JERUSALEM: Israel attacked Iran’s capital early on Friday in strikes that targeted the country’s nuclear programme and raised the potential for an all-out war between the two bitter Middle East adversaries. It appeared to be the most significant attack Iran has faced since its 1980s war with Iraq, with multiple sites around the country hit.
The leader of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was feared dead, Iranian state television reported, a development that would be a major body blow to Tehran’s governing theocracy and an immediate escalation of the nations’ long-simmering conflict. The report offered few details about what happened to Gen Hossein Salami but said that another top Guard official, as well as two nuclear scientists, were also feared dead.
Israeli leaders said the attack was necessary to head off what they described as an imminent threat that Iran would build nuclear bombs, and they warned of a reprisal that could target civilians in Israel.
In Washington, the Trump administration, which earlier cautioned Israel against an attack amid continuing negotiations, said that it had not been involved in the attack and warned Iran against retaliations against US interests or personnel.
Multiple sites in the capital were hit in the attack, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said targeted both nuclear and military sites. Also targeted were officials leading Iran’s nuclear programme and its ballistic-missile arsenal.
The assault came amid warnings from Israel that it would not permit Tehran to build a nuclear weapon, though it remains unclear how close the country actually is to achieving that.
Netanyahu said in an address on YouTube that the attacks will continue “for as many days as it takes to remove this threat”.
The attack followed increasing tensions that led the US to pull some diplomats from Iraq’s capital and to offer voluntary evacuations for the families of US troops in the wider Middle East.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel took “unilateral action against Iran” and that Israel advised the US that it believed the strikes were necessary for its self-defence.
“We are not involved in strikes against Iran, and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” Rubio said in a statement released by the White House that warned Iran against targeting US interests or personnel.
The attack comes as tensions have reached new heights over Tehran’s rapidly-advancing nuclear programme.