The United States and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday, pushing the Middle East into a renewed military confrontation.
The strikes followed months of rising regional tensions amid threats by US president Donald Trump to attack if Iran pressed ahead with its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
In a video shared on social media, Trump said the US military has launched “major combat operations” in Iran, saying the country had attempted to rebuild its nuclear programme.
“Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime,” Trump said.
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Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said Israel had launched a “pre-emptive attack against Iran to remove threats to the state of Israel."
At around 8.10am Irish time, the Israeli military said it had “identified missiles launched from Iran” towards Israel, adding: “Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat.”
Blasts have been heard across multiple cities in Iran, including the capital Tehran and Isfahan.
Three large explosions were heard in central Tehran, according to the Iranian news agency Fars. The casualties and targets were not immediately clear.
The first apparent strike happened near the offices of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
It was not clear whether 86-year-old Khamenei had been in his offices at the time. He has not been seen publicly in days as tensions with the US have grown.
Iranian officials say several ministries in southern Tehran have been targeted.
In Israel, air-raid sirens blared across the country, warning Israelis to expect potential Iranian retaliation.
Israel closed its airspace to civilian flights on Saturday, while the US embassy in Qatar has implemented a shelter-in-place warning to all personnel, and recommended US citizens do the same until further notice.
In his video, Trump said the US military has undertaken “a massive and ongoing operation to prevent this very wicked, radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests”.
“We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally, again, obliterated,” he said.
“We are going to annihilate their navy. We are going to ensure that the region’s terrorist proxies can no longer destabilise the region or the world, and attack our forces, and no longer use their IEDs - or roadside bombs, as they are sometimes called - to so gravely wound and kill thousands and thousands of people including many Americans. And we will ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon.”
The US and Iran renewed negotiations in February in a bid to resolve the decades-long dispute through diplomacy and avert the threat of a military confrontation that could destabilise the region.
Israel, however, insisted that any US deal with Iran must include the dismantling of Tehran’s nuclear infrastructure, not just stopping the enrichment process, and lobbied Washington to include restrictions on Iran’s missile programme in the talks.
Iran said it was prepared to discuss curbs on its nuclear programme in exchange for lifting sanctions but ruled out linking the issue to missiles.
Tehran also said it would defend itself against any attack.
The attack comes after the US assembled a fleet of fighter jets and warships in the region to try to pressure Iran into a deal over its nuclear programme.
Iran warned neighbouring countries hosting US troops that it would retaliate against US bases if Washington struck Iran.
In June, the US joined an Israeli military campaign against Iranian nuclear installations, in the most direct US military action ever against the Islamic Republic.
Tehran retaliated by launching missiles toward the US Al Udeid air base in Qatar, the largest in the Middle East.
Western powers have warned that Iran’s ballistic missile project threatens regional stability and could deliver nuclear weapons if developed. Tehran denies seeking atomic bombs. - Agencies.
- This is a developing story
