Israel launched a retaliatory strike against a site in Iran late Thursday night (early Friday morning local time), U.S. officials confirmed to several media outlets, though an Iranian official has downplayed the attack as a “failed and humiliating” drone strike.
ABC News, CBS News, NPR, and others have cited unnamed U.S. officials in reporting that one or more missiles were launched by the Israeli military at Iran. Citing two unnamed U.S. officials, Bloomberg News reported that Israeli officials had warned U.S. officials earlier on Thursday that it planned to attack Iran in the next 24-48 hours. An unnamed senior U.S. official also told CNN that the U.S. was warned of Israel’s planned retaliatory action, a response the official said the U.S. “didn’t endorse.”
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Details of the strike, including its exact location and the extent of the damage, remain unclear. Neither Israel nor the U.S. has yet officially commented on the reported military action.
FARS, a news agency managed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, reported that explosions occurred near Isfahan—a city some 340 km. south of Tehran that hosts key military sites, including a major airbase and nuclear facilities. It later clarified that the nuclear facility is completely safe, according to “informed sources.”
Iranian state-affiliated news agency IRNA reported that Iran’s air defense system had been activated in the skies of several provinces, following explosions heard in and around Isfahan. The source of the explosion was a “defense shot,” fired after the air defense in Tabriz, a city northwest of Isfahan, saw a “suspicious object,” IRNA reported, adding that the city was in “complete peace.”
Hossein Dalirian, an Iranian space agency spokesperson, said on X that reports of a foreign missile attack were “not true” and that it was three “microbirds” that were shot down.
The apparent Israeli retaliation comes just days after Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel over the weekend, most of which were intercepted by Israel’s defense systems as well as those of its allies and neighbors. The weekend attack sparked widespread fears of a sharp escalation of conflict, as regional tensions have heightened amid Israel’s war in Gaza. As world leaders urged Israel to refrain from a counterattack, Iran, which said the drone strike was a response to an Israeli strike on its Damascus consulate on April 1, said that it considered the matter “concluded.”
Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told CNN earlier on Thursday that “in case the Israeli regime embarks on adventurism again and takes action against the interests of Iran, the next response from us will be immediate and at a maximum level.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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