Israel launched strikes against Iran early Friday morning, Israeli and Western officials said, in what appears to be a limited retaliatory action for last week’s drone and missile attack by Tehran.
Iranian air defenses fired on targets and explosions were reported near the cities of Isfahan in central Iran and Tabriz in the northwest. Iranian state media downplayed the damage caused by the alleged attacks and Iran lifted imposed flight restrictions overnight.
Israel notified the United States on Thursday evening of its intention to carry out strikes in Iran, giving its closest ally a few hours’ official notice, an Israeli official said.
The warning did not contain details of the attack, but made clear that Israel intended to avoid Tehran and its surrounding areas and was focusing on a specific military program or installation linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, a declared the manager.
Separately, Syria’s official Sana news agency reported that Israeli missiles targeted air defense positions in Syria’s southern region, citing a military source.
Three Western officials also confirmed that the attack on Iran was launched by Israel, while one said it was limited in scope. ABC News and CBS News reported that Israel used missiles in the attack, citing U.S. officials.
Consistent with Israel’s long-standing policy of ambiguity regarding its operations against Iran, government and military spokespeople declined to comment.
A person familiar with the matter said the strike in Iran hit a military target involved in Iran’s barrage against Israel a week ago, and that they were not aware of any casualties. The person said “some targets” were also hit in southern Syria.
“Geographically, this shows that Israel can go wherever it wants in Iran,” the person said. “That was part of the message.”
In contacts with its allies before the attack, Israel had indicated that it would respond to the Iranian barrage, but was not seeking escalation, according to a Western diplomat.
Isfahan is home to both an Iranian military air base and an important site in Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran insists is purely peaceful but which the West fears puts the Islamic republic at the threshold of capacity military.
The Tasnim news agency, close to the Revolutionary Guards, said the air base and nuclear facility near Isfahan were safe and rejected reports of an attack from outside the country.
A senior military official in Isfahan told state media that air defenses fired on unidentified objects and there was no damage.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, said Friday it could “confirm that there is no damage to Iranian nuclear sites.”
He added in a post on X that he “continues to call on everyone to exercise extreme restraint and reiterates that nuclear facilities should never be the target of military conflict.”
Tally Gotliv, an Israeli lawmaker from the ruling Likud party, wrote on X that Israelis should have their “heads…”. . . held high with pride” about its strength, adding: “May we regain our power of deterrence. »
In a more enigmatic message, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right Israeli Minister of National Security, who had called for an “overwhelming attack” against Iran, wrote on X: “Weak!
Deraa24, a Syrian opposition news site, said Israeli jets struck a military battalion near the town of Qarfa in the southern Daraa province. A vehicle carrying missiles linked to the battalion was also hit, the statement said.
Israeli forces have carried out numerous airstrikes against Iranian-affiliated forces in an increasingly open confrontation in the Middle East over the past decade.
The White House and Pentagon declined to comment.
Israel has struck hundreds of targets in Syria, including airports in Aleppo and Damascus, as well as arms depots linked to Tehran and its proxies in Syria.
Oil prices rose sharply following the reports, before falling again after Tehran appeared to downplay the significance of the strikes. Brent crude futures, the international oil benchmark, briefly rose above $90 a barrel, then fell back to trade 1.1% higher at $88.04. The price of West Texas Intermediate, the American benchmark, gained 1.2 percent to $83.75 a barrel.
European stocks fell in early trading, with the Stoxx Europe 600 index down 0.6 percent. Contracts tracking the U.S. benchmark S&P 500 index were down 0.5 percent before the New York market opened – on course to extend Wall Street’s losing streak to a sixth straight session.
Tensions are high in the Middle East over possible Israeli retaliation after Iran fired more than 300 armed drones and missiles at the Jewish state last weekend, the first time Tehran has directly targeted the country since its own floor.
Iran said the strike was in response to an attack on its embassy in Damascus that killed top military commanders, and which Tehran blamed on Israel.
The Pentagon said Thursday that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant to discuss “regional threats and Iran’s destabilizing actions in the Middle East.”
Additional reporting by Neri Zilber in Tel Aviv, Felicia Schwartz in Capri and Philip Stafford in London