Report: US-Israel Combined Attack on Iran More Extensive Than June 2025 Strikes

Istanbul - The combined attack by the United States and Israel on several regions of Iran on Saturday 28 February is estimated to have had a broader scope than the strike on Iranian nuclear facilities in June of the previous year, according to a report by The New York Times published Saturday.

The initial focus of the attack was Iranian military infrastructure, according to the newspaper’s reporting from several US officials.

Beyond nuclear facilities, Iran is believed to possess more than 2,000 missiles, primarily short and medium-range ballistic missiles, distributed across launch sites throughout the country, according to US military officials.

Citing three Israeli security officials with knowledge of the operation, the newspaper also reported that the primary objective of the first wave of the combined assault on Iran was to target as many senior leaders in the country as possible.

The officials stated that, like the previous attack in June of the previous year, the attack planners sought at least an element of surprise, with the belief that they must target senior Iranian officials in the initial strike before enhanced security measures would make such efforts more difficult.

Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, was not given advance notice of the attack, according to his spokesperson in an interview with the newspaper.

Reed also warned in a statement on Friday before the attack began that “if war is not necessary, then it must be avoided.”

He stated that Congress “did not receive a real briefing or intelligence” regarding the possibility of an attack and that although Iran represents a “serious” and “destabilising” threat to the United States and its allies, the administration did not provide a “strategic justification for conducting a preemptive strike.”

Israel launched an attack on Iran on Saturday in the early hours with the codename ‘Lion’s Roar,’ and declared a “special and immediate” state of emergency throughout the Zionist entity.

Trump subsequently stated that the United States had launched a “large-scale combat operation” in Iran.

In June of the previous year, the United States attacked three Iranian nuclear sites ahead of the end of a 12-day war between Israel and Iran.