US-Iran-Israel timeline: From Israeli attack to Iran's retaliation, US bombing and ceasefire
Corrections and clarifications: A prior version misstated the time of the first strikes.
Days after the United States bombed three Iranian nuclear sites, a fragile ceasefire between Tehran and Israel hangs in the balance. The long-smoldering conflict hit the flashpoint when Israel's surprise June 12 attack against Iran and targeted assassination of Iranian leadership. The sequence of events that followed has left hundreds reported killed and the United States at risk of being dragged further into the war.
Here's a closer look at what has unfolded since Israel's initial strikes.
The map below is based on assessments from the The Critical Threats Project (CTP) at the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). it shows confirmed Israeli airstrikes, reported airstrikes, reports of explosion with footage, and reports of explosions without footage. The data is collected from sources including geolocated visual evidence and opposition, local and international media. Paste BN conducted additional verification on some, but not all of the strikes.
June 12-13
Israel conducted the first strikes of an air campaign targeting Iran's nuclear program and leadership at 8 p.m. ET, according to The Critical Threats Project (CTP) at the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
The Israeli military conducted attacks targeting Iran's uranium enrichment facility at Natanz and hit additional targets "at the heart" of the Islamic Republic's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, according to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The surprise attacks killed nearly the entire top echelon of Iran's military commanders, Reuters reported. Netanyahu said that "Iran's leading nuclear scientists" were also targets in the attacks. Iran launched three retaliatory waves of missiles at targets in Israel.
Here's a closer look at the locations Iran's weapons and nuclear facilities, according to The Nuclear Threat Initiative, a non-profit organization which describes its mission as "reducing nuclear, biological, and emerging technology threats imperiling humanity."
June 14
The Israeli military struck an unspecified underground weapons facility in western Iran, according to ISW. Iranian state media reported that Israel bombed multiple energy facilities in southern Iran.
South Pars field – the world's largest gasfield – was struck along with the Fajr Jam gas plant. Iran's Petroleum Ministry confirmed that the Shahran depot was also targeted by Israel, Al Jazeera reported.
June 15
Israel and Iran continued to exchange airstrikes, ISW reported. Israel also targeted Iranian government buildings, such as the Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry in Tehran and the Ministry of Intelligence and Security.
Iran sent hundreds of drones and missiles to Israel, damaging the country's largest oil refinery near the port city of Haifa and the Weizmann Institute of Science, a top research center in the country, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter appeared on ABC News “This Week” where host Martha Raddatz asked Leiter to talk about Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, suggesting that Israel cannot destroy the site located deep under a mountainside without U.S. assistance in the form of bunker-busting bombs.
Leiter suggested that Israel may not need to rely on the bomb Raddatz described, known as the GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator, to achieve its aims. "We have a number of contingencies which will enable us to deal with Fordow. Not everything is a matter of taking to the skies and bombing from afar," said Leiter. "We're certain that we can set back the nuclear weapons system development within Iran for a very, very long time."
See how the bunker buster works: A closer look at the GBU-57
June 16
An Israeli strike hit Iran's state broadcaster on Monday June 16 and bombed a command center of an elite Iranian military unit, the New York Times reported. That same day, Israel said it hit Iranian F-14 fighter planes at Tehran airport.
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the BBC it was very likely all the roughly 15,000 centrifuges operating at Iran's biggest uranium enrichment plant at Natanz were badly damaged or destroyed because of a power cut caused by an Israeli strike.
In a social media post, Secretary of Defesne Pete Hegseth announced the "deployment of additional capabilities to the Unted States Central Command Area of Responsibility." The Washington Post, citing flight-tracking data, reports that more than two dozen tanker planes were deployed from the United States to Europe on Sunday and Monday.
Reuters reports that U.S. aircraft carrier USS Nimitz left the South China Sea on Monday morning heading west, according to data from ship tracking website Marine Traffic.
The Pentagon has shifted warplanes and an aircraft carrier to the Middle East as the conflict between Israel and Iran continues to rage, but the moves have been defensive in nature as the U.S. observes rather than participates in Israel’s punishing air campaign, according to U.S. officials.
Massive lines of traffic were seen in the Iranian capital after a social media post from President Donald Trump "IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again! Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!"
June 17
Israel hit Iranian cities with bombs and some Iranian missiles evaded Israel's iron dome defense system.
Satellite images captured by Maxar Technologies show extensive damage to several Iranian military facilities. At Tabriz missile facility, multiple storage buildings, roads, and tunnels were damaged. A destroyed Iranian tanker aircraft was seen at Mashhad airport.
Israel’s National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi offered the clearest signal yet about the goals of Israel’s air campaign, telling local Channel 12 News on June 17 the military is going after the hardest target in Iran: The Fordo nuclear enrichment plant.
“This operation will not conclude without a strike on the Fordo nuclear facility,” Hanegbi said.
June 18
The ongoing aerial war between Israel and Iran entered its sixth day. More than 220 Iranians have been killed and at least 1,200 injured since the bombardment began, Iranian state media reported. Two dozen Israelis have been killed in Iranian missile attacks, officials said.
June 21
The United States entered Israel's war against Iran after attacking nuclear facilities with stealth bombers, a guided missile submarine, and an array of support aircraft in a night operation. More than a dozen multi-million-dollar, 30,000-pound "bunker busters" were dropped by B-2 Spirit stealth bombers.
June 23
Iran retaliated by firing 14 missiles at a U.S. military base in Qatar on after warning the U.S. that they were coming. Thirteen were intercepted and a 14th was deemed nonthreatening. Trump thanked Iran for helping the U.S. avoid casualties in the attack and announced a ceasefire deal between Iran and Israel later that evening.
Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Iran's foreign minister in Moscow and told him there was no justification for the U.S. bombing of Iran, which he described as "unprovoked aggression," according to the Kremlin. Putin added that Moscow is making efforts to assist the Iranian people.
June 24
Trump chastised Israel for accusing Iran of ceasefire violations and ordering new strikes, saying he was "not happy" with either country as he spoke to reporters while leaving Washington for a NATO summit in Europe.
A preliminary Pentagon intelligence assessment has found the U.S. strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities set back Iran's nuclear program by a few months, according to a U.S. government source familiar with the intelligence findings. Early evidence has shown the bombing did not reach depths necessary to destroy the facilities, which are buried deeply underground, according to a second U.S. official.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the assessment "flat-out wrong" in a statement posted to X.
Contributing: Tom Vanden Brook, Cybele Mayes-Osterman, and Kim Hjelmgaard, Jennifer Borresen, and Shawn J. Sullivan, Paste BN
This is a developing story which will be updated.
Read more visual stories on the Iran conflict:
Timeline: See how 70 years of history led to the U.S. bombing Iran
How Operation Midnight Hammer unfolded: Details of US bombing in Iran
Iran fires missiles at U.S. base in Qatar. Where else could it strike?
How does a bunker-buster bomb work? A closer look at the GBU-57
Trump says ceasefire is 'in effect' after scolding Iran, Israel: Live updates