Saturday, 26 July 2025

Israel air strikes kill top Iranian military leaders; missile hits Tel Aviv; Trump: ‘possible we could get involved’

World Tribune
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by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News June 15, 2025

President Donald Trump on Sunday said the United States is not involved in Israel’s military strikes against Iran, but “it’s possible we could get involved.”

Reports noted that Israel had urged the U.S. to join the effort to eliminate Iran’s nuclear program.

“We’re not involved in it. It’s possible we could get involved. But we are not at this moment involved,” the president said.

Trump said he had a lengthy call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Saturday and acknowledged he would be “open” to Putin serving as a mediator between Iran and Israel.

“I would be open to it. [Putin] is ready. He called me about it. We had a long talk about it. We talked about this more than his situation. This is something I believe is going to get resolved,” Trump stated.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Thursday night into Friday morning launched air strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, ballistic missile factories, and overall military capabilities, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address to the nation.

As of Friday morning, the Israeli Air Force carried out five waves of strikes in Iran. / Video Image

Israel is at a “decisive point” in its history, Netanyahu said. “Our brave pilots are attacking a large number of targets across Iran.”

Later on Friday, at least one missile impact was reported in Tel Aviv, Israel.

An unnamed Israeli defense official told Army Radio: “The opening strike included air defense targets, [strikes on] surface-to-surface missiles, and a wide wave of senior Iranian officials being neutralized, timed with great precision — simultaneously hitting the Iranian General Staff and nuclear scientists across Iran.”

The official added: “If this opening strike succeeded — then what we did to senior Hizbullah officials over 10 days — we did to Iran in 10 minutes.”

Iranian state media confirms the killing of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Commander Hossein Salami in an Israeli strike.

A plume of smoke over Tel Aviv, Israel following the impact Friday of an Iranian missile. / Video Image

“Major General Hossein Salami, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was martyred in the Israeli regime’s attack on the IRGC headquarters,” the local Tasnim news agency reports.

Mohammad Pakpour, the newly appointed commander of the IRGC, has warned that “the gates of hell” will open on Israel in “retribution for the blood of our fallen commanders, scientists and citizens,” according to Iranian state news agency IRNA.

The IRGC controls Iran’s arsenal of ballistic missiles.

In addition to Salami, Israel believes the chief of Iran’s military, Mohammad Bagheri, other members of the military’s top brass, and senior nuclear scientists were also killed in the IDF’s opening strikes on Iran.

Iran’s retaliatory strikes were mostly intercepted by Israel’s missile defense systems but some missiles did hit Tel Aviv.

In Israel, 10 people, including two children, were killed and more than 100 injured during the Iranian strikes, according to Israeli authorities.

Israeli ministers were informed that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei personally ordered attacks against Israeli civilian population centers, sources informed The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

An Israeli official told the Wall Street Journal on Saturday that Khamenei himself is “not off-limits.”

Iranian media, quoting the health ministry, said 128 Iranians had been killed and around 900 injured by Israeli strikes as of midday on Saturday.

A senior Israeli security official told Fox News that Israel successfully deceived top commanders of Iran’s air force into gathering ahead of a targeted strike on an IRGC underground command center — an attack Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said eliminated most of the IRGC’s air force leadership.

“We carried out specific activities to help us learn more about them, and then used that information to influence their behavior,” the official said. “We knew this would lead them to meet, but more importantly, we knew how to keep them there.”

According to the official, the strike was even more effective than expected, with Israeli forces also taking out air defense systems and ballistic missiles believed to be intended for use against Israel.

Iran’s key uranium enrichment facility in the country’s center was hit multiple times, Iranian state TV reported.

The “Natanz enrichment facility has been hit several times,” state TV reported, showing footage of heavy smoke billowing from the site.

As of Friday morning, the Israeli Air Force carried out five waves of strikes in Iran, a military official told The Times of Israel.

Hundreds of strikes have been carried out in total, the official said.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said in an interview on Fox News that Israeli intelligence had found that Iran, through its proxies, planned to “initiate another attack like October 7.”

“Once we gathered the information about that, we decided not to wait. We believed their intentions,” Danon said.

“We expect very intense days ahead of us,” he continued, “but we took that risk because we realized the option to wait for Iran to actually assemble the nuclear capability on the ballistic missiles — we can not wait for that. It’s going to be a long operation…we are determined to finish the job.”

The president’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, was set to travel to Oman on Sunday for another round of nuclear talks with Iranian officials. But following Israel’s strikes, Iran called off the meeting. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the nuclear negotiations “unjustifiable” after the attacks, which he said were carried out with the support of the U.S.

Statement by Netanyahu:

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Israel air strikes kill top Iranian military leaders; missile hits Tel Aviv; Trump: ‘possible we could get involved’ added by on June 13, 2025
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