Israel launched widescale strikes against Iran on Friday, saying it targeted nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders and that this was start of a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon. Iranian media and witnesses reported explosions including at the country\u2019s main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, while Israel declared a state of emergency in anticipation of retaliatory missile and drone strikes. Israel\u2019s military said Iran launched about 100 drones toward Israel on Friday and that it was making an effort to shoot them down. \u201cIran launched approximately 100 UAVs towards Israeli territory, which we are working to intercept,\u201d military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin told journalists. He added that Israel\u2019s strikes on Iran involved 200 fighter jets striking about 100 targets across Iran. Iran\u2019s elite Revolutionary Guards corps said its top commander, Hossein Salami, was killed and state media reported the unit\u2019s headquarters in Tehran had been hit. Several children had been killed in a strike on a residential area in the capital, it said. \u201cWe are at a decisive moment in Israel\u2019s history,\u201d Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a recorded video message. \u201cMoments ago Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel\u2019s very survival. This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.\u201d Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement that Israel had \u201cunleashed its wicked and bloody\u201d hand in a crime against Iran and that it would receive \u201ca bitter fate for itself\u201d. An Israeli military official said Israel was striking \u201cdozens\u201d of nuclear and military targets including the facility at Natanz in central Iran. The official said Iran had enough material to make 15 nuclear bombs within days. The United States said it had no part in the operation, which raises the risk of a fresh escalation in tensions in the Middle East, a major oil producing region. Alongside extensive air strikes, Israel\u2019s Mossad spy agency led a series of covert sabotage operations inside Iran, Axios reported, citing a senior Israeli official. These operations were aimed at damaging Irans strategic missile sites and its air defence capabilities. Iranian state media reported that at least two nuclear scientists, Fereydoun Abbasi and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, were killed in Israeli strikes in Tehran. The UN nuclear watchdog said that Iranian authorities told it that no increase in radiation levels have been observed at the Natanz uranium enrichment site following Israeli strikes. \u201cIranian authorities have informed the IAEA\u2026 that no increase in radiation levels has been observed at the Natanz site,\u201d the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a post on X, after earlier confirming that the facility was \u201camong targets\u201d of the strikes. It added that Iran\u2019s only nuclear power plant in the southern port city of Bushehr had not been targeted. Tel Aviv\u2019s Ben Gurion Airport was closed until further notice, and Israel\u2019s air defence units stood at high alert for possible retaliatory strikes from Iran. \u201cFollowing the pre-emptive strike by the State of Israel against Iran, a missile and UAV (drone) attack against the State of Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate time frame,\u201d Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. Israeli military Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said tens of thousands of soldiers had been called up and \u201cprepared across all borders\u201d. \u201cWe are amidst a historic campaign unlike any other. This is a critical operation to prevent an existential threat, by an enemy who is intent on destroying us,\u201d he said. Israeli Minister Gideon Saar was holding \u201cmarathon of calls\u201d with counterparts around the world regarding Israel\u2019s attack on Iran, the foreign ministry said in a statement. Pakistan was among several countries and international actors which condemned Israel\u2019s strikes, with the Foreign Office calling it \u201cunjustified and illegitimate aggression by Israel.\u201d Jordan and Iraq announced the closure of their airspace and grounded all flights, with Amman vowing it would not allow any violations of its airspace. \u201cThe kingdom\u2019s airspace is temporarily closed, and air traffic suspended for all aircraft \u2013 incoming, outgoing and in transit, as a precaution against any risks resulting from the regional escalation,\u201d the Jordanian civil aviation authority said in a statement. \u201cJordan has not and will not allow any violation of its airspace, reaffirming that the Kingdom will not be a battleground for any conflict,\u201d government spokesperson Mohammad Momani told AFP. Iraq, which borders Iran, also closed its airspace on Friday. \u201cThe ministry of transport closes Iraqi airspace and suspends air traffic at all Iraqi airports,\u201d the Iraq News Agency reported. US not involved: US President Donald Trump said that Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb and that the US was hoping to get back to the negotiating table, in an interview with Fox News after the start of the Israeli air strikes on Iran. \u201cWe will see,\u201d Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin quoted Trump as saying in a post on X. Trump would convene a meeting of the National Security Council on Friday morning, the White House said. He had said on Thursday an Israeli strike on Iran \u201ccould very well happen\u201d but reiterated his hopes for a peaceful resolution. The US military is planning for the full range of contingencies in the Middle East, including the possibility that it might have to help evacuate American civilians, a US official told Reuters. Iran\u2019s armed forces spokesperson said Israel and its chief ally the United States would pay a \u201cheavy price\u201d for the attack, accusing Washington of providing support for the operation. While the US tried to distance itself from Israel\u2019s military operation, an Israeli official told public broadcaster Kan that Israel had coordinated with Washington on Iran. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States was not involved in the strikes and Tel Aviv had acted unilaterally for self-defence. \u201cWe are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,\u201d Rubio said in a statement. \u201cLet me be clear: Iran should not target US interests or personnel,\u201d he added. The State Department issued an advisory saying that all US government employees in Israel and their family members should \u201cshelter in place until further notice\u201d. The attacks triggered sharp falls in stock prices in Asian trade on Friday, led by a selloff in US futures, while oil prices jumped as investors scurried to safe havens such as gold and the Swiss franc. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned any military escalation in the Middle East, said deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq. \u201cThe Secretary-General asks both sides to show maximum restraint, avoiding at all costs a descent into deeper conflict, a situation that the region can hardly afford,\u201d Haq said. Nuclear talks: US and Iranian officials were scheduled to hold a sixth round of talks on Tehran\u2019s escalating uranium enrichment programme in Oman on Sunday, according to officials from both countries and their Omani mediators. A US official said those talks were still scheduled to proceed despite the Israeli attack. The Israeli military said on Friday that it was forced to act based on new intelligence information showing that Iran was \u201capproaching the point of no return\u201d in the development of a nuclear weapon. \u201cIn recent months, this program has accelerated significantly, bringing the regime significantly closer to obtaining a nuclear weapon,\u201d it said in a statement, without disclosing the purported evidence. A source familiar with US intelligence reports said there had been no recent change in the US intelligence assessment that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon and that Khamenei had not authorised the restarting of the nuclear weapons programme that was shuttered in 2003.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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