IDF carries out ‘extensive’ strikes on regime targets; Iran fires missiles at Israeli towns |
The Israeli Air Force carried out “extensive” strikes against regime targets across Iran overnight and into Wednesday, as the Islamic Republic continued to fire salvos of ballistic missiles at Israeli population centers, and Israel warned that any successor to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would be an “unequivocal” target.
The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday that strikes in Tehran hit dozens of command centers of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force and internal security forces, in addition to sites belonging to the Iranian army’s logistics division, missile launchers and air defense systems.
The military additionally said that since the start of the current round of fighting, airstrikes have hit some 300 Iranian missile launchers in a “systematic, round-the-clock hunt” that additionally targeted caches of ballistic missiles, in an attempt to reduce the rate of fire on Israel.
Airstrikes also targeted Iranian military assets in Isfahan and Shiraz for the first time in the current campaign against Iran, the military said.
IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said more than 20 targets were hit in those strikes, including two facilities in Isfahan where Iran stored advanced Ghadr ballistic missiles.
Defrin said that other targets included ballistic and cruise missile storage sites, as well as air defense systems, with the military estimating the strikes took out many dozens of ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.
The IDF says Israeli airstrikes have taken out 300 Iranian missile launchers since the start of the current conflict. "As part of the offensive effort, the air force continues to launch continuous waves of strikes against the Iranian regime's ballistic missile arrays and [air]… pic.twitter.com/62xy3luzuE Advertisement if(typeof rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner != "function" || !rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner("#336x280_Middle_1")){ window.tude = window.tude || { cmd: [] }; tude.cmd.push(function() { if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf("rgbmedia-app") > -1){ tude.setDeviceType("mobile"); } tude.refreshAdsViaDivMappings([ { divId: '336x280_Middle_1', baseDivId: '336x280_Middle_1', } ]); }); } — Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) March 3, 2026
The IDF says Israeli airstrikes have taken out 300 Iranian missile launchers since the start of the current conflict.
"As part of the offensive effort, the air force continues to launch continuous waves of strikes against the Iranian regime's ballistic missile arrays and [air]… pic.twitter.com/62xy3luzuE
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) March 3, 2026
Still, missile fire from Iran into Israel continued overnight and into Wednesday, triggering sirens across the country and sending millions running for shelter.
The Health Ministry said Wednesday that 219 people were hospitalized in Israel for physical injuries or acute anxiety over a 24-hour period as a result of the missile fire, with the vast majority of them in good condition.
Meanwhile, the military said that the IAF had shot down a Russian-made Iranian Yak-130 jet over Tehran, in the first-ever downing of a manned aircraft by an F-35.
It also marked the first time in some 40 years that the Israeli Air Force has engaged in air-to-air combat with manned aircraft — the last time IAF jets shot down a manned enemy aircraft was on November 24, 1985, over Lebanon. In that incident, an IAF F-15 downed two Syrian MiG-23 fighters.
Additionally, the air force said it had shot down more than 100 drones launched at Israel from Iran since the start of the conflict, and released footage showing some of the interceptions carried out by IAF fighter jets and helicopters.
״בביצוע, קיבלתי, אלפא״; חיל-האוויר ממשיך ליירט כלי טיס בלתי מאוישים ששוגרו מאיראן: מערכי ההגנה האווירית והבקרה עם מטוסי ומסוקי הקרב של חיל-האוויר, יירטו בהצלחה מתחילת המבצע יותר מ-100 כלי טיס בלתי מאויישים ששוגרו מאיראן לשטח מדינת ישראל. pic.twitter.com/34LCqUTD1H — Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) March 3, 2026
״בביצוע, קיבלתי, אלפא״; חיל-האוויר ממשיך ליירט כלי טיס בלתי מאוישים ששוגרו מאיראן:
מערכי ההגנה האווירית והבקרה עם מטוסי ומסוקי הקרב של חיל-האוויר, יירטו בהצלחה מתחילת המבצע יותר מ-100 כלי טיס בלתי מאויישים ששוגרו מאיראן לשטח מדינת ישראל. pic.twitter.com/34LCqUTD1H
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) March 3, 2026
The US also gave an update on its activities, as its military commander in the Middle East said American forces have struck nearly 2,000 targets so far in Iran as part of the largest firepower buildup in the region in a generation, and as the Pentagon named four of the six US troops killed in a drone attack in Kuwait on Sunday.
“We’ve already struck nearly 2,000 targets with more than 2,000 munitions. We have severely degraded Iran’s air defenses and destroyed hundreds of Iran’s ballistic missiles, launchers and drones,” Admiral Brad Cooper of US Central Command said in a video message.
He added that the US has destroyed 17 Iranian ships, including a submarine: “Today, there is not a single Iranian ship underway in the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, or Gulf of Oman.”
According to Cooper, “the first 24 hours of this operation were nearly double the scale” of the first day of shock-and-awe strikes on Iraq in 2003, “and we continue with 24/7 strikes into Iran.”
Cooper also revealed that Iran has so far launched over 500 ballistic missiles and over 2,000 drones in retaliatory attacks against American targets, Israel and US-allied Arab states in the region, including the deadly attack on Sunday when a drone hit a command center in Port Shuaiba.
Four of the six fatalities were named by the Pentagon as Capt. Cody A. Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Sgt. First Class Noah L. Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; Sgt. First Class Nicole M. Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota; and Spc. Declan J. Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, Iowa. All were assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command in Des Moines, Iowa.
FALLEN HEROES: The Department of War has identified four of the six U.S. service members killed in a drone attack in Kuwait. Capt. Cody Khork, 35, Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42, Sgt. Declan Coady, 20, and Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, 39, were among those killed March 1 in Port… pic.twitter.com/sZQbTapDxC — Fox News (@FoxNews) March 4, 2026
FALLEN HEROES: The Department of War has identified four of the six U.S. service members killed in a drone attack in Kuwait.
Capt. Cody Khork, 35, Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42, Sgt. Declan Coady, 20, and Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, 39, were among those killed March 1 in Port… pic.twitter.com/sZQbTapDxC
— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 4, 2026
‘Unequivocal target for elimination’
After The New York Times reported that the son of assassinated supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is the front-runner to succeed his father as the Islamic Republic’s next head, Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Wednesday that Israel would try to kill any leader appointed by the Iranian regime.
“Any leader appointed by the Iranian terror regime to continue leading the plan to destroy Israel, threaten the US and the free world and the countries of the region, and oppress the Iranian people, will be an unequivocal target for elimination,” Katz said in a statement.
“It does not matter what his name is or where he hides,” he said.
“We will continue to act with full force, together with our American partners, to dismantle the regime’s capabilities and create the conditions for the Iranian people to overthrow and replace it,” Katz added.
Quoting Iranian officials familiar with the deliberations, the newspaper said the clerics have some reservations about declaring Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader, fearing it could increase the likelihood he is targeted by the US and Israel.
The report added that clerics held two virtual meetings on the matter on Tuesday, while noting an Iranian media report saying that a building in Qom was empty when the IDF announced hitting it in an airstrike targeting the Assembly of Experts, as the body tasked with selecting the supreme leader is formally known.
Times of Israel staff, Diana Bletter and agencies contributed to this report.
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