A 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran brought strikes on multiple cities across both countries, marking an unprecedentedly large direct exchange between the longtime adversaries — in which the United States later joined to attack Iran’s nuclear program.
A timelapse map of targets struck shows how Israel’s initial air attacks and Iran’s retaliation with missiles played out.
Why It Matters
The 12-day war could reshape the Middle East with the killing of a swathe of top Iranian military officers and nuclear scientists as well as heavy damage to key sites of its nuclear program. Meanwhile, Israel sustained hits from Iranian missiles that showed its vulnerability despite is missile defenses.
What To Know
While both Israel and Iran claimed victory in the war, Iran has sustained heavier damage. On the first day of the attack alone, Israel deployed over 200 fighter jets and launched 330 munitions, the Israeli military said.
Iran in total launched over 500 missiles on Israel, with nearly 90 percent of them intercepted, according to a count by the Institute of the Study of War (ISW).
On Saturday, seven U.S. B-2 stealth bombers took off from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri and later dropped more than a dozen Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs on three Iranian nuclear facilities, in the largest B-2 mission in American history.
Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has refuted President Donald Trump‘s statements that the U.S. strikes on Iran had “completely and totally obliterated” its nuclear sites, saying it “failed in achieving its sinister goals.”
A preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment cited by American media indicated that the strikes on Iran likely delayed its nuclear program by only a few months. The White House dismissed the reports.
What People Are Saying
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, as quoted by Tasnim News Agency: “If the Zionist regime does not violate the ceasefire, Iran will not do so.”
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on X: “I emphasized that Israel will respect the ceasefire — as long as the other side does.”
U.S. State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters Tuesday: “With any ceasefire dynamic, it’s fragile. And in the meantime, of course, things did come together and there has been quiet in that region.”
What Happens Next
The conflict was halted under a U.S. ceasefire but there is an ever present risk that war could resume if not in the immediate future then when Iran has rebuilt its capabilities.