section_path: Abstract
section_name: Abstract
paragraph_text: The Iran–Israel war is an ongoing armed conflict between Iran and Israel that began on 13 June 2025, when Israel launched a surprise attack targeting key Iranian military and nuclear facilities. The opening hours of the war saw targeted assassinations of Iran's top military leaders and nuclear scientists, airstrikes on nuclear and military facilities, and destruction of Iran's air defenses. Iran retaliated by launching missiles at military sites and cities in Israel. Minor roles have been played by the United States, whose forces helped defend Israel from incoming missiles, and the Houthis in Yemen, which fired several missiles at Israel.
  
  The conflict is considered an escalation of decades-long animosity between the two countries, during which Iran challenged Israel's legitimacy and called for its destruction, while Israel considered the Iranian nuclear program an existential threat. During the crisis in the Middle East that followed the October 7 attacks in 2023 and the ensuing Gaza war, animosity escalated to direct confrontation. Israel weakened Iranian proxies such as Hamas and Hezbollah and began planning action against Iran. The countries traded strikes in April and October 2024. The Israeli attacks of June 2025 began the day after the expiration of a two-month deadline that U.S. president Donald Trump had set for securing a deal to keep Iran from developing a nuclear bomb. The day before the Israeli strikes began, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) found Iran non-compliant with its nuclear obligations for the first time in 20 years.
  
  The Israeli attacks killed several of Iran's military leaders, leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), at least 10 leading nuclear scientists, and more than 200 Iranian civilians, according to both the Iranian Health Ministry and the anti-government Human Rights Activists in Iran News Agency. As the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said, more than 70 Iranian women and children were killed in the first three Israeli attacks on Iran. Airstrikes damaged the Natanz Nuclear Facility and the Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facility, but apparently left the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant unscathed. Israel also hit a missile complex near Tabriz, the Kermanshah Underground Missile Facility, and IRGC facilities near Tehran and in Piranshahr. The attacks also damaged public infrastructure. The first wave of Iranian retaliation included about 100 missiles and 100 drones. Those and later strikes killed 24 people, all civilians; missiles have hit civilian apartments, a university, and a hospital.
  
  Legal scholars saw the Israeli strikes as a violation of international law, a view also taken by the governments of Bolivia, Brazil, The People's Republic of China, Cuba, Russia, and South Africa. The initial attacks by Israel were condemned by countries across the Islamic world, including Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, and Turkey. Israel's attacks were met with approval by Germany and the United States, who said Iran should agree to a nuclear deal promptly. A number of Western countries said that Iran must not acquire nuclear weapons, condemned the violence, and called on both Israel and Iran to de-escalate, with Canada, France, and the United Kingdom stating that Israel had a right to self-defense. The United Nations expressed concern and called for restraint.