Iran retaliated against Israel’s aerial strikes early on Saturday, firing barrages of missiles and drones, several of which evaded interception, killing at least two people in Tel Aviv and injuring another 33.
Dubbed Operation True Promise 3, Iran’s counteroffensive saw it fire over 150 ballistic missiles and more than 100 drones at Israel. A day earlier, Israel’s missile salvo had killed 78 people, including civilian and military personnel, and injured more than 320 others, according to Tehran. The missile strikes had targeted military sites and private residences, with six nuclear scientists among the people killed.
The strikes also killed Iran’s highest-ranking military officer, armed forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri, and the head of the Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, according to Iranian media. Khamenei swiftly appointed new commanders to replace those killed. Major General Seyyed Abdulrahim Mousavi was appointed to replace Bagheri, while Major Gen Mohammad Pakpour was chosen as the new head of the Revolutionary Guards, according to IRNA. Gen Amir Hatami was made the new army chief.
“The senior chain of command of the air force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps had assembled in an underground command center to prepare for an attack on the State of Israel,” the Israeli military said, adding that its attacks had killed most of them. Iran confirmed that the Guards’ aerospace commander was killed, along with “a group of brave and dedicated fighters.”
Iranian state media has quoted senior military official, General Ahmad Vahidi, as warning the retaliatory strikes would continue for “as long as necessary.“
“We faced three salvos of ballistic missiles fired from Iran today, about 150 in total,” Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter told CNN. Video footage from Tel Aviv showed the city under a state of emergency, with air raid sirens and explosions ringing out overnight. Israel maintains a majority of the dozens of missiles fired on it were intercepted but several broke through and hit the city.
“We expect that the Iranians, who have a considerable volume of ballistic missiles, somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,000, will continue to fire them,” Leiter added. He also indicated Israel would continue its own campaign indefinitely, saying it could not determine how much damage it could inflict on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure for another four or five days.
In a statement, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said the missiles had targeted Israeli airbases that served as launch sites for attacks on Iran. “In this operation, the missile and drone units of the IRGC Aerospace Force employed a combination of precision-guided and smart missile systems to strike military centers, airbases used as launch sites for the criminal aggression against our nation,” it said. Other targets, it said, included “military-industrial facilities instrumental in producing missiles and other weaponry for the Zionist regime’s army to commit crimes against the resistant nations of the region—particularly the oppressed people of Palestine and Gaza.”
It also maintained that despite Israel’s claims of interception, Tel Aviv had failed to counter the waves of missile attacks launched by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Separately, Iranian state media said the country’s forces downed two Israeli fighter jets during a massive Israeli air raid, although Israel denied this. Some Iranian outlets also claimed a female Israeli pilot was captured, also to denials from Israel.
Calls for calm
Amidst the ongoing conflict, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres had urged both nations to agree to a ceasefire. “Enough escalation. Time to stop. Peace and diplomacy must prevail,” he wrote in a statement on X.
The U.S. and U.K. have also called for calm—though both have said they are helping Israel defend against Iran’s strikes.