IDF says it hit Tehran university site used to develop components for nuclear weapons !!!

The Israeli Air Force recently struck an Iranian nuclear weapons research and development site in Tehran, the military announced on Saturday, as Israel and the United States continued their operations to eliminate the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
According to the IDF, the “strategic” site at Malek Ashtar University was used by Iran’s military industries to develop components for nuclear weapons.
Malek Ashtar University, subordinate to Iran’s defense ministry, is under Western sanctions over its activities relating to Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Iran has repeatedly denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. However, it has enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities.
Israel alleged during 2025’s 12-day war that Iran had taken steps toward weaponizing its enriched uranium and creating a bomb.
Iranian media said earlier on Saturday that US-Israeli forces had attacked the Shahid Ahmadi-Roshan Natanz uranium enrichment complex on Saturday morning. Technical experts found that no radioactive leaks had occurred, and nearby residents were not at risk.
In response to a query by The Times of Israel, the Israel Defense Forces said that it did not conduct any strikes in the area and that it could not comment on American activities.
Iran’s stockpile of some 450 kilograms of 60 percent-enriched uranium is believed to be buried under the rubble of sites bombed by the US last year, specifically near Isfahan and the Natanz area.

That uranium is a short step away from weapons-grade material, enough for an estimated 10 nuclear bombs.

Securing the highly enriched uranium has been seen as one of the possible targets of the war for Washington and Jerusalem, though doing so would require a complex and dangerous operation.

IDF chief says Iran campaign at ‘halfway’ stage

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said on Saturday that the military was about halfway through its campaign against Iran.

“We are halfway through, but the direction is clear. In about a week, on Passover, the holiday of freedom, we will continue to fight for our freedom and our future,” he said in a video statement.

Zamir said that the “extensive damage we have caused to the Iranian regime over the past three weeks is beginning to accumulate into a systemic-strategic, military, economic, and governmental achievement.”

“As a result, the regime of evil is weaker, and Iran is more exposed and without significant defense capabilities. The leaders of the regime, who developed capabilities with the goal of destroying us, are battered and confused,” he said.

Zamir also commented on Iran’s long-range ballistic missile attack on the British-American Indian Ocean military base at Diego Garcia on Friday.

“Just yesterday, Iran launched a two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of 4,000 kilometers [2,500 miles] toward an American target on the island of Diego Garcia. These missiles were not intended to hit Israel. Their range reaches the capitals of Europe — Berlin, Paris, and Rome are all within direct threat range,” he said.

On 20th day of war, Netanyahu says Iran can no longer enrich uranium, build missiles

Iran can no longer enrich uranium or manufacture ballistic missiles, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.

“After 20 days, I can tell you — Iran today has no ability to enrich uranium, and no ability to produce ballistic missiles,” said Netanyahu in Jerusalem, speaking at his first in-person press conference since the launch of the US-Israel campaign against Iran on February 28.

“We are continuing to crush these capabilities. We will crush them to dust, to ashes,” he said in a Hebrew statement to open the bilingual press conference. Iran “is weaker than ever” while Israel is a regional power “and some would say a world power,” he says.

Hours after Netanyahu spoke in Jerusalem, Iran fired a series of missiles at Israel, causing sirens to go off repeatedly in the capital and elsewhere in the country.

Iran has launched missile and drone attacks across the region in response to the ongoing bombing campaign that the US and Israel launched last month in a bid to destabilize its leadership and destroy its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

In his English-language remarks, Netanyahu said that “In [Operation] Rising Lion [in June], we destroyed missiles and we destroyed a lot of the nuclear infrastructure. But what we’re destroying now are the factories that produce the components to make these missiles and to make the nuclear weapons that they’re trying to produce.”

“We’re wiping out their industrial base in a way that we didn’t do before.”

After killing Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei and dozens of top officials, Netanyahu said he is “not sure who is running Iran right now.”

“Mojtaba [Khamenei], the replacement ayatollah, [has] not shown his face,” he continued, adding that there is “a lot of tension” among officials at the top of the regime.

Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public since he was chosen to replace his father, who was killed in the initial wave of US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran on February 28. Last week, a statement was issued in his name, carried by state media, vowing to “avenge the blood” of Iranians killed in the strikes, and another followed on Monday.

US President Donald Trump suggested Monday that it is unclear if the new Iranian leader is alive. Iranian state media have said that the younger Khamenei was wounded in the Israeli strike that killed his father, wife, son, and brother-in-law.

Netanyahu indicated that Israel would continue to target Iranian leaders: “It does not matter who replaces them — we are making sure that the shifts in the Revolutionary Guards will be very short.”

Netanyahu reiterated that Israel is working to create the conditions for Iranians to topple the regime, but that ultimately it is up to the Iranian people to overthrow the Islamic Republic.

“Yes, the regime could change,” he said. “Is it guaranteed? No. And it is up to the Iranian people in the final accounting to make use of the conditions that we’re [creating], weakening the regime.”

At the same time, he left the door open for Israeli involvement in some sort of ground operation to bring the regime down.

“You can do a lot of things from the air, and we are doing, but there has to be a ground component as well,” he said. “There are many possibilities for this ground component, and I take the liberty of not sharing with you all those possibilities.”

There have yet to be large-scale protests against the regime during the war. Thousands of Iranians were killed in anti-government demonstrations in January, as the regime used live fire on its own citizens.

There are many possibilities for this ground component, and I take the liberty of not sharing with you all those possibilities.

Still said Netanyahu, “we’re seeing cracks” in the regime,” both at the leadership level and in field units. “It’s sort of like a hollowed-out, rotten piece of wood that’s holding on the outside, but there’s a lot of rot inside. We’re seeing some defections.”

Netanyahu did not give any indication as to how long the campaign will continue. It will go on, he said, for “as long as is necessary.”

‘Israel acted alone’

After conflicting versions emerged over the coordination — or lack thereof — between Netanyahu and Trump on an Israeli strike on a major Iranian gas field the previous day, the prime minister said he would not continue to target gas infrastructure.

“Fact number one, Israel acted alone against the Asaluyeh [South Pars] gas compound,” he said. “Fact number two, President Trump asked us to hold off on future attacks, and we’re holding off.”

Trump said early on Thursday that Wednesday’s gas field strike was uncoordinated with the US, and that Israel would not hit Iran’s gas sites again, but that the US would if Iran kept up attacks on Gulf gas fields.

Later Thursday, Trump added that he has told Netanyahu not to strike any more Iranian oil and gas fields: “I told him, ‘Don’t do that,’ and he won’t do that.”

However, US sources told The Times of Israel and other media outlets that Washington had approved the strike, that it was coordinated, and that the president knew about it ahead of time.

Speaking at the Pentagon on Thursday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the strike on South Pars “a warning” and urged Iran to stop its retaliatory strikes on energy sites across the Gulf, which have sent oil prices soaring.

Asked repeatedly at his press conference about claims from anti-Israel voices in the US that he dragged Trump into war against Iran against American interests, Netanyahu scoffed at the notion.

“Does anyone really think that someone can tell President Trump what to do? Come on,” he said, adding that the US president “always makes his decisions on what he thinks is good for America.”

“I misled no one,” he stressed, “and I didn’t have to convince President Trump about the need to prevent Iran from developing its nuclear program, putting it underground, and being able to launch nuclear-tipped missiles at the United States. He understood that. He explained it to me. I didn’t explain it to him. And I think that our partnership is the only way to avoid this catastrophic development.”

“The loss of servicemen is painful,” he acknowledged, recalling his brother Yoni, who in 1976 was killed leading “the historic Entebbe rescue. The cost to bereaved families is enormous, and I sympathize and send the condolences of the people of Israel to these families and to the American people.”

Netanyahu also hailed the depiction, in a recent US national security memorandum, of Israel as a “model ally” of America, and set this against “all the vilifications that are leveled at Israel — ‘Israel is sponging off America’ and all that. No, it’s not. It’s not. Israel is a brave country, a resolute country, with an incredible army, incredible soldiers, incredible courage, and we’re fighting alongside the United States when the chips are down… We’re fighting for a common goal.”

In the wake of Israel’s attack on the South Pars oil field, Iran launched fresh salvos of drones and missiles toward the Gulf states Wednesday evening and into Thursday, including at key energy infrastructure.

Missile strikes on Ras Laffan caused damage to a gas-to-liquids facility and early on Thursday sparked “sizeable fires and extensive further damage” to several liquified natural gas facilities, QatarEnergy said in a statement.

Multiple drones were also intercepted and destroyed as they headed toward Saudi gas facilities in the kingdom’s Eastern Province.

Iran has effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway it shares with Oman, through which a fifth of the world’s oil supply normally flows.

Netanyahu, in his Thursday press conference, said it was vital to have “alternative routes instead of going through the chokepoints of the Hormuz Strait and the Bab-al-Mandab Strait in order to have the flow of oil.”

What is needed are “oil pipelines, gas pipelines going west through the Arabian Peninsula right up to Israel, right up to our Mediterranean ports, and you’ve just done away with the chokepoints for forever.”

This vision “is definitely possible,” he said. “I see that as a real change that will follow this war, but I also see this war ending a lot faster than people think.”

Trump rules out ceasefire with Iran, says Israel will agree to end war when he’s ready !!!!

US President Donald Trump on Friday ruled out a ceasefire with Iran, as American officials said more US Marines were headed to the Middle East in a possible sign of a coming ground operation three weeks into the war.

A possible target for the troops could be Iran’s Kharg Island, with the White House telling AFP the United States could “take out” the vital oil hub at any time if Trump chose.

The Axios news outlet reported that Trump was considering an occupation or blockade of the island to pressure Tehran to reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz. Trump said “I may have a plan I may not” but refused to tell reporters one way or the other, while describing Kharg as “certainly a place that people are talking about. But I can’t tell you that.”

“We can have dialogue, but I don’t want to do a ceasefire. You don’t do a ceasefire when you’re literally obliterating the other side,” Trump told reporters outside the White House.

Asked if Israel will agree to end the war when the US decides to do so, Trump responded, “I think so, yeah.”

“The relationship is a very good one. We want more or less similar things. You know what we want? We want victory — both of us — and that’s what we’ve got,” Trump said.

He also doubled down on his criticism of the NATO military alliance for not heeding his demand for help in securing the narrow waterway, as he blamed Iran’s stranglehold over the strait for the spike in global oil prices.

“So easy for them to do, with so little risk. COWARDS, and we will REMEMBER!” Trump posted on his Truth Social network, accusing NATO of failing to join the “fight to stop a Nuclear Powered Iran.”

“Without the USA, NATO IS A PAPER TIGER!”

Six key powers, including Britain, France, Germany and Japan — whose premier met Trump at the White House on Thursday — say they are ready to “contribute to appropriate efforts” but have not made any commitment. Trump said Friday, “It would be nice” if the countries that rely on the Strait of Hormuz would get involved in helping to keep it open, which he asserted would be a “simple military maneuver” but requires help with “ships” and “volume.”

The strait has “to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other nations who use it,” he added in further comments on the matter. “The United States does not! If asked, we will help these countries in their Hormuz efforts, but it shouldn’t be necessary once Iran’s threat is eradicated. Importantly, it will be an easy military operation for them.”

The 79-year-old Republican — who rose to power on a promise to end America’s long Middle Eastern wars — nevertheless insisted the joint US-Israeli operation was going “extremely well.”

“It’s not even a contest,” Trump said earlier as he presented naval cadets with an American football trophy at the White House.

Trump added of Iran that “we want to talk to them, and there’s nobody to talk to,” because of the killing of Iran’s former supreme leader and a host of other top officials. “And you know what? We like it that way.”

The surging oil prices have put pressure on Trump to bring the war to an end, amid Republican fears the economic shock could hurt the party in November’s US midterm elections.

In a later Truth Social post, Trump declared, “We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great military efforts in the Middle East with respect to the terrorist regime of Iran.” He proceeded to list what he said were the US military objectives.

“(1) Completely degrading Iranian missile capability, launchers and everything else pertaining to them. (2) Destroying Iran’s defense industrial base. (3) Eliminating their navy and air force, including anti-aircraft weaponry. (4) Never allowing Iran to get even close to nuclear capability, and always being in a position where the USA can quickly and powerfully react to such a situation, should it take place. (5) Protecting, at the highest level, our Middle Eastern allies, including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, and others.”

Destroying Iran’s defense industrial base, eliminating Iran’s air force and anti-aircraft weaponry and protecting US allies in the Middle East were not among the objectives that US officials had given for the war to date.

While the list has fluctuated, US officials have generally stuck to the destruction of Iran’s missile program, the destruction of Iran’s navy, the ending of Iran’s support for armed proxies and ensuring that Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon.

More US Marines

Trump has said he does not plan to put boots on the ground in Iran. According to three US officials who spoke with Reuters, the USS Boxer, an amphibious assault ship, along with its Marine Expeditionary Unit of about 2,500 Marines and accompanying warships, would deploy to the region, although they did not say what their role would be.

Two officials said there still was no decision on whether to send troops into Iran itself.

The Marine Corps said in response that the two groups are “deployed at sea,” while the US 3rd Fleet said they are “conducting routine operations.”

A week ago, US media reported a separate deployment to the Middle East of some 2,500 Marines aboard as many as three ships.

A possible mission for the Marines could be an operation against Kharg Island, which handles almost all of Iran’s crude exports.

“We need about a month to weaken the Iranians with aerial attacks, take over the island, catch them by the balls and use this in negotiations,” an unnamed American source told Axios.

“The United States Military can take out Kharg Island at any time if the President gives the order,” White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly told AFP when asked about the Axios report.

“Thanks to a detailed planning process, the entire administration is and was prepared for any potential action taken by the terrorist Iranian regime.”

Kelly added that Trump “knew full well that Iran would try to stop the freedom of navigation and free flow of energy, and he has already taken action to destroy over 40 minelaying vessels.”

US forces hit Kharg on Friday in strikes that Trump said had “totally obliterated” all military targets on the island.

Trump has said the United States has so far held off striking the island’s infrastructure, but has threatened to do so if Iran keeps blocking the Strait of Hormuz.