As Israel braces for Iranian retaliations, its defence forces stated early on Friday that Iran has launched drones against Israel, which "were on its way". Hours later, the Israeli Defence Forces said the drones had been "brought under control".
At least 100 drones were launched by Iran against Israel after the latter's air raids decimated the Islamic Republic's military leadership and nuclear facilities. Israeli air forces and others, including Jordan's, show down the drones outside the country's borders. None reached the country.
But, how long does a drone or a ballistic missile launched by Iran take to reach its target, which is Israel?
If not shot down en route on its journey, a ballistic missile launched from Iranian territory will take 12 minutes to reach Israel. In most cases, like in 2024, the Israeli air defence systems, including Arrow and THAAD systems, intercept it. As for cruise missiles, they will arrive about two hours after launch and are intercepted by the Iron Dome and David's Sling systems. Drones are expected to arrive only about 9 hours after launch and are intercepted, among other things, by Iron Dome.
🚨Breaking News🚨
— David Atherton (@DaveAtherton20) June 13, 2025
The Israeli assault on Iran to neutralise its nuclear capability continues apace. Iran has reacted by launching over 100 drones. All were intercepted before reaching their targets.
What's extraordinary, the Israelis were aided by the Jordanians & allowed to… pic.twitter.com/7qxnVWToso
Israel launched widescale strikes against Iran, targeting nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders, saying this was the start of a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon https://t.co/JzEiOKYhAf pic.twitter.com/D9ziwp5F7j
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 13, 2025
What Israel expects
Israeli defence establishments estimate that Iran will respond forcefully to an Israeli attack on its soil using ballistic missiles and drones. Though the IDF and other organisations are prepared for the onslaught, it fear a combined attack from Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthis in Yemen could do some damage.
Israel estimates that Iran has about 2,000 ballistic missiles with warheads weighing hundreds of kilograms, which are capable of causing very great damage. This is in addition to an arsenal of drones that can fly about 1,500 kilometres from Iran.
Iran also has a large land army consisting of hundreds of thousands of regular and reserve soldiers, alongside more than 200,000 fighters in the Revolutionary Guards. However, the current assessment is that all military conflicts between Israel and Iran are likely to occur in the air, between Iran's air force and missiles and the IDF's air force.
Israel's air power is much above Iran, with the former boasting advanced F-35, F-15, and F-16 fighter jets. Iran, on the other hand, has only old fighter jets such as the F-14, F-4, F-7 and F-5, and also some Russian SU-24 and MiG-29 fighter jets.
