Israel and Iran opened a new chapter in their long history of confrontation when Israel carried out a major attack on Friday, leading to explosions in the Iranian capital Tehran.
Israel said the strikes targeted nuclear and military sites, killing senior Iranian military and nuclear officials.
The Israeli attack comes amid heightened tensions over Iran's rapidly expanding nuclear program, which Israel sees as a significant existential threat.
Below is a timeline of some of the key events in the hostilities between the two states:
– Iran's nuclear program as the main goal
2010 – The Stuxnet computer virus, believed to have been developed jointly by the US and Israel, is discovered. The virus disrupts and destroys Iranian centrifuges.
2018 – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel had received tens of thousands of pages of information confirming that Iran hid its nuclear program before reaching a deal with world powers in 2015.
Former Mossad chief confirms data was obtained by more than a dozen foreign agents from safes in Tehran in 2018.
2020 – Alleged Israeli attacks on Iran's nuclear program have increased significantly since the collapse of the 2015 nuclear deal that was meant to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
July 2020 – A mysterious explosion devastates a centrifuge plant at Iran’s uranium enrichment facility in Natanz. Iran blames Israel for the attack.
November 2020 – Leading Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed by a remote-controlled machine gun while driving outside Tehran.
A senior Iranian security official accuses Israel of using “electronic devices” to remotely kill the scientist who founded Iran's military nuclear program in the 2000s.
April 11, 2021 – An attack targets Iran’s underground nuclear facility at Natanz. Iran blames Israel, which denies responsibility, but Israeli media reports that the government orchestrated the cyberattack that knocked out power at the facility.
April 16, 2021 – Iran begins enriching uranium to 60%, the highest purity ever achieved and a technical step up from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
June 2022 – Iran accuses Israel of poisoning two nuclear scientists in
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
