Israeli Air Force Strikes Iranian Nuclear and Arms Sites
Israel strikes Iranian nuclear and missile sites: 50+ IDF jets hit Arak heavy water plant and Yazd uranium facility in coordinated overnight operation across three regions.
More than 50 Israeli Air Force jets, operating on intelligence from Military Intelligence (Aman), conducted coordinated strikes Friday night against Iranian regime infrastructure across three simultaneous areas inside Iran, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed.
The operation was carried out in multiple attack waves spanning several hours. Targets included the Khondab Heavy Water Complex in Arak and a uranium processing facility in Ardakan, in Yazd province.
The IDF described the Arak site as a "key plutonium production site for nuclear weapons" and the Yazd facility as a "unique plant used to produce raw materials required for uranium enrichment."
The IDF noted that heavy water is used to operate nuclear reactors, such as the inactive Arak reactor, which was originally designed to produce weapons-grade plutonium, and that such materials can also serve as a neutron source for nuclear weapons. The military added that Iran had worked to rebuild the facility after it was struck nine months ago, and had deliberately avoided converting the reactor in a way that would prevent it from producing weapons-grade plutonium.
Additional targets struck in the operation included a military industry facility used for the production of various weapons, an Iranian Ministry of Defense site used for the development and manufacture of advanced explosives, which the IDF said served as a supply source for Hamas and Hezbollah, and a facility producing ballistic missile components and anti-aircraft missiles.
Iran's Atomic Energy Organization confirmed the strikes caused no casualties and no risk of contamination.
In a statement, the IDF said: "The strikes on these sites and facilities constitute a combined blow to the regime's production capabilities, both in its ballistic missile program and its nuclear weapons program. The IDF continues to deepen its strikes on the regime's military industries in order to deny production capabilities it has built over years."
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that retaliation was coming, with the IRGC Aerospace Force commander writing that "this time, the equation will no longer be 'an eye for an eye.'"