- The official said Israel notified the U.S. in advance. Israel has not confirmed it launched an attack
- Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency has said air defence batteries have been fired in several provinces
Israel conducted a strike in Iran early Friday morning local time, a senior U.S. official has said.
Fars news agency, which is affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reported explosions were heard in the city of Isfahan in central Iran near an Iranian air force base.
Iranian state TV reported several drones were shot down by air defenses in Isfahan.
“They said that we fired 500 suicide drones and missiles… now they respond with three of these quadcopter, all of which were shut down,” Iran’s space agency Spokesperson Hossein Dalirian wrote on X.
Meanwhile, Iran issued a notification early Friday morning local time closing the air space over Western parts of the country, including the capital Tehran, its State media has said.
It comes after Iran’s Fars news agency said explosions were heard near the airport at the country’s central Isfahan city.
“The cause of these sounds is still unknown, and investigations continue until the exact details of the incident are determined,” the Fars news agency reported.
Israel, which has not confirmed it launched an attack, has vowed to retaliate againstIran for a missile and drone attack on Israel.
The U.S. is concerned that continued counterattacks could trigger wider regional escalation.
An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined to comment.
The U.S. official said Israel notified the U.S. in advance. “We were not surprised,” the official said.
The Biden administration has warned Israel that escalation with Iran wouldn’t serve U.S. or Israeli interests and urged Israel to “be careful” with any retaliation, U.S. officials said.
Iran launched nearly 350 attack drones and missiles against Israel on April 13 in retaliation for an April 1 Israeli airstrike on its embassy compound in Damascus, Syria that killed a top Iranian general and others.
Most of the drones and missiles were intercepted outside of Israeli airspace by Israeli, U.S., British, French, Jordanian and Saudi forces, officials said.
Shortly after the Israeli missile strikes were reported, Florida Senator Marco Rubio published a post on X reading “Israel has the ability to conduct strikes against targets inside Iran without entering Iranian air space from aircraft over Syrian and Iraqi airspace.”
The strikes on Iran mirrored the pattern of dozens of Israeli Air Force fighter jets which on Tuesday night conducted air maneuvers over the Mediterranean Sea, simulating striking Iranian nuclear facilities.
According to a statement by the Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday, the drill included “long-range flight, aerial refueling and striking distant targets.”
According to Channel 13 news, more than 100 aircraft — as well as navy submarines — participated in the drill that spanned some 10,000 kilometers.
The jets were refueled twice during the simulation, as they circled Cyprus and conducted mock airstrikes in Israel, the report said. Meanwhile, the elite helicopter search-and-rescue Unit 669 was on standby to assist pilots who may have needed to abandon their planes.
Written with agency reports
