VIGIL CONSILIUMSearch
Context. Not headlines.

Campaign

The twelve-day war, June 2025

Twelve days that established direct state-on-state exchange, and after which the inspectors did not go back.

13 – 24 June 20250 phases1 linked event

Concluded
Assessed as of
2026-09
Last reviewed
2026-09-04

AssessmentHigh confidence

Context, not targeting. Campaign records describe objectives, participants, phases and outcomes at the level of published analysis; they contain no current positions, force ratios, unit locations or strengths.

In short

Israel began strikes on Iran on 13 June 2025 and the United States struck three nuclear facilities on 22 June; a ceasefire was announced on 24 June. It is a separate, concluded conflict — and the point after which IAEA access to the struck sites was never restored.

Summary

Israel initiated strikes against Iran on 13 June 2025. The United States conducted strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities on 22 June, described by United States officials as narrowly tailored to destroy or severely degrade the nuclear programme. A ceasefire was announced on 24 June. The conflict is recorded here at the level needed to explain what followed it and no further: a detailed reconstruction belongs to a module about that conflict, which this is not.

Why it matters

Two things carry forward. It established direct exchange between Iran and Israel as the pattern, eight months before the 2026 campaign opened. And it is the event after which the International Atomic Energy Agency lost access to the sites it had been verifying — the last inventory it verified dates from 13 June 2025, the day the strikes began, and the Agency has been unable to account for that material since.

Primary forces

  • Israel Defense Forces Primary force · Confidence: Moderate · as of 2025-06

    The source names Israel; the organisational identification is Vigil's.

  • US Central Command Primary force · Confidence: Moderate · as of 2025-06

    Struck three nuclear facilities on 22 June 2025. The regional command is Vigil's institutional identification; no US component is named by the source.

Opposing forces

  • Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Opposing force · Confidence: High · as of 2025-06
  • IRGC Aerospace Force Opposing force · Confidence: Moderate · as of 2025-06

    Named at service level because the evidence names it: the opening Israeli strike killed the Aerospace Force's commander together with the commanders of its drone, surface-to-surface missile and air-defence wings, reportedly as they met to plan Iran's response. The 2026 campaign carries no equivalent service-level participant, because no source this module has read names one.

Outcome and present status

Concluded with an announced ceasefire on 24 June 2025. Iranian nuclear verification access was not restored afterwards, and eight months later a larger campaign opened.

What remains unknown

  • The damage to Iran's nuclear programme is disputed at the highest level: a leaked Defense Intelligence Agency preliminary assessment reportedly put the setback at months, while the CIA Director and the Director of National Intelligence circulated statements suggesting more severe damage. This module authors no assessment of the damage.
  • This record covers the conflict only as far as it explains the present system. Its own chronology, casualties and military course are not authored.

See the force running this in Explore Interactive: select this record and follow what connects to it.

Assessed as of2026-09Last reviewed2026-09-04

Compared with The 2026 interstate war

Two campaigns in this module, set beside each other on the fields both records carry. Nothing here is derived, scored or ranked.

The same three belligerents eight months apart, and the differences are the finding. June 2025 ran twelve days, was aimed at the nuclear programme and ended in an announced ceasefire; this one has run six months, has been aimed at the whole Iranian state and has reorganised the region's energy and shipping. Reading them together shows what changed between a strike campaign and a war — and that the interval between them was long enough for the snapback to happen inside it.

Comparison of The twelve-day war, June 2025 and The 2026 interstate war on canonical record fields
FieldThe twelve-day war, June 2025The 2026 interstate war
Period13 – 24 June 2025Since 28 February 2026
StatusConcludedOngoing
MechanismTwelve days that established direct state-on-state exchange, and after which the inspectors did not go back.A strike campaign that opened on one February morning and reorganised a region's energy, shipping and security in six months.
Places in the recordnot recorded5 places
Phases on filenot recorded4
Where it standsConcluded with an announced ceasefire on 24 June 2025. Iranian nuclear verification access was not restored afterwards, and eight months later a larger campaign opened.Ongoing at the research cutoff of 4 September 2026, with no agreement in force. Vigil states where the campaign stands and makes no claim about how it ends.
Humanitarian effectnot recordedA United States strike on a school at Minab killed 168 people, most of them children, on the opening day. Approximately 20,000 seafarers were stranded aboard vessels unable to move, and the maritime regulator has confirmed 17 seafarer deaths.
Status as of2026-092026-09
ConfidenceConfidence: HighConfidence: High

Both records are campaign records in the same module and are read here on their own terms. Similar mechanisms at different scales are not the same phenomenon, and this table is arranged to make the differences as visible as the resemblance.

Related structure

5 records that this campaign names, or that name it. Every one is an explicit reference in a published record — nothing here is inferred from subject matter.

Participants

Organisations this campaign names, with the role it states.

Events inside it

Dated events this campaign places within itself.