[10] According to a senior US official speaking to ABC News, Israeli aircraft, operating beyond Iran's borders, launched three missiles targeting an air defense radar site guarding the Natanz nuclear facility.

[19] On 7 October 2023, Hamas, an Islamic militant group supported by Iran, carried out an attack in southern Israel, resulting in the deaths of 1,200 individuals and the kidnapping of at least 253 other Israeli and international citizens.

[24] The Iranian-backed Houthi movement has launched dozens of drones and ballistic missiles towards Israel, and have hijacked and attacked ships in the Red Sea, severely restricting the flow of trade through the Suez Canal.

[12] The operation was part of the Israel-Hamas war spillover and marked Iran's first direct attack on Israel since the start of their proxy conflict.

[38][39][40] An international coalition, including the US, UK, France and Jordan assisted Israel in intercepting Iranian projectiles and in radar coverage.

In Israel, a 7-year-old Israeli Bedouin girl was seriously wounded, and thirty-one other people either suffered minor injuries while rushing to shelters or were treated for anxiety.

[38][39] Iran's attacks drew criticism from the United Nations, several world leaders, and political analysts, who warned that they risk escalating into a full-blown regional war.

[18] According to a senior US official speaking to ABC News, Israeli aircraft, operating beyond Iran's borders, launched three missiles targeting an air defense radar site guarding the Natanz nuclear facility.

[2][3] According to The Economist, satellite imagery indicates that the Iranians attempted to preserve their reputation after the Israeli attacks by replacing the destroyed air-defense radar with a new one.

[7] A former senior US defence official said this was compatible with Israel "clearing the air corridor in Syria for a stand-off strike on Iran" and the discovery of spent missile boosters in Iraq.

Iran's semi-official Tasnim News Agency posted a video of a nuclear facility in Isfahan which did not show any damage or signs it had been hit.

This approach demonstrated Israel's readiness to defend its interests whilst also signaling to Iran the potential for more severe action, thereby maintaining a balance of deterrence without provoking an immediate escalation into a broader conflict.

[56] Haaretz opined that the strike was lackluster and muted, a placeholder measure demonstrative of Netanyahu's lack of strategy,[57] and a diversion from the primary issue of the Israel-Gaza War and the rescue of Hamas' hostages.

[58] The New York Times gauged the limited strike as smaller than expected, and that while Iranian officials downplayed it, and indeed did not even ascribe it to Israel, there was still room for miscalculation.

[59] The Wall Street Journal also noted that while the immediate escalatory spiral had been stopped, the fundamental dynamic between Israel and Iran remained, and that its new situation had unclear red lines.

It pointed out that while "Iran is unlikely to fool America or Israel, both of which have high-end satellites and will know that the battery is kaput," the new radar enables the country's propagandists to assert that everything is under control, potentially averting a larger crisis.

[51] Australia advised its citizens to leave Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories given that the security situation could deteriorate quickly,[64] and the US limited the travel of its embassy personnel to metropolitan regions for similar reasons.

[66] On 22 October 2024, Aziz Jafari, the former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, admitted for the first time to Israel's "missile attack" on Iran.