Iran fires two overnight missile barrages at Israel; Khamenei: ‘The battle begins’

Iran fired a pair of ballistic missile barrages at Israel early Wednesday, as Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared that “the battle begins” and called for showing “no mercy” toward Israelis.

The Israeli Air Force, meanwhile, carried out a wave of airstrikes in Tehran, targeting an Iranian centrifuge production site and several weapon-production facilities, according to the military.

Iran’s first salvo triggered sirens across a large swath of Israel shortly after 12:40 a.m. The next barrage began around 40 minutes later and triggered alerts in central Israeli communities and a number of West Bank settlements.

The Israel Defense Forces said that in total, some 30 missiles were launched by Iran in the overnight attacks, and most were intercepted by air defenses.

Several minutes before the attacks, the IDF Home Front Command issued alerts warning residents that missile fire was incoming and instructing them to seek shelter. Following each salvo, the IDF informed Israelis it was then safe to leave the bomb shelters.

There were no reports of injuries in the successive attacks, but a fire was sparked at a parking lot in central Israel, damaging 20 cars, the Fire and Rescue Service said. The blaze was apparently caused by falling debris from an interception, not a direct impact.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed to have used hypersonic missiles, which Israel denies Iran possesses.

“The 11th wave of the proud Operation Honest Promise 3 using Fattah-1 missiles” was carried out, the IRGC said in a statement carried by state television, claiming that Iranian forces “have gained complete control over the skies of the occupied territories.”

Warning sirens were also activated overnight around the Dead Sea due to a suspected drone infiltration; shortly before 6 a.m. in numerous northern communities; just after 9 a.m. in the Golan Heights; and again in the Golan at 10 a.m.

The military later confirmed that it had shot down a total of 13 drones from Iran, most of them before they crossed into Israeli airspace.

The overnight missile launches followed several smaller salvos throughout Tuesday, with the IDF saying it believed the attacks were decreasing in scope as Iran’s capabilities had been degraded by Israeli strikes.

“We must give a strong response to the terrorist Zionist regime,” Khamenei wrote on his English-language X account after the second missile barrage early Wednesday. “We will show the Zionists no mercy.”

He issued a similar tweet in Hebrew as well as a Shia-themed post in Persian stating “the battle begins” and claiming a return to Khaybar, referring to a town whose Jewish inhabitants were conquered by Muslim forces in the 7th century.

The post featured an image of a man holding a sword entering a castle-like gate, with fiery streaks in the sky overhead.

به نام نامی #حیدر، نبرد آغاز می‌گردد
علی با ذوالفقار خود، به #خیبر باز می‌گردد#الله_اکبر pic.twitter.com/yGYrXUDGoK

— KHAMENEI.IR | فارسی ???????? (@Khamenei_fa) June 17, 2025

Meanwhile, the IDF issued an evacuation warning Wednesday urging residents of District 18 in Tehran to leave the area, saying that Israel was going to take action in the area targeting military infrastructure. Shortly afterward, the military announced that the Israeli Air Force had embarked on a new wave of strikes in the Iranian capital.

The military later confirmed that over 50 IAF fighter jets carried out strikes on some 20 targets in Tehran, including an Iranian centrifuge production site and several weapon-production facilities.

The centrifuge production site in Tehran was used by Iran to expand the scope and rate of its uranium enrichment for the purpose of developing nuclear weapons, the IDF said.

The military said that the weapon-production factories hit included a site for the production of raw materials and components for the assembly of the surface-to-surface missiles that the Iranian regime has been firing at Israel, as well as facilities for making systems and components for surface-to-air missiles designed to hit aircraft.

Iranian news sites reported that Israel struck a university linked to the IRGC in eastern Tehran, and also reported explosions at the Khojir missile production facility near the capital and in the city of Karaj, where Israel has previously targeted a centrifuge factory.

Speaking at a press conference Wednesday morning, IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the Israeli Air Force had hit over 1,100 Iranian assets in hundreds of strikes in Iran since Friday.

“We are operating systematically to neutralize the nuclear threat,” he said, adding that the strikes were “deepening the significant damage” caused to Iran’s ballistic missiles and air defenses.

Also, Wednesday morning, an IAF drone bombed five Iranian AH-1 helicopters at an airbase in Kermanshah, Defrin said.

“Their mission was to try and harm our aircraft,” he said. The IDF released footage showing the strikes.

חיל האוויר זיהה ותקף חמישה מסוקי קרב בבסיס צבאי במרחב כראמנשה

לאורך שעות הבוקר, כלי טיס של חיל האוויר המשיכו לטוס מעל שמי איראן ולאתר יעדים לתקיפה.
חיל האוויר זיהה ותקף חמישה מסוקי קרב איראניים מסוג AH-1 שהיו בבסיס צבאי במרחב בכראמנשה.

מסוקים אלו נועדו לפגוע בכלי הטיס של חיל… pic.twitter.com/3efzwbmumW

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) June 18, 2025

And in an apparent first, an IAF drone was shot down over the Isfahan area in central Iran overnight, the Israeli military confirmed.

Now in its sixth day, the Israeli operation in Iran was launched with the objective of removing the “existential threat” of the Iranian nuclear program and ballistic missile capabilities.

Israel says its sweeping assault on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites, and ballistic missile program is necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic, which has vowed to destroy the Jewish state, from getting any closer to building atomic weapons.

Iran has retaliated by launching more than 400 missiles and hundreds of drones at Israel. So far, 24 people have been killed in Israel and more than 500 wounded.

Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 224 people, according to Iranian officials.

Agencies contributed to this report.