanctions.

David Albright, who has studied Iran’s nuclear program for decades, said the initial round of Israeli strikes early Friday morning local time did not appear to prioritize destroying Iranian nuclear infrastructure. Rather, he said, Israel’s military appeared to capitalize on the element of surprise to kill senior Iranian military leaders and nuclear scientists and to disable air defenses.

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Although there were reports of explosions near Fordow, Israel does not appear to have struck the main installation, buried deep underground. “Before this, standard thinking was that Iran could produce enough highly enriched uranium for a bomb in less than a week,” said Eric Brewer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative. “If Fordow is still operating, if the materials stored there are still intact, that timeline hasn’t changed.”

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The estimated time needed for Iran to turn that material into a usable nuclear device remains murky, with intelligence and expert estimates ranging from several months to a year.

At Natanz, strikes destroyed several aboveground facilities and inflicted extensive damage on the electrical system — knocking out ventilation and power both above and below ground. It also leveled a small research plant that is Iran’s only aboveground enrichment plant, according to a report by Albright’s institute based on studying high-resolution satellite imagery.

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“I would say they’ve disabled the facility by destroying the power substation, but they haven’t destroyed the facility in a way that would impact Iran’s long-term breakout” capacity to produce a weapon, said Decker Eveleth, an analyst specializing in satellite imagery at CNA, a policy and analysis nonprofit. “They need to actually destroy the centrifuges to do that,” he said.

Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said after reviewing satellite imagery of Natanz that the underground facility where sophisticated centrifuges are manufactured was also spared. “That place can make rotors and bellows for centrifuges,” he said. “So I presume they’re going to keep on making them.”

“The hitting of the nuclear facilities basically allows them to depict this as … a preemptive act of self-defense,” Lewis said of the Israelis.

Other nuclear sites where strikes were reported included what the Israel Defense Forces said was a uranium metal production facility in Isfahan, a military complex in Parchin, the Arak heavy water reactor southwest of Tehran and the Bushehr nuclear power plant.

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Among military sites targeted, multiple videos posted Friday and verified by The Washington Post showed a huge plume of black smoke rising from the vicinity of Shahid Madani International Airport in Tabriz, where the IDF said it had destroyed a base used by the Iranian air force.

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But the centrifuge and uranium storage facilities appeared to remain intact.

“I imagine that the Israelis have got a plan for Fordow,” said Kenneth Pollack, a former CIA and White House official who is the vice president for policy at the Middle East Institute. Pollack speculated that such a plan could involve a raid by Israeli special forces or cyberattacks. “The truth is, we don’t know,” he said.

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In the meantime, the Israeli attacks will doubtless have a number of consequences. The International Atomic Energy Agency, whose inspectors have access to both Fordow and Natanz and track of the quality and quantity of enriched uranium Iran produces, will be unlikely to return to those tasks in the near future, even if Iran allows it.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said Friday that inspectors at those facilities had been withdrawn for their own safety. “With Iran on the threshold of nuclear weapons, inspections are critical for ensuring that there is no diversion of nuclear material,” said Davenport of the Arms Control Association. “Israel has just ensured that there will be no inspections for some time.”

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What the inspectors do not know is whether there are additional sophisticated centrifuges in new or unknown facilities, or whether any of the cylinders holding the stockpiled highly enriched uranium have already been relocated from the production sites.

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“The Arak reactor may be a smoking hole,” Nephew said. “But until I know what happened to that” enriched uranium, “I’m not remotely relaxed. … My default assumption is that the Israelis have sufficient penetration of the program that they probably know where it is. But the Iranians have been storing it in pretty safe places. They know that it’s the prime target.”

The destruction of underground facilities at Natanz and Fordow may not be possible without US military support and bunker buster bombs

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that it was unclear whether Iran still has a nuclear programme following Israeli strikes, but experts say the damage to the country’s nuclear facilities so far has appeared limited.

Israel’s attacks succeeded in killing Iranian military leaders and nuclear scientists and striking military command and control facilities and air defences, but satellite imagery did not yet show significant damage to nuclear infrastructure, several experts said.

“The first day was aimed at things that you would get through surprise – killing leadership, going after nuclear scientists, air defence systems, the ability to retaliate,” said nuclear expert David Albright at the Institute for Science and International Security.

“We can’t see any visible damage at Fordow or Isfahan. There was damage at Natanz,” said Albright, referring to Iranian nuclear sites. But “there’s no evidence that the underground site was destroyed”.

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UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council on Friday that the above-ground pilot enrichment plant at Iran’s Natanz nuclear site had been destroyed and Iran had reported attacks on Fordow and Isfahan.

A satellite image shows an overview of Iran’s Fordow uranium enrichment facility, south of Tehran, in February. Image: Maxar Technologies via AFP

Grossi said electricity infrastructure at Natanz was also destroyed and the loss of power to a cascade hall may have damaged centrifuges there. But he said the level of radioactivity outside Natanz remained unchanged and normal.

The sprawling Natanz nuclear complex is Iran’s main uranium enrichment facility. The site includes a vast underground uranium enrichment plant and a smaller, above-ground pilot enrichment plant.

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In a telephone interview, Trump said it was unclear whether Iran still has a nuclear programme following the Israeli strikes.

“Nobody knows,” Trump said. “It was a very devastating hit.”

Two regional sources said at least 20 Iranian military commanders were killed in the attack, a stunning decapitation reminiscent of Israeli attacks that swiftly wiped out the leadership of Lebanon’s once-feared Hezbollah militia last year. Iran also said six of its top nuclear scientists were killed.

Albright said his analysis was based on the latest available images from about 11.20am Tehran time. He added there may also have been drone strikes on tunnels to underground centrifuge plants and cyberattacks that did not leave visible traces.

“In terms of visible damage, we don’t see much and we’ll see what happens tonight,” he said, adding that he believes Israel’s strikes were still in an early stage.

Albright said the status of Iran’s stocks of enriched uranium was not known and that it was possible Israel had avoided major attacks on nuclear sites due to concerns about harming international inspectors who were there.

Albright said there were thousands of centrifuges at the underground plant at Natanz and knocking out the electrical supply would bring into play a backup battery system.

He said it was likely that Iran was shutting down the centrifuges at the underground site in a controlled manner, which was a big operation.

“Batteries … last a while, but eventually they will run out and if the centrifuges spin down in an uncontrollable manner, a lot will break,” he said.

Israel launches strikes on Iran, targeting nuclear facilities in Tehran

Israel said it targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders at the start of what would be a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon.

Military and nuclear experts said that even with massive firepower, military action would probably only temporarily set back a programme the West fears is already aimed at producing atom bombs one day, although Iran denies it.

Jeffrey Lewis, a non-proliferation expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said damage at the Natanz facility appeared “moderate”.

“Israel destroyed the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant, as well as some support buildings associated with power supply,” he said. Lewis added Israel also hit a support building – possibly for power supply – near two underground nuclear enrichment facilities.

“The underground enrichment halls, as well as the large underground facility nearby in the mountains, do not appear damaged.”

It was unclear what damage was sustained at the key Fordow nuclear facility, which could be used to develop nuclear weapons and is buried deep underground.

“It has always been the conventional wisdom that Israel may not have the ordnance to destroy Fordow without American military support,” Mark Dubowitz, head of the Foundation for Defence of Democracies think tank, told a podcast.

The United States is better equipped than Israel to destroy such targets with its most powerful bunker buster bombs, the 14,000kg (30,000 pound) Massive Ordnance Penetrator.

If Iran decides not to negotiate a nuclear deal, the US could use its B2 bombers and those bombs to destroy Fordow, Dubowitz said.

Decker Eveleth, a strategic analyst with the CAN Corp research group, said the overall aim of Israel’s campaign was still unclear.

“They may be successful at dismantling Iranian command and control, destroying air forces [and] hitting a variety of targets related to the Iranian missile programme,” he said.

“[But] if their core objective is prevention of a nuclear breakout, can they destroy enough of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure to actually prevent that from happening?”

Hear this story

President Trump said the U.S. knew about Israel’s plans to strike Iran.

Trump said Iranian negotiators have made contact with the U.S. since the Israeli attack. There was no immediate confirmation from Tehran.

Israeli warplanes damaged Iranian nuclear and military sites and killed three top generals and several nuclear scientists on June 13.

“I couldn’t get them to a deal in 60 days…Maybe now it will happen,” Trump told Axios.

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, promised to leave Israel’s military “helpless.”

Iran launched three retaliatory waves of missiles at targets in Israel on June 13, as Israelis rode out the attacks in bomb shelters and world leaders discussed the deepening conflict.

Plumes of smoke rose over central Tel Aviv and at least one building was hit and set ablaze. Israel said fewer than 100 rockets had been fired from Iran. Israel’s Channel 12 said two people were critically injured, eight moderately and 34 slightly from shrapnel..

The U.S. military has helped shoot down Iranian missiles headed for Israel, American officials told USA TODAY.

The Iranian counterattack came as President Donald Trump said there “is still time” to make a deal over the country’s nuclear program after Israel launched a June 13 staggering assault on Iran’s military and nuclear facilities.

“There has already been great death and destruction,” Trump wrote on social media June 13 after the attacks. “Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left.”

Follow along with USA TODAY’s live coverage from Washington and the world.

Above-ground facilities at Natanz destroyed, IAEA chief says

Rafael Mariano Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency told the Security Council that Israel’s attack on the Natanz uranium enrichment site had “destroyed” above-ground facilities.

That part of the enrichment plant was where Iran was producing uranium enriched up to 60%, he said.

He said there was “no indication of a physical attack” on underground facilities housing centrifuges used to enrich uranium, noting those operations could have been affected by damage to above-ground electric infrastructure.

Grossi said the extent of damage at other Iranian nuclear sites was unclear.

“I have repeatedly stated that nuclear facilities must never be attacked, regardless of the context or circumstances, as it could harm both people and the environment,” he said.

In U.N. showdown, Iran says Washington is responsible

Iran told an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council the U.S. was just as responsible for Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites as Israel itself.

“By aiding and enabling these crimes, they share full responsibility for the consequences,” Iranian representative Amir-Saeid Iravani told the Council.

He said 78 people had been killed in the Israeli attacks, including top military officials, and more than 320 injured, most of them civilians.

President Trump on June 13 celebrated the strikes as a way to force Iran into accepting his terms in a nuclear deal, noting the attacks were carried out with American-made weapons.

U.S. military part of Israel’s missile shield

The U.S. military has helped shoot down Iranian missiles headed for Israel, U.S. officials told USA TODAY, as President Trump spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

It wasn’t immediately clear which U.S. military assets were used.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans live in Israel, and roughly 40,000 U.S. servicemembers were stationed in the Middle East as of last April.

-Francesca Chambers, Tom Vanden Brook

Trump said he gave Iran a chance

There was one message the president hammered home to U.S. and global news outlets before Iran’s missile attack: It’s not too late for Tehran to accept Trump’s nuclear deal. “I couldn’t get them to a deal in 60 days. They were close, they should have done it. Maybe now it will happen,” he told Axios.

“I tried to save Iran humiliation and death,” Trump told Reuters.

Israel hit Iranian nuclear sites and military bases and killed top generals and nuclear scientists in several waves of airstrikes June 13. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khameni promised a powerful response.

Netanyahu says much of Iran’s missile stocks destroyed

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the raids on Iran had destroyed a significant amount of Tehran’s ballistic missile capabilities.

His statement came amid retaliatory missile strikes launched from Iran, as President Trump worked the phones with allies in Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.

Israel’s goal: No Iran nukes, no ballistic missiles

Israel said it would continue its strikes on Iran, as the U.N. Security Council prepared to meet.

“We don’t know how long it will take,” Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon told reporters. “We will continue to act until we will know that we eliminated the threats.”

“The goals of our operation are very clear – to make sure that Iran will not have nuclear capabilities and to stop the ballistic missile operation,” he said. “I will explain to the council… and I expect the Security Council to understand.”

Israeli briefing cut short amid Iranian strike

A live feed of a scheduled press briefing by Brigadier General Effie Defrin, an Israeli army spokesperson, was cut short amid an incoming Iranian attack on central Israel, Reuters reported.

UN Security Council will meet over Iran attacks

The United Nations Security Council will meet later on June 13 over Israel’s strikes on Iran as Israel’s U.N. envoy said the military operation would continue until Iran’s nuclear capabilities and ballistic missile operation were eliminated.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi requested the council meeting in a letter to the 15-member body, saying Israel “has now crossed every red line, and the international community must not allow these crimes to go unpunished.”

“Iran reaffirms its inherent right to self-defense as enshrined in Article 51 of the UN Charter and will respond decisively and proportionately to these unlawful and cowardly acts,” Araghchi wrote.

-Reuters

Iran’s supreme leaders says Israel will be left ‘helpless’

In a public address Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei promised revenge for the ongoing Israeli air strikes that have killed top military and nuclear officials and damaged the country’s chief uranium enrichment site.

Khameni said Israel’s armed forces would be left “helpless” in the face of Iranian retribution, Reuters reported. Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, promised a strong response.

Missile launched from Yemen injures Palestinians

Shortly after 12:30 p.m. Eastern time, the Israeli military said a missile had been launched from Yemen, where Houthi militants have previously fired on targets inside Israel.

The missile struck in Hebron, on the West Bank, Israel said.

At least five Palestinians, including three children, were injured, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Separately, explosions were heard in Isfahan, Iran, and air defenses were activated in Tehran, the capital.

Trump says he doesn’t know if Iran’s nuclear program survived Israeli attack

President Trump told Reuters in a phone interview it was unclear if Iran still has a nuclear program following Israeli strikes on the country.

“Nobody knows. It was a very devastating hit,” Trump said.

Trump told Reuters the U.S. still has nuclear talks planned with Iran on June 15, but that he is not sure they will still take place. He said it was not too late for Iran to make a deal.

“We knew everything, and I tried to save Iran humiliation and death,” Trump said. “I tried to save them very hard because I would have loved to have seen a deal worked out. They can still work out a deal however, it’s not too late.”

-Reuters

A stolen glimpse of Natanz

Iran forbids almost everybody, but especially journalists, and especially ones from American news outlets, from getting anywhere near Natanz and other nuclear sites, even though much of it is buried deep in the ground.

Iran’s main uranium enrichment facility is at Natanz, a city and district located about 135 miles southeast of Tehran − two-thirds of the way along a dusty highway from Iran’s capital to the city of Isfahan, known for its grand boulevards and historically important Islamic architecture, palace and mosques.

But on a USA TODAY trip to Iran in 2018, during President Donald Trump’s first term, a reporter did snap a photo from the side of the road of the mountainous desert landscape recently pummeled with Israeli bombs.

-Kim Hjelmgaard

Attacks scramble air travel

Airlines steered clear of much of the Middle East on Friday after Israeli attacks on Iranian sites forced carriers to cancel or divert thousands of flights in the latest upheaval to travel in the region.

Delta Air said it was pausing its flights from New York to Tel Aviv through August 31. About 1,800 flights to and from Europe had been affected by early evening June 13, including approximately 650 cancelled flights, according to Eurocontrol.

Air India, which flies over Iran on its Europe and North American flights, said several flights were diverted or returned to their origin, including ones from New York, Vancouver, Chicago and London.

Eastern Iraq, near its border with Iran, is one of the world’s busiest air corridors, with dozens of flights crossing between Europe and the Gulf, many on routes from Asia to Europe, at any one moment.

-Reuters

Trump says Iran has reached out to the U.S.

The president told NBC News that Tehran’s negotiators had made contact after the Israeli strikes.

“They’re calling me to speak,” Trump said. Asked who in particular was calling, he replied, “The same people we worked with the last time … Many of them are dead now.”

Israel vs. Iran: Global reaction

Multiple world leaders and foreign ministries called for restraint and some condemned Israel’s strikes.

In the Arab world, Saudi Arabia described Israel’s attack as “heinous” and said the international community bears “a great responsibility to halt this aggression.” Oman, which has been hosting the nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran, said it was “reckless.”

In Europe, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, critical of Israel in recent weeks over the war in Gaza, said Israel had a right to “defend its existence.” Merz increased protections for Jewish institutions in Germany. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said it was “crucial” for Israel’s allies to de-escalate tensions.

In Asia, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Beijing “is deeply concerned about the grave consequences that the operations may cause, and urges relevant parties to avoid further escalation of tension.”

The European Union “urges all parties to exercise maximum restraint,” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.

-Kim Hjelmgaard

U.S. knew Israel attack was coming, Trump says

President Trump told the Wall Street Journal that Israel’s punishing strike on Iran was no secret to U.S. policymakers.

Asked if Israel had informed him ahead of the air strikes, Trump told the Journal: “Heads-up? It wasn’t a heads-up. It was, ‘We know what’s going on.'”

Trump said the air strikes were “a very successful attack, to put it mildly,” and that he planned to speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later on June 13.

In Israel, Netanyahu later confirmed the U.S. knew of his plans.

‘They didn’t die of the flu’: Trump says Iran deal ‘hardliners’ are dead

Trump told CNN anchor Dana Bash the U.S. supported Israel in its strikes on Iran. Bash said she spoke with the president on the phone briefly the morning of June 13.

“Iran should have listened to me when I said − you know I gave them, I don’t know if you know but I gave them a 60-day warning and today is day 61,” Trump told her.

“They should now come to the table to make a deal before it’s too late. It will be too late for them. You know the people I was dealing with are dead, the hardliners,” he added, without specifying who those “hardliners” are.

The Trump administration has been negotiating with Iran over the country’s nuclear program, with the aim of preventing Tehran from producing a nuclear weapon.

Bash said she asked Trump if the people he “was dealing with” died as a result of Israel’s attack.

“They didn’t die of the flu,” he said. “They didn’t die of Covid.”

-Savannah Kuchar

Israel seeks to remake Mideast?

Israel says its strike on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and military leaders is about self-defense and ensuring its survival.

Some experts say it risks plunging the Middle East into a wider war that also reflects Israel’s post-Oct. 7-attacks strategy of countering Iran’s regional influence.

Burcu Ozcelik, a research fellow in Middle East Security at the Royal United Services Institute, a London think tank, said Israel’s attack on Iran’s nuclear program and military leadership overnight amounted to a “Pandora’s box” that’s been cast wide open.

“Israel’s sweeping overnight air campaign against Iranian targets is an escalation that risks reshaping the strategic landscape of the Middle East,” he said.

Neil Melvin, RUSI’s international security director, said Israel’s strategy has been unfolding since the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 2023. “Israel has systematically sought to roll back Iran’s regional proxy forces through military operations in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen and through these actions to reshape the regional geopolitical balance in Israel’s favor.”

-Kim Hjelmgaard

Trump: ‘I gave them a chance’

The Trump administration has been negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program with the goal of preventing the country from obtaining a nuclear bomb. Although Iran insists its nuclear program is for civilian energy purposes only, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, recently concluded that Iran was very close to reaching the 90% uranium enrichment level required to build a nuclear weapon.

“I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal,” Trump said in his post. “I told them, in the strongest of words, to ‘just do it,’ but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done.”

The Israel Defense Forces said more than 200 of its fighter jets struck dozens of targets in Iran June 13 as part of a wave of attacks. The IDF said it successfully “damaged” an underground area of Iran’s uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, a district in central Iran, that contained a “multi-story enrichment hall with centrifuges, electrical rooms and additional supporting infrastructure.”

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the IDF hit additional targets “at the heart” of the Islamic Republic’s programs for nuclear weaponization and enrichment, as well as its ballistic missile program. Netanyahu added that “Iran’s leading nuclear scientists” were also targets, and that the IDF’s attacks will continue for “as many days as it takes.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei confirmed several of his nation’s senior military commanders and nuclear scientists were killed in Israel’s attacks, which struck parts of Iran’s capital Tehran. Khamenei also warned Israel had “prepared a bitter fate for itself.”

Trump is meeting with the National Security Council on June 13.

Trump said June 12 that he didn’t want Israel to attack Iran while he’s actively negotiating an agreement that could prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“As long as I think there is an agreement, I don’t want them going in, because I think that would blow it. Might help it, actually. But it also could blow it,” Trump told reporters during a White House event.

Contributing: Davis Winkie, Francesca Chambers, Jennifer Borresen, Reuters

Israel says attacks on nuclear sites, personnel aim to ‘roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival’.

Two key Iranian nuclear scientists are among six scientists killed in Israeli strikes on sites in Iran on Friday.

More than 200 Israeli Air Force fighter jets hit more than 100 nuclear, military and infrastructure targets across Iran, including its main nuclear facility in Natanz.

The Israeli army said it had damaged the Natanz uranium enrichment site’s underground structures, including a multistorey enrichment hall with centrifuges, electrical rooms and additional supporting infrastructure.

It added that “vital infrastructure at the site that allows for its continuous functioning and the continued advancement of the Iranian regime’s project to obtain nuclear weapons was attacked”.

This came just a day after United States President Donald Trump said his administration was “fairly close to a pretty good agreement” with Iran and that military action “could blow it” and lead to a “massive conflict”.

However, on Thursday, Washington also hinted at the possibility of an imminent escalation when it announced it was partially evacuating its embassy in Iraq and had authorised “the voluntary departure” of dependants of US personnel from other locations across the Middle East.

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On Thursday, the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), declared that Iran had not complied with its nonproliferation obligations for the first time in almost 20 years. Tehran maintains that its nuclear programme focuses on peaceful purposes and is not developing weapons.

The spokesperson for Iran’s armed forces, Abolfazl Shekarchi, warned that Israel would pay a “heavy price” for its attacks, which also killed three senior military figures, including Mohammad Bagheri, the country’s highest-ranking official.

Who are the Iranian nuclear scientists who have been killed?

In total, six Iranian scientists have been killed in the Israeli strikes.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency described two of the victims, Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi and Fereydoun Abbasi, as “major nuclear scientists”.

Tehranchi, a theoretical physicist, was the president of the Islamic Azad University of Iran. He was added to the US Department’s Entity List of actors “acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests” in March 2020.

The building housing the residence of Tehranchi and several other Iranian scientists was severely damaged in Friday morning’s attacks.

Abbasi was a former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and a former member of the Iranian parliament. He held a PhD in nuclear physics and had conducted nuclear research at the defence ministry.

In 2010, Abbasi survived twin blasts in Tehran that killed fellow nuclear scientist Majid Shahriari. Iran blamed Israel for the incident, although Israel neither confirmed nor denied the assassination.

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The news agency identified the other slain scientists as:

Abdolhamid Minouchehr, holder of a PhD in nuclear engineering, who served as dean of the nuclear engineering faculty at Shahid Beheshti University and conducted extensive research on improving the efficiency and safety of nuclear plants

Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari, professor of nuclear engineering at Shahid Beheshti University

Amir Hossein Faghihi, who belonged to the engineering faculty at Shahid Beheshti University and previously served as vice president of the AEOI and head of the Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute

Motallebzadeh, a nuclear scientist who was targeted and killed along with his wife

Which nuclear facility did Israel target in Iran?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the so-called “Operation Rising Lion” had struck Iran’s main uranium enrichment facility in Natanz.

The IAEA said there was no increase in radiation levels at the site following the strike. No casualties have been reported.

Natanz, a heavily fortified facility located outside the Shia holy city of Qom, houses an underground fuel enrichment plant and an above-ground pilot fuel enrichment plant.

The IAEA said it had not received reports of strikes or damage at other key Iranian nuclear sites, including a large nuclear technology centre on the outskirts of Isfahan, a nuclear power plant in Bushehr and a fuel enrichment plant in Fordow.

More sites could be targeted in the coming days, however. Netanyahu said the military operation aimed to “roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival” and would “continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.”

Has Israel killed Iranian nuclear scientists before?

The killing of the six Iranian scientists is only the latest in a long line of assassinations blamed on Israel.

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In 2020, top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was shot dead by a remote-controlled machine gun in the town of Absard, east of Tehran. Iranian authorities blamed the assassination on Israel, which again neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.

Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, an academic who worked at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, was killed in 2012 by a magnetic bomb stuck to his car as he was driving in Tehran.

The explosion occurred on the second anniversary of the killing of Masoud Ali Mohammadi, another nuclear scientist killed by a remote-control bomb.

In November 2010, Majid Shahriari, a top nuclear scientist and a member of the nuclear engineering department of Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran, was killed in one of two explosions in Tehran. The then-president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, accused “Western governments” and Israel of being behind the assassination.

The second blast caught Abbasi, the scientist killed in Israel’s attacks on Friday, and his wife. Both were injured but survived the event.

Has Israel targeted nuclear sites in Iran before?

Yes. While Israel has never used missiles in direct attacks on Iran’s nuclear military sites before, it has targeted Iran’s primary nuclear facility at Natanz by other means.

In April 2021, Iran accused Israel of causing an explosion and power cut at the nuclear site that damaged centrifuges in its underground fuel enrichment plant. Ali Akbar Salehi, who headed the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), said the attack was an act of “nuclear terrorism” but did not specify who was responsible.

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The same site was also damaged by an explosion in August 2020. Iran accused Israel of “sabotage” on that occasion, but it did not specify what had caused the blast.

What is different about this latest attack?

Israel has stepped up its cultivation of human intelligence sources inside Iran, and has improved its technological capabilities for spying with the help of European and US satellites.

Muhanad Seloom, an assistant professor in critical security studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera that the Israeli attack was a demonstration of its progress in this sector.

“The Israeli side have already sent the message clearly to Tehran that we know where your leaders are, we know who they are, we have accurate intelligence, and we have the technological means to reach inside Iran,” he said.

“The significance is not about the type of weapons used, but the intelligence success that Israel has been able to achieve inside Iran,” he said.

Al Jazeera correspondent Dorsa Jabbari said Iran’s civilian population had been caught off guard by the latest escalation. “They have not seen anything like this since the Iran-Iraq war ended in 1988,” she said. “These scenes are very new to the new generation in Iran. It’s something they’ve never seen before and something they thought they’d never see.”

Jabbari added that the scope and scale of Friday’s attacks by Israel were much greater than the tit-for-tat missile attacks the two countries engaged in last year, when Israel targeted non-nuclear sites such as military facilities and infrastructure.

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“This was completely by surprise. And the scale of this attack is much larger and broader,” she said. “It’s not a one-off. This is not a strategic in-and-out kind of attack, they are continuing as we speak, and we have no idea when they will end.”