Israel has carried out strikes on a target in Iran, defying President Joe Biden’s warnings about further embroiling the Middle East in conflict.
U.S. officials confirmed that strikes hit a location in Iran, but it is unclear exactly which target was hit or the extent of the damage.
Officials said the city of Isfahan in central Iran was hit at 5 a.m. local time. The city is home to one of Iran’s nuclear facilities, although US military sources reportedly said the target was not nuclear.
Iranian news channel FARS reported that the attacks took place “near Isfahan airport and the army’s air force’s eighth fighter base.”
Iran sought to downplay any significant damage to its military facilities and flatly denied that any nuclear power plants had been destroyed, claiming that “no large-scale attacks or explosions from any aerial threat have been reported to date.”
Reports citing senior US military sources contradicted this, claiming that targets had been hit. No official comment has been released by Israel, Iran or the US.
It comes in response to Iran launching a barrage of hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel on Saturday, which was largely thwarted by Israel and its international allies. Isfahan was one of several launch sites used in the attack.
Biden had warned Israel not to retaliate for Saturday’s attacks and urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “take victory” from the thwarted Iranian attack.
Unconfirmed images shared on social media appeared to show anti-aircraft fire over the city of Isfahan in central Iran, home to one of the country’s nuclear facilities.
The strikes hit at least one target in Iran, US officials confirmed. The extent of the damage and the exact location of the attack is unclear (unconfirmed image)
The Biden administration had emphasized the need for de-escalation from Israel after the barrage of Iranian attacks on Saturday
Images circulating on social media appear to show explosions over Iran, but DailyMail.com has been unable to confirm the images.
Shortly after reports of attacks emerged, three drones were “successfully shot down by the country’s air defenses,” Iranian National Cyberspace Center spokesman Hossein Dalirain said on X.
Israeli officials warned the Biden administration of its intention to strike before the launch in previous days, but one official told CNN that the US did not “green light” any Israeli response.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant on Thursday afternoon, but a key source declined to confirm this New York Times as Gallant warned of the strikes that took place hours after the meeting.
Israeli military officials reportedly emphasized that today’s strikes were a “limited response” to Iran’s attack, which appeared to target military nodes that Iran used in their attack on Saturday.
About four hours after reports of strikes, Iran lifted flight suspensions and opened its airports, while runways in Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz were closed after the Israeli attack.
Further unconfirmed explosions are believed to have struck military targets in Iraq and Syria around the same time.
Early reports indicated that Iranian air defense systems fired on an unknown object in Tabriz, about 500 miles (800 kilometers) north of Isfahan, but the extent of such an attack in the region is unclear.
Although the US military played a central role in stopping the Iranian attacks on Saturday, President Biden said he had made it “very clear” to Netanyahu that he had to act “carefully and strategically.”
Biden urged Netanyahu to “take victory” from the derailed attack, warning that the US would not participate in any Israeli counter-offensive.
The Israeli leader dismissed Biden’s warnings, insisting that Israel would “make its own decisions” on how to respond to Iran’s attack.
After warnings of escalation in the region, Israeli Prime Minister defied Biden, claiming Israel would ‘make its own decisions’
US officials said there was an expectation that if Israel ignored the warnings, it would not target nuclear or civilian sites.
The Iranian attack was in retaliation for a suspected Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Syria on April 1, which killed 13 people, including two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps generals.
As Israel maintained its plans to retaliate against Iran, a senior Iranian official warned that the country would respond by starting production of nuclear weapons if its nuclear facilities were targeted.
Iran threatened to use “weapons it has never used before” if Israel struck, and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also warned that Iran would retaliate at the “maximum level” if Israel fired.
“In the event that the Israeli regime again embarks on adventure and takes action against Iran’s interests, our next response will be immediate and at maximum levels,” Amir-Abdollahian told CNN.
Emergency services and security personnel extinguish a fire at the site of the attack that hit the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital Damascus on April 1, killing 13 people, including two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps generals.
Israeli military spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari (L) poses next to an Iranian ballistic missile that fell in Israel over the weekend during a media tour of the Julis military base near the southern Israeli city of Kiryat Malachi on April 16, 2024
Amid fears that the Middle East crisis could spiral into all-out war, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin joined calls to calm tensions when he spoke to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the Kremlin said week.
While the West urged calmer heads in the Jewish state, the National Security Committee of Iran’s parliament, Abolfazl Amoue, said Iran is prepared for a “painful response” to the “slightest action.”
It was also reported on Wednesday that Iranian Navy Commander Shahram Irani said the Iranian Navy would escort its commercial ships to the Red Sea, putting Iranian warships right on Israel’s doorstep.
The instability in the region has had an immediate impact on global oil markets, with crude oil prices rising above $90 a barrel as news of the Israeli attacks emerged.
The Islamic republic, which has always maintained its nuclear program is peaceful and denies wanting an atomic bomb, has accused arch-enemy Israel in recent years of sabotage attacks on its facilities and killings of nuclear scientists.
According to Ahmad Haghtalab, head of nuclear protection and security of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran has “identified” Israeli nuclear centers and has “necessary information on all targets.”
It is well known that Israel has nuclear weapons, but has never admitted it.