Israel Expands Strikes Across Iran Targeting Energy, Military Leadership

Israel has significantly escalated its military operations against Iran by targeting a wide range of strategic sites, including energy production facilities, government buildings, military leadership, and weapons depots, aiming to degrade the Iranian regime and possibly trigger regime change. These strikes have extended beyond Iran’s nuclear infrastructure to include critical economic and military targets such as the South Pars gas field, which supplies about 70% of Iran’s domestic natural gas and is shared with Qatar. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the attacks as an attempt to expand the war beyond Iran’s borders and warned that any military activity in the Gulf could have global repercussions. Despite the intensification of hostilities, Iran stated that it does not seek to broaden the conflict to neighboring countries or U.S. facilities unless forced, framing its responses as acts of self-defense. The ongoing conflict has resulted in deadly missile barrages, with casualties on both sides, and has complicated diplomatic efforts, including the suspension of Iran-US nuclear talks following the Israeli strikes. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu openly suggested that regime change in Iran could be an objective, reflecting Israel’s strategic decapitation of Iran’s top military command.