‘Wipe Them Out’: Netanyahu Targets Iran’s Nukes As Tehran’s Missiles, Drones Slam Tel Aviv, Haifa

Panic grips Tel Aviv as terrified Israelis rush into the streets after fresh Iranian missile strikes on Thursday.

Tehran/Jerusalem/New Delhi: The Iran-Israel conflict entered its seventh and most dangerous day yet on Thursday (June 19), with both countries exchanging their most devastating strikes so far. Tehran launched a massive missile and drone barrage targeting Israeli cities and military facilities, while Tel Aviv intensified its attacks on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, including a strike on the Arak heavy water reactor. There are reports of a possible hit near Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant.

The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement that Thursday marked the fifteenth phase of its ongoing Operation True Promise III. The latest strike, it said, used over 100 drones and a large number of ballistic missiles aimed at military and industrial sites in Tel Aviv and Haifa. The IRGC said the attack was designed to specifically target missile defense systems and Israeli military factories.

Iranian officials said new-generation ballistic missiles, including the Khaibar-Shekan, Fattah and Sejjil, were used in this round. The IRGC added that more precise and destructive strikes are planned in the coming phases.

The aerial attack came just hours after Iran reportedly destroyed an Israeli command and intelligence post near a hospital in an earlier drone strike. Israel has imposed tight media controls, banning all live broadcasts and publication of damage-related images since the attacks began.

Israeli forces responded the assaults by carrying out airstrikes on Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor, a important site in the country’s nuclear program. An Israeli military spokesperson had also initially said the Bushehr nuclear power plant, Iran’s only operational reactor, had been hit.

However, a senior Israeli official later retracted that – calling it a “mistake” and declined to confirm or deny the strike on the Bushehr site.

Russia, which built and continues to work on Bushehr’s nuclear reactors, warned of catastrophic consequences if the site were to be targeted again. Alexey Likhachev, head of Russia’s nuclear energy agency, said any further damage to Bushehr could trigger a “Chernobyl-style catastrophe”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had received assurances from Israel that Russian personnel working at the site would not be harmed.

Speaking in Beersheba, where a hospital was hit on Thursday by an Iranian missile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel is “committed to destroying the nuclear threat”.

He stated that Israel’s goal was to “remove both the nuclear and ballistic missile threat” posed by Iran and confirmed that operations to achieve this objective were already underway.

Netanyahu’s comments came amid ongoing Israeli air raids that have struck multiple Iranian cities and critical infrastructure. The conflict began last Friday (June 14) with a surprise wave of Israeli strikes that targeted Iranian military compounds, senior IRGC officers and nuclear scientists.

The violence has taken a heavy human toll. A Washington-based Iranian human rights group reported that at least 639 people have been killed in Iran, including 263 civilians, with over 1,300 wounded since Israeli operations began.

Iran’s Ministry of Health has confirmed many of these deaths, including women and children.

Iran, in retaliation, has launched approximately 400 missiles and hundreds of drones, leading to the deaths of at least 24 people in Israel and injuring hundreds more. Missile defense systems in Israeli cities have struggled to intercept many of the recent attacks, especially as Iranian forces use sophisticated methods to bypass U.S.-backed Israeli interceptors.

As the exchange of fire intensifies, global leaders are voicing urgent concerns about the risk of a broader regional conflict. The UN Security Council is set to hold an emergency session on Friday at Iran’s request, which is being supported by Russia, China, Pakistan and Algeria.

Iranian officials have warned that any American intervention would escalate the war further. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reiterated in a televised address that Iran would “stand firmly against any imposed war” and would not yield under external pressure.

The continued back-and-forth strikes, the targeting of nuclear facilities and the rising civilian death toll are pushing the conflict toward uncharted and potentially catastrophic territory. With no diplomatic breakthrough in sight, the coming days are expected to bring even more dangerous escalation.