Israel has launched a pre‑emptive military attack on Iran, with explosions reported in downtown Tehran and Israeli authorities declaring a state of emergency across the country. In a televised statement, Defence Minister Israel Katz said “the State of Israel launched a pre‑emptive attack against Iran to remove threats to the State of Israel,” after what officials have described as an escalating threat from Iran’s missile and nuclear programmes.
Al Jazeera, citing Iranian state television and international agencies, reported that several missiles struck Tehran’s University Street and the Jomhouri area, with smoke seen rising over central parts of the capital. The Associated Press reported that one of the strikes landed near offices of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. As of early Saturday, Iranian authorities had not released full details of casualties or damage.
In Israel, the military said it had declared a state of emergency and activated nationwide civil defence measures. According to AP and Reuters, citing the Israeli army, schools have been ordered closed, the public instructed to work from home, and public gatherings banned as authorities brace for possible Iranian retaliation. Alerts and emergency maps covered Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, an area an Al Jazeera correspondent described as “all of historical Palestine.”
The latest escalation comes less than a year after a 12‑day confrontation in June 2025, when Israel and Iran exchanged strikes that caused heavy losses on both sides. During that round, U.S. B‑2 bombers hit two heavily fortified Iranian nuclear facilities after the International Atomic Energy Agency raised concerns about uranium enrichment reaching 60 percent at some sites, before a ceasefire was brokered.
Since then, U.S. sanctions have further squeezed Iran’s economy, contributing to large‑scale protests that activists say were met with a deadly crackdown. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened military action over Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile activities and human rights record. Regional mediators, including officials from Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have urged Washington to avoid a full‑scale war. An Omani foreign minister has been shuttling between Tehran and Washington, and met U.S. Vice President JD Vance in recent days.
Along Israel’s northern border, Israeli forces have intensified air strikes in southern Lebanon, targeting what they describe as Hezbollah rocket launchers, weapons depots and underground infrastructure in areas such as Iqlim al‑Tuffah and the Bekaa Valley. Commentators in Lebanon say the strikes appear aimed at degrading Hezbollah’s capabilities as fears grow of a wider regional conflict involving Iran, Israel and the United States.
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