Iran launched missiles towards Israel on Saturday, Israel’s military said, as the Pentagon revealed that U.S. strikes against Iran had been named “Operation Epic Fury” — marking a sharp escalation in a conflict that President Donald Trump said would end a security threat to the United States and offer Iranians a chance to topple their rulers.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was not in Tehran and had been transferred to a secure location, a source told Reuters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the joint U.S.-Israeli attack “will create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their destiny into their own hands.”
“The time has come for all sections of the people in Iran … to remove the yoke of tyranny from (the regime) and bring a free and peace-loving Iran,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
“The State of Israel launched a pre-emptive attack against Iran to remove threats to the State of Israel,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said.
An Israeli defence official said the operation had been planned for months in coordination with Washington, and that the launch date was decided weeks ago.
The attack was launched during Ramadan, the holy Muslim month of fasting, and comes ahead of the Jewish holiday of Purim — which traditionally commemorates the salvation of Jews from annihilation in ancient Persia — beginning on Monday.
Explosions were heard in Tehran on Saturday, Iranian media reported. Sirens sounded across Israel around 08:15 local time in what the military described as a proactive alert ahead of a possible incoming missile strike. Schools and workplaces were ordered closed, with exceptions for essential sectors, and civilian flights were banned from Israeli airspace. The airports authority asked the public not to travel to any of the country’s airports.
The assault follows a 12-day air war between Israel and Iran in June, when the United States joined an Israeli military campaign targeting Iranian nuclear installations — the most direct American military action ever against the Islamic Republic.
Tehran retaliated at the time by launching missiles at the U.S. Al Udeid air base in Qatar, the largest American military installation in the Middle East.
Saturday’s strikes come despite renewed U.S.-Iran diplomatic talks that began in February aimed at resolving the decades-long nuclear dispute. Israel had insisted that any deal must include the full dismantling of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure — not merely a halt to uranium enrichment — and lobbied Washington to incorporate restrictions on Tehran’s ballistic missile programme. Iran said it was prepared to discuss curbs on its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief but ruled out linking that to its missile programme.
Tehran had also warned neighbouring countries hosting U.S. forces that it would retaliate against American bases if Washington struck Iran. Western powers have warned that Iran’s ballistic missile programme threatens regional stability and could be used to deliver nuclear weapons. Tehran denies seeking atomic bombs.
(Reuters)
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