Israel launches missile attack on Iran
Israel launched a daytime missile attack on Iran on Saturday morning, following weeks of escalating tensions between Donald Trump and the Ayatollah.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that a state of emergency was declared in the country as thick smoke rose from the explosion in Tehran city center.
Iranian state media reported explosions in their capital. The attack appeared to have taken place near the office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
It is not yet clear whether 86-year-old Khamenei was in his office at the time.
The Iranian leader has not been seen in public for days as the United States gathers a large fleet of warplanes and warships in the region to force Iran to reach an agreement on its nuclear program.
The IDF launched the surprise ‘pre-emptive’ attack in coordination with the United States, a source told CNN. Katz said the attack was “to eliminate threats.”
Israel warned its citizens to prepare to take cover in case the Iranians responded, as sirens were heard across Israel.
The country’s Defense Force said: ‘This is a proactive warning to prepare the public for the possibility of missile launches towards the State of Israel.’
Following this morning’s attack, airspace over Israel was closed to civilian flights.
The explosion took place at a time when tensions were high between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s nuclear program.
This week, Trump issued a dire warning that Iran is producing weapons that could soon hit the United States.
In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump said Tehran was “working on missiles that will soon reach America.” He also promised to prevent Iran, the ‘number one sponsor of terrorism’, from obtaining nuclear weapons.
The image shows smoke rising from a building following an explosion in Tehran, Iran, on Saturday morning. The attack appeared to have taken place near the office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Trump has also openly flirted with regime change, recently telling reporters that the overthrow of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “would be the best thing that could happen.”
But U.S. intelligence reports have not yet concluded that Iran has the capability to produce a weapon that could reach the homeland.
The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) assessed last year that Iran may need until 2035 to create a “militarily viable” intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) whose warhead travels thousands of miles, including into space for a time, before falling toward its target.
The DIA report states that ‘Iran has space launch vehicles that it can use to develop a militarily viable ICBM by 2035 if Tehran decides to pursue this capability.’
The two aircraft carrier strike groups, representing about 15,000 troops, more than a dozen ships, hundreds of aircraft and possibly some submarines, are being used by Trump to force Iran to capitulate to his demands for nuclear disarmament.
In addition, thousands of troops and large numbers of military assets remain at bases across the region, although there have been some reports of evacuations.
The impasse showed some signs of easing recently with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, with Iran’s chief negotiator, Omani foreign minister Sayyed Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi.
Additional meetings were planned for Friday.
This is breaking news.
