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Israel’s strikes extended well beyond Tehran. Military records and independent conflict monitoring by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project documented nearly 2,300 distinct strike events across at least 29 of Iran’s 31 provinces. The breadth of the campaign was unprecedented. Among the most consequential strikes were those targeting Iran’s South Pars gasfield, one of the country’s most important energy assets, and facilities on Kharg Island, a vital terminal for Iranian oil exports. The strikes on energy infrastructure triggered a sharp escalation in global oil and gas prices and prompted fierce Iranian retaliation against energy facilities in neighboring Gulf states.
The strikes also extended to Iran’s nuclear program. Israel targeted the Natanz enrichment complex, one of the centerpieces of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. Iranian state television framed Iran’s subsequent missile strikes on Dimona in southern Israel — near Israel’s own nuclear research facility — as a direct response to the Natanz attack. It was one of the most alarming moments of the entire conflict: two countries with nuclear-adjacent capabilities exchanging strikes near each other’s most sensitive nuclear sites.
Israel’s air campaign was accompanied by efforts to establish what the Israeli Air Force described as air superiority over Iran, language that signaled an intent not merely to strike specific targets but to degrade Iran’s ability to respond from the air. Israel stated publicly that it was working to “pave the path to Tehran,” a statement that drew widespread international concern and condemnation from governments that urged restraint.
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