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Explosions rocked Iran on Friday morning as Israel carried out a major attack.
Published April 19, 2024Updated June 12, 2025, 10:05 p.m. ET
The conflict between Iran and Israel, once relegated to the shadows, has escalated yet again.
On Friday morning, explosions rocked Tehran as Israel carried out a major attack on the country’s nuclear program, Israeli officials said.
The strikes raised fears the long-simmering conflict between the two countries could escalate into a war involving the most powerful militaries in the Middle East.
Iran’s rulers have pledged to destroy Israel and have long supported regional militias who share that goal. Israel views Iran as an existential threat and has vowed to prevent it from building a nuclear bomb.
In the last year, Israel and Iran have traded airstrikes as their once covert war has burst into the open.
Here is a recent history of the conflict:
2019
Strikes against Iran’s allies
Israel carried out a series of attacks in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq to prevent Iran from equipping its allies with sophisticated weapons. Israel accused Iran of trying to establish an arms supply line through Iraq and northern Syria into Lebanon, where Iran had long backed the militant group Hezbollah.
Israel also attacked ships carrying Iranian oil and weapons through the eastern Mediterranean and Red Seas.
