Iran Launches Over 100 Drones at Israel in Retaliation

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Israel on Friday it faced a “bitter and painful” fate in response to the attack launched overnight against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, as Tehran launched 100 drones toward Israel in its initial response.

Israel alerted its citizens on Friday morning that Iran had launched more than 100 drones — which would take several hours to arrive — telling people nationwide to remain near bomb shelters.

Three hours later, the IDF Home Front Command lifted its instruction to Israelis to remain near shelters without a single siren sounding in the country, after it worked to shoot them down outside Israeli territory.

The IDF said late Friday morning that it had “control over the situation,” though it did not yet confirm shooting all of the drones down. Restrictions remained in effect for schools and workplaces in addition to public gatherings or events.

Israel “opened its wicked and blood-stained hand to a crime in our beloved country, revealing its malicious nature more than ever by striking residential centers,” Khamenei said Friday, in a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency.

The comments came after Israel launched a deadly wave of attacks that killed the Iranian armed forces’ chief of staff, the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and top nuclear scientists.

“With this crime, the Zionist regime has set itself up for a bitter and painful fate and it will definitely receive it,” Khamenei said.

Iran said Israel’s actions underscored the Islamic Republic’s need to advance uranium enrichment and missile capabilities.

“One should not speak to such a predatory regime except in the language of power,” the Iranian government said in a statement. “The world now better understands Iran’s insistence on the right to enrichment, nuclear technology, and missile power.”

US President Donald Trump told Fox News’s Bret Baier on Friday he had received advance notice of the Israeli strikes, which Israel’s military said involved 200 fighter jets.

Trump also stressed that Tehran “cannot have a nuclear bomb,” Baier said.

The United States underlined Friday that it was not involved in the Israeli action and warned Tehran not to attack its personnel or interests.

But Tehran said the United States would be “responsible for consequences” as Israel’s operation “cannot have been carried out without the coordination and permission of the United States.”

Iranian armed forces spokesperson Abolfazl Shekarchi told state TV that Israel and the United States will pay a “heavy price” for the attacks.

Israel said early Friday that it had no choice but to attack Iran, adding that it had gathered intelligence that Tehran was approaching “the point of no return” in its pursuit of a nuclear weapon.

The Israeli operation was expected to last several days, according to military officials, who added that the Israel Defense Forces was preparing for heavy fire from Iran, but asserted that “at the end of the operation, there will be no nuclear threat” from the Islamic Republic.

The Islamic Republic, which vows to destroy Israel, says its nuclear program is for civilian purposes. However, it enriches uranium up to 60 percent — a level that has no civilian purpose and is close to the 90% threshold needed for a nuclear warhead. It has also obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities.