June 13, 2025

Operation Rising Lion

Israel opens Operation Rising Lion against Iran

In a single morning, Iran confirmed the loss of its armed-forces chief, the Revolutionary Guard commander, and the commander of its ballistic-missile force.

13 June 2025: explosions before dawn

In the early hours of 13 June 2025, Israel opened Operation Rising Lion with strikes on Iran's nuclear, missile, air-defense and military-leadership targets, including sites in Tehran and the Natanz enrichment complex — a safeguarded facility the IAEA recorded as attacked between roughly 3 and 8 a.m. local time.

The Israeli military said approximately 200 aircraft used more than 330 munitions against more than 100 targets in the opening overnight wave. Iran confirmed the deaths of Armed Forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri, IRGC commander Hossein Salami, and IRGC Aerospace Force commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh — the officer over its ballistic-missile program.

Iran answers in stages

Iran's response came in waves: first more than 100 drones toward Israel, then, after dark, ballistic missiles that reached the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem areas — some landing after midnight, which is why casualty reporting varies by local cutoff. Iran's initial report from the Israeli attacks was 78 killed and more than 320 wounded, preliminary figures for the opening day only.

The U.N. Security Council met in emergency session that afternoon at Iran's request. Israel mobilized reservists as the long-running shadow conflict became an open interstate war.

Whose war, and on what rationale

This was an Israeli operation, not a joint U.S.–Israeli attack: U.S. officials said Washington was informed but did not participate, though U.S. forces helped defend Israel against the retaliation. Direct American offensive strikes came only on 22 June.

Israel called the attack preemptive, against an imminent nuclear and ballistic-missile threat; it came one day after the IAEA Board censured Iran over safeguards noncompliance — but U.S.–Iran nuclear negotiations were still underway, and independent evidence of an imminent Iranian attack was not established. The fighting ran twelve days, and a larger war followed in February 2026.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources 3 audit passes

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →

What the sources leave uncertain

Casualty figures published on June 13 were preliminary and later war-wide totals should not be assigned to the opening day.
Israel characterized the attack as preemptive, but whether the alleged threat was legally or operationally imminent was disputed.
The United States said it was informed but did not participate in the June 13 attack; U.S. forces did help defend Israel against Iran's retaliation.
Some Iranian missiles launched late June 13 landed after midnight on June 14, so casualty reporting varies by local cutoff.