After shock came retaliation. Iran eventually responded to the major military operation Israel carried out on its territory, starting on Friday, June 13. The Islamic Republic launched more than 150 ballistic missiles at Israel on Friday night. Three people were killed and dozens more wounded, according to initial reports from Israeli media. Tehran now officially considers itself "at war" with "the Zionist regime," the term the Iranian regime uses to refer to Israel.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran's ideological army, claimed in a statement to have targeted dozens of installations, military bases and air bases in Israel in the operation, which it dubbed "True Promise 3." Shortly before the first volley was launched, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei promised in a video message broadcast on Iranian television that the armed forces would "make the Zionist regime miserable." He stated that "with this crime, the Zionist regime has prepared a bitter and painful fate for itself," and called on the Iranian people to trust him.

On Friday, Israel carried out unprecedented bombings against military and nuclear sites inside Iran. According to Iranian media, these attacks killed at least 78 people, including the chief of staff of the armed forces, Mohammad Bagheri; the commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami; and the aerospace commander in charge of Iran's ballistic arsenal, Amir Ali Hajizadeh. Around 320 Iranians were reportedly wounded in the strikes.

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