The United States and Israel have launched an attack on Iran, with explosions heard and seen across Tehran.
Several missiles have struck University Street and the Jomhouri area in Tehran, Fars news agency reported. Smoke was seen rising in the city, according to an Al Jazeera correspondent on the ground.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that explosions also occurred in Tehran’s northern Seyyed Khandan area. Other Iranian media cited attacks nationwide, including in the western Ilam province.
US President Donald Trump said the joint attacks are aimed at “eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime”.
“Short time ago, US military began major combat operation in Iran. Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating threats from the Iranian regime,” he said.
An Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran is preparing for retaliation that is set to be ”crushing”.
Explosions rocked northern Israel as the country worked to intercept incoming Iranian missiles shortly after it launched the attack on Iran. The blasts echoed just after the Israeli military said it would be using its air defence systems to bring down the Iranian fire. There was no immediate word on any damage or casualties from the ongoing attack.
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz claimed Israel launched the missile attack in order to “remove threats to the State of Israel”.
A United States official told Al Jazeera that the attacks were carried out as a joint military operation between Israel and the US, which has assembled a vast fleet of fighter jets and warships in the region to try to pressure Iran into a deal over its nuclear programme. A US official told Reuters attacks were being carried out by air and sea.
One of the areas targeted in Iran’s capital was near the offices of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reported the Associated Press. Khamenei is not in Tehran and has been transferred to a secure location, according to an official cited by Reuters.
Al Jazeera’s Maziar Motamedi, reporting from Tehran, said cellphone communications has been disrupted in several areas of the capital. “No calls are possible at present,” he said.
Sirens in Israel
An Iranian official told Reuters Tehran is preparing for retaliation that is set to be crushing.
As sirens sounded and a state of emergency declared in Israel, the Israeli military said it had issued a “proactive alert to prepare the public for the possibility of missiles being launched toward the state of Israel.”
Israel’s Airports Authority announced airspace had been closed to all civilian flights and urged the public not to come to the airport.
Meanwhile, the US Embassy in Qatar implemented shelter-in-place for all personnel, recommending that all of its citizens to do the same until further notice. Iraq’s transport ministry said it had closed its national airspace.
According to an Israeli defence official cited by the agency, the attacks had been planned for months and the launch date decided weeks ago, even as the US and Iran carried out negotiations.
Mehran Kamrava, director of the Iranian studies unit at the Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies and professor at Georgetown University in Qatar, said Israel “appears to have launched an attack designed to derail the negotiations”.
Source: Al Jazeera