By Olivier Acuña Barba •
Published: 13 Jun 2025 • 22:49
• 2 minutes read
Shortly after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Iran “will inflict heavy blows” in retaliation for Israel’s “launched war”, explosions could be heard over central Israel, and reports of buildings being hit were pouring in.
On Friday evening, Iran reported it had fired “hundreds of diverse ballistic missiles toward Israel, in what it described as the “beginning” of its “crushing response.”
IRNA, Iran’s official news agency, said, “Moments ago, with the launch of hundreds of various ballistic missiles toward the occupied territories, the operation of decisive response to the savage attack of the Zionist regime has begun.” Following the alleged barrage, Israeli military officials contradicted Iran, saying it had fired fewer than 100 missiles and that very few of them had hit targets inside the country
Iran ‘has crossed red lines’
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said late on Friday that Iran had “crossed red lines” by firing missiles at civilian population centres and vowed they would pay a “very heavy price” for their actions.
The US helped Israel intercept Iranian missiles on Friday evening, two Israeli sources told CNN. Other countries in the region also supported Israeli air defences, one source said, in a similar way to how they had done in previous Iranian attacks on Israel.
CNN said its correspondents in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem heard loud explosions, and video from Tel Aviv showed incoming rockets and smoke rising amid the city’s skyscrapers.
Images and video released by Magen David Adom, Israel’s affiliate of the Red Cross, showed civil defence personnel surveying mangled cars and collapsed buildings in central Israel.
Donald Trump tries to take credit
The Iranian attack followed Israel’s launch of a massive two-pronged attack on Iran early Friday morning local time, with strikes aiming to destroy Iranian nuclear sites and decapitate its military leadership in Tehran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke directly to Iranians, saying that “Israel’s fight is not against the Iranian people,” but rather its government. He also warned them that.
“More is on the way. The regime does not know what hit them, or what will hit them.”
While Al Jazeera confirmed that Donald Trump did not give Israel his blessings for the seven attacks on Iran, and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio said they Jewish state had acted “unilaterally”, the US president began claiming he was fully aware and that it came at the end of a 60-day ultimatum he had given Iran to reach a nucler programme deal.
“Today is day 61,” he wrote on Truth Social. “I told [Iran] what to do, but they just couldn’t get there.”
