- Israel has carried out strikes on Iran, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz has announced, with blasts heard in Iran’s capital, Tehran
- Katz declared a state of emergency in Israel, saying the country expected retaliation
- In Jerusalem, residents were woken by sirens followed by a phone alert
- The strikes targeted “Iran’s nuclear programme and other military targets”, an Israeli official haFlights suspended at Tehran’s international airportpublished at 20:482
An Israeli security source says “there is a growing likelihood” that senior Iranian nuclear scientists and military officials were killed in tonight’s strikes.
In that address a short while ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also thanked Donald Trump for “confronting Israel’s nuclear weapons program”.
“He has made clear time and again that Iran cannot have a nuclear enrichment program,” Netanyahu said.
As we’ve reported, Donald Trump had earlier on Thursday said he hoped “to avoid a conflict”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also said that Washington has not been involved in the strikes.
All flights at Tehran’s main international airport have been suspended, according to Iranian state media.
Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport is located just over 30km southwest of the Iranian capital.
At the White House earlier today, it was quiet on the events in Iran.
US President Trump was asked about the threats of a strike and was explicit that he did not want to see any Israeli strikes in Iran yet.
“As long as I think there will be an agreement, I don’t want them going in,” he said, adding that any strike could “blow it” when it comes to negotiations.
He added that he believes an attack is “fairly close.”
“I don’t want to say it’s imminent,” he said of a potential Israeli attack. “But it looks like something that could well happen.”
Additionally, Trump said he would “love to avoid a conflict”.
“They [Iran] are going to have to be willing to give us some things that they’re not willing to give us right now,” he said.
An Israeli military official says that there are multiple strikes and that they are “against Iran’s nuclear programme and other military targets”. It involves dozens of strikes in different areas of the country, the official says.
It is targeting long-range missiles and targets related to the nuclear programme, the official adds.
