A sharp escalation in the Middle East conflict unfolded over 24 hours as Iran launched a wave of advanced missiles and drones in retaliation for a series of strikes it says killed students and senior figures, while Washington reiterated that it will not negotiate with Tehran unless it surrenders.
The Israeli military said it had struck and destroyed an underground bunker it described as previously used by Iran’s supreme leader, and claimed that roughly 50 combat aircraft dropped some 100 munitions on the site. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) responded with “Real Promise 4,” its 22nd operation, firing a mix of long‑range and hypersonic weapons that Tehran says struck targets “from the Gulf to Tel Aviv.”
Tehran’s public announcement named the Khoramshahr‑4 ballistic missile and the Fattah hypersonic weapon among the systems used. The IRGC boasted that a Khoramshahr‑4 carrying a two‑tonne warhead and travelling at speeds it put at over Mach 14 was launched against enemy positions, and that multiple cruise missiles and swarms of armed drones attacked U.S. and Israeli forces across the region. Iran also reported an anti‑ship strike aimed at the U.S. carrier USS Lincoln.
Iranian statements detailed damage to a number of Western radar and missile defence sites, saying THAAD radar installations in the UAE and Jordan and an FPS‑132 radar in Qatar were knocked out. Iranian forces also claimed strikes on bases and logistics hubs used by U.S. personnel in the Gulf and on Israeli infrastructure including Ben‑Gurion airport and military centres in Haifa and the Tel Aviv area.
The fighting has broadened beyond direct Iran–Israel exchanges. Israeli strikes on southern Beirut were followed by Hezbollah rocket fire into northern Israel; Lebanese authorities reported scores killed and hundreds injured during earlier days of fighting. Iran presented casualty figures at home—saying some 1,332 Iranians had been killed by U.S. and Israeli strikes and thousands of civilian structures damaged—figures that have not been independently verified.
The humanitarian and geopolitical blowback is already large. United Nations officials warned the crisis risks spiralling out of control, while UN emergency coordinators said population movements had reached some 25 million people in the region. International economic institutions flagged the wider consequences: the International Energy Agency warned of logistical disruptions to oil flows, and the European Central Bank’s president said the world had entered a period of elevated uncertainty for markets and the economy.
Washington’s public posture hardened alongside Tehran’s military demonstration. President Donald Trump declared the United States would reach no agreement with Iran unless it “unconditionally surrenders,” and refused to rule out further pressure, though he called deploying ground forces to Iran “a waste of time” at this stage. Iranian officials said they were prepared to repel a ground invasion, and Tehran’s national security architecture is operating under an interim triumvirate after the reported death of the supreme leader, according to Iranian statements.
Beyond the immediate combatants, accusations surfaced that the U.S. and Israel had long been preparing to target Iran’s leadership and were exploring proxies to open new fronts. Israeli ministers acknowledged that plans to strike leadership targets predated the current phase of hostilities, and media reports cited alleged discussions about supporting Kurdish forces to foment incursions into Iran’s northwest.
For now, the conflict is at a dangerous inflection point: Iran has demonstrated longer‑range, heavier warheads and claims to have degraded U.S. regional early‑warning systems, while Israel and its partners have shown the capacity to reach deep into Iranian defenses. The combination of high‑speed hypersonic weapons, mass drone attacks and anti‑radar strikes raises the bar for regional deterrence and complicates the calculus for any actor considering escalation or de‑escalation.