A general view of Tehran after several explosions were heard in Tehran, Oct. 26, 2024. (Atta Kenare, AFP via Getty Images))<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cIn response to months of continuous attacks from the regime in Iran against the State of Israel \u2013 right now the Israel Defense Forces is conducting precise strikes on military targets in Iran,\u201d Daniel Hagari, the Israeli army spokesman, said in a video statement released to reporters Saturday before dawn as the strikes took place.<\/p>\n
Iranian media reported explosions at military bases, including near Tehran. Iranians flocked to social media to say they had been awakened by explosions.<\/p>\n
President Joe Biden and his officials had said they understood and support Israel\u2019s stated plans to hit back for the Oct. 1 attack. But he asked Israel to avoid oil fields and Iran\u2019s nuclear weapons program to prevent an escalation in an already volatile conflict.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I were in their shoes, I\u2019d be thinking about other alternatives than striking oil fields,\u201d Biden said at a White House press conference on Oct. 4 after he had consulted with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.<\/p>\n
An Israeli source familiar with the attack told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Israel had informed U.S. officials ahead of time of the attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand that Israel is conducting targeted strikes against military targets in Iran as an exercise of self-defense and in response to Iran\u2019s ballistic missile attack against Israel on Oct. 1,\u201d National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said in an email.<\/p>\n
Israel announced the attacks had ended three and a half hours after they started and said the principal targets had been sites where missiles targeting Israel were manufactured, as well as missile launch sites.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese missiles posed a direct and immediate threat to the citizens of the State of Israel,\u201d said an army statement. \u201cSimultaneously, the IDF struck surface-to-air missile arrays and additional Iranian aerial capabilities, that were intended to restrict Israel\u2019s aerial freedom of operation in Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n
A senior administration official said after the attack that the White House was pleased with how the retaliation went, and suggested that the United States was involved in the planning if not the implementation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe United States was not a participant in this military operation,\u201d the official said. \u201cThe president and his national security team, of course, worked with the Israelis over recent weeks to encourage Israel to conduct a response that was targeted and proportional with low risk of civilian harm, and that appears to have been precisely what transpired this evening.\u201d<\/p>\n
The official warned Iran not to retaliate. \u201cIf Iran chooses to respond once again, we will be ready and there will be consequences for Iran once again,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n
Americans appeared ready for any possible lineup. On Friday, U.S. Central Command, which covers the Middle East, posted its social media photos of F-16 combat aircraft landing at Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany.<\/p>\n
\u201cUS Air Force F-16s from the 480th Fighter Squadron based at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany arrive in the US Central Command area of \u200b\u200bresponsibility,\u201d said the caption.<\/p>\n
John Kirby, the lead National Security Council spokesman, would not directly confirm earlier on Friday that the F-16s were relayed to CENTCOM\u2019s region to assist Israel but suggested that was the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur commitment to Israel\u2019s security remains ironclad, and that means, as appropriate, making force changes posture that we think need to be made to help Israel defend itself, and I don\u2019t think I can really go beyond that,\u201d he said, responding to a question about the positioning of the F-16s.<\/p>\n
Hagari said Israel was ready for any further actions.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur defensive and offensive capabilities are fully mobilized,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will do whatever necessary to defend the State of Israel and the people of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n
The United States earlier this month deployed troops to Israel to operate an advanced missile defense system, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD.<\/p>\n
How Iran responds to the strikes is an open question. The Iranian military had been on high alert in advance of the anticipated attack, and Iranian officials said they would retaliate against any aggression. But the apparently limited scope of the Israeli onslaught is seen as a deterrent, and Iranian media was reportedly downplaying the scale of Saturday morning\u2019s attack, suggesting a state interest in treating it as a minor incident.<\/p>\n
Israel previously struck military sites within Iran in April, days after Iran launched a drone attack against Israel. Iran did not directly retaliate in that exchange.<\/p>\n
Iran and Israel have been sparring since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas, an Iran-backed terrorist group, invaded Israel, killing 1,200 and taking 251 hostage. The next day, Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based terrorist group also backed by Iran, began firing rockets into Israel\u2019s north. Iranian proxies elsewhere, including in Yemen, have similarly attacked Israeli and U.S. interests in what Israeli officials have come to call a seven-front war.<\/p>\n
Tensions between Iran and Israel ratcheted up again in recent months after the assassination of Hamas\u2019 leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran, in an attack attributed to Israel and widely seen as humiliating for the Iranians. The Oct. 1 missile barrage from Iran was retaliation for Israel\u2019s killing of Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah\u2019s leader, in Beirut. One person was killed in that attack, a West Bank Palestinian.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking Israel since Oct. 7 \u2013 on seven fronts \u2013 including direct attacks from Iranian soil,\u201d Hagari said. \u201cLike every other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has the right and the duty to respond.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reports said Israel hit Iran-affiliated targets in Syria as well as Iran.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s retaliation comes a week and a half before the U.S. election. A conflagration in the region could upend what is a neck-and-neck race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Harris has said that all options are on the table to keep Iran from going nuclear, intimating that U.S. involvement may become necessary.<\/p>\n
In addition to his discussions with Biden, Netanyahu has communicated with Trump, who has attacked Biden for warning Israel away from nuclear targets.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo what you have to do,\u201d Trump told Netanyahu in one of the phone calls, The Washington Post quoted anonymous sources as saying.<\/p>\n
The White House said that Biden and Harris, who was in Houston headlining a rally with Beyonce, were briefed throughout the retaliatory attack.<\/p>\n
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