Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered an attack plan against Iran in November 2024, shortly after the elimination of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah — one of Iran’s strongest proxies. That’s when Israel forecasted Iran would start rapidly advancing its nuclear program.

In a video statement circulated to journalists Friday evening, Netanyahu said the attack was supposed to happen in April but was postponed.

Israeli strikes on Iran on Friday and Tehran's vows of reprisals have brought the two Middle East adversaries closer to an all-out war, which also threatens to draw in the United States, at least to some degree.

So how do the militaries of Iran and Israel stack up against each other?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he expected "several waves of Iranian attacks" in response to Israeli strikes on the Islamic republic on Friday, saying he had initially planned an attack in April.

"We expect to be exposed to several waves of Iranian attacks," Netanyahu said in a video statement, after Israel struck military and nuclear sites in Iran in the early hours of Friday.

For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a blistering attack on the heart of Iran’s nuclear and military structure distracts attention from Israel’s ongoing and increasingly devastating war in Gaza, which is now over 20 months old.

There is a broad consensus in the Israeli public that Iran is a major threat, and Israel’s opposition leader, Yair Lapid, a staunch critic of Netanyahu, offered his “full support” for the mission against Iran. But if Iranian reprisals cause heavy Israeli casualties or major disruptions to daily life, public opinion could shift quickly.

Israeli leaders cast a blistering attack on the heart of Iran’s nuclear and military structure as necessary to head off an imminent threat that Iran would build nuclear bombs, though it remains unclear how close the country is to achieving that or whether Iran had actually been planning a strike. Iran maintains its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only.

"This is a clear and present danger to Israel’s very survival,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed as he vowed to pursue the attack for as long as necessary to “remove this threat.”

The United States is shifting military resources, including ships, in the Middle East in response to Israel's strikes on Iran and a possible retaliatory attack by Tehran, two U.S. officials said Friday.

The Navy has directed the destroyer USS Thomas Hudner, which is capable of defending against ballistic missiles, to begin sailing from the western Mediterranean Sea toward the eastern Mediterranean and has directed a second destroyer to begin moving forward so it can be available if requested by the White House.

Popular online services across the globe were disrupted Thursday due to ongoing issues at Google Cloud.

Tens of thousands of users of Spotify, Discord and other platforms began noticing issues with their services early in the afternoon, according to Downdetector, which tracks outages.

German 17-year-old Justin Engel became the youngest player since Boris Becker 40 years ago to reach the quarterfinals of an ATP Tour grass-court tournament by making the last eight at the Stuttgart Open on Thursday.

Engel beat seventh-seeded Alex Michelsen of the United States 6-4, 6-4 to become the youngest quarterfinalist ever in Stuttgart. He is the youngest man to reach the quarters of any grass-court event since Becker won Wimbledon as a 17-year-old in 1985.

Trent Alexander-Arnold was officially introduced by Real Madrid on Thursday, saying he was fulfilling his dream to play for the Spanish powerhouse and under his idol Xavi Alonso.

The 26-year-old England back was the latest reinforcement on defense for Madrid after a season in which the back line struggled following injuries.

Tottenham hired Thomas Frank as head coach on Thursday after the Danish manager ended his nearly decade-long stay at fellow Premier League team Brentford.

The 51-year-old Frank will replace Ange Postecoglou, who was fired last week despite leading Tottenham to its first trophy in 17 years with a win over Manchester United in the Europa League final.