THE TIMES OF ISRAEL Michael Bachner 15 September 2025
Quotes reveal existential fears that pushed Israel to strike, plans to kill Khamenei, efforts to get Trump to bomb fortified nuclear site and disputes over targeting oil refineries
Defense Minister Israel Katz, center right, meets with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, center left,and members of the military's top brass ahead of the Israeli operation against Iran's nuclear program, June 13, 2025. (Defense Ministry)
A report Sunday aired extensive quotes from Israeli leaders and top officials from before and throughout the 12-day war with Iran, shedding light on the motives for the extraordinary June 13 overnight strikes that started it, the hope that the United States would step in to destroy the underground Fordo facility, the attempts to find an opportunity to assassinate Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and destabilize Tehran's regime, and efforts to cause Tehran's residents to flee.
Channel 13 news published the details as part of a report set to air in full on Tuesday evening and to be accompanied by an interview with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, some excerpts from which werepublishedby the network on Sunday.
It did not detail how it obtained transcripts from the top-secret closed-door meetings.
On June 12, the security cabinet convened for a secret meeting at a bunker in the Jerusalem Hills area.
Netanyahu said at the meeting's outset: We are at a historic moment with a crucial decision. If we don't stop [them], within a few years, they will get tens of thousands of kilograms of [nuclear] explosives. Iran has already enriched fissile material at a level that is enough for eight to nine bombs, and they are working on the weaponization. If we don't act, we simply won't be here. We will deal a big blow to the command and control, hit senior scientists and other components. May God help us.
They are getting close to being the second-biggest powerhouse on ballistic missiles. After we destroy some of their sites and scientists, negotiations for a deal will be held in a different reality. We have held marathon discussions over many months, Netanyahu said.
An unnamed senior military official told the ministers that one of the goals of the operation was to create the conditions for preventing Tehran from going nuclear in the long term, and to improve Israel's strategic balance.
Only the US can bomb Fordo
The official said the goals also included destroying IransNatanz nuclear facility, hitting individuals in charge of the nuclear program, and hitting sites for converting the enriched uranium into the bombs metal core.
In Tehran, we will strike many targets of various types, because it is an Iranian focal point, the official told the meeting.
This image grab taken from footage broadcast by Irans IRINN news on June 13, 2025shows what the television described as smoke billowing from explosions in Natanzafter Israel announced it had carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites. (IRINN / AFP)
He added thatFordowill be destroyed only if the US attacks it.
The Fordo nuclear site was buried deep under a mountain, with only the US possessing the massive bunker buster bombs that could penetrate the fortified site.
He also warned that the basic assumption is that at the end of the operation, Iran will still possess enriched material. In the first few days, they will be able to launch hundreds of rockets toward Israel.
The official warned of unprecedented ramifications for the Israeli home front, estimating that at least several dozen Israeli targets would suffer accurate hits with large warheads, and dozens to several hundreds would be hit with light warheads.
But he also cautioned that the war would ultimately need a diplomatic solution.
The operational achievements won't suffice, and will have to be completed through diplomacy, the military official said.
Screen capture from a video of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivering a statementabout Israel's strikes on Irans nuclear facilities, June 13, 2025. (GPO)
A senior intelligence official was quoted as saying that there are surprising operations that we have prepared for years. Some are against surface-to-surface missiles, [in addition to] an intelligence operation to disrupt enemy activities, including activity to destabilize the regime.
Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar said Israel was preparing for a scenario of unrest among Arab Israelis in mixed Jewish-Arab cities.
The meeting ended with a unanimous vote to approve the operation that was launched at 3 am on Friday, June 13, with a series of surprise attacks on Irans air defenses, nuclear scientists and military leaders.
In Israel, sirens sounded across the country in anticipation of a massive Iranian missile response that ultimately did not come for many hours.
Residents look at a damaged apartment after a series of targeted Israeli strikesin Tehran, Iran, June 13, 2025 (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Keep searching for the leader
After the overnight opening strike, the ministers and security chiefs met again on Friday, June 13.
Ministers we're focused on efforts to secure US assistance, both by providing refueling aircraft that would allow Israeli jets to maintain their attacks on the distant target and by persuading US President Donald Trump to greenlight a US attack on Fordo.
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer said in the meeting that while speaking on the phone with Trump, Netanyahu had pushed and maneuvered Trump to make a decision on sending refueling planes to assist the Israeli strikes.
Regarding the question of whether Washington would strike Fordo, Dermer said his impression was that Trump was leaning toward doing it, but in the right timing.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had told him work was being done to send the refueling planes, which ended up arriving days later.
I explained to him the importance of striking Fordo, Katz added.
This November 4, 2020, satellite photo by Maxar Technologies shows Irans Fordo nuclear site.(Maxar Technologies via AP)
IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said the opening strikes had seen extraordinary achievements, adding that the operation was ahead of schedule and that further strikes would be conducted the following day.
Everything can be done very fast. If the US cooperates with us, we can make the hit within 48 hours. Iran is shaken by the strikes, he said, adding that Iran had fired a low number of [missile] launches compared to our predictions.
Shas party leader Aryeh Deri urged the military to also take out the officers who had been appointed to replace those killed in the first wave of strikes, as we'll as strikes on Irans state broadcaster building and secret police headquarters.
While not initially publicly stated as a goal of the war, the transcripts make it clear that Israel was also looking to destabilize the regime and even to kill Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that Israel needed to keep searching for the leader, referring to Khamenei, whom Katz latersaidJerusalem sought to kill, but the opportunity didn't present itself.
At a Saturday meeting of a small number of security cabinet ministers, Netanyahu said the main thing was striking Fordo and creating a huge balance of terror with Iran. He said the top priorities were to set fuel depots in Tehran on fire, to work toward killing officials who had replaced assassinated officials, and also to work on eliminating Khamenei.
Netanyahu also said entire Iranian neighborhoods and districts should be evacuated, and that Israel should work on destabilizing the Islamic regime.
This handout picture provided by the office of Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameneishows him speaking during a ceremony marking the death anniversary of the Shiite Eighth Imam Reza,in Tehran on August 24, 2025. (IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER OFFICE / AFP)
He said striking Fordo would mark a double achievement completing the destruction of the nuclear program, plus if Khamenei reacts to an American strike, it could be the end of the regime.
Fordo gets the war ended quickly. If Iran continues to attack us, Trump will still want to wrap this up anyway, he said.
Saying that by that point there we're 224 dead and 1,300 injured in Iran, Zamir said the wars objectives could be achieved in the next five or six days but that Israel could still do more.
Thus far, we've dealt with the command in the west and now we'll move on to the command in the center, he said, referring to the Air Forces efforts to destroy Irans missile launchers and air defense in western Iran and then in central Iran, which gave the Israeli fighter planes the ability to operate freely in the skies over Tehran.
Civilian infrastructure
Ministers debated hitting civilian infrastructure like oil refineries after issuing warnings to the nearby population to flee.
Katz argued that relocating the population is practical and symbolic. We should strike civilian national infrastructure that destabilizes the leader.
Dermer disagreed, however, saying that If we attack civilian infrastructure now, it could end the war before we achieve our objectives and before an attack on Fordo. Khamenei is confused but determined and a religious fanatic. He, like Nasrallah, thinks we're a weak society.
Theyre working hard to reenlist the proxies. Hezbollah still won't jump onto the bandwagon and therefore, [Iran] has an interest in exhibiting strength, Katz replied, telling the meeting to face the fact that Israel would not be able to finish the war by Friday.
Khamenei is a stubborn fanatic. If they surrender, he will lose his lives work. I support ending this only if we deal with Fordo and a few other things. But its not up to us, so we have to deal with things as they are. Well destroy dozens of buildings after evacuating civilians if Iran continues to target our civilians. There are military targets in Tehran amid the population. If people escape Tehran, that's a victory, Katz said.
Portraits of Iranian military generals and nuclear scientists, killed in Israel's June 13 attack,are displayed above a road, as a plume of heavy smoke rises from an oil refinery in southern Tehran,after it was hit in an overnight Israeli strike, on June 15, 2025. (Atta Kenare/AFP)
However, he warned that while Israel was currently not hitting civilian infrastructure targets, that would change if Irans missiles targeted Israeli infrastructure.
If [Iran] targets power stations, we won't have a dilemma. Well attack civil infrastructure now, even though they are targets we want to keep for later, he said.
Zamir, in turn, assured the meeting that the IDF was preparing to deepen the attack throughout the week with a strike on Natanz, an attack in Fordo, and attacks in Tehran.
Its hard to grasp the size of our success in Iran. More than 120 rocket launchers have been destroyed, and at least 80 are not functioning, he said
An unnamed intelligence official added that Israel had also started to target Irans central command the previous day, which was evident by a reduction in Iranian attacks and an increase in Israeli interceptions.
Dermer assured the meeting that the US would be in full defense in the region within 48 hours as Trump beefed up US forces in the area.
Security and rescue forces at the scene of an Iranian ballistic missile strikein Ramat Gan, June 19, 2025 (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
The tone seemed to shift among defense officials by Monday, however, as they began to urge participants in a meeting to think about ending the war, drawing ire from Netanyahu.
Stop talking about ending the war, Netanyahu scolded. There will be no such thing. We haven't finished, and it has to stop. It will go on for as long as we need to achieve our objectives. Were on the brink of victory. You say that we've run out of targets, what message are we sending our enemies? So the IDF spokesman says we need to finish it? There's a policy. Work accordingly. We continue until we've achieved our goals. The public here is very strong.
Channel 13s full feature on Tuesday is set to reveal more quotes surrounding Irans direct hit on BeershebasSoroka Medical Centerand the pressure applied on Trump by Israel to strike Fordo.
Iran retaliated to Israel's strikes by launching over 500 ballistic missiles and around 1,100 drones at Israel.
The attacks killed 31 people and wounded over 3,000 in Israel, according to health officials and hospitals.
In all, there we're 36 missile impacts and one drone strike in populated areas, causing damage to 2,305 homes in 240 buildings, along with two universities and a hospital, and leaving over 13,000 Israelis displaced.