Overview
- Israel says its opening strikes killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and roughly 40 senior officials within minutes of the campaign’s start.
- The Israeli military reports about 2,500 strikes and over 6,000 munitions used, describing rapid penetration to targets across Iranian territory.
- Experts attribute Israel’s performance to decades of airpower investment, elite pilot training and a doctrine of offensive defence aimed at air supremacy.
- Analysts describe close operational integration with the United States, including in‑air refuelling, shared intelligence and a partition of labour against Iranian targets.
- Reporting notes Iran’s weakened air defences yet emphasizes its substantial missile and drone inventories, proxy networks and maritime denial options that support a denial‑and‑attrition strategy.