JTA) — This is a developing story and will be updated.
Israel announced June 12 that it has launched a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities and has warned Israelis to prepare for a potential counterattack.
“Following the State of Israel’s preemptive strike against Iran, a missile and drone attack against the State of Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate future,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. Sirens blared across the country, telling Israelis to seek shelter.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had chosen to strike because of intelligence that he said showed Iran was preparing a nuclear bomb imminently. He said the operation could take several days.
“We struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear enrichment program,” he said in a videotaped statement. “We struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear weaponization program. We targeted Iran’s main enrichment facility in Natanz. We targeted Iran’s leading nuclear scientists working on an Iranian bomb. We also struck at the heart of Iran’s ballistic missile program.”
The development came early Friday morning Israel time and followed several days of increasing tensions, during which the United States pulled some personnel out of the region and U.S. President Donald Trump told Netanyahu not to strike because he preferred seeking a deal with Iran to constrain its nuclear ambitions.
Trump’s top negotiator who had been working to strike such a deal, Steve Witkoff, reportedly warned Senate Republicans last week that an Iranian response to an Israeli strike could result in mass civilian casualties in Israel.
Last year, Israel struck military facilities within Iran and Iran responded with a barrage of missiles that Israel mostly shot down with the help of its allies, including the United States.
Walla, an Israeli online news site, reported on Thursday evening that the Trump administration relayed to Netanyahu that it would not directly assist Israel in an attack on Iran. It was not clear if indirect assistance, such as refueling planes, was off the table, said the news site, which quoted two American officials.
