< p > Netanyahu : Aircraft will "soon" fly over Tehran, Iran activates air defense systems and vows strong retaliation. < / p >< p > The military conflict between Israel and Iran continues to escalate. Following the large-scale airstrikes on more than 200 military and nuclear facilities in Iran on Friday (0613), the Israeli military continued its strikes on Saturday (0614), focusing on air defense systems and missile launch sites around Tehran, claiming to "completely dismantle" Iran's military and nuclear capabilities. Netanyahu said: "Israeli aircraft will soon appear in the skies above Tehran." On Saturday, Iran activated air defense systems in seven provinces, and the president vowed a stronger counterattack. < / p >< p > According to reports from Agence France-Presse and Reuters, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu stated on Saturday: "We will strike all targets and facilities of the Iranian regime. Soon you will see Israeli aircraft flying over Tehran." He also emphasized that this operation received "clear support from U.S. President Trump." Netanyahu further claimed that Israel had caused "substantial damage" to Iran's nuclear program. < / p >< p > According to the Israeli military, this airstrike was based on intelligence indicating that Iran was approaching an "irreversible threshold" for nuclear weapons. To this end, Israel launched a large-scale "preemptive" military operation on Friday. According to military reports, more than 20 senior members of Iran's security forces were killed in the attack. < / p >< p > In the second day of operations, the Israeli Air Force struck an underground missile base in the western Iranian city of Khorramabad (Khorramabad). Brigadier General Devlin, spokesman for the Israeli military, said that the base stored surface-to-surface missiles and cruise missiles and had appeared in an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps promotional video released earlier this year. The Israeli military stated that it has gained control of the airspace in western Iran and will continue to destroy "all regime targets" in Iran. < / p >< p > The Israeli military stated that more than 20 Iranian military commanders were killed in the airstrikes, including the head of the Intelligence Department of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, the commander of the Ground-to-Ground Missile Corps of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards, and others. < / p >< p > The Israeli military spokesperson issued a statement saying that in the past 24 hours, more than 150 targets inside Iran and over 400 independent facilities were hit, with more than 40 targets related to missiles, air defense systems, and command and launch facilities attacked. The purpose of the operation is to "eliminate Iran's nuclear and missile threat to Israel". < / p >< p > In addition, the Israeli military also released a list of nine senior Iranian nuclear experts killed in the Friday airstrike, stating that these experts had decades of experience in nuclear weapons development and were the knowledge core of Iran's nuclear program. Their professional fields covered nuclear engineering, physics, chemical engineering, materials science, reactor physics, and mechanics, playing a key role in Iran's efforts to develop nuclear weapons. It was stated that "the elimination of them constitutes a major blow to Iran's ability to seek acquisition of weapons of mass destruction." < / p >< p > Iran strongly condemned the attack. Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Iraj Ravanbakhsh stated on Friday that the Israeli airstrikes had resulted in at least 78 deaths and over 320 injuries, with "most being civilians". The Iranian Red Crescent reported that on Saturday, a first aid ambulance in the country's northwest was attacked by a drone, causing two deaths. < / p >< p > Iran activated air defense systems in seven provinces, and the president vowed a stronger counterattack. < / p >< p > After Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu publicly declared on Saturday that he would "strike all targets of the Iranian regime," Iran activated air defense systems in seven provinces including the capital, Tehran, on Saturday evening to respond to the ongoing strikes from Israel. < / p >< p > This Israeli airstrike was called an "unprecedented large-scale military operation against Iran," further escalating regional tensions. In response to the ongoing military actions by Israel, Iranian President Pezeshkian warned that if the Israeli military continued with lethal strikes, Iran would retaliate with "even greater intensity." < / p >< p >< img src = "//p26-sign.toutiaoimg.com/tos-cn-i-ezhpy3drpa/f9883e47c3304ebbae81592665d5816e~tplv-obj:807:456.image?_iz=97245&bid=15&from=post&gid=1834950723207176&lk3s=06827d14&x-expires=1757721600&x-signature=1VecK4TVsBhf3ZWqVqvtkFToeGY%3D" / > < / p >< p > Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1834950723207176/ < / p >< p > Disclaimer: This article represents only the views of the author. < / p >