FIRST ON FOX: As Israel wages what it describes as an existential campaign against Iran, IDF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the war has reinforced a fundamental strategic shift in how Israel sees itself and its alliances, particularly with the United States and regional partners.

"Israel was never part of this region. We thought we were part of Europe," he said. "Since the Abraham Accords started, we are having good relations with our neighbors. We are part of this region now."

He described the 2020 agreements as transformative, building on the peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan. "The military cooperation is great. Some of the things are overt and some covert," Defrin said in his first English-language media interview since the beginning of the conflict. "Iran is a regional threat, and that is clear to everyone now."

But he stressed the campaign against Tehran is not only regional.

"It’s a worldwide problem, it’s a global problem, it’s a regional problem and it’s also an Israeli problem," he said. "They are not hitting only Israel."

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The spokesperson revealed that the operation was preceded by months of strategic deception.

"It was a strategic and operational deception," he said.

On the eve of the strike, senior officials deliberately maintained routine appearances.

"Friday night we went to dinner at home. The chief of staff and I returned late in cars that were not our official vehicles. The official cars stayed at home, and we made sure that from satellite imagery it would not look like the Kirya (ministry of defense) was full while all the planes were armed and ready."

He said Iran was caught off guard. "For many long months there was deception, so they were surprised. They fired what they had pre-planned in their preset response."

The spokesperson said the strike that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, was carried out in coordination with the Trump administration. "It was a mutual operation," he said. "The cooperation between us and the American military is amazing. We have mutual planning and mutual executing for the plans in Iran and beyond."

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He framed the operation as part of unprecedented U.S.-Israeli military coordination. The entire operation in Iran is a mutual and coordinated campaign," he said.

He also described a broader international dimension. "It’s a problem with the United States of America as well," he said, citing attacks by Iranian-backed groups that have killed American service members and threatened shipping lanes.

"They are posing a threat to the Red Sea… the movement of naval ships in the Suez Canal dropped by 90% since the Houthis started shooting at ships in the Bab al-Mandab Strait," he said. "It’s a global problem. It’s a terror regime. They are acting all over the world. And again, we had to act."

He added that regional states increasingly understand the threat. "Israel is here to stay. You see the countries of the region placing their trust in Israel."

Addressing reports that dozens of senior Iranian figures were eliminated in a strike on Tuesday, including claims that 88 members of Iran’s Assembly of Experts were killed, he dismissed the figures.

"We struck a few targets involved in terrorism. We still don’t have any battle damage assessment. Once we have it, we will publish it. It’s too early."

He emphasized that the targets were military. "We struck military targets," he said. "They are attacking population centers."

According to the spokesperson, Israeli intelligence shows Iran is deliberately aiming at civilians "to exact a price," including launches toward civilian infrastructure.

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Explaining the decision to launch the campaign, the spokesperson described Iran as an imminent existential threat.

"We didn’t have another choice, unfortunately. It’s an existential imminent threat. This is a terror regime," he said.

"They declared it. Whatever they declared, they did."

Asked whether regime change is an objective, he drew a distinction between military aims and political outcomes.

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"As a member of the military, I cannot say we have an aim to remove the regime," he said. "But definitely, we want to weaken it and create the conditions that one day this regime will be removed by its own people."

As fighting expands to Lebanon following renewed Hezbollah fire, he reiterated Israel’s view of Iran as the head of a regional network.

"Hezbollah is an octopus. The head of the octopus is in Iran."

For Israel, he said, the campaign has clarified a strategic reality shaped by the Abraham Accords and deepened U.S. cooperation. "We are part of this region now."

The Israel Defense Forces released a video Tuesday showing the Israeli Air Force destroying the "Iranian regime’s missile launchers, defense systems, and live-fire arrays." 

The IDF said more than 60 strikes recently were carried out in waves across western Iran, hitting targets including vehicles carrying ballistic missiles, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and loaded missile launchers. 

The development comes as Iran "once again" fired missiles containing cluster sub-munitions toward Israeli civilians on Tuesday in central Israel, according to IDF international spokesperson Lt. Nadav Shoshani. 

"The Iranian regime’s war crimes continue," he wrote on X.

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Shoshani also said in a video that, "Our forces, along with the U.S. armed forces, continue degrading the Iranian regime's military capabilities." 

"Yesterday, Iran’s main terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, launched dozens of rockets and UAVs from southern Lebanon at Israeli civilians in northern Israel," he continued. "Our forces have been prepared to strengthen and protect all borders as part of this operation and are more than ready." 

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"We are preparing for the possibility of Hezbollah expanding their attacks against Israeli civilians," Shoshani warned. "This includes reinforcing aerial defense systems and troops presence."

"Overnight, IDF troops were positioned in southern Lebanon at several points near the border area as part of an enhanced forward defense posture. Let me be clear: this is not a ground maneuver into Lebanon. It is a tactical step to create an additional level of security for the residents of northern Israel," Shoshani added. 

"Let me remind you, on Oct. 8th, the day after the Oct. 7 massacre, Hezbollah took control of vantage points near the northern border and fired RPGs and missiles indiscriminately towards Israeli civilians in the northern border. As a result, Israel had to evacuate around 60,000 civilians from their homes for many months. We will not let that happen again," he said. "Overnight, we carried out a series of preventative strikes on Hezbollah military infrastructure across Lebanon in order to neutralize the continuous fire towards our civilians." 

Israeli forces struck a meeting of Iran’s Supreme Council on Tuesday as officials gathered to choose a successor to the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a senior Israeli official told Fox News.

"Israel struck while they were counting the votes for the appointment of the supreme leader," the official said.

The strike underscored the depth of Israeli intelligence penetration inside Tehran and marked one of the most dramatic escalations yet in the joint U.S.-Israeli campaign aimed at dismantling Iran’s political and military leadership from the top down.

It came as Iran’s leadership structure appeared increasingly hollowed out.

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More than 40 of Iran’s most senior leaders — including Khamenei — have been killed since the operation began, with 49 eliminated in the opening salvo of Operation Epic Fury early Saturday, fracturing the regime’s command structure and dealing a crippling blow to its military leadership and command-and-control networks.

Israeli analysts estimated that more than 1,000 enemy combatants have been killed inside Iran since the United States launched Operation Epic Fury and Israel launched its parallel campaign, Operation Roaring Lion, on Saturday. The estimate came from Israel’s latest battle damage assessment, according to a senior Israeli official.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu framed the conflict as part of a broader effort to neutralize Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear ambitions.

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"With these ballistic missiles, these weapons of mass death, these weapons, they bombed all these countries," Netanyahu said. "And when they developed these ballistic missiles, they'll try and eventually they'll bomb you. This is what President Trump understood."

Vice President JD Vance said the administration had set a clear, limited objective for the operation.

"There's just no way that Donald Trump is going to allow this country to get into a multi-year conflict, with no clear end in sight and no clear objective," Vance said. "He's defined that objective as Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and has to commit long-term to never trying to rebuild the nuclear capability."

The joint U.S.-Israel assault entered its fourth day Tuesday, with no signs of slowing down.

President Donald Trump said the plan was ahead of schedule following the early elimination of Iran’s top leaders.

The U.S. urged Americans to leave 14 countries across the Middle East as Iran’s counterattacks intensified. The State Department also closed two embassies in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

The Gulf Cooperation Council warned Iran it would take "all necessary measures," including possible military action, in response to Tehran’s missile and drone attacks.