Israeli Iron Dome air defense system launches to intercept missiles fired from Iran on April 14, 2024. Photo / AP
Israeli missiles have hit a site in Iran, beginning a counter-attack after Iran fired dozens of missiles at Israel, a United States official has reportedly said.
The Israeli military struck Iran, according to two Israeli defence officials, the New York Times reports. It appeared to be Israel’s first military response to Iran’s attack on Israel five days earlier.
Three Iranian officials confirmed to the New York Times a strike had hit a military air base near the city of Isfahan, in central Iran, early on Friday, but did not say which country had mounted the attack.
Iranian officials have denied the blasts were a missile attack on Iran, telling Reuters an explosion heard in Isfahan was a result of the activation of Iran’s air defence system.
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ABC News earlier reported a US official had confirmed the strike, but cannot confirm whether Syria and Iraq sites were hit as well, amid reports of ‘explosions’ over the city of Isfahan.
Senior Iranian officials reported overnight blasts at a military base near the city of Isfahan. The explosions came after Israel vowed retaliation for Iran’s first-ever direct strike on the country.
World stock markets fell by around 1 per cent and oil prices spiked by 4 per cent on the news.
Australia has told its citizens to leave Israel and Palestinian territories if it’s safe to do so.
A spokesperson for the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it has a “Do Not Travel” advisory in place for Israel, because the unpredictable security situation.
“This was updated last weekend. New Zealanders in Israel who wish to leave are strongly advised to depart when it is safe to do so. SafeTravel messaging has been sent to all New Zealanders registered in Israel.”
Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB is downplaying the reports of an attack, BBC reports.
Days ago, New Zealand joined calls for Israel not to escalate tensions with Iran.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters told RNZ at the time, “This is no time for escalation, it is time for calmness and to realise that no one’s going to be a winner here, it’s just going to get worse.”
Today’s strike comes after Iran launched dozens of drones and missiles at Israel, which it said was in retaliation for an airstrike on its consulate building in Syria which killed several, including two Iranian generals. The airstrike has been attributed by Iran and the US to Israel, which has not commented on the attack.
Iran fired air defenses at a major air base and a nuclear site near the central city of Isfahan after spotting drones early Friday morning, raising fears of a possible Israeli strike in retaliation for Tehran’s unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on the country.
It was unclear if the country was under attack, as no Iranian official directly acknowledged the possibility and Israel’s military did not respond to a request for comment. However, tensions have remained high in the days since the early Saturday assault on Israel amid its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip and its own strikes targeting Iran in Syria.
US officials declined to comment as of early Friday, but American broadcast networks quoting unnamed US officials said Israel carried out the attack. The New York Times quoted anonymous Israeli officials claiming the assault, which came on Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s 85th birthday.
Air defence batteries fired in several provinces over reports of drones being in the air, state television reported.
In particular, IRNA said air defences fired at a major air base in Isfahan, which long has been home to Iran’s fleet of American-made F-14 Tomcats — purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Tasnim later published a video from one of its reporters, who said he was in the southeastern Zerdenjan area of Isfahan, near its “nuclear energy mountain.” The footage showed two different anti-aircraft gun positions, and details of the video corresponded with known features of the site of Iran’s Uranium Conversion Facility at Isfahan.
“At 4:45, we heard gunshots. There was nothing going on,” he said. “It was the air defense, these guys that you’re watching, and over there too.”
The facility at Isfahan operates three small Chinese-supplied research reactors, as well as handling fuel production and other activities for Iran’s civilian nuclear program.
Isfahan also is home to sites associated with Iran’s nuclear program, including its underground Natanz enrichment site, which has been repeatedly targeted by suspected Israeli sabotage attacks.
Isfahan is some about 350 kilometres south of Iran’s capital, Tehran.
State television described all atomic sites in the area as “fully safe.” The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, also said “there is no damage to Iran’s nuclear sites” after the incident.
General Siavosh Mihandoost, a local army commander, also told state TV the incident caused “no damage” around Isfahan.
Iran’s nuclear program has rapidly advanced to producing enriched uranium at nearly weapons-grade levels since the collapse of its atomic deal with world powers after then-President Donald Trump withdrew America from the accord in 2018.
While Iran insists its program is for peaceful purposes, Western nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency say Tehran operated a secret military weapons program until 2003. The IAEA has warned that Iran now holds enough enriched uranium to build several nuclear weapons if it chose to do so — though the US intelligence community maintains Tehran is not actively seeking the bomb.
Dubai-based carriers Emirates and FlyDubai began diverting around western Iran about 4:30 am local time. They offered no explanation, though local warnings to aviators suggested the airspace may have been closed.
The semiofficial Fars news agency reported explosions over Isfahan near its international airport. It offered no explanation for the blast. However, Isfahan is home to a major airbase for the Iranian military, as well as sites associated with its nuclear program.
Iran later announced it grounded commercial flights in Tehran and across areas of its western and central regions. Loudspeakers informed customers of the incident at Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran, online videos purported to show. Iran later restored normal flight service, authorities said.
Hossein Dalirian, a spokesperson for an Iranian government cyberspace agency who as a journalist had ties to Iranian defense officials, said on the social media platform X that several small “quadcopter” drones had been shot down. A state television reporter in Isfahan said the same in a live report, saying “several small drones were flying in the sky over Isfahan, which were fired at.”
Around the time of the incident in Iran, Syria’s state-run SANA news agency quoted a military statement saying Israel carried out a missile strike targeting an air defense unit in its south and causing material damage. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said the strike hit a military radar for government forces. It was not clear if there were casualties, the Observatory said.
That area of Syria is directly west of Isfahan, some 1500 kilometres away, and east of Israel.
Meanwhile in Iraq, where a number of Iranian-backed militias are based, residents of Baghdad reported hearing sounds of explosions, but the source of the noise was not immediately clear.
The incident Friday in Iran also sparked concerns about the conflict again escalating across the seas of the Middle East, which have been seeing attacks by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels of Yemen on shipping over the war in Gaza.
The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre warned ships in the region that they could see increased drone activity in the skies.
“There are currently no indications commercial vessels are the intended target,” it wrote.
The Houthis have launched at least 53 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sank another since November, according to the US Maritime Administration.
Houthi attacks have dropped in recent weeks as the rebels have been targeted by a US-led airstrike campaign in Yemen and as shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined over the threat.
However, Iranian state-run media sought to downplay the incident after the fact, airing footage of an otherwise-peaceful Isfahan morning. That could be intentional.
“As long as Iran continues to deny the attack and deflect attention from it and no further hits are seen, there is space for both sides to climb down the escalation ladder for now,” said Sanam Vakil, the director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House.
The two victims were found in a toolbox, submerged in a dam's murky waters.