Middle East crisis live: Israeli military says it is carrying out strikes on military targets in Iran
Israel striking targets in Iran – IDF
The Israeli military is now conducting “precise strikes on military targets in Iran”, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has just posted on X.
The strikes are in response to “months of continuous attacks from the regime in Iran against the state of Israel”, the IDF post says.
It also says Israel’s “defensive and offensive capabilities are fully mobilized”.
The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking Israel since October 7th – on seven fronts – including direct attacks from Iranian soil.
Like every other sovereign country in the world, the state of Israel has the right and the duty to respond.
Our defensive and offensive capabilities are fully mobilized. We will do whatever necessary to defend the state of Israel and the people of Israel.
In response to months of continuous attacks from the regime in Iran against the State of Israel—right now the Israel Defense Forces is conducting precise strikes on military targets in Iran.
The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking… pic.twitter.com/OcHUy7nQvN
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 25, 2024
Key events
Andrew Roth
Analysis: There was little doubt that Israel would eventually launch Saturday’s counterstrike against Iran in the latest tit-for-tat exchange between the two largest militaries in the Middle East.
But the scale and targets of that attack has been the subject of intense diplomatic wrangling between Israel and Washington, as the Biden administration hoped that it could restrain Benjamin Netanyahu from launching a devastating reprisal that could spiral into an all-out war.
What the White House hopes is that Israel can fulfil a declaration by defence minister Yoav Gallant to make the world “understand [Israel’s] might” but not humiliate Iran to the degree that it would launch an even greater retaliation. But that is a difficult balance to strike and a slight miscalculation could lead to devastating consequences for the region.
It will still take some time before the precise targets of the pre-dawn raids are confirmed. Israel said they were in part a response to Iran’s launching of more than 180 ballistic missiles at Israel, which in turn was a response to Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Explosions were reported over Tehran and nearby Karaj, as well as possibly at sites in Isfahan, Mashhad and Kurdistan province. Some of the explosions took place near Imam Khomeni international airport, according to reports, although civilian flights were operating normally as of Friday morning, according to the Tasnim news agency.
Overall, the strikes appeared to target military bases, including a barracks and a military warehouse in Tehran, according to the US broadcaster NBC citing defence sources. A source in Israel told the outlet that it was not targeting nuclear or oil facilities.
Biden administration officials will hope that they have dissuaded Israel from targeting some of Iran’s most sensitive infrastructure, including the oil production facilities and those tied to Iran’s nascent nuclear program.
Fresh blasts heard in Tehran – reports
New blasts have reportedly been heard around the Iranian capital on Saturday, shortly after reports of earlier ones.
Continuous explosions and light trails were visible across the sky in central Tehran, according to Agence France-Presse reporters.
Vice-president Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee for next month’s US election, has been briefed on the Israeli strikes on Iranian military targets, a White House official said.
She is closely following developments and will continue to be updated.
As we reported earlier, the White House said it understood Israel was conducting the strikes “as an exercise of self-defence”.
Iranian state TV is saying the explosions heard were due to the “activation of air defence system”, Agence France-Presse reports.
As our just-updated full report says, at least seven explosions were heard over Iran’s capital, Tehran, and nearby Karaj just after 2.30am local time on Saturday, as Israeli jets struck what were described as “military targets” in the country.
It was not immediately clear if that marked the end of the attack.
Iran’s state TV reported several strong explosions heard around Tehran, while the state news agency, IRNA, said there had been no casualties.
There was no immediate official comment about the source of explosions, which Iranian news outlets reported were under investigation.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed it had begun to launch strikes against Iran.
Iraq has suspended flights in all its airports until further notice, Reuters cites the state news agency as saying.
For more background on today’s strikes, Israel and Iran have been locked in a years-long shadow war.
As the Associated Press reports:
Israel and Iran have been bitter foes since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Israel considers Iran to be its greatest threat, citing its leaders’ calls for Israel’s destruction, their support for anti-Israel militant groups and the country’s nuclear program.
A suspected Israeli assassination campaign has killed top Iranian nuclear scientists. Iranian nuclear installations have been hacked or sabotaged, all in mysterious attacks blamed on Israel. Meanwhile, Iran has been blamed for a series of attacks on shipping in the Middle East in recent years, which later grew into the attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on shipping through the Red Sea corridor.
But since Hamas’ 7 October attack, the battle has increasingly moved into the open. Israel has recently turned its attention to Hezbollah, which has been firing rockets into Israel since the war in Gaza began. Throughout the year, a number of top Iranian military figures have been killed in Israeli strikes in Syria and Lebanon.
Iran fired a wave of missiles and drones at Israel last April after two Iranian generals were killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike in Syria on an Iranian diplomatic post. The missiles and drones caused minimum damage, and Israel – under pressure from western countries to show restraint – responded with a limited strike.
But after Iran’s early October missile strike, Israel promised a tougher response.
Israel’s strikes on Iran occurred just as the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, was arriving back in the US after a tour of the Middle East where he urged Israel to respond to Iran in a way that would not further escalate the conflict in the region and would exclude nuclear sites in Iran.
The Associated Press also reports that the White House’s National Security Council spokesman, Sean Savett, said it understood Israel was conducting the strikes against Iranian military targets and referred reporters to the Israeli government for more details on their operation.
Iranian media says no fires or explosions were reported at a key Tehran refinery.
The Tasnim news agency was referring to a key oil refinery south of the capital, Agence France-Presse reports.
The Israeli military posted on X that Lieut Gen Herzi Halevi, the chief of the general staff, is commanding the strike on Iran from the Israeli air force underground command centre in Camp Rabin with the commander of the Israeli air force, Maj Gen Tomer Bar.
Here’s our full report, just sent live, on Israel’s strikes on Iran early today.
Several bases in Tehran targeted – Iranian media
Several military bases in Iran’s west and south-west of Tehran have been targeted by Israel, Reuters cites the semi-official Iranian news agency Fars as reporting.
A resident in Tehran says at least seven explosions could be heard and they rattled the Iranian’s capital’s surrounding area.
Associated Press reports the resident spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Iranian state-run media in Tehran initially acknowledged the blasts and said some of the sounds came from air defence systems around the city.
Meanwhile in Syria, state media described its air defences as targeting “hostile targets” there as well.
US not involved in Iran strikes, says Washington
A US official says the United States has no involvement in Israel’s military operation against targets in Iran.
Reuters also cites the White House as saying it understood that Israel was conducting the strikes against military targets “as an exercise of self-defence”.
A US official confirmed that Israel notified Washington before carrying out the strikes.
