Israel says it has struck Iran after taking missile fire
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel said Monday that a missile launched from Yemen and targeting the country had been detected, without providing details.
Yemen is home to the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. The Houthis fired missiles at Israel during and after the Israel-Hamas war but were not fully involved in the Iran war.
Following the missile launch warning in Yemen, sirens rang throughout Israel.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Below is AP’s earlier story.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel launched air strikes targeting central and western Iran early Monday in response to missile fire from Tehran; These attacks threatened to plunge the entire Middle East into a regional war again.
Iranian state television reported that explosions were heard in Isfahan, Karaj, Tabriz and Tehran, without immediately providing details. An eyewitness in Tehran described hearing at least one large explosion somewhere west of the country’s capital. Iran closed the airspace around Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport, the country’s main airspace, following the Israeli attack.
Iranian officials did not provide any information about what was hit or the damage. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said Israel used air-launched ballistic missiles in its attack on Monday morning, without elaborating.
At dawn in Iran, the Israeli military issued a brief statement as the attacks began: “Recently, the Israeli Air Force struck military targets belonging to the Iranian terrorist regime in Western and Central Iran.” He did not explain in detail.
The White House did not respond to messages asking whether the attacks were carried out in coordination with the United States.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia sounded missile alert sirens in the area where an air base hosting US forces is located on Monday morning. Saudi state media reported that the alarm was reported in Al Kharj province, home to Prince Sultan Air Base. The warning came after Israel attacked Iran. Saudi Arabia soon said the missile threat to the region had passed, without elaborating.
Negotiations between Iran and the United States on a fragile ceasefire in the war had been disrupted for days due to clashes between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite militia group Hezbollah. Israel currently occupies Southern Lebanon and has moved into parts of the country that it has not held for a quarter of a century; This raises fears that they will expand their campaign even further.
Israel launched air strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sunday. Iran retaliated with its own attack on Israel, which led to Israel attacking Iran on Monday morning.
US President Donald Trump had previously told a Fox News Channel reporter that he wanted the Iranians to stop firing missiles and return to the negotiating table. He also said Israel’s attacks on Lebanon early Sunday were not coordinated with the United States and “I’m not happy about that.”
A senior US official said Trump called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and urged him not to immediately retaliate for Iran’s missile attack. The official, who described a private phone call on condition of anonymity, said he believed Trump persuaded Netanyahu to wait.
Trump “made Bibi postpone for now,” the official said. The official gave no further details about the call, and Netanyahu’s office had no immediate comment.
Speaking to the Financial Times before Israel’s attack on Iran, Trump emphasized that he dictated to Netanyahu the conditions on how the war would be continued.
“He won’t have a choice,” Trump told the newspaper in a phone interview. “I make the decisions. I make all the decisions. He (Netanyahu) does not make the decisions.”
___ Matthew Lee in Washington and Michelle L. Price in Bridgewater, New Jersey, contributed to this report.
