Over the Skies of Tehran

Mission Brief: June 18, 2025

In this issue of Mission Brief, we’ll look at how we got to the point where the Israeli Air Force is operating with near impunity in Iran’s skies, despite the 1,000 miles and multiple countries that separate us.

But before I continue…

I’m Lt Col Nadav Shoshani, the IDF Spokesperson for International Media. Help us cut through the fake news and bots by sharing this post, either on Substack or with your friends.

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Over the Skies of Tehran

We're now used to reports on IDF activities over Iran, operating 1,000-1,500 miles away. This is a stunning feat that deserves some of it's own focus.

From the early days of the operational planning, it was clear that air superiority would play a critical role in the operation. So the Intelligence Directorate and the Israeli Air Force began to plan.

It started with a joint effort to carefully map out the Iranian air defense sytsem. This required meticulous mapping of thousands of intelligence sources…and required additional intelligence sources to be cross-referenced.

By early 2025, the mapping was completed. The intelligence teams began to build out the aerial defense target banks, with a focus on where key IDF activity was slated to take place.

But it’s not just Iran.

Hezbollah in Lebanon and forces in Syria were historically centers of aerial defense power, acting as a buffer for Iran.

As part of this effort, hundreds of Israeli Air Force fighter jets and aircraft inflicted severe damage on Syria's most strategic weapons as the regime was collapsing. Most strikes were focused on severely damaging Syria's aerial defense systems, successfully destroying over 90% of the identified strategic surface-to-air missiles in the end of 2024.

IDF strikes in late 2024

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Go Time⁠

The plans were set and ready.

And so, on the night of June 13, more than 200 Israeli Air Force fighter jets, guided by precise intelligence from the Intelligence Directorate, struck over 100 targets across Iran, including the hideouts of senior operatives in the Iranian military leadership.

A critical part of this sortie, as well as the days that followed, was to ensure that the IAF pilots could reach their destinations and return safely.

In the first 24 hours of the operation, the IDF struck over 40 Iranian air defense systems, enabling freedom of operation over Tehran.

This relies on rapid collaboration between the Intelligence Directorate and the Israeli Air Force, successfully generating well over 250 new real-time targets for strikes.

This included Iranian Surface-to-Air missiles, which are, as the Commander of the IAF, Major General Tomer Bar described:

"…equipped with advanced capabilities, deployed throughout the country, and concealed within civilian infrastructure. The purpose of this array is to down IAF aircraft and disrupt their operations."

This was overwhelmingly successful.

In total, over 70 Iranian air defense missile batteries were struck in five dedicated waves, focused completely on eliminating the threat to Israeli aircraft. In parallel, remotely piloted aircraft continue to identify and neutralize launchers and radars on the ground.

The results speak for themselves.

By early morning on June 14th, following strikes on surface-to-air missile sites, radars and supporting sites, the IDF could declare:

"The IDF Has Established Aerial Superiority From Western Iran to Tehran

Over the course of some 900 strikes, the IDF successfully eliminated or significantly degraded:

• Over twenty senior Iranian commanders, including the most senior military leadership

• Key nuclear sites like enrichment sites at Natanz, a reconversion site in Isfahan, centrifuge production facilities, including one just last night, and some ten nuclear scientists playing a role in the nuclear weapon project

Over a third of all surface-to-surface ballistic missiles launchers

A daily impact

We see the impact of this aerial superiority every single day of the war.

Take this video, filmed last night, between June 17th and June 18th, in the skies of Iran.

In it, you can see an Iranian crew preparing to fire the Emad missile - a dangerous ballistic missile with a payload of many hundreds of kilograms - at Israel. You can also see how the aerial supremacy immediately translated into a reduced threat to the homefront while also enabling further strikes against the Regime.

This is not without risks.

Every sortie, the pilots of the IAF risk themselves to protect Israel, both from the ongoing ballistic missile attacks and from the longer-term looming threat of a nuclear Iran. Just this morning, an Israeli UAV was downed during operations - don’t worry, no one was hurt and there is no risk of any information breach.

So that’s how we reached this point. Five days into operation “Rising Lion” with non-stop aerial operations across Iran. A masterful feat of planning and execution, years in the making.

As our Chief of Staff, Eyal Zamir, told these soldiers;

"Right now, at this very moment, we’re hunting surface-to-surface missiles; our UAVs are out there, our fighter jets are out there — it’s absolutely extraordinary. 1,500 kilometers from Israel, we are hunting down and destroying those surface-to-surface missiles."

I agree. Absolutely extraordinary.

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Thank you for reading.

Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani

IDF Spokesperson to International Media