TEL AVIV: The Israel military says it has launched strikes on military targets in Iran, as Iranian media reported several explosions were heard in Iran’s capital, Tehran, and the nearby city of Karaj early Saturday.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a post on X that it was conducting “precise strikes on military targets” in Iran, but did not elaborate.
“The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking Israel since October 7th — on seven fronts — including direct attacks from Iranian soil. Like every other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has the right and the duty to respond,” the statement said.
Israel’s strikes took place just as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived back in the U.S. after his latest trip the Middle East.
VOA asked the National Security Council whether President Joe Biden had been briefed on the explosions in Iran. Spokesperson Sean Savett did not directly respond but acknowledged the strikes.
“We understand that Israel is conducting targeted strikes against military targets in Iran as an exercise of self-defense and in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel on October 1st,” Savett said.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were both briefed on Israel’s operation, the White House said later Friday. Both were closely following developments and will continue to be updated, according to media reports.
A U.S. defense official told VOA “we were given a heads-up” on the strikes, “but we’re not involved.”
All of the additional U.S. forces that the Pentagon had ordered to the Middle East earlier this month had arrived in the region prior to the Israeli strikes on Iran, another U.S. defense official told VOA.
Earlier Friday, U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. forces across the Middle East, announced the arrival of additional F-16 fighter jets from Germany.
Iranian state television offered no details about where the explosions took place. It showed footage from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport as well as a vegetable market in the city showing scenes of normal activity.
(VOA)
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