Historians may well mark June 13, 2025, as the day the world crossed a line it may not easily step back from. In a move that shocked the international community and sent global markets reeling, Israel launched a wide-scale military operation against Iran in the early hours of the morning, striking targets across at least 12 provinces, including the capital, Tehran, and the northwestern hub of Tabriz. Among the targets were suspected nuclear facilities, air defence systems, and the homes and offices of senior military personnel. Iranian state media confirmed the deaths of several top commanders in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The Israeli government officially confirmed responsibility for the attacks, naming the campaign Operation Raising Lion. Iranian officials described it as the most direct act of war in the countries’ decades-long shadow conflict.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be pursuing two objectives. First, Israeli officials fear that Iran is nearing the technical capability to build a nuclear weapon – something Netanyahu has repeatedly promised to prevent, by force if necessary. Second, Israel hopes a dramatic escalation will pressure Tehran into accepting a new nuclear agreement more favourable to United States and Israeli interests, including the removal of its enriched uranium stockpiles. Just as Netanyahu has failed to destroy Hamas through military force, both goals may ultimately serve only to perpetuate a broader regional war.

While the prospect of all-out war between Iran and Israel has long loomed, Friday’s events feel dangerously different. The scale, audacity and implications of the attack – and the near-certain Iranian response – raise the spectre of a regional conflict spilling far beyond its traditional bounds.

Since the 2011 Arab Spring, a Saudi-Iranian cold war has played out across the region as each country has sought to expand its influence. That rivalry was paused through Chinese mediation in March 2023. But since October 2023, a war of attrition between Israel and Iran has unfolded through both conventional and asymmetrical means – a conflict that now threatens to define the trajectory of the Middle East for years to come.

Whether this confrontation escalates further now hinges largely on one man: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. If Iran’s supreme leader comes to view the survival of the Islamic Republic as fundamentally threatened, Tehran’s response could expand far beyond Israeli territory.

In recent months, Israeli leaders had issued repeated warnings that a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities was imminent. Intelligence assessments in Tel Aviv claimed Iran was only weeks away from acquiring the necessary components to build a nuclear weapon. Although this claim was disputed by other members of the international community, it nonetheless shaped Israel’s decision to act militarily.

At the same time, indirect negotiations between Iran and the US had been under way, focused on limiting Iran’s uranium enrichment and reducing tensions through a revised nuclear agreement. US President Donald Trump publicly supported these diplomatic efforts, describing them as preferable to what he called a potentially bloody war. However, the talks faltered when Iran refused to halt enrichment on its own soil.

The US administration, while officially opposing military escalation, reportedly gave tacit approval for a limited Israeli strike. Washington is said to have believed that such a strike could shift the balance in negotiations and send a message that Iran was not negotiating from a position of strength – similar to how Trump has framed Ukraine’s position in relation to Russia. Although US officials maintain they had advance knowledge of the attacks but did not participate operationally, both the aircraft and the bunker-busting bombs used were supplied by the US, the latter during Trump’s first term.

Initial reports from Iranian sources confirm that the strikes inflicted significant damage on centrifuge halls and enrichment pipelines at its Natanz facility. However, Iranian officials insist the nuclear programme remains intact. Iran’s nuclear infrastructure includes multiple deeply buried sites – some more than 500 metres (550 yards) underground and spread across distances exceeding 1,000km (620 miles). As a result, the total destruction of the programme by air strikes alone in this initial phase appears unlikely.

Iranian officials have long warned that any direct military aggression on their territory by Israel would cross a red line, and they have promised severe retaliation. Now, with blood spilled on its soil and key targets destroyed, Khamenei faces enormous internal and external pressure to respond. The elimination of multiple high-ranking military officials in a single night has further intensified the demand for a multifaceted response.

Iran’s reply so far has taken the form of another wave of drone attacks, similar to those launched in April and October – most of which were intercepted by Israeli and Jordanian defences.

If Iran does not engage with the US at the upcoming talks in Oman on Sunday regarding a possible nuclear deal, the failure of diplomacy could mark the start of a sustained campaign. The Iranian government has stated that it does not view the Israeli operation as an isolated incident, but rather as the beginning of a longer conflict. Referring to it as a “war of attrition” – a term also used to describe Iran’s drawn-out war with Iraq in the 1980s – officials have indicated the confrontation is likely to unfold over weeks or even months.

While retaliatory missile and drone strikes on Israeli targets are likely to continue, many now anticipate that Iran could also target US military bases in the Gulf, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and even Jordan. Such an escalation would likely draw US forces directly into the conflict, implicate critical regional infrastructure and disrupt global oil supplies, particularly through the Strait of Hormuz. That, in turn, could trigger a steep rise in energy prices and send global markets spiralling – dragging in the interests of nearly every major power.

Even if an immediate, proportionate military response proves difficult, Iran is expected to act across several domains, including cyberattacks, proxy warfare and political manoeuvring. Among the political options reportedly under consideration is a full withdrawal from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Iran has long used the NPT framework to assert that its nuclear programme is peaceful. Exiting the treaty would signal a significant policy shift. Additionally, there is growing speculation within Iran’s political circles that the religious decree issued by Khamenei banning the development and use of nuclear weapons may be reconsidered. If that prohibition is lifted, Iran could pursue a nuclear deterrent openly for the first time.

Whether Israel’s strikes succeeded in delaying Iran’s nuclear ambitions – or instead provoked Tehran to accelerate them – remains uncertain. What is clear is that the confrontation has entered a new phase. Should Iran exit the NPT and begin advancing its nuclear programme without the constraints of international agreements, some may argue that Israel’s campaign – intended to stop a bomb – may instead end up accelerating its creation.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Nigeria’s president has pardoned the late activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, 30 years after his execution sparked global outrage.

Along with eight other campaigners, Mr Saro-Wiwa was convicted of murder, then hanged in 1995 by the then-military regime.

Many believed the activists were being punished for leading protests against the operations of oil multinationals, particularly Shell, in Nigeria’s Ogoniland. Shell has long denied any involvement in the executions.

Though the pardons have been welcomed, some activists and relatives say they do not go far enough.

As well as issuing the pardons on Thursday, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu bestowed national honours on Mr Saro-Wiwa and his fellow campaigners, who were known as the Ogoni Nine.

The nine men – Mr Saro-Wiwa, Barinem Kiobel, John Kpuinen, Baribor Bera, Felix Nuate, Paul Levula, Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo and Daniel Gbokoo – were among dozens who received the honours as part of Nigeria’s annual Democracy Day.

Tinubu said the accolades recognised “heroes” who had made “outstanding contributions ” to the nation’s democracy.

Responding to the pardons for the Ogoni Nine, campaign groups said they would like the government to take further steps.

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (Mosop), which was formerly led by Mr Saro-Wiwa, called the pardon a “courageous act”.

However, Mosop also said that the pardon implies wrongdoing, while in reality “no crime ever took place”.

Barinem Kiobel’s widow expressed her gratitude to Tinubu for the national honour, but called on the president to “properly declare [her] husband and his compatriots innocent” because a “pardon is not granted to the innocent”.

She told the BBC she wants a retrial.

Elsewhere, Amnesty International said clemency falls “far short of the justice the Ogoni Nine need”.

More must be done to hold oil companies to account for environmental damage currently occurring in Nigeria, the organisation added.

Mr Saro-Wiwa, who was one of Nigeria’s leading authors, led the Ogoni people in peaceful demonstrations against Shell and other oil companies.

Mosop accused the multinational company of polluting the land that locals relied on for their livelihoods.

The Nigerian government responded by brutally cracking down on the protesters. The Ogoni Nine were subsequently found guilty by a secret military tribunal of the murder of four Ogoni chiefs.

Their execution sparked outrage within the international community. It was widely condemned as extrajudicial murder and became a global symbol of the struggle against environmental injustice and repression.

Nigeria was consequently suspended from the Commonwealth group of nations.

Since then, Shell has faced various lawsuits over oil spills and environmental damage in the Niger Delta, the southern region that Ogoniland is a part of.

In 2021 a Dutch court ordered Shell to compensate farmers for spills that contaminated swathes of farmland and fishing waters in the Niger Delta. The company agreed to pay more than a hundred million dollars.

Earlier this year, lawyers representing two Ogoniland communities argued in London’s High Court that Shell must take responsibility for oil pollution that occurred between 1989 and 2020.

Shell denies wrongdoing and says spills in the region have been caused by sabotage, theft and illegal refining for which the company says it is not liable.

The case’s full trial is set for 2026.

Additional reporting by Chris Ewokor

Israel launched a series of strikes against Iran on Friday morning, targeting nuclear sites, missile facilities and other military infrastructure. The strikes were also a major blow to Iran’s chain of command, killing top generals.

Iran vowed a harsh response, and launched at least 100 drones in an initial wave. There were no immediate indications of significant damage caused by the drones, and it was not clear if they succeeded in penetrating Israel’s airspace.

Tehran

Residents of the Iranian capital reported hearing huge explosions and seeing Israeli fighter jets. Iranian state television broadcast images of smoke and fire billowing from buildings.

Israel attacked military bases around Tehran, including Parchin. Multiple residential buildings were also attacked, including highly secure complexes for military commanders, in what appears to be targeted assassinations, according to four senior Iranian officials.

Natanz nuclear enrichment complex

Social media footage verified by The Times, as well as an Iranian news report, show flames and thick black smoke billowing from the Natanz nuclear enrichment complex.

Natanz is Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility. It is where Iran has produced the vast majority of its nuclear fuel — and, in the past three years, much of the near-bomb-grade fuel that has put the country on the threshold of building nuclear weapons.

Tabriz

Tabriz, a city located in northern western Iran, was under multiple rounds of attacks on Friday.

Social media footage verified by The Times shows that an airport in the city was hit by Israeli strikes.

Large plumes of thick black smoke were seen over Tabriz as several apparent strikes continued to hit the area.

Fears grew that the long-simmering tensions between the heavily armed rivals could explode into a full-blown regional war.

Basketball star Brittney Griner pleaded guilty to drug charges in a Russian courtroom on Thursday, but not before she was handed a note from President Joe Biden.

With the hope that a guilty plea might be her best shot at a lenient sentence in what experts fear is a sham trial, the WBNA player admitted to taking hashish oil into Russia by accident because she had been in a hurry when she packed.

“Brittney sets an example of being brave. She decided to take full responsibility for her actions as she knows that she is a role model for many people,” read a statement from Griner’s Russian legal team, Maria Blagovolina from the firm Rybalkin Gortsunyan Dyakin and Alexander Boykov from the Moscow Legal Center.

“Considering the nature of her case, the insignificant amount of the substance and BG’s personality and history of positive contributions to global and Russian sport, the defense hopes that the plea will be considered by the court as a mitigating factor and there will be no severe sentence,” the lawyers said.

The attorneys said they expected Griner’s trial to conclude around the start of August.

Griner has been detained in Russia for more than four months after authorities said they found small amounts of hash oil in vape pens in her luggage.

“Brittney has admitted to making a mistake, and I hope the Russian authorities recognize that humbling act and respond with compassion,” Rev. Al Sharpton said in a statement passed on by Griner’s team.

Sharpton, Britney’s wife Cherelle, and WNBA players will rally on Friday in Chicago to call for her release.

They fear that Griner, who faces a maximum sentence of 10 years, is being used as a bargaining chip by Moscow against Washington amid the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“She is in the fight of her life right now, which is why we’ll be in Chicago to show our support for Brittney and for the Administration and their efforts to bring her home as soon as possible,” Sharpton said. “We must all continue to pray she finds strength through this challenging time.”

Griner’s guilty plea came a day after Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris called Cherelle Griner to offer assurances that his administration is working to free the basketball star.

That call came after Cherelle Griner criticized Biden for not meeting with her to discuss the case.

As she arrived in court on Thursday, Brittney Griner was given a note from Biden which he had earlier read to her wife over the phone.

The message was in response to one the basketball player had written to the president on July 4, begging for freedom.

“As I sit here in a Russian prison, alone with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, family, friends, Olympic jersey, or any accomplishments, I’m terrified I might be here forever,” Griner wrote.