Israel’s strikes against the Iranian capital of Tehran and targets around the country on sites claimed to be linked to its nuclear programme reportedly killed several top military officials as well as nuclear scientists.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian warned in a televised address on Friday that a “strong” response to Israel would be coming, in addition to the 100 drones already launched.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will give a severe, wise, and strong answer to the occupier regime,” he said, referring to Israel.
Euronews Next takes a look at what options Iran could use to strike back against Israel in light of this most recent escalation in their shadow war.
‘The worst Iranian response might be the most likely’
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, said this targeted military operation was launched against Iran to keep the country from producing a nuclear weapon.
Hours before Israel’s attack, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) concluded that Iran was not complying with nonproliferation obligations.
According to experts, one of Iran’s options in the wake of the strikes could be to continue developing nuclear weapons that Israel sees as an “existential threat”.
“Israel has opened a Pandora’s box: the worst Iranian response might also be the most likely, a decision to withdraw from its arms control commitments and build nuclear weapons in earnest,” according to an analysis from Kenneth Pollack, vice-president for policy at the Middle East Institute in Washington.
The outrage at the Israeli attack could mean that Iran can “no longer sit on the proverbial nuclear fence and that it has to rush for a bomb or risk never having one,” according to an analysis from Jonathan Panikoff, director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative.
“For many Iranian leaders, an Iran without a nuclear weapon (or the potential to have one) is an existential threat to the survival of the regime itself,” Panikoff continued.
A recent IAEA report found that Iran enriched uranium up to 60 per cent, which is a short technical step away from weapons-grade levels (which is often considered by the IAEA to be 90 per cent uranium).
The agency said it couldn’t verify the country’s total uranium supply since 2021 but estimates it would be around 9,247 kg as of May 17, 2025. The amount of enriched uranium to 60 per cent is 408.6 kg the report continued.
However, estimates from Washington’s Institute for Science and International Safety in 2022 believed that it’s “well with Iran’s capabilities” to modify nuclear weapons to get them to work with 60 per cent uranium.
Israeli state officials claimed in the Times of Israel on Friday that Iran now has enough uranium for nine nuclear weapons and is taking steps to “weaponisation” or build a nuclear bomb.
According to reporting by The Associated Press, Iranian officials have long insisted that their nuclear proliferation programme is peaceful.
An ‘aggressive pursuit’ of a new Iranian nuclear deal needed
A nuclear Iranian response would play out over the long term, Pollack added, with a possible Tehran withdrawal from the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty and the country’s 2015 nuclear agreement.
The best strategy, according to Pollack, is an “aggressive pursuit” of a new nuclear deal with Tehran, but it’s unlikely any deal will happen now, “when Iran’s leadership will be least interested in one, given their likely outrage at the Israeli attack”.
Without a new deal, Pollack argues Israel has inflicted a short-term setback to Iran’s nuclear programme, but to ensure a nuclear threat “not long thereafter”.
American and Iranian negotiators were due to meet in Oman for a sixth round of talks regarding Iran’s nuclear programme on Sunday, according to the Associated Press.
Any future deal with Iran should also include missile restrictions, according to an analysis by Farzin Nadimi from the Washington Institute for Near-East Policy.
What other weapons does Iran have?
There are other options that Iran could take to retaliate against Israel, including a drone or missile offensive, experts added, though the country could be outmatched by Israel’s defence system, dubbed the “Iron Dome”.
The US Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in 2024 that Iran possesses the Middle East’s “largest ballistic missile arsenal,” and continues to “emphasize improving the accuracy, lethality, and reliability of these systems”.
A recent threat assessment from the US military found that Iran fields a “large quantity” of ballistic, cruise missiles and drones that can strike throughout the region.
The country’s defense industry has a “robust development and manufacturing capacity,” for low-cost weapons like drones, the report continued.
US General Kenneth Mackenzie told a Senate committee hearing in 2022 that the Iranians have over 3,000 ballistic missiles of various types that could reach Tel Aviv.
Mackenzie also said the Iranians had made “remarkable advances” on their ballistic missiles despite “a very significant sanction regime”.
This arsenal includes medium-range systems that could reach Israel, the Arabian Peninsula, or southeastern Europe, Nadimi added. His analysis added that these missiles are believed to boast hypersonic velocities, manoeuvring warheads, decoys, and penetration aids.
For example, state media reports claim Iran has used the Fattah-1 hypersonic missile against Israel in the past.
It has been described by analysts to CNN as having a warhead with a manoeuverable reentry vehicle, which means it can avoid missile defenses by making small adjustments during its flight.
Last month, Iranian media reported that officials debuted a new domestically-produced solid-fuel missile called the Qasem Basir.
Aziz Nasirzadeh, Iran’s defense minister brigadier general, claimed in local media that the missile had a range of at least 1,200 km and is designed to evade systems like the US-made Patriot system.
The missile can also identify specific targets among decoys and is immune to electronic warfare, he added.
Iran also has advanced in “solid-propellant technology” which facilitates quicker rocket launches to dispatch satellites, something that could be adapted to intercontinental missiles, Nadimi added.
Israel’s most recent attack also targeted ballistic missile and drone installations, making it more complicated for Iran to respond, according to Rachel Whitlark with the Atlantic Council.
Pollack said that Iran could also mount a cyber offensive against Israel, because there is a record of it doing so successfully in 2023, when it shut down electricity in some Israeli hospitals.
Still, Pollack wrote that there are “uncertainties” about the cyber capabilities of both Israel and Iran.
“It’s not entirely clear what cyber weapons Iran has up its sleeve or what vulnerabilities it may have discovered in Israel’s infrastructure,” he said.
