IranTroubled Areas

Everything We Know About Operation Rising Lion: Israel’s Attack on Iran

Published on: June 13, 2025 at 7:32 AM
Kai Greet Kai Greet
David Cenciotti David Cenciotti
Israel attack Iran
F-16I Sufa takes off during Operation Rising Lion (IDF). In the box, explosion in Tehran (Image credit: AP)

Following days of heightened tension, Israel launched a large attack against Iran in the early hours of Jun. 13, 2025, targeting leadership, nuclear research, and military sites both in Tehran and beyond.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video statement at around 0100 UTC, in which he said: “Moments ago, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival. This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.”

Reports of explosions in Tehran began to surface around an hour prior to this, with images soon trickling out depicting very targeted strikes against apartment buildings. This appears to indicate that individual people were targeted alongside facilities themselves.

A greater amount of damage was seen to be caused to a number of buildings, though it is impossible to tell whether this was an intentional design of munitions used or a result of differing construction.

The Israeli Government has made this move based on its assertions that Iran was close to completing the development of nuclear weapons. Talks involving the United States aiming to quell these developments have increasingly been regarded in recent days as doomed to fail, and now will almost certainly be cancelled entirely.

Netanyahu confirmed that nuclear enrichment facilities at Natanz were among the locations targeted, and subsequently videos on social media began to show smoke and flames rising from the area. Natanz is known to house centrifuges crucial to producing highly enriched uranium, which are reportedly situated deep underground specifically for protection from air attack.

Iranian airspace was swiftly closed by a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) to protect commercial air traffic and allow unrestricted military flight operations and missile launches.

Airlines with flights inbound to Iran, or due to cross nearby airspace, quickly rushed to arrange diversion airfields, conversing with their pilots via Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS).

A number of high profile Iranian leaders and commanders have reportedly been killed in the Israeli airstrikes, including Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Hossein Salami. Other sites targeted apparently included a residence belonging to the Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel’s strike was a “unilateral” operation and that the United States was not involved. He warned Iran to refrain from attacking U.S. forces or interests in its response to Israel’s attack. On Jun. 11, the U.S. confirmed that some evacuations of dependents and non-essential personnel were taking place within the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) region due to increased security risks.

Upon completion of its first wave of strikes, the Israeli Defence Force stated “Dozens of Air Force aircraft recently completed the opening strike, which included attacking dozens of military targets, including nuclear targets in various areas of Iran.”

“The IDF has been conducting a lengthy process of assessments and preparations for the campaign at the front and in the rear. Civilian resilience will be an important component of the campaign.”

Several Iranian officials were killed in the operation.

The list of Iranian military targets hit by the Israeli Air Force includes radar sites:

According to the first reports, the strike involved over 200 aircraft participated in five waves of strikes against Iran, which used over 330 munitions.

F-35I Adir operated in “stealth mode”. For a detailed explanation of what RCS enhancers (or “radar reflectors” or luneburg lenses) are, you can read this story we published years ago.

Israel’s operation is expected to last for several days at least, and will almost certainly trigger several waves of counter attacks from Iran. In October last year, Iran launched a huge barrage of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and attack drones against Israel. A large number of these were downed by air defences as well as American and British fighter aircraft.

Iran’s retaliation has already started. “We have received instructions from Imam Khamenei to punish the perpetrators of the crime and those who incited it,” Iranian Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, said.

In fact, as many as 100 kamikaze drones were spotted on their way to Israel.

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By Kai Greet
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Kai is an aviation enthusiast and freelance photographer and writer based in Cornwall, UK. They are a graduate of BA (Hons) Press & Editorial Photography at Falmouth University. Their photographic work has been featured by a number of nationally and internationally recognised organisations and news publications, and in 2022 they self-published a book focused on the history of Cornwall. They are passionate about all aspects of aviation, alongside military operations/history, international relations, politics, intelligence and space.
By David Cenciotti
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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.
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