Hours after Iran fired ballistic missiles at northern Israel, the Israeli Air Force hit back, striking “military targets belonging to the Iranian terror regime in western and central Iran”, reigniting tensions in the region amid growing fears of a return to open conflict.
“The Israeli Air Force struck military targets belonging to the Iranian terror regime in western and central Iran a short while ago,” the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said in a post on X.
Fresh explosions also rocked Beirut and the US State Department issued a security alert for citizens in Jordan over reports of projectiles in the country’s airspace. “Reports indicate missiles, drones, or rockets are in Jordanian airspace. Seek overhead cover and shelter in place immediately. Remain indoors and pay attention to local announcements and alerts,” it said in a statement on X.
The Israeli strikes come even as President Donald Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to retaliate against Iran’s attack and allow more time for diplomacy, according to a senior US official and an Israeli source familiar quoted by Axios.
Trump’s effort to restrain an Israeli response signals his administration’s push to keep escalating Israel-Iran tensions from derailing the peace talks.
Trump told Axios before the call that he planned to urge Netanyahu not to retaliate against Iran’s missile attack, which Tehran said was a response to an Israeli strike in Beirut earlier Sunday. According to the US official quoted in the report, Trump told Netanyahu during the call to hold off because “we are close to doing something good in terms of a deal”.
Trump told the Financial Times that Netanyahu “won’t have any choice” but to accept any deal the US secures from negotiations with Iran. “I call the shots. I call all the shots. He doesn’t call the shots,” Trump said of Netanyahu.
Iran’s Attack on Israel
Iran on Sunday fired ballistic missiles at northern Israel, in a first such attack since the ceasefire in April paused the US-Israeli war with Iran. The Israeli military said that it had intercepted the missiles and announced at around 11 pm local time that citizens were free to leave shelters. The government said schools would be closed nationwide on Monday as a precautionary measure. “A short while ago, the IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel. Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat,” the military said. The army said it had earlier been on “high alert” for potential incoming fire following an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday.
The spokesperson for the Israeli army said Iran made a “grave mistake” by attacking the country. Addressing the press, Effie Defrin said the Israeli army’s Chief of Staff is assessing the strikes and “approving plans for the future”. “The IDF [Israeli army] will continue to operate throughout Lebanon. We are prepared for the possibility of additional firing.”
Reacting to the strikes, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed that it had launched ballistic missiles at Ramat David Air Base, located about 20km from the city of Haifa in northern Israel. It said the Israeli air base was the “source of aggressions” launched against southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut.
“Tonight’s operation was a warning,” the IRGC said in its statement, adding that, “if aggressions are repeated, the responses will be broader” and include US and Israeli targets in the region.