SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
And in Israel, air raid sirens have been going off all day as Iran retaliates with missiles.
(SOUNDBITE OF AIR RAID SIRENS)
SIMON: Israel tried to kill Iran's top leaders this morning in its joint military operation with the U.S. against Iran, and both President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu say they hope Iranians will topple their regime. We're joined now from Tel Aviv by NPR's Daniel Estrin. Daniel, thanks so much for being with us.
DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Thank you, Scott, for having me.
SIMON: Help us understand what it's like right now where you are.
ESTRIN: Well, right now I'm in a safe room, and outside there's a kind of an eerie quiet. The streets have been mostly empty, and then you get these two kinds of warnings. You get an alert on your phone giving you about a 10-minute warning ahead of an air raid siren, and then throughout the day, there have been air raid sirens, about half a dozen I'd say. I've been recording them. And then they stop, and then suddenly you hear this.
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ESTRIN: So that's a boom of Israel's air defense systems intercepting the incoming missiles. You can even see the trail of smoke in the sky over Tel Aviv. The airport here has been closed to all flights. Hospitals have been moving patients underground. Cafes are closed. And I was on the street in between sirens, and I met a woman walking her dog, Rahel Aheroni (ph). She doesn't have a protected room in her apartment.
RAHEL AHERONI: I feel bad, also. I feel very bad. Very bad because I don't know what will be, you know, if I know, you know - if people knows what to do. People don't know what to do.
ESTRIN: So you're hearing a lot of apprehension here but not a lot of surprise. There was this anticipation building for weeks that there would be military action. A lot of Israelis either canceled travel plans so that they wouldn't be stuck abroad with the airport closed, or others, especially people with young children, I know, bought tickets and left the country a couple of days ago.
SIMON: What has Israel struck so far?
ESTRIN: I spoke to a person briefed on the operation, Scott, who said that Israel tried to kill Iran's supreme leader and the Iranian president, and the person said the Israeli assessments so far are that the supreme leader was hit. Now, Iran's foreign minister told NBC News that two commanders were killed, but he said the supreme leader was still alive as far as he knows. Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said Israel has been targeting regime figures and that Israel and the U.S. are both striking Iran's ballistic missile sites. And also, Scott, Israel's military is calling up tens of thousands of reservist soldiers and fortifying protection of its borders because there's a concern here that Iran's proxy militia, Hezbollah, could fire at Israel or even storm the border like Hamas did on October 7, 2023.
SIMON: What is the case that Israel makes for this attack?
ESTRIN: Well, Israel is saying that Iran was ramping up its missile production in recent months. And Netanyahu said Iran, if it wasn't stopped now, it would become immune to attack. He said Iran was trying to buy time through these last three rounds of nuclear talks with the U.S. He said they were just deceptive talks, and he said Israel would not stand by while, quote, "the shadow of annihilation hangs over us." And he says that the ultimate goal is to help Iranians topple their own government. Here's Netanyahu.
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PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: (Speaking in Hebrew).
ESTRIN: He's saying there in Hebrew, Iranians now have the chance to take their destiny into their own hands.
SIMON: Daniel, what are you going to be on the lookout for in the coming hours and days?
ESTRIN: We're going to be looking to see how Iran and militias in the region potentially respond. That could determine how many days this lasts. And you know, we're going to be looking at public opinion. There was no real public debate in Israel on the merits of launching this attack, although there was a lot of support in Israel, even from Netanyahu's main political opposition. They saw this as a golden opportunity to weaken Iran with U.S. support.
SIMON: NPR's Daniel Estrin on the job for us in Tel Aviv. Daniel, thank you so much for being with us.
ESTRIN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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