As RedState reported, explosions were reported in Iran earlier on Friday morning local time, and it didn't take long for Israel to confirm they had struck. The attacks came after months of the Trump administration trying to give the Mullahs a diplomatic out that they simply refused to take. 

But while initial assumptions were that this was a smaller, precise strike on Iran's nuclear enrichment capabilities, the details emerging point to a far larger operation.

Not only did Israel hit over a dozen nuclear sites in Iran, but they also targeted top military leadership. That includes Hossein Salami, the supreme commander of the IRGC. He has been confirmed killed in a precision strike, and he's not the only one. The entire IRGC headquarters is reportedly on fire, with multiple officials dead. 

Iran's top nuclear scientists are also dead, representing a major blow to the nation's ability to restart enrichment at some point. 

Ali Shamkhani, the head of Iran's nuclear program and a chief adviser to the Mullahs, was also reportedly targeted in the opening wave. It has not been confirmed whether that strike was successful or not, but if he was killed, it would be a huge development. 

We also know that this was just the beginning. Shortly before this was published, a second wave of fighters began heading for Iran, and the Israelis have already announced they are in this for the long haul. Much of what we are going to see moving forward will be targeting Iran's ability to retaliate. Most of its air defenses have already been destroyed, and its ballistic missile sites will be a top target. In fact, some have already been hit. 

As dawn broke, some of the damage from the strikes on Iranian leadership became apparent. 

Lastly, I want to address the idea of whether President Trump blessed these attacks or not. In my opinion, there is no chance this happened without the administration agreeing to it. Much of what we've seen over the last week from the White House was likely misdirection to throw Iran off the scent, and it worked. There are already reports that U.S. intelligence was key in these strikes. 

You can expect the next few days to get very spicy. Iran will attempt to retaliate at some point, though I've long questioned their capacity to truly project power. The real threat won't come from ballistic missiles, which would mostly be intercepted, but from proxies like Hezbollah. We'll see how this develops.