IDF says it hit several sites in Tehran as senior officials gathered, planned campaign over months

The IDF provides new details on its simultaneous airstrikes this morning. It says it hit several sites in Tehran, “where senior officials in Iran’s political-security echelon had gathered.”

The military says it developed the plan over months, and it included a major intelligence effort led by the Intelligence Directorate to “identify an operational opportunity at the moment when senior regime officials would convene.”

The IDF says a decision was made to carry out the strike in the morning, rather than at night, despite Iranian preparedness. The IDF says it succeeded in “achieving tactical surprise for the second time,” referring to its opening strikes during June 2025’s 12-day war.

Intelligence officers spent thousands of hours putting together targets for the operation, with the IDF saying that it has “increased the number of targets by hundreds of percent, so that Israel is prepared to strike in Iran as long as required.”

The IDF says that the target research was conducted “in parallel with precise location tracking of Iranian commanders and senior leadership.”

According to the IDF, a “significant factor” in the United States’ decision to join Israel in the operation against Iran is confidence in the IDF’s “intelligence and operational capabilities,” along with achievements in June’s war.