- Iran says that the commander of the revolutionary guards killed.
- “We are at a decisive moment in the history of Israel,” said Netanyahu.
- Rubio says we are not involved in the Israeli operation.
Jerusalem / Dubai / Washington: Israel launched large -scale strikes against Iran on Friday, saying that it was targeting nuclear installations, ballistic missile factories and military commanders and that it was the start of an extended operation to prevent Tehran from constituting an atomic weapon.
The Iranian media and witnesses have reported explosions, especially in the country’s main enrichment establishment in the country in Natanz, while Israel declared the state of emergency in anticipation of reprisals and drone strikes.
The Iranian body of the Guards of the Elite Revolution said that its best commander, Hossein Salami, had been killed and that the state media reported that the seat of unit in Tehran had been affected. Several children were killed in a strike in a residential area in the capital, he said.
“We are at a decisive moment in the history of Israel,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a recorded video message.
“A few moments ago, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a targeted military operation to make the Iranian threat back for the very survival of Israel. This operation will continue for as many days that it takes to suppress this threat.”
The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in a statement that Israel had “triggered his nasty and bloody hand in a crime against Iran and that he would receive” a bitter fate for himself “.
An Israeli military official said that Israel struck dozens of nuclear and military objectives, including the installation of Natanz, in the center of Iran. The official said that Iran had enough equipment to make 15 nuclear bombs in a few days.
The United States has said it had no share in the operation, which increases the risk of new escalation in tensions in the Middle East, a large oil producing region.
In addition to vast air strikes, the Mossad of Israel’s spy agency has led a series of secret sabotage operations in Iran, Axios reported, citing a senior Israeli official. These operations aimed to harm Iran’s strategic missile sites and its air defense capacities.
The Iranian state media reported that at least two nuclear scientists, Fereydoun Abbasi and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi were killed in Israeli strikes in Tehran.
Ben Gurion Airport of Tel Aviv was closed until further notice, and the air defense units of Israel rose to possible reprisals in Iran.
“Following the preventive strike of the State of Israel against Iran, a missile and UAV attack (Drone) against the State of Israel and its civilian population is expected within the immediate period,” said Defense Minister Israel Katz in a statement.
Israeli military chief of staff Eyal Zamir said tens of thousands of soldiers had been called and “prepared through all borders”.
“We are in the middle of a historic campaign like no other. It is a critical operation to prevent an existential threat, by an enemy who intends to destroy us,” he said.
Israeli Minister Gideon Saar held the “call marathon” with counterparts around the world concerning the attack on Israel against Iran, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
We “not involved”
US President Donald Trump Fox News After the start of Israeli air strikes on Iran.
“We will see,” said Fox News journalist Jennifer Griffin, said Trump in an article on X.
Trump would convene a meeting of the National Security Council on Friday morning, said the White House. He had declared an Israeli strike on Iran on Thursday “could very well happen” but reiterated his hopes for a peaceful resolution.
The American army provides for the full range of eventualities in the Middle East, including the possibility that he can have to help evacuate American civilians, an American official told Reuters.
Iran’s spokesman for the armed forces said that Israel and his main ally, the United States would pay a “heavy prize” for the attack, accusing Washington of providing support for the operation.
While the United States has attempted to distant themselves from the military operation of Israel, an Israeli official told public broadcaster Kan that Israel had coordinated with Washington on Iran.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States was not involved in strikes and that Aviv had acted unilaterally to defend himself.
“We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is to protect US forces in the region,” Rubio said in a statement.
“Let me be clear: Iran should not target American interests or staff,” he added.
The State Department has published an opinion saying that all employees of the US government in Israel and their family members should “take shelter until further notice”.
Friday, attacks launched a drop in stock prices in Asian trade, led by a sale in American term contracts, while oil prices jumped while investors rushed into security paradises such as Gold and the Swiss franc.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned any military climbing in the Middle East, said UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq.
“The Secretary General asks the two parties to show a maximum deduction, avoiding at all costs a descent into a deeper conflict, a situation that the region can hardly afford,” said Haq.
Nuclear talks
US and Iranian officials had to organize a sixth round of talks on the climbing program of the climbing of Tehran in Oman on Sunday, according to officials from the two countries and their Omana mediators.
An American official said that these talks were still to continue despite the Israeli attack.
The Israeli army said on Friday that it had been forced to act on the basis of new intelligence information showing that Iran “approached the point of no return” in the development of a nuclear weapon.
“In the past few months, this program has accelerated considerably, considerably bringing the regime closer to obtaining a nuclear weapon,” he said in a statement, without disclosing the alleged proof.
A familiar source with American intelligence reports indicated that there had been no recent change in the evaluation of American intelligence that Iran did not build a nuclear weapon and that Khamenei had not authorized the restart of the nuclear weapons program which was closed in 2003.
