The Israeli military has launched a strike on Iranian territory, with explosions in Tehran, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) reported on the morning of 28 February.
According to the Israeli side, “the attack was sudden”. At the same time as it began, the IDF sent out a nationwide warning urging citizens to stay close to secure premises.
“This is a preventive message to prepare the population for the possibility of rockets being launched towards the State of Israel,” the military said in a statement.
According to Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, the country has launched a “preventive military operation” against Iran that “aims to neutralise the potential threat from Tehran as well as to prevent possible strikes on Israeli territory”.
Iranian state media reported explosions in the capital Tehran.
Some 30 targets across Iran were attacked, including the presidential residence and intelligence headquarters, according to local media.
There has been no official reaction from the Iranian authorities regarding the nature of the strike and possible consequences yet.
In 2015, a group of world powers reached a landmark nuclear agreement with Tehran to prevent Iran from building an Iranian bomb. Western economic sanctions were relaxed at the time, but Iran began reneging after Donald Trump, during his first term as US president, withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and reimposed sanctions.
On 13 February, the US president said regime change in Iran would be “the best thing that could happen”.
He also confirmed that a second aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, would soon join the “massive” US armada in the Arabian Sea.
17 Feb US and Iranian officials met in Geneva, Switzerland, for a second round of talks on an agreement aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear programme and preventing war.
The two sides held indirect talks in early February in Oman, the first since Israeli and U.S. strikes on key Iranian nuclear sites during the brief conflict in June.
The talks come amid a significant U.S. military buildup in the Middle East. Tensions have been rising since massive nationwide protests in Iran last month, during which authorities launched a brutal crackdown that human rights groups say has left thousands dead.