Fears of all-out war as Israel launches ‘preemptive' strikes against Iran
Israel has attacked Iran's capital, with explosions booming across Tehran as Israel says it targeted nuclear and military sites.
The strikes were a 'preemptive, precise, combined offensive' that included 'dozens of targets' across different areas of Iran, an Israeli military official said in a press briefing.
The attack early on Friday comes as tensions have reached new heights over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program.
The Board of Governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency for the first time in 20 years on Thursday censured Iran over it not working with inspectors.
Iran immediately announced it would establish a third enrichment site in the country and swap out some centrifuges for more-advanced ones.
Israel for years has warned it will not allow Iran to build a nuclear weapon, something Tehran insists it does not want - though official there have repeatedly warned it could build them.
The US has been preparing for something to happen, already pulling some diplomats from Iraq's capital and offering voluntary evacuations for the families of US troops in the wider Middle East.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel took 'unilateral action against Iran' and that Israel advised the US that it believed the strikes were necessary for its self-defence.
'We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,' Rubio said in a statement released by the White House.
Rubio also issued a warning to Iran that it should not target US interests or personnel.
People in Tehran awoke to the sound of the blasts. Both Iran and Israel closed their airspace.
It was not immediately clear what had been hit, though smoke could be rising from Chitgar, a neighbourhood in western Tehran.
There are no known nuclear sites in that area, but it was not immediately clear if anything was happening in the rest of the country.
An Israeli military official says that his country targeted Iranian nuclear sites, without identifying them.
The official spoke to journalists on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing operation, which is also targeting military sites.
Benchmark Brent crude spiked on the attack, rising nearly five per cent on the news.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that his country carried out the attack, without saying what it targeted.
'In the wake of the state of Israel's preventive attack against Iran, missile and drone attacks against Israel and its civilian population are expected immediately,' he said in a statement.
Katz 'signed a special order declaring an emergency situation in the home front', the statement said.
'It is essential to listen to instructions from the home front command and authorities to stay in protected areas,' it said.
Iran halted flights Friday at Imam Khomeini International Airport outside of Tehran, the country's main airport, Iranian state TV said.
Iran has closed its airspace in the past when launching previous attacks against Israel during the Israel-Hamas war.
As the explosions in Tehran started, President Donald Trump was on the lawn of the White House mingling with members of Congress.
It was unclear if he had been informed but the president continued shaking hands and posing for pictures for several minutes.
Trump earlier said he was urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off from taking action for the time being while the administration negotiated with Iran.
'As long as I think there is a (chance for an) agreement, I don't want them going in because I think it would blow it,' Trump told reporters.
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The Advertiser
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Israel's gas field strike came a day after it wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command in a surprise attack. Netanyahu said Israel's strikes had set back Iran's nuclear program possibly by years and rejected international calls for restraint. "We will hit every site and every target of the Ayatollahs' regime, and what they have felt so far is nothing compared with what they will be handed in the coming days," he said in a video message. In Tehran, Iranian authorities said around 60 people, including 29 children, were killed in an attack on a housing complex, with more strikes reported across the country. Israel said it had attacked more than 150 targets. Iran had launched its own retaliatory missile volley on Friday night, killing at least three people in Israel. Air raid sirens sent Israelis into shelters as waves of missiles streaked across the sky and interceptors rose to meet them. US President Donald Trump has lauded Israel's strikes and warned Iran of much worse to come. He said it was not too late to halt the Israeli campaign, but only if Tehran quickly accepted a sharp downgrading of its nuclear program at talks with Washington that were due to be held on Sunday. But host Oman confirmed on Saturday that the next round of talks had been scrapped. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said holding talks was unjustifiable while Israel's "barbarous" attacks were ongoing. In the first apparent attack to hit Iran's energy infrastructure, Iranian media reported a fire after Israel bombed the South Pars gas field in southern Bushehr province. With Israel saying its operation could last weeks, and urging Iran's people to rise up against their Islamic clerical rulers, fears have grown of a regional conflagration dragging in outside powers. Tehran warned Israel's allies that their military bases in the region would come under fire too if they helped shoot down Iranian missiles. However, 20 months of war in Gaza and a conflict in Lebanon last year have decimated Tehran's strongest regional proxies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, reducing its options for retaliation. Iran's overnight fusillade included hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones, an Israeli official said. Three people were killed and dozens wounded, the ambulance service said. In Iran, Israel's two days of strikes destroyed residential apartment buildings, killing families and neighbours as apparent collateral damage in strikes targeting scientists and senior officials in their beds. Iran said 78 people had been killed on the first day and scores more on the second day, including 60 when a missile brought down a 14-storey apartment block in Tehran, where 29 of the dead were children. 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Tehran called off nuclear talks that Washington had said were the only way to halt Israel's bombing, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacks were nothing compared with what Iran would see in the coming days. Israel's military said on Saturday more missiles were launched from Iran towards Israel, and it was working to intercept them. It also said it was attacking military targets in Tehran. Iranian state television said Iran had launched missiles and drones at Israel. Israel's ambulance service said 14 people were injured, including one critically, at a two-storey house in northern Israel following an Iranian missile strike. Israeli media reported that one person had been killed in the strike. Israel's gas field strike came a day after it wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command in a surprise attack. Netanyahu said Israel's strikes had set back Iran's nuclear program possibly by years and rejected international calls for restraint. "We will hit every site and every target of the Ayatollahs' regime, and what they have felt so far is nothing compared with what they will be handed in the coming days," he said in a video message. In Tehran, Iranian authorities said around 60 people, including 29 children, were killed in an attack on a housing complex, with more strikes reported across the country. Israel said it had attacked more than 150 targets. Iran had launched its own retaliatory missile volley on Friday night, killing at least three people in Israel. Air raid sirens sent Israelis into shelters as waves of missiles streaked across the sky and interceptors rose to meet them. US President Donald Trump has lauded Israel's strikes and warned Iran of much worse to come. He said it was not too late to halt the Israeli campaign, but only if Tehran quickly accepted a sharp downgrading of its nuclear program at talks with Washington that were due to be held on Sunday. But host Oman confirmed on Saturday that the next round of talks had been scrapped. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said holding talks was unjustifiable while Israel's "barbarous" attacks were ongoing. In the first apparent attack to hit Iran's energy infrastructure, Iranian media reported a fire after Israel bombed the South Pars gas field in southern Bushehr province. With Israel saying its operation could last weeks, and urging Iran's people to rise up against their Islamic clerical rulers, fears have grown of a regional conflagration dragging in outside powers. Tehran warned Israel's allies that their military bases in the region would come under fire too if they helped shoot down Iranian missiles. However, 20 months of war in Gaza and a conflict in Lebanon last year have decimated Tehran's strongest regional proxies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, reducing its options for retaliation. Iran's overnight fusillade included hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones, an Israeli official said. Three people were killed and dozens wounded, the ambulance service said. In Iran, Israel's two days of strikes destroyed residential apartment buildings, killing families and neighbours as apparent collateral damage in strikes targeting scientists and senior officials in their beds. Iran said 78 people had been killed on the first day and scores more on the second day, including 60 when a missile brought down a 14-storey apartment block in Tehran, where 29 of the dead were children.
