Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Israel will face "severe punishment" after it launched an attack on Iranian nuclear and military targets early on Friday.
"Israel unleashed its wicked and bloody hand in a crime against Iran," he said, adding that the strikes reveal Israel's "vile nature."
Aftermath of an IDF strike on Iran
"Iran is planning a severe response to the Israeli attack," an Iranian security official told Reuters earlier and the Armed Forces Spokesperson said that Israel and the U.S. will pay a heavy price for the Israeli attack.
Iranian state media confirmed on Friday that Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Chief Hossein Salami was killed in the Israeli strike.
A security source reported that there is a growing likelihood that the Iranian military leadership, including the Iranian chief of staff and senior nuclear scientists, were eliminated in the initial strike carried out by the IDF in Iran.
"Iran is planning a severe response to the Israeli attack," an Iranian security official told Reuters.
The Iranian state television showed images of smoke rising from the Natanz nuclear facility, which reportedly came under attack and confirmed that Fereydoun Abbasi and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, two senior nuclear scientists, were killed.
According to reports in Iran, some of the targets in Israel's opening strike on Friday were residential buildings in the neighborhood where Iran's top military commanders reside and the headquarters of the IRGC were also attacked.
The New York Times cited four senior Iranian officials who said the Israeli attack targeted six military bases in the area of the capital, Tehran, including the complex at Parchin
A security official said there are growing indications that the Iranian military leadership and its senior nuclear scientists have been killed in Israel's opening attack on Iran.
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Saudi Arabia's Al Hadath network said Israel attacked the nuclear production chain, heavy water and nuclear installations.
According to a report in Axios citing a senior Israeli official, the Mossad led a series of covert sabotage operations deep inside Iran, in addition to air strikes in Iran carried out by the Israeli Air Force. The Israeli strike began with an attack on Iran's missile capabilities.