Israel attacked Iran’s capital Tehran early on Friday in strikes which targeted the country’s nuclear programme and raised the potential for an all-out war between the two bitter Middle East adversaries.
It appeared to be the most significant attack Iran has faced since its 1980s war with Iraq, with multiple sites around the country hit.
The leader of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was killed, Iranian state television reported. Another top Guard official, as well as two nuclear scientists, were also feared dead.
The chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, General Mohammad Bagheri, was also confirmed dead by Iranian state television.
Britain said the strikes were a “dangerous moment” in the Middle East and called for restraint.
Israeli leaders said the attack was necessary to head off what they described as an imminent threat that Iran would build nuclear bombs and they warned of a reprisal which could target civilians in Israel.
Within hours, the Israeli air force started intercepting some 100 drones over Saudi Arabia as Tehran hit back.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned “severe punishment” would be directed at Israel.
He said Israel had “opened its wicked and blood-stained hand to a crime in our beloved country, revealing its malicious nature more than ever by striking residential centres”.
In Washington, the Trump administration, which earlier cautioned Israel against an attack amid continuing negotiations, said it had not been involved in the attack and warned Iran against retaliations against US interests or personnel.
Multiple sites in the capital were hit in the attack, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said targeted both nuclear and military sites. Also targeted were officials leading Iran’s nuclear programme and its ballistic missile arsenal.
The assault came amid warnings from Israel that it would not permit Tehran to build a nuclear weapon, although it remains unclear how close the country is to achieving that.
Mr Netanyahu said the attacks will continue “for as many days at it takes to remove this threat” from Iran.
“It could be a year. It could be within a few months,” he added, stressing; “This is a clear and present danger to Israel’s very survival.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed an Israeli strike hit Iran’s uranium enrichment facility at Natanz and said it was closely monitoring radiation levels.
The attack followed increasing tensions that led the US to pull some diplomats from Iraq’s capital and to offer voluntary evacuations for the families of US troops in the wider Middle East.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel took “unilateral action against Iran” and that Israel advised the US that it believed the strikes were necessary for its self-defence.
“We are not involved in strikes against Iran, and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” Mr Rubio said in a statement released by the White House that warned Iran against targeting US interests or personnel.
The attack comes as tensions have reached new heights over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear programme.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said his country carried out the attack, without saying what it targeted.
“In the wake of the state of Israel’s preventive attack against Iran, missile and drone attacks against Israel and its civilian population are expected immediately,” he said in a statement.
Both Iran and Israel closed their airspace.
