Hawzah News Agency – Israel has launched an attack on Iran aimed at “dozens” of targets including its nuclear facilities, military commanders and scientists, claiming it took unilateral action because Tehran had begun to build nuclear warheads.

 Israel’s strikes on Iran show Trump is unable to restrain Netanyahu . As Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, threatened “severe punishment” against Israel, the Israeli military said on Friday morning that Iran had launched 100 drones aimed at Israel.

 Netanyahu said: “Israeli citizens may have to remain in sheltered areas for lengthy periods of time''. 

General Hossein Salami, commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, chief of the army's general staff, and General Gholam Ali Rashid, commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Joint Headquarters, as well as six nuclear scientists, including Fereydoun Abbasi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran from 2011 to 2013, were martyred.

Abbasi survived an assassination attempt in 2010 that was part of a wave of targeted killings reportedly masterminded by the Mossad. Tehranchi was a theoretical physicist. 

children had been killed in at least one of the airstrikes, on a residential area of Tehran. 

Donald Trump has previously warned Israel not to attack while the United States is negotiating with Iran.
In Israel, sirens and cell phone alerts sounded across Israel, and Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport was closed to all flights.

 Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei vows Israel "should expect severe punishment''. "Several commanders and scientists were martyred in enemy attacks. God willing, their successors and colleagues will resume their duties immediately'',  Ayatollah Khamenei said. With this crime, the Zionist regime has sealed a bitter and painful fate for itself - and it will undoubtedly receive it.

Iran’s foreign ministry said America – as Israel’s main supporter – would be held responsible for the consequences of “Israel’s adventurism”. In a statement, the ministry said the Israeli attack “exposes global security to unprecedented threat” and called on the international community to condemn it.

The attack on Iran comes a few days before a new round of US-Iranian talks were due in Oman aimed at finding a diplomatic solution to the standoff over Iran’s nuclear programme, which has expanded rapidly since 2018 when Trump withdrew from an international deal constraining it.

Trump’s secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said the US had not taken part in the Israeli attack. “Tonight, Israel took unilateral action against Iran'', Rubio said. “We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region. 

The Democratic senator Chris Murphy said Israel’s decision to act unilaterally was a measure of Trump’s weakness on the world stage.

Source: The Guardian