Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Israel on Friday it faced a “bitter and painful” fate in response to the attack launched overnight against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, as Tehran launched 100 drones toward Israel in its initial response.

Israel alerted its citizens on Friday morning that Iran had launched more than 100 drones — which would take several hours to arrive — telling people nationwide to remain near bomb shelters.

Three hours later, the IDF Home Front Command lifted its instruction to Israelis to remain near shelters without a single siren sounding in the country, after it worked to shoot them down outside Israeli territory.

The IDF said late Friday morning that it had “control over the situation,” though it did not yet confirm shooting all of the drones down. Restrictions remained in effect for schools and workplaces in addition to public gatherings or events.

Israel “opened its wicked and blood-stained hand to a crime in our beloved country, revealing its malicious nature more than ever by striking residential centers,” Khamenei said Friday, in a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency.

The comments came after Israel launched a

© The Times of Israel