Iran’s military said Israeli strikes on Iran in retaliation for Iranian missile attacks earlier this month killed four Iranian soldiers.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it targeted missile factories and other sites near Tehran and western Iran early Saturday morning.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said it had a responsibility to defend itself but added that Iran “recognizes its responsibility for regional peace and security”, a statement seen as relatively conciliatory.
Israel’s retaliation for a barrage of nearly 200 Iranian ballistic missiles fired toward Israel on October 1 had been widely anticipated for weeks.
Tehran said the attack was in retaliation for the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil in July. Many missiles were shot down by Israel and its allies, but a small number struck central and southern regions. southern Israel.
Iranian authorities said sites in Tehran, Khuzestan and Ilam provinces were attacked. The army stated that the attacks were successfully responded to, although there was “limited damage” in some locations.
After the Israeli attack, Iranian state media posted footage showing normal traffic in several cities, while school and sports activities were still held as scheduled.
The Israeli military announced the operation Saturday shortly after reports of an explosion in Iran. IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the military had demonstrated its readiness “to defend the state of Israel”.
He also warned that if Iran begins a new round of escalation, Israel will “have an obligation to respond”.
The US and UK both called on Iran not to strike back after the latest attacks, with President Joe Biden’s administration calling for an end to the cycle of violence.
Senior US administration officials said the US was informed in advance about the Israeli attacks and that Washington was not involved in them.
An official said the attacks did not include Iran’s oil infrastructure or nuclear facilities – targets the Biden administration has urged Israel not to attack.
The official said the US had encouraged Israel for weeks to mount a “targeted and proportionate response with a low risk of civilian harm” and said that was “exactly what happened” on Monday. Saturday night.
However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement saying Israel chose the target “in accordance with national interests, not according to US orders”.
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said Israel had the right to defend itself against “Iranian aggression” and repeated his call for Iran to avoid retaliation, saying Britain would work to “de-escalate the situation across the region.” “.
But Russia and other countries in the region, including US allies Jordan and Saudi Arabia, have accused Israel of escalating the conflict.
Qatar expressed “deep concern about the possible serious consequences of this escalation”, while Jordan described the attack as a “dangerous escalation”.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said “it is necessary to stop provoking Iran to retaliate and escape the spiral of uncontrollable escalation”.
The scale of the Israeli attacks and their exact targets remained unclear Saturday morning.
Iran’s aviation authority briefly suspended flights but announced they would restart from 09:00 local time (06:30 BST).
Hooman, a 42-year-old factory employee, was working in Tehran when he heard the explosion, he told AFP news agency.
“It was an echoing sound… horrifying and horrifying,” the agency quoted him as saying. “Now that there is war in the Middle East, we are afraid that we will be dragged into it.”
Syrian state media reported that Israeli airstrikes also targeted locations in central and southern Syria.
According to the IDF, following the Israeli attack, Hezbollah fired 80 projectiles across the border into Israel on Saturday afternoon.
Later, AFP news agency reported that the Iran-backed group fired a series of rockets into five residential areas in northern Israel, including the suburb of Krayot near Haifa.
