On March 15, Iran announced a major overnight operation against targets inside Israel, employing swarms of drones and multiple classes of missiles in what Tehran described as a precision campaign against Israeli command, military-industrial and air-defence nodes. Iranian statements said the operation — framed as the 54th wave of the IRGC’s "Real Promise‑4" campaign — struck multiple strategic targets and was intended to degrade Israel’s ability to direct air operations.
Israeli authorities reported multiple rounds of ballistic-missile and drone launches from Iran throughout the day and widespread air-raid sirens across the country. Debris from Iranian munitions reportedly struck the U.S. consulate residence in Israel, raising concerns about the risk to American personnel and further complicating Washington’s involvement. Israel’s military said it detected at least seven ballistic-missile salvos since midnight and began new strikes against Iranian assets in western and central Iran.
Tehran said it employed an array of systems — naming missiles transliterated in Chinese reports as Haybar‑Shekan, Qader, Emad and Khoramshahr — and used, for the first time in this cycle, a ballistic missile described in Chinese-language accounts as "Nishi" (literally "mudstone"). The IRGC also said it had previously used hypersonic missiles and drones to strike the U.S. al‑Dhafra (Zayed) airbase in the United Arab Emirates during earlier waves of the same operation.
Israel responded with counterstrikes, which it says have targeted hundreds of Iranian air‑defence systems, missile launchers and related infrastructure since the current escalation began. The Israeli military denied media reports that its stock of interceptors is critically depleted, saying it had prepared for a prolonged campaign and that the number of interceptors actually fired was lower than some forecasts. Still, the Israeli finance ministry approved roughly $800m in emergency defence purchases to replenish key stocks.
Washington’s handling of the crisis has drawn domestic criticism. Senator Chris Murphy wrote that the U.S. had badly misjudged Iran’s capabilities and risked losing control of escalation, arguing the priority should be damage limitation and an exit strategy. Kyiv has also been pulled into the rhetoric: President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine provided only technical assistance to Middle Eastern states seeking help against Iranian drones, but Iranian officials complained that such support amounted to participation and threatened that Ukraine could become a legitimate target.
The confrontation reflects a rapid widening of what began as localised Israel‑Hamas and Israel‑Iran tensions into a broader, multi‑theatre contest with direct implications for U.S. forces and Gulf security. The scale, missile types and strikes on facilities associated with command and control indicate Tehran’s intent to impose operational costs on Israel and to signal to regional actors and Washington that it can project force across the eastern Mediterranean and into neighbouring Gulf states.