IDF: Over 2,000 bombs dropped on Iran in 30 hours, air supremacy achieved on 1st day |
Israeli Air Force fighter jets have dropped over 2,000 bombs in strikes against hundreds of Iranian regime targets and military sites since the start of the conflict with the Islamic Republic on Saturday morning, the Israel Defense Forces said Sunday.
The amount of munitions dropped on targets in Iran over the first 30 hours of the conflict was around half of what the IAF said it used over the entire course of the 12-day war in June 2025.
Since the start of the current round of fighting, IAF fighter jets have carried out over 700 sorties, and achieved aerial superiority within 24 hours of the start of the operation, the military said, noting that numerous Iranian air defense systems were taken out in western Iran.
“In recent hours, air force aircraft have been operating with air superiority over the skies of Tehran, striking and destroying numerous targets,” the IDF said in a statement.
As a result, IAF fighter jets were able to use “stand-in” weapons over the capital Tehran, meaning bombs dropped directly over their targets, rather than ranged missiles.
Throughout the day, Israel targeted multiple sites across Iran including ballistic missile launchers, air defense systems, and headquarters, seemingly undisturbed by Iranian defenses.
Footage released by the military on March 1, 2026, shows an IAF fighter jet taking off for strikes in Iran, a strike on an Iranian air defense system, and the interception of drones launched from Iran. (Israel Defense Forces)
Hours after announcing it would take its strikes to the “heart” of the Iranian capital, the IDF said it destroyed dozens of Iranian regime command centers — including the headquarters of Iran’s internal security forces — amid a wave of airstrikes in Tehran involving dozens of fighter jets.
According to the IDF, the internal security forces headquarters “served as a command and control center responsible for linking the command echelon with the Iranian terror regime’s forces on the ground, and led the brutal repression against the Iranian people.”
The IDF also said it destroyed a complex serving the Thar-Allah Headquarters, an IRGC unit tasked with security for the Tehran area.
צפו בתיעוד ראשון מהמטס הרחב של חיל האוויר בלב טהראן מצורף תיעוד מהדקות האחרונות של השמדת מפקדה של משטר הטרור האיראני בלב טהראן pic.twitter.com/jGSpx0oo2Y — צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 1, 2026
צפו בתיעוד ראשון מהמטס הרחב של חיל האוויר בלב טהראן
מצורף תיעוד מהדקות האחרונות של השמדת מפקדה של משטר הטרור האיראני בלב טהראן pic.twitter.com/jGSpx0oo2Y
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 1, 2026
In a separate and later wave of strikes, over 100 jets targeted dozens of Iranian regime command centers belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including its intelligence, air force, and internal security units, IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said in a press conference Sunday evening.
“These are significant and powerful strikes. These headquarters operated against Israel and the entire world. Today they were destroyed along with everyone operating in them,” Defrin said.
In addition to command centers and missile launchers, the Israeli military said it destroyed two Iranian F-4 and F-5 fighter jets that were ready for takeoff at Tabriz airport in western Iran.
The strikes targeting the planes were carried out to “cause a blow to activities of the Iranian Air Force and to deepen the damage to the regime’s defense systems,” the military said.
While approving battle plans with the military’s top brass Sunday evening, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said Israel had reached “significant achievements” in Iran.
“We are less than 48 hours into the campaign we are engaged in; many more days of fighting lie ahead. We will do everything and operate to the best of our abilities to accelerate the achievements, and we are sparing no effort,” Zamir said in a video published by the IDF.
“We opened with a powerful surprise and with very significant achievements that have affected the development of the campaign and its results. Already now we can say that the achievements we reached at the outset will influence our end-state,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Iranian regime continued to fire barrages of missiles at Israel, with nine people killed when a projectile hit Beit Shemesh. Investigations were underway to see why the missile was not intercepted, but the military has long warned that aerial defense systems are not hermetic. Hours later, on Sunday evening, several people were injured when an Iranian missile slammed into a road.
The IDF said Sunday that the interception rate of missiles was “high,” without disclosing figures, but noted that IAF fighter jets, helicopters, and air defense systems have shot down more than 50 drones launched from Iran at Israel.
Meanwhile, the IDF said it mobilized 100,000 reservists amid the ongoing conflict with Iran, apparently in addition to the 50,000 reservists already on duty.
Ground troops have been reinforced on Israel’s borders with Syria, Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, and in the West Bank, the military said.
The Home Front Command alone has mobilized 20,000 reservists, mainly for search and rescue efforts, according to the IDF, with reinforcements also made in the Israeli Air Force, Israeli Navy, and Intelligence Directorate.
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