Israel strikes Iran, kills top brass

ISRAEL unleashed a wave of strikes on Iran yesterday, hitting about 100 targets including nuclear facilities and military command centres, and killing senior figures, among them the armed forces chief and top nuclear scientists.

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Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Israel it faced a “bitter and painful” fate over the attacks, while the Iranian military said there were “no limits” to its response.

The Israeli military said later Iran launched around 100 drones in retaliation, with air defences intercepting them outside Israeli territory.

Neighbouring Jordan said it intercepted drones and missiles that violated its airspace, as air raid sirens sounded in Amman.

US President Donald Trump told Fox News he had prior knowledge of the Israeli strikes, which Israel said involved 200 fighter jets. Trump also stressed that Tehran “cannot have a nuclear bomb”. The US underlined that it was not involved in the Israeli action and warned Iran not to attack its personnel or interests.

But Tehran said Washington would be “responsible for consequences” as Israel’s operation “cannot have been carried out without the co-ordination and permission of the United States”.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel struck at the “heart of Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme”, taking aim at the atomic facility in Natanz and nuclear scientists.

The strikes would “continue as many days as it takes”, the Israeli leader said, while the military said intelligence showed Iran was approaching the “point of no return” on its nuclear programme. The strikes killed Iran’s highest-ranking military officer, armed forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri, and the head of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami, Iranian media reported.