Strikes in Iran...And Three Hostages Home

Mission Brief: June 22, 2025

In this special edition of Mission Brief:

• Strikes on Iran

• Ongoing targeted eliminations

• Recovery of the bodies of three hostages

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With so much misinformation circulating…you can get the real view—directly from the source.

I’m LTC Nadav Shoshani, the IDF Spokesperson for International Media, bringing you the daily brief on the IDF’s recent activities during Operation “Rising Lion.”

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It’s hard to know where to begin with this one.

The IDF continues to operate in Iran, striking the radical regime that has fueled terrorism across the middle east, whether Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen or beyond.

Last night, the US struck in Iran in a swift operation that continues to dismantle the nuclear weapons threat that the global community has so widely condemned.

A few hours later, another barrage of some twenty missiles was fired at Israel.

Again, the Iranian regime targeted civilians.
Again, the Israeli Air Force acted proactively against missile launchers, striking many before they could fire ballistic missiles at Israel.

And, again, some missiles infiltrated the world’s most advanced aerial missile defense. Our investment in protection, both active (interceptions) and passive (bomb shelters), join a resilient, strong and disciplined homefront to minimize casualties. Property damage was caused but, thankfully, no one was killed.

Here’s a quick video of me from this morning, as I took reporters to a tour of the impact site in Tel Aviv:

As our Chief of Staff, LTG Eyal Zamir, said on Friday:

Our enemies fail to understand that the Israeli home front is the source of the IDF’s strength, not its weakness.

Of course, it’s not just the missiles. So far, over 1,000 UAVs have been launched from Iran at Israel…with many others destroyed before taking off. The Israeli Air Force and Navy have intercepted over 500 of the relevant targets, maintaining an interception rate of over 99%.

The Broader Context and the Gaza Connection

The Iranian triple threat - their massive ballistic missile arsenals, the nuclear weapons program and their proxy network - pose an existential threat to Israel and to the world at large.

This year, the war was brought home to Iran. Strikes on Iranian soil that target all three of the threats:

• Nuclear Weapons: Strikes on nuclear weapons sites, including Isfahan, Natanz, Arak or other supporting sites, and on key scientists supporting the program

• Ballistic Missiles: Combined operations that took out over 200 missiles launchers out of action - well over half - and counting.

• Proxies: Just yesterday we announced the elimination of Saeed Izadi,the commander of the Palestine Corps in the Quds Force, who had coordinated between the Iranian regime and the Hamas terrorist organization. We also revealed documents with correspondence between Mohammed Sinwar and Saeed Izadi, detailing nearly $50 million dollars in attempted weapons transfers from Iran to Hamas.

Bringing our hostages home.

In what feels like a separate update but is inextricably linked to the prior point is a bold operation that took place on Saturday to bring back the bodies of three hostages being held in the Gaza Strip.

On Sunday afternoon we revealed that in a special operation carried out by the ISA and the IDF, the bodies of the hostages Ofra Keidar, Yonatan Samerano, and Staff Sergeant Shay Levinson were recovered from the Gaza Strip yesterday.

Ofra and Yonatan were both murdered in Kibbutz Be’eri and then abducted from there - Ofra had lived there and Yonatan has hid there after fleeing the Nova music festival. Evidence showed that one of Yonatan’s abductors was an UNRWA employee.

Staff Sergeant Shay Levinson was a tank commander in the 77th Battalion who bravely engaged and fought terrorists on the morning of October 7th before falling in combat….and was then abducted by Hamas terrorists.

The rescue operation was conducted by the ISA and IDF troops of the Southern Command and the Gaza Division and made possible by precise intelligence received from the ISA, the Hostage Task Force, and the IDF Intelligence Directorate.

We mourn all three and will not stop tirelessly working to bring home every one of the fifty remaining hostages.

LTC Nadav Shoshani

IDF Spokesperson for International Media