Israel launched on Thursday a series of important military attacks against Iran and its nuclear program, killing several senior military and nuclear scientists in the country, in an action that US officials said it was a “unilateral” action of Israel, since they denied any participation of US forces.
Chronology
12 de Junio, 11 pm Edt
The general director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, confirmed that Natanz’s Iranian nuclear facilities were the target of Israeli attacks and declared: «The body is in contact with the Iranian authorities regarding radiation levels. We are also in contact with our inspectors in the country ».
22:30 EDT
Iranian state media said that the commander in chief of the Revolutionary Guard of Iran, General Hossein Salami, died in the Israeli attacks, together with General Gholamali Rashid, deputy chief of the General Staff of the Iranian Army.
The state media added that two leading nuclear scientists, Fereydoun Abbasi, former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi also died in the attacks.
10 p. m. EDT
The sirens sounded throughout Israel on Thursday night when the country’s defense minister, Israel Katz, declared the state of emergency in the country saying: “After the preventive attack of the state of Israel against Iran, an attack with missiles and drones is expected against the state of Israel and its civilian population in the immediate future.”
21:15 EDT
The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said in a statement that the United States is not involved in the attacks and that Israel believed that the attacks were “necessary for their self -defense.”
Rubio urged Iran not to attack American interests or personnel.
Key history
The attack occurs a day after several American embassies in the Middle East were evacuated due to the increase in safety risks in the region. President Donald Trump, who has opposed an immediate military action against Iran in the hope of reaching a nuclear agreement, declared Thursday afternoon, before the attack, that “it seems that something could happen” and that the United States was “quite close” to a nuclear agreement. Trump also said that an attack by Israel “could ruin” a possible agreement, pointing out that there is the “possibility of a mass conflict.”
This article was originally published by Forbes Us.
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