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The Independent
6 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Hope of change by my fellow Iranians has turned to horror - our pain was primed for Israel's exploitation
'When are the Americans coming to save us from these mullahs?' my fellow Iranians would ask when I started my journalism career in Tehran some 22 years ago. That was just before the Middle East was transformed by the US's reverse Midas touch. Within a few years Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya had been reduced to rubble and ruin at the hands of US intervention. So salvation from the clerics shrank to two options: reform from within or revolt. Iran's hardline conservatives in charge would not abide either. Just as the Green Movement's promises of rights and rapprochement with the West seemed within reach, they were predictably extinguished, along with every ember of dissent that has come before and after. The closest Iranians came to change was three years ago, when the country erupted into mass protests sparked by the morality police's killing of a young Kurdish-Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini. It was the biggest uprising since the 1979 revolution. The regime had never appeared so vulnerable, or so aware of its frailty, as revealed by an internal missive meant for IRGC top brass but leaked to the world by hackers. The short bulletin revealed a flailing apparatus with a micromanaging Supreme Leader at the helm, disdainful of timorous officials. It concluded that with three quarters of the population supporting the protests, the country was in a state of revolution. This unprecedented situation demanded an unprecedented response: protesters were blinded, arrested, raped, tortured, and executed in a brutal wave of violence that has not ended. It was no surprise, then, that the first couple of days after Israel's unexpected attack were met with as much optimism as trepidation – as well as humour. One meme showed IRGC commander-in-chief Hossein Salami alongside a picture of his namesake sausage with the heading 'Salami becomes salami'. Messages of thanks to 'Dear Bibi' were posted on social media. But as the death toll rose – hundreds of civilians have been killed so far, and thousands injured – hope turned to terror. I've spent the last two decades covering the Middle East, and the last 20 months investigating Israel's war crimes in Gaza and its increasing violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. Spoiler alert – despite Dear Bibi's protestations he is saving the Persian people, Israel's intentions in Iran are not altruistic. And it's not just Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestinians that leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Israel's dismantling of the rules-based world order – executed with the same callous disregard as its killing of Palestinians – may have eased its journey to attacking Iran, but the road to this bombing campaign was paved long ago. Journalists of my generation did not need the latest US intelligence to debunk Israel's claim it attacked Iran because the mullahs were months away from acquiring a nuclear weapon. I've covered Israel's histrionic warnings about Iran's imminent nuclear bomb too many times over the years. According to Israel, Iran has been months away from a bomb for, well, hundreds of months. Even my bad maths knows Israel's timeline doesn't add up. For as long, Israel has been drawing from the colonial script of divide and rule to ensure its dream of a fragmented, conflict-riddled Middle East becomes a reality. Israeli medics stitched up Sunni fighters, including extremist Islamists, during the Syrian war. It has long supported Kurdish rebels. It is now using the Druze to stoke up ethnic tensions in Syria. And so, Israel's desire for my motherland is an Iran unravelled, its fabric shredded along ethnic lines, a nation undone by design - another carefully engineered fracture in the region. With the regime hanging so many of its citizens from nooses across the country, our pain was primed for Israel's exploitation. The ethnic minorities bore the brunt of the regime's butchery; Baluchis, Ahvazis and Kurds had their own axes to grind, and Israel offered the whetstone. Now, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is a cornered rat with nowhere to go. His best chance at survival would be to evoke his spiritual superior and the regime's architect, Ayatollah Khomeini. In 1988, the war with Iraq was ended when Khomeini announced a ceasefire, saying he had been forced to drink the 'poisoned chalice'. But it is unlikely that Khamenei will do the same. As black smoke rises over my beloved city Tehran, I fear civil war. I hope I am wrong, and that Israel will be satisfied with a unified Iran with a puppet leadership; another client state of the USA ready to trade underpriced oil. Loss of dignity a small price to pay for peace. But I am old enough also to know how that story ends… and so the cycle will continue. One thing I am sure about is that it is not for me, nor my fellow compatriots in the diaspora who have spent most of our lives in safety and security, to decide the fate of our nation. It is for my fellow Iranians who survived the Iran-Iraq war, who have survived the regime's savagery, to decide.
New Statesman
2 days ago
- Politics
- New Statesman
What happens if the Iranian regime falls?
Photo byWhat will happen in Iran if the Islamic Republic's regime falls? Would Iran descend into instability? This is a question — perhaps the question — often posed about Middle Eastern countries facing potential political transition. The thinking often goes that while dictatorships may be unpalatable, at least they guarantee stability. And that stability is better for the international community even if it comes at the expense of the people under oppression. It is time to abandon this problematic approach to the Middle East. Syria provides some hard lessons. In 2011, the Syrian people protested peacefully against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. It was Iran and its main proxy Hezbollah that swiftly advised Assad that making concessions to the protesters would be a projection of weakness. After all, just two years earlier Iran had witnessed the Green Movement —peaceful protests calling for regime change, sparked by popular rejection of the results of that year's presidential elections, which granted then President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second term. The Iranian authorities violently and quickly cracked down on the protesters. Assad heeded Tehran's advice. With Iran and Hezbollah's help, the Assad regime brutally attacked the Syrian protesters. Despite this, many in the international community expressed worry that were Assad to go, Syria would descend into war like what happened next door in Iraq following the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 or in Libya in 2011 after the ousting of Muammar Qaddafi. This line of thinking ignored that neither in Iraq nor in Libya was there a viable stabilisation and transition plan in place for the day after. It is not that the end of dictatorships automatically brings chaos. Chaos happens when there are no sober pre-emptive plans for handling obvious challenges like weak social cohesion or the absence of state institutions; deeply flawed, externally incubated governance formulas are parachuted on countries in transition; the voices of the local population are ignored; and foreign actors enter the picture as spoilers. The result in Syria was not regime change but a conflict that lasted almost a decade and a half and which would have been preventable had the international community not largely regarded Assad as the lesser of two evils — the dictator vs the unknown. Following the harrowing scenes from Assad's prisons that flooded the public domain after he was finally ousted in December last year, the world can now clearly see that virtually nothing could have been worse for Syrians than the continuation of Assad in power. In clinging to his position throughout the Syrian conflict, Assad was following the Iranian regime's playbook. He sacrificed the Syrian economy, state institutions, and the Syrian people for the sake of survival. The Islamic Republic is the same in its pursuit of regime preservation. Iran has been under sanctions for years and yet it has not modified its behaviour (such as funding foreign proxies) so that its economy can recover. Iran's prisons may not be getting much attention from the international media, but they are rife with torture. The justice system is not independent, with many imprisoned or executed without a fair trial. The Tehran regime would rather see large numbers of Iranian citizens suffer than give up power. The Assad regime was never defined by stability. Assad manipulated Islamist jihadists to cross the border into Iraq to attack British and American troops after 2003 and in 2011 he released many imprisoned jihadists to frame the uprising against him as an Islamist terrorist plot, paving the way for the emergence of Isis. He also allowed Hezbollah and Iran to use Syria as a thoroughfare for funds and weapons and a site for the training of militias. Anyone worried today about instability spilling over were the Tehran regime to fall must remember that the spillover has already happened and has been going on for decades. Iran has been the Middle East's main cause of instability since the birth of the Islamic Republic in 1979 and this threat has extended beyond the region. Iran has been cooperating tactically with al-Qaeda and Isis across the Middle East and Africa, in addition to supporting Shia militias in Iraq and Lebanon among others. Iran and Hezbollah have conducted numerous terrorist operations worldwide including in Latin America and Europe. And Iran bears part of the responsibility for Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe The Syrian people suffered unnecessarily because the international community selectively ignored Assad's role in fostering terrorism both in the region and worldwide; was paralyzed by concern about who would rule Syria after Assad; and was not forthcoming about providing Syrians with the international assistance necessary for political transition. The Iranian people have been suffering for decades and deserve to be trusted to lead their country into a better future. But as the Iraq, Libya, and Syria scenarios demonstrate, the Iranian people need thoughtful and adequate international support in managing the transition. If the regime were to fall, the international community needs to abandon cliched thinking about the Middle East and work together with the Iranian people so that both Iranians and the world can recover from the ills of the Islamic Republic. [See more: Will Iran surrender?] Related
Atlantic
5 days ago
- Politics
- Atlantic
No to Iran's Regime, No to Israel's War
Sepideh Qolian, a 30-year-old Iranian labor activist, spent two years in Tehran's Evin Prison, where she wrote two books, one of them a celebrated prison memoir in the form of a baking cookbook. Just last week, Qolian was released—and three days later, Israeli missiles and drones began striking targets inside Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has addressed the Iranian people, telling them that his war can help them free themselves from their oppressive government. 'This is your opportunity to stand up,' he said. Curious how Iranian opposition activists were responding to this message, I called Qolian. 'I know that war won't bring democracy,' she told me. She was active in the Women, Life, Freedom movement against compulsory veiling in 2022–23, and she told me that Netanyahu is no champion of the movement's values. 'The life that we wanted is the mirror opposite of the terrible events that are now happening,' she said. But the war hadn't endeared Iran's leadership to her, either—she blames its aggressive policies for the country's predicament. That Iran has a substantial population opposed to its system of government is well known and has been oft-proved through cycles of protest and repression. The Women, Life, Freedom movement was one dramatic iteration. It followed economically motivated protests in 2017–19, the sweeping pro-democracy Green Movement in 2009–10, a student uprising in 1999, and an electorally based movement for reform covering nearly all the years since 1997. Iranians have been outspoken inside the country and across an ever-growing diaspora against the Islamic Republic's human-rights abuses, constriction of personal freedoms, economic mismanagement, and belligerent foreign policy. For years, the debate outside Iran was theoretical: Would a military strike on the country help its people topple a hated regime, or would it cause even oppositionists to rally 'round the flag in their nation's defense? Now the answer to this question is being determined by the hour, and it is neither binary nor simple. Even ardent anti-regime activists I spoke with were hard-pressed to support Israeli attacks that have already killed almost 200 civilians, according to Iran's health ministry. Some had cheered the killings of certain repressive military figures in the early hours of the strikes, but the mood has since turned to terror, the priority simple survival. Tehran is a dense city of 9.8 million. As Israel strikes targets across the Iranian capital as well as in other cities, it hits civil-society figures associated with the country's protest movement alongside officials and nuclear scientists. Parnia Abbasi, 23, a poet and an English teacher, was killed together with her parents and brother on the first day of the air campaign; the target of the strike that killed them was a regime official in a nearby building. Zahra Shams, 35, was a devout Muslim who wore the hijab by choice but vocally opposed its enforcement on others, even tweeting in support of the anti-hijab protests in 2022. She was killed in a strike intended for a regime official who lived in her apartment building. Most of the activists I spoke with—about a dozen—blamed the war largely on Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and evinced no political support for his regime. Nor were they supportive of Iran's attacks on Israel, which have already killed at least 23 Israeli civilians, injured hundreds more, and sent thousands of people to bomb shelters every night. But they in no way welcomed the Israeli strikes on their country. They worried about their own safety—and also about societal collapse and the destruction of Iran's infrastructure. 'I oppose the Islamic Republic and Khamenei with all my being,' a 24-year-old activist, who asked that I withhold her name out of concern for her safety, told me from Tehran. 'I took part in many demonstrations during the Women, Life, Freedom movement. But now I can't even think about the regime or overthrowing it. I am scared. I am worried. I fear for the life of myself and everyone around me.' A 26-year-old activist who was arrested during the 2022–23 protests told me that she was emphatically opposed to the Israeli strikes. 'The war goes beyond the regime,' she said in a phone call. 'It has massive negative consequences for our country. It is destroying the economy. It can lead to hunger, shortage of medicine, cutting connections with abroad. It is a total disaster. It is killing innocent people in both Israel and Iran.' One young activist was busy trying to escape the capital with her elderly and sick mother when I called. They were heading north, to the coast of Caspian Sea, an area thought to be safer from attacks. 'I can't think about activism under the sound of drones and missiles, can I?' she asked me rhetorically. 'I don't support the targeting of civilians anywhere, whether in Iran or Israel.' Alireza Ghadimi, a sociology student and activist at the University of Tehran, was still in his dorm when I caught up with him. His campus has a long history as an epicenter of protest, both against the Shah during the revolution and against the Islamic Republic, which crushed student protests there in 1999. 'I carry this history with me,' Ghadimi said, 'and it now feels terrifyingly alive.' He described the sounds of explosions, the shaking of walls, frightened voices outside. 'I am one of many young Iranians who want change,' he said. 'But this war is not helping us. It is destroying us. It is silencing the very people it claims to save.' Prominent figures in Iran's movement for democracy have also come out against both the war and the regime. From his prison cell in Evin, former Deputy Interior Minister Mostafa Tajzadeh condemned the Israeli attacks and called for an immediate cease-fire. But he also called for 'a peaceful transition to democracy' in Iran. The Nobel peace laureates Shirin Ebadi and Narges Mohammadi were joined by five other activists (including the director Jafar Panahi, who last month won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival) in issuing a call for an immediate end to the war and condemning the attacks on civilians by both Iran and Israel. They also called for an end to Iran's enrichment of uranium and for a democratic transition. The Islamic Republic has decades of protest movements and crackdowns behind it, and with those, a globe-spanning diaspora of opposition exiles. Most of the people I spoke with were of a fairly like mind with their counterparts inside Iran. A young activist in Europe, who asked that I withhold her name because she frequently visits Iran, told me that she understood the glee that greeted the first killings of regime military figures. Still, she said, 'anybody who's seen what Israel has done in Gaza, Lebanon, and even Syria recently would know that Netanyahu is not seeking stability in the region. He is hitting Iran's refineries and power stations, so he is clearly not thinking about our people.' For a more seasoned opinion, I spoke with one of my political heroes, the 80-year-old human-rights lawyer Mehrangiz Kar. She helped organize the fight against the mandatory hijab right at the Islamic Republic's inception in 1979 and has been a voice for democracy and the rule of law ever since. She was hounded out of Iran about 20 years ago and now lives in Washington, D.C. 'When I see the Israeli strikes on Iran today, I feel like I am seeing the burning of my very own house,' she told me. 'They are targeting my homeland. This isn't acceptable, no matter who is doing the attacks. No such attack is acceptable under international law.' Kar told me she blames Khamenei for having made an enemy out of Israel for decades. But she made clear that Netanyahu is no friend to Iran's freedom fighters. 'Nobody I spoke to in Iran supports these attacks,' she said. 'People are angry, and they hate the Islamic Republic. But they now probably hate Mr. Netanyahu and his military policies even more.'
Los Angeles Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Timeline of tensions and hostilities between Israel and Iran
Israel and Iran opened a new chapter in their long history of conflict when Israel launched a major attack with strikes early Friday that set off explosions in the Iranian capital of Tehran. Israel said it targeted nuclear and military facilities, killing Iran's top military and nuclear scientists. Israel's attack comes as tensions have escalated over Iran's rapidly advancing nuclear program, which Israel sees as a threat to its existence. Here is a timeline of some significant events in the hostilities between the two countries: 1967 — Iran takes possession of its Tehran Research Reactor under the U.S.'s 'Atoms for Peace' program. 1979 — Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, fatally ill, flees Iran as popular protests against him surge. Pahlavi maintained economic and security ties with Israel. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Tehran, and the Islamic Revolution sweeps him to power. Students seize the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, beginning the 444-day hostage crisis. Iran's nuclear program goes fallow under international pressure. Iran's new theocracy identifies Israel as a major enemy. August 2002 — Western intelligence services and an Iranian opposition group reveal Iran's secret Natanz nuclear enrichment facility. June 2003 — Britain, France and Germany engage Iran in nuclear negotiations. October 2003 — Iran suspends uranium enrichment. February 2006 — Iran announces it will restart uranium enrichment following the election of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Britain, France and Germany walk out of stalled negotiations. June 2009 — Iran's disputed presidential election sees Ahmadinejad reelected despite fraud allegations, sparking Green Movement pro-democracy protests and a violent government crackdown. October 2009 — Under President Obama, the U.S. and Iran open a secret back channel for messages in Oman. 2010 — The Stuxnet computer virus is discovered and widely believed to be a joint U.S.-Israeli creation. The virus disrupted and destroyed Iranian centrifuges. July 14, 2015 — World powers and Iran announce a long-term, comprehensive nuclear agreement that limits Tehran's enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. 2018 — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel obtained tens of thousands of pages of data showing Iran covered up its nuclear program before signing a deal with world powers in 2015. An ex-Mossad chief confirms the information was obtained by more than a dozen non-Israeli agents from safes in Tehran in 2018. President Trump unilaterally withdraws from Iran's nuclear deal with world powers. 2020 — Alleged Israeli attacks against Iran's nuclear program are stepped up significantly after the disintegration of the 2015 nuclear deal meant to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons. July 2020 — A mysterious explosion tears apart a centrifuge production plant at Iran's Natanz nuclear enrichment facility. Iran blames the attack on Israel. November 2020 — A top Iranian military nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, is killed by a remote-controlled machine gun while traveling in a car outside Tehran. A top Iranian security official accuses Israel of using 'electronic devices' to remotely kill the scientist, who founded Iran's military nuclear program in the 2000s. April 11, 2021 — An attack targets Iran's underground nuclear facility in Natanz. Iran blames Israel, which does not claim responsibility, but Israeli media widely report the government orchestrated a cyberattack that caused a blackout at the facility. April 16, 2021 — Iran begins enriching uranium up to 60%, its highest purity ever and a technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%. June 2022 — Iran accuses Israel of poisoning two nuclear scientists in different cities within three days of each other, though circumstances remain unclear. Oct. 7, 2023 — Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip storm into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. This begins the most intense war in history between Israel and Hamas, which has left tens of thousands of Palestinians dead in Gaza. Iran, which has armed Hamas, offers support to the militants. Feb. 14, 2024 — An Israeli sabotage attack causes explosions on an Iranian natural gas pipeline running from Iran's western Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province to cities on the Caspian Sea. April 1, 2024 — An Israeli airstrike demolishes Iran's consulate in Damascus, Syria, killing 16 people, including two Iranian generals. April 14, 2024 — Iran launches an unprecedented missile and drone attack on Israel, firing more than 300 missiles and attack drones in response to the Israeli airstrike in Damascus. Working with a U.S.-led international coalition, Israel intercepts much of the incoming fire. April 19, 2024 — A suspected Israeli strike hits an air defense system near an airport in Isfahan, Iran. July 31, 2024 — Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is assassinated by an apparent Israeli airstrike during a visit to Tehran. Israel had pledged to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders over the Oct. 7 attack. Sept. 27, 2024 — Israeli airstrike kills Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Formed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members who went to Lebanon in 1982 to fight invading Israeli forces, Hezbollah was the first group that Iran backed and used to export its brand of political Islam. Oct. 1, 2024 — Iran launches its second direct attack on Israel. With assistance from a U.S.-led coalition, Israel shoots down most of the missiles. Oct. 16, 2024 — Israel kills Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in the Gaza Strip. Oct. 26, 2024 — Israel openly attacks Iran for the first time, striking air defense systems and sites associated with its missile program. April 30, 2025 — Iran executes a man it said worked for Israel's Mossad foreign intelligence agency and played a role in the killing of Revolutionary Guard Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodaei in Tehran on May 22, 2022. Friday — Israel launches blistering attacks on the heart of Iran's nuclear and military structure, deploying warplanes and drones previously smuggled into the country to assault key facilities and kill top generals and scientists. Saturday — Israel expands its airstrikes to include targets in Iran's energy industry as Iranian missile and drone attacks continue on Israel. Sunday — Israel unleashes airstrikes across Iran for a third day and threatens even greater force as some Iranian missiles evade Israeli air defenses to strike buildings in the heart of the country. Planned talks on Iran's nuclear program in Oman between the United States and Tehran, which could provide an off-ramp, are called off.
The Hill
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Timeline of tensions and hostilities between Israel and Iran
Israel and Iran opened a new chapter in their long history of conflict when Israel launched a major attack with strikes early Friday that set off explosions in the Iranian capital of Tehran. Israel said it targeted nuclear and military facilities, killing Iran's top military and nuclear scientists. Israel's attack comes as tensions have escalated over Iran's rapidly advancing nuclear program, which Israel sees as a threat to its existence. Here is a timeline of some significant events in the hostilities between the two countries: 1967 — Iran takes possession of its Tehran Research Reactor under America's 'Atoms for Peace' program. 1979 — Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, fatally ill, flees Iran as popular protests against him surge. Pahlavi maintained economic and security ties with Israel. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Tehran and the Islamic Revolution sweeps him to power. Students seize the United States Embassy in Tehran, beginning the 444-day hostage crisis. Iran's nuclear program goes fallow under international pressure. Iran's new theocracy identifies Israel as a major enemy. August 2002 — Western intelligence services and an Iranian opposition group reveal Iran's secret Natanz nuclear enrichment facility. June 2003 — Britain, France and Germany engage Iran in nuclear negotiations. October 2003 — Iran suspends uranium enrichment. February 2006 — Iran announces it will restart uranium enrichment following the election of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Britain, France and Germany walk out of stalled negotiations. June 2009 — Iran's disputed presidential election sees Ahmadinejad reelected despite fraud allegations, sparking Green Movement protests and violent government crackdown. October 2009 — Under President Barack Obama, the U.S. and Iran open a secret backchannel for messages in the sultanate of Oman. 2010 — The Stuxnet computer virus is discovered and widely believed to be a joint U.S.-Israeli creation. The virus disrupted and destroyed Iranian centrifuges. July 14, 2015 — World powers and Iran announce a long-term, comprehensive nuclear agreement that limits Tehran's enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. 2018 — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel obtained tens of thousands of pages of data showing Iran covered up its nuclear program before signing a deal with world powers in 2015. An ex-Mossad chief confirms the information was obtained by more than a dozen non-Israeli agents from safes in Tehran in 2018. President Donald Trump unilaterally withdraws from Iran's nuclear deal with world powers. 2020 — Alleged Israeli attacks against Iran's nuclear program are stepped up significantly after the disintegration of the 2015 nuclear deal meant to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons. July 2020 — A mysterious explosion tears apart a centrifuge production plant at Iran's Natanz nuclear enrichment facility. Iran blames the attack on Israel. November 2020 — A top Iranian military nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, is killed by a remote-controlled machine gun while traveling in a car outside Tehran. A top Iranian security official accuses Israel of using 'electronic devices' to remotely kill the scientist, who founded Iran's military nuclear program in the 2000s. April 11, 2021 — An attack targets Iran's underground nuclear facility in Natanz. Iran blames Israel, which does not claim responsibility, but Israeli media widely reports the government orchestrated a cyberattack that caused a blackout at the facility. April 16, 2021 — Iran begins enriching uranium up to 60%, its highest purity ever and a technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%. June 2022 — Iran accuses Israel of poisoning two nuclear scientists in different cities within three days of each other, though circumstances remain unclear. Oct. 7, 2023 — Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip storm into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostage, beginning the most intense war between Israel and Hamas. Iran, which has armed Hamas, offers support to the militants. Feb. 14, 2024 — An Israeli sabotage attack causes multiple explosions on an Iranian natural gas pipeline running from Iran's western Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province to cities on the Caspian Sea. April 1, 2024 — An Israeli airstrike demolishes Iran's Consulate in Damascus, Syria, killing 16 people, including two Iranian generals. April 14, 2024 — Iran launches an unprecedented missile and drone attack on Israel, firing over 300 missiles and attack drones in response to the Israeli airstrike in Damascus. Working with a U.S.-led international coalition, Israel intercepts much of the incoming fire. April 19, 2024 — A suspected Israeli strike hits an air defense system near an airport in Isfahan, Iran. July 31, 2024 — Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is assassinated by an apparent Israeli airstrike during a visit to Tehran. Israel had pledged to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders over the Oct. 7 attack. Sept. 27, 2024 — Israeli airstrike kills Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Formed by Iranian Revolutionary Guard members who went to Lebanon in 1982 to fight invading Israeli forces, Hezbollah was the first group that Iran backed and used as a way to export its brand of political Islam. Oct. 1, 2024 — Iran launches its second direct attack on Israel, though a U.S.-led coalition and Israel shoot down most of the missiles. Oct. 16, 2024 — Israel kills Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in the Gaza Strip. Oct. 26, 2024 — Israel openly attacks Iran for the first time, striking air defense systems and sites associated with its missile program. April 30, 2025 — Iran executes a man it said worked for Israel's Mossad foreign intelligence agency and played a role in the killing of Revolutionary Guard Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodaei in Tehran on May 22, 2022. Friday, June 13, 2025 — Israel launches blistering attacks on the heart of Iran's nuclear and military structure, deploying warplanes and drones previously smuggled into the country to assault key facilities and kill top generals and scientists. Saturday, June 14, 2025 — Israel expands its airstrikes to include targets in Iran's energy industry as Iranian missile and drone attacks continue on Israel. Sunday, June 15, 2025 — Israel unleashes airstrikes across Iran for a third day and threatens even greater force as some Iranian missiles evade Israeli air defenses to strike buildings in the heart of the country. Planned talks on Iran's nuclear program in Oman between the United States and Tehran, which could provide an off-ramp, are called off.
