Demonstrators hold an anti-Israel rally waving giant Iranian flags in front of an anti-Israel banner hung on the wall of a building in Felestin (Palestinian) Square. Monday, April 15, 2024, in Tehran, Iran.
Vahid Salemi/AP
hide caption
toggle caption
Vahid Salemi/AP
Demonstrators hold an anti-Israel rally waving giant Iranian flags in front of an anti-Israel banner hung on the wall of a building in Felestin (Palestinian) Square. Monday, April 15, 2024, in Tehran, Iran.
Vahid Salemi/AP
The Israeli military has launched a missile attack on Iran, a senior U.S. military official told NPR on Thursday. There are also reports of explosions in Iraq and Syria.
The attack appears to be a response Israel has vowed to carry out after Sunday's attack on Iran, in which Tehran fired hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel. Most of the Iranian volleys were intercepted or caused little damage. A U.S. military official spoke on condition of anonymity Thursday.
Iranian state news agency IRNA reported that Brigadier General Mihan Dost, a military official in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, said the loud noises heard east of the city were the sound of air defenses intercepting what he called “suspicious targets.” reported that there was no damage. It was reported locally.
Iranian news reported no such attacks and concluded that the sounds reported near Isfahan were interceptions by one or more drones. The Israeli military has not yet responded to NPR's request for comment.
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed on social media that there was no damage to Iran's nuclear facilities.
The scope of the Israeli attack and the weapons used are not clear.
The United States and other Western allies had urged Israel to refrain from military attacks to avoid regional conflict arising from the Israel-Hamas war.
Those concerns were heightened on April 1 when two Iranian military commanders were killed on the country's consulate in Damascus, Syria, in an airstrike that Iran blamed on Israel.
Iran said Sunday's attack on Israel was a response to this.
The region has been on the brink of wider conflict since Israel announced an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that killed 1,200 people, and a subsequent Israeli invasion of Gaza that left 1,200 people dead, according to Gazan health officials. It is said that more than 10,000 people died.
Hezbollah, backed by Israel and Iran, frequently engages in gun battles across Israel's northern border. The Houthi rebels, who are also backed by Iran, have been tracking international commercial ships transiting the Red Sea in recent months. The group's leaders say they are targeting ships with ties to Israel in response to Israel's continued invasion of Gaza.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
