US, Israel Launch Attack Against Iran: Reports

Israel today said it had launched a pre-emptive strike on Iran, thrusting the Middle East back into open military confrontation and dimming prospects for a diplomatic resolution of Tehran’s nuclear standoff with the West, according to a report by Reuters.

The New York Times, citing a US official, reported that American strikes on Iran were also underway. A source told Reuters that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had been moved from Tehran to a secure location.

An AP report said the strike in Iran’s capital happened near offices of Khamenei.

Several missiles have struck University Street and the Jomhouri area in Tehran, Al Jazeera reported Fars news agency as saying. Smoke was seen rising in the city, according to an Al Jazeera correspondent on the ground.

The assault follows a 12-day air war between Israel and Iran in June and repeated US-Israeli warnings that further action would follow if Tehran continued advancing its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

“The State of Israel launched a pre-emptive attack against Iran to remove threats to the State of Israel,” the Reuters report quoted Defence Minister Israel Katz as saying.

Iranian media reported explosions in Tehran, while sirens sounded across Israel around 8:15 a.m. local time in what the military described as a precautionary alert against possible missile retaliation, the report said.

The escalation comes despite renewed US-Iran talks that began in February aimed at reviving diplomacy and avoiding a wider regional conflict. Israel has argued that any agreement must dismantle Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and address its missile programme, not merely curb uranium enrichment, the report said.