Khamenei threatens Israel with ‘painful fate’ after its devastating strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities

In retaliation for Israel’s strikes, Iran launched 100 UAVs against Israel, which the IDF intercepted.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatened Israel with “painful fate” after it struck Tehran and Iran’s nuclear facilities.

In a statement on Friday aired by the state-run IRNA news agency, Khamenei warned of “bitter and painful” consequences for Israel following its surprise attack in the early hours of Friday morning.

He continued, “Israel opened its evil and bloody hand and committed a crime against our beloved country, revealing its malicious nature more than ever by striking residential areas.”

“With this crime, the Zionist regime has set itself up for a bitter and painful fate, and it will definitely receive it,” Khamenei said.

Israelis awoke at 3 am to alarms signaling an emergency with restrictions on public gatherings and limited public transportation.

Over 200 Israeli Air Force jets launched a coordinated, preemptive strike early Friday, targeting dozens of locations in Ira, including military installations and nuclear facilities, as part of a precise and comprehensive offensive against Iran’s nuclear program.

The IDF said the attack was based on “high-quality intelligence” and “in response to the Iranian regime’s ongoing aggression against Israel.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation, dubbed “Rising Lion,” would “continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat,” vowing to stop “the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.”

In retaliation, Iran launched 100 UAVs against Israel, which the IDF intercepted.

Operation Rising Lion was launched as Iran and the US were prepared for its sixth round of negotiations concerning the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

The talks had reached an impasse over the disagreement about whether Iran would be allowed to continue enriching uranium, something US President Donald Trump said he would not allow but which Iran vowed to continue.

Following the Israeli strikes, Trump urged Iran to “make a deal” before it’s too late.

US President Donald Trump says Iran must make a deal now over its nuclear program or face even more destructive and deadly military action.

“There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end,” Trump says on his Truth Social platform. “Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire.”

Israel launched a wide-ranging preemptive strike on Iran in the early hours of Friday, targeting military facilities and nuclear sites across the country. Officials described the operation as an effort to eliminate an imminent nuclear threat.

Iranian state television confirmed that Hossein Salami, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Mohammad Bagheri, Iran’s Chief of Staff, were among those killed, along with several other high-ranking military officials.