On the night of June 17, 2025, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced the start of the ninth wave of Operation True Promise 3 against Israel. The attack, which began minutes earlier, will continue until dawn and will include a massive launch of ballistic missiles and drones, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported. The IRGC’s announcement comes amid an ongoing conflict sparked by Israel’s Operation Rising Lion, launched on June 13 to neutralize Iran’s nuclear and military infrastructure. The escalation threatens to escalate into a full-scale regional war, alarming the international community and destabilizing global markets.

Iran has fired more than 700 missiles and drones into Israel since the start of the conflict, hitting Tel Aviv, Haifa and military bases including Ramat David, according to Reuters. Tehran has stepped up its offensive in response to Israeli attacks that destroyed the Natanz nuclear complex and a Shahed drone depot. The Times of Israel reports that Iranian strikes have killed 47 people in Israel, including civilians, while Israeli attacks have killed more than 400 people in Iran, according to the Tasnim news agency. The ninth wave of Operation True Promise 3, according to an IRGC spokesman, includes the use of new Shahed-107 loitering munitions with a range of up to 1500 km, allowing Iran to threaten not only Israel but other regional targets.

Israel's air defenses, including the Iron Dome and Arrow 3 systems, intercept up to 85% of Iranian missiles and drones, but some strikes hit their targets. In Haifa, an Iranian missile damaged a power plant, shutting down the Vazan Group's oil refineries and killing three workers, according to The Jerusalem Post. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli Air Force would continue to strike Iran's military targets, stressing that the goal was to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. However, reports of damage to civilian infrastructure, including a hospital in Kermanshah, have sparked protests from international organizations.

Amid the escalation, US President Donald Trump is preparing a “final offer” on the Iran nuclear deal, Axios reports. Negotiations that began after his inauguration have so far yielded no results, as Tehran refuses to curtail its nuclear program. The US has beefed up its military presence, sending the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to the Mediterranean and tanker aircraft to Europe, which, according to Bloomberg, signals readiness for any scenario.