Benjamin Netanyahu says strikes on Iran will continue ‘as long as necessary’
The Israeli prime minister says the attacks are aimed at Iran’s nuclear programme, ballistic missiles and military capabilities. “This operation will continue as long as necessary, until we complete the mission,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
‘Game on,’ says key US senator
Hawkish Republican lawmaker Lindsey Graham – a Trump ally – voices support for Israel as it attacks Iran. “Game on. Pray for Israel,” he wrote in a social media post.
Iran’s Press TV says Natanz nuclear facility targeted
The state-owned media outlet has shared footage of fire and smoke billowing from a site that it said is “reportedly” the Natanz nuclear facility in central Iran.
Civilians killed in Israel strikes on Tehran: Iran state media
Israeli strikes on residential buildings in the Iranian capital killed a number of civilians, including children, according to Iranian state media. “A number of people, including women and children, were martyred in a residential complex in Tehran,” the official IRNA news agency reported.
Onlookers and rescue teams gather near a building hit by an Israeli strike early on Friday
IRGC chief killed in Israeli attacks: Reports
Iran’s Tasnim news agency and Tehran Times newspaper say Hossein Salami, commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has been killed in an Israeli strike.
Two Iranian nuclear scientists killed in attacks: Tasnim agency
Iran’s Tasnim news agency reports that nuclear scientists Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi and Fereydoon Abbasi were killed in the Israeli strikes. Tehranchi was a nuclear scientist and the head of the Islamic Azad University, while Abbasi was the former chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.
Israel attacked at least 6 military bases around Tehran: Report
The Israeli military has attacked at least six military bases around Tehran, The New York Times reports, citing four unnamed senior Iranian officials. The sources said the Parchin military complex was targeted, as well as residential homes at two highly secure complexes for military commanders and multiple residential buildings in what appear to be targeted assassinations.
Israel says it had dialogue with US, but attack was independent decision
Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, has said his country is holding ongoing dialogue with Washington, but its decision to strike Iran was an independent Israeli move. Danon said he doesn’t want to “go into speculation” when asked during an interview with CNN whether Israel expected the US to assist it in case of an Iranian response.
