Israel launches strikes on Iran; Tehran braces for retaliatory response

Israel carried out strikes against Iran on Friday, targeting its nuclear and military sites, after US President Donald Trump warned of a possible “massive conflict” in the region.

The attacks wounded at least 50 people, including women and children, state television in the Islamic republic reported.

“Following the Israeli attack, about 50 injured people were transferred to Chamran Hospital (in Tehran), at least 35 of whom are women and children,” the broadcaster said, without announcing any deaths.

Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.

Iranian state media said residential buildings in Tehran were also hit, killing a number of civilians, including women and children.
The strikes took place overnight, as unconfirmed images and footage began to appear on social media of Tehran’s skyline, with plumes of smoke seen rising to the sky in several locations, Iran’s state-run IRNA reported.

Images showed damaged residential buildings in several locations in the capital. Eyewitnesses and reporters from the state TV said they saw the bodies of women and children among the victims.

Fire and smoke were seen at a key site for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, state TV reported, while explosions were also heard in Natanz city in Iran’s central province.

Chief Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami was assassinated in the attack, IRNA reported.

Israel’s attack on Iran hit a key uranium enrichment facility in the country’s centre multiple times, state TV reported.

The “Natanz enrichment facility has been hit several times,” state TV reported, showing footage of heavy smoke billowing from the site.

Iran’s oil ministry said key refineries and fuel depots were unaffected by the deadly attack, with operations continuing nationwide without disruption.

“No damage was caused to the country’s refining facilities and oil depots, and currently the activities of these facilities and fuel supply are ongoing in all parts of the country without interruption,” the ministry said in a statement.

Air traffic was halted at Tehran’s main international airport Imam Khomeini, while neighbouring Iraq has also closed its airspace and suspended all flights at all airports, state media reported.

Israel declared a state of emergency, likewise closing its airspace, with Defence Minister Israel Katz saying retaliatory action from Tehran was possible following the operation.

An Israeli military official added that the Israeli army believed that Iran had the ability to strike Israel “any minute”.
Several children had been killed in a strike on a residential area in the capital, it said.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement that Israel had “unleashed its wicked and bloody” hand in a crime against Iran and that it would receive “a bitter fate for itself”.

An Israeli military official said Israel was striking “dozens” of nuclear and military targets, including the facility at Natanz in central Iran.