Israel launches an attack on Iran—without

By The Economist

Jun 13th 2025

The first indication Israelis received that their country was at war with Iran was a siren a few minutes before 3am on June 13th, accompanied by an alert on their mobile phones. In Iranian cities, people were shaken awake by huge bomb blasts. For over two decades, Israeli leaders have spoken of the need to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, if necessary by force. Now they have launched a full-scale campaign on Iran that could last for days, without clear American backing, plunging the region into turmoil. The oil price surged by 13% in the hours after the first attacks. Huge uncertainty now looms over how Iran will retaliate, how resilient Iran's regime is to a new war and whether America is inevitably dragged into a conflict.

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