(Reuters) -Israel killed more than 30 senior security officials and 11 senior nuclear scientists to deliver a major blow to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, a senior Israeli military official said on Friday in summarizing Israel’s 12-day air war with Iran.
The June 13 opening strike on Iran, 1,500 km (930 miles) away, severely damaged its aerial defences and destabilised its ability to respond in the critical early hours of the conflict, the official said.
Israel’s air force struck over 900 targets and the military deeply damaged Iran’s missile production during the war that ended with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire, the official said.
“The Iranian nuclear project suffered a major blow: The regime’s ability to enrich uranium to 90% was neutralized for a prolonged period. Its current ability to produce a nuclear weapon core has been neutralized,” the official said.
Iran, which denies trying to build nuclear weapons, retaliated against the strikes with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites and cities. Iran said it forced the end of the war by penetrating Israeli defences.
Iranian authorities said 627 people were killed in Iran, where the extent of the damage could not be independently confirmed because of tight restrictions on the media. Israeli authorities said 28 people were killed in Israel.
In a statement, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Friday he had directed the military to draft a plan to safeguard air superiority over Iran, prevent nuclear development and missile production, and address Iran’s support for militant operations against Israel.
(Reporting by Maayan Lubell and Howard Goller; Editing by Alison Williams)
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