Gregg Roman is the executive director of the Middle East Forum, previously directing the Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. In 2014, the JTA named him one of the “ten most inspiring global Jewish leaders," and he previously served as the political advisor to the deputy foreign minister of Israel and worked for the Israeli Ministry of Defense. Mr. Roman appears frequently on international news channels such as Fox News, i24NEWS, Al-Jazeera, BBC World News, and Israel’s Channels 12 and 13 as well as in major news publications. He studied national security and political communications.
At 8:14 a.m. local time in Israel - 9:44 a.m. in Tehran - red alert sirens sounded across the State of Israel. Seconds later, mobile phones buzzed with a Home Front Command directive: stay near protected spaces. Within minutes, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz signed a special emergency order under the Civil Defense Law, imposing a nationwide state of emergency. The reason was straightforward. Israel and the United States had just launched a preemptive military campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The operation - designated “Sha’agat HaAri" (Roar of the Lion) by the IDF and Prime Minister Netanyahu, also referenced as “Magen Yehuda" (Shield of Judah) in early Hebrew-language reporting - represents the most significant American combat operation in the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the most consequential Israeli military action since the state’s founding.
It is not a limited strike. It is not a signaling exercise. A US official told Reuters the administration planned a “multiday operation." A person briefed on the campaign told NPR that Israel’s military focus centered on Iran’s missile program, with broader strikes against regime command infrastructure executed in coordination with American forces.
The facts on the ground in the first three hours tell the story.
The Opening Salvo
Israeli fighter jets, operating in cooperation with US military assets, struck dozens of targets across Iran in rapid succession. The first wave hit Tehran’s political and security nerve center. Among the confirmed targets: the office compound of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence, the Ministry of Defense, the Atomic Energy Organization headquarters, and the presidential institution near Pasteur Square. Seven missiles struck the district housing Khamenei’s residence, the presidential palace, and the National Security Council.
The strikes were precise, coordinated, and devastating. Reports from Tehran indicated at least thirty explosions across the capital. Israeli sources reported more than thirty targets struck, including the Intelligence Ministry, Defense Ministry, and presidential residence. Fars News Agency - the regime’s own outlet - confirmed explosions in downtown Tehran and smoke columns rising over multiple districts. Observers on the ground documented shattered windows along Vesal Street and Enghelab Intersection. BRT railings were torn from the ground. Walls cracked from blast overpressure. Fire trucks dispatched from Enghelab Square toward the Jomhouri area. Sina Hospital issued a full evacuation order.
Beyond Tehran, the campaign struck targets across Iran’s geographic depth. Explosions hit Isfahan, Kermanshah, Tabriz, Qom, Karaj, Khorramabad, Bandar Kangan, Bushehr, and the Konarak area of Sistan and Baluchestan near the Pakistani border. Reports emerged of strikes against the Jam missile city, the Amind missile center near Tabriz, the Seyyed al-Shohada military base in Minab, and the IRGC Amad and Support Base. In Qom, strikes reportedly targeted nuclear facilities. The Parchin military complex - long suspected of hosting weapons-related research - and the strategic oil terminal at Kharg Island were also hit.
Israeli forces simultaneously struck targets in Iraq, expanding the campaign against the broader Shiite axis infrastructure.
The New York Times reported that American aircraft launched strikes from bases across the Middle East and from at least one aircraft carrier. Initial reports indicated Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from vessels in the Sea of Oman. The IDF Spokesperson confirmed that the Israeli Air Force conducted “extensive sorties" striking military targets across western Iran, including the General Staff headquarters in east Tehran, with operations continuing on the basis of precise intelligence.
An Israeli defense official told Reuters the operation had been planned for months. The start date was set weeks ago.
Decapitation
The campaign’s target list reveals strategic intent that goes far beyond counterproliferation. This was a decapitation strike against the Islamic Republic’s command architecture.
Al Jazeera’s Washington sources reported that US involvement aimed at “decapitating the Iranian regime," with attacks concentrated on areas where Khamenei might be sheltering. Reuters reported that Khamenei was not in Tehran at the time of the strikes and had been moved to a secure location. The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that every missile fired toward Iran carried a specific address - and that a large number of military commanders and government officials were personally targeted.
Unconfirmed reports circulated rapidly. Sources on Hebrew-language Telegram channels reported the confirmed elimination of Mohseni Ejei, head of Iran’s judiciary. Unverified claims emerged regarding an assassination attempt against Khamenei himself, a possible strike targeting Defense Minister Amir Hatami, and reports of the commander of the Iranian army being killed. Israeli senior officials told Channel 12 they had “indications of hits on significant figures in the Iranian leadership."
Iran’s own semi-official ISNA news agency published a remarkable statement: the intensity and scope of the initial attacks, especially at sensitive points, led to the killing and destruction of “a significant number of personnel of the Revolutionary Guards Corps," many of whom held “important operational and specialized posts." For a regime news agency to acknowledge such losses in real time suggests the damage was catastrophic.
Simultaneously, cyber operations crippled Iranian communications. The IRNA news agency was hacked. Landline phone networks went down across Tehran. Internet connectivity collapsed into a near-total blackout, according to monitoring group Netblocks. Iran’s state broadcasting organization was reportedly attacked. The BadSaba app was compromised. The regime’s ability to coordinate a response was systematically degraded.
The Iranian Response
Iran did not remain passive - though its response took nearly two hours to materialize. The IDF had emphasized in its initial alert that the 8:14 a.m. sirens were precautionary: “There is currently no need to stay inside protected spaces." That changed shortly after 10:00 a.m. Israel time, when the IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward Israeli territory. The IRGC announced the launch of “Operation True Promise 4" - the first large-scale wave of retaliatory missile and drone strikes toward Israel and US positions across the region.
Ballistic missiles targeted Israeli territory. Air raid sirens sounded across the country, from the northern Golan Heights and Galilee down through the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, the Sharon region, the Shfela, Jerusalem, and communities across Judea and Samaria. Red alerts blanketed virtually every population center. Israel’s multi-layered air defense architecture - Arrow, David’s Sling, and Iron Dome - operated continuously, though the threat volume was significant. Police reported fragments falling in several areas. An impact was confirmed in Tirat HaCarmel, with MDA crews dispatched.
Iran simultaneously struck at American positions across the Persian Gulf.
The IRGC claimed attacks against four US installations: Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE, and the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain. An Iranian missile struck a US base in Bahrain. Explosions rocked Abu Dhabi, with smoke visible over the Emirati capital. Bahrain’s interior ministry urged citizens to seek shelter. Qatar’s Defense Ministry confirmed it had intercepted an Iranian missile using a Patriot system. Explosions were reported in Doha, in Saudi Arabia, in Jordan, and in Kuwait, where alarms sounded across the country.
Iranian state television declared that Iran’s armed forces were attacking American bases across the region.
Hezbollah opened a secondary front from Lebanon. Missile launches struck toward northern Israel, triggering red alerts across the Golan Heights, the confrontation line communities, and the upper Galilee. The IDF responded with artillery fire into southern Lebanon and continued airstrikes against Hezbollah infrastructure - a campaign that had already intensified in the weeks preceding the operation. Israeli security officials were assessing whether the northern fire originated from Hezbollah directly or from Iranian assets positioned in Lebanon.
The Houthis in Yemen announced they would join the campaign. Israeli defense officials detected Houthi preparations for launches from Yemen.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam issued a pointed statement: he would “not allow anyone to drag the country into adventures that threaten its security and unity" - a clear warning to Hezbollah. Whether Hezbollah heeds that warning or escalates remains an open question.
The Political Dimension
The political messaging from Washington and Jerusalem was synchronized and unambiguous.
President Trump posted a video to Truth Social declaring the start of “major combat operations" in Iran. He addressed the Iranian people directly: “The hour for your freedom is at hand." He told them to seek shelter, warned that bombs would fall everywhere, and instructed them - when the strikes concluded - to “take over your government." He warned IRGC forces to lay down their weapons or face “certain death," promising fair treatment and immunity to those who surrender.
Prime Minister Netanyahu called the operation a joint effort to “remove the existential threat posed by the terrorist regime in Iran." He called on “all parts of the Iranian people - Persians, Kurds, Azeris, Balochs, and Ahwazis - to cast off the yoke of tyranny."
President Herzog blessed the operation and expressed hope for “historic change."
Prince Reza Pahlavi released a video message calling the strikes a “humanitarian intervention" aimed at the Islamic Republic’s “machine of repression and killing." He urged Iranians to stay home and remain vigilant, promising to announce the moment to return to the streets. “The final victory will still be determined by us," he said.
The Iranian Street
The most consequential variable in this campaign may not be the military balance. It is the Iranian people.
Videos flooding Telegram and Iran International showed Iranian citizens reacting to the strikes with open celebration. Women shouted “Death to Khamenei" from apartment windows. Female students in a girls’ school chanted “Long live the Shah." A citizen filmed smoke rising from the area of Khamenei’s compound and declared: “They just hit the house." A woman smoked a hookah while cheering the explosions. Another filmed herself saying to the regime: “They messed up your mouth. Enjoy it."
These are not isolated incidents. Nearly two months of nationwide protests - the largest since 1979, spanning over 100 cities - preceded this operation. The regime’s response was mass slaughter. Trump cited an estimated 32,000 protesters killed, a figure broadly consistent with estimates from Iranian health ministry officials themselves. The protests were driven by economic collapse, the rial’s implosion, and decades of accumulated rage against theocratic rule.
The question the coming days will answer: does the Iranian population seize this moment? During the 12-day war in June 2025, Iran’s proxy network largely stood down and left Tehran isolated. The population did not rise. This time, the scale of destruction to regime infrastructure, the explicit calls for uprising from Washington, Jerusalem, and the Pahlavi opposition, and the depth of popular anger create fundamentally different conditions.
What Comes Next
-Israel has mobilized an additional 70,000 reservists on top of 50,000 already called up.
-All areas moved from full activity to essential activity only - schools closed, workplaces shuttered except for essential services.
-Israeli airspace is closed.
-The IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, convened an assessment with top commanders.
-Forces are deployed in “forward defense and attack readiness across all fronts and against any adversary."
-The IDF statement made the operational trajectory clear: “The operation will continue as long as necessary."
Iran faces a regime-level crisis. Its air defenses proved effectively nonexistent over Tehran. Israeli media noted with astonishment that the capital’s skies were uncontested. The Russian and Chinese defense systems Iran had acquired produced no observable results. The command infrastructure is shattered. Communications are severed. Key figures may be dead. The IRGC’s retaliatory strikes were real - missiles reached Israeli territory, hit a US base in Bahrain, and triggered alarms across the Gulf - but the opening exchange suggests a fundamental asymmetry in capability that Tehran cannot overcome through volume of fire alone.
The Shiite axis - Iran, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iraqi militias - faces a simultaneous, multi-front assault against the hub that funds, arms, and directs them all.
As former Mossad official Shagiv Assulin noted hours before the strikes began: “We need to stop thinking in terms of arenas.This is one war against the Shiite axis led by Iran."
He was right. The war has begun. The question now is whether it ends with the Islamic Republic still standing.
First posted at the Middle East Forum.