In the early hours of 13 June 2025, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion — the largest attack on Iran since the Iran–Iraq War — and within ten days the United States had joined, striking Iran's nuclear facilities directly. The twelve-day war transformed the Iran–US conflict from shadow war to open war, then stopped as abruptly as it began.
The Road to 13 June
Context made the war possible: Iran's air defences and proxy shield had been degraded through 2024; its enrichment stood at 60% with talks stalled. US–Iran negotiations mediated by Oman had run five rounds through spring 2025 without a deal, and on 12 June the IAEA board formally found Iran in violation of its safeguards obligations. Israel struck the next morning — while a sixth round of US–Iran talks was still on the calendar.
What Israel Hit
The opening waves combined airstrikes with Mossad sabotage teams pre-positioned inside Iran:
- Nuclear sites: Natanz enrichment halls, labs at Isfahan, and later Fordow's access infrastructure
- The military command: IRGC commander Hossein Salami, armed forces chief Mohammad Bagheri and other senior officers killed in the first hours
- Nuclear scientists: multiple senior figures assassinated
- Air defences and missile forces: achieving effective freedom of the skies over much of Iran
Iran's Response
Iran answered with successive ballistic-missile and drone barrages at Israeli cities and military sites. Israeli and US defences intercepted most, but dozens of missiles penetrated, killing civilians and striking buildings in Tel Aviv, Haifa and elsewhere — the heaviest direct fire ever exchanged between the two states.
America Enters: 21–22 June
President Trump initially framed the choice as Iran's: deal or destruction. On the night of 21–22 June, US B-2 bombers executed Operation Midnight Hammer — dropping fourteen 30,000-lb GBU-57 bunker-busters on Fordow and Natanz while submarine-launched Tomahawks struck Isfahan. It was the first open US military attack on Iranian territory in the conflict's history.
Iran's Reply — and the Ceasefire
Iran's direct retaliation against America was deliberately survivable: a telegraphed missile strike on Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar on 23 June, with advance warning and no casualties — the Soleimani playbook again. Iran's parliament voted to authorise closing the Strait of Hormuz, but the state never enacted it (why, analysed here). On 24 June, a US-announced ceasefire took hold after a final flurry of strikes.
The Balance Sheet
Iran lost commanders, scientists, air defences and much of its enrichment infrastructure; hundreds of Iranians, including civilians, were killed. Israel absorbed unprecedented missile damage. The US demonstrated it would strike Iran directly — and Iran demonstrated it could absorb that and survive. What neither side settled was the underlying question: Iran's stockpile of 60% uranium was never accounted for, and inspectors lost access after the war. The war's economic shockwaves — oil, inflation, shipping — and its aftermath are covered across this series.
This article is part of a 20-part analysis series on the Iran–USA conflict covering the complete history, the June 2025 war, the Strait of Hormuz, oil markets, global inflation and future scenarios. Facts reflect the situation as of early 2026.
