Operation Scorch Sword

Operation Scorch Sword (Persian: عَمَلیاتِ شمشیرِ سوزان) was a surprise airstrike carried out by the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force on 30 September 1980, that damaged an almost-complete nuclear reactor located 17 kilometres (11 miles) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. The operation took place eight days into the Iran–Iraq War. At dawn on 30 September 1980, four Iranian McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II jets refuelled mid-air near the Iran–Iraq border. After crossing into Iraq, the fighters climbed to a high altitude in order to stay undetected by Iraqi airspace radar systems. Moments later, two of the F-4s peeled off and dropped to a low altitude again to avoid internal radar detection and proceeded to fly stealthily to the Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Centre just southeast of the capital city of Baghdad, and home to the Osirak nuclear reactor.

This was the first such attack on a nuclear reactor and the third on any nuclear facility in history. It was also the first instance of a preventive attack on a reactor, the intent of which was to forestall the development of any nuclear weapon that Iraq could potentially threaten Iran with in the future.

Although the operation successfully damaged the facility and reactor, it failed to thwart the Iraqis' ability to continue their development in the nuclear sector. However, the Osirak reactor was obliterated in a second aerial operation, dubbed Operation Opera, that was carried out by the Israeli Air Force eight months later on 7 June 1981.