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Israel has launched a strike against Iran following months of mounting tensions over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear programme, dramatically escalating the crisis that has gripped the Middle East for more than a year.
Massive explosions were heard across Tehran at about 3:30am local time. Domestic media confirmed the blasts but did not verify whether they were caused by an Israeli strike.
Initial videos and photos shared by Iranians on social media show smoke rising from various parts of Tehran. Fearing potential bombardment of residential areas, some people have left their homes.
Fars News Agency, affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, said that “unconfirmed reports indicate several residential houses were targeted by Israel,” including the Mahallati complex where the elite force’s commanders reside.
Israel’s defense minister Israel Katz said Israel had carried out a “pre-emptive strike against Iran”, and that Israel was expecting Iran to retaliate with “a missile and drone attack against the State of Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate future”.
Soon afterwards, Israel closed its airspace. It also banned most non-essential gatherings. Iran also suspended all flights until further notice.
A US official said Washington was “aware of the reports of strikes” and that “there was no US involvement or US assistance” to Israel during the operation.
“We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region. Israel advised us that they believe this action was necessary for its self-defense,” US secretary of state Marco Rubio said in a statement released by the White House.
“Let me be clear: Iran should not target US interests or personnel.”
Oil prices soared on the reports of the strikes, with international benchmark Brent up more than 5 per cent to $72.22 a barrel and US marker West Texas Intermediate rising by a similar margin to $71.24. Futures tracking Wall Street’s blue-chip S&P 500 index fell 1.3 per cent.
The strike follows a months-long stand-off over Iran’s nuclear programme. The UN atomic watchdog’s board on Thursday declared Iran was in breach of its non-proliferation obligations, the first such censure in two decades.
US President Donald Trump had been attempting to broker a diplomatic resolution to the stand-off over Iran’s nuclear programme but had warned on Thursday that an Israeli strike was a possibility.
However, he said that he did not want Israel “going in because I think it would blow it”.
The strikes capped nearly two years of spiraling conflict across the Middle East that began with the war between Israel and Hamas triggered by the militant group’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
