TEHRAN: A fresh wave of explosions rocked multiple regions across Iran on Friday evening,following a series of Israeli airstrikes that targeted key military and nuclear installations overnight.
Shortly after the fresh strikes Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei said Iranian forces “will leave Israel helpless”.
Iranian state media reported blasts in western Tehran Province, including the cities of Shahriar and Malard, as well as in the Chitgar neighborhood within Tehran itself. Additional reports noted an explosion in Pakdasht, located southeast of the capital.
A significant explosion was also reported in Isfahan, a central Iranian city that hosts several nuclear facilities.
According to the Mehr news agency, the blast occurred late Friday, though specific details remain scarce.
The latest tweet from Israeli military said. “The IDF attacked the nuclear site in the Isfahan region
At this moment, Air Force fighter jets have completed an attack on the Iranian regime’s nuclear site in the Isfahan area, under precise intelligence guidance from the Intelligence Branch.
The site is undergoing a process of ‘reconversion’ of enriched uranium. This is the next stage after uranium enrichment in the process of producing nuclear weapons.
The attack destroyed a structure for producing metallic uranium, infrastructure for converting enriched uranium, laboratories, and other infrastructure.”
Meanwhile, a televised briefing from Israel’s military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin was stopped on Friday, with an Israeli official saying it was due to an incoming Iranian attack.
“The live feed of BG Defrin’s statement was cut due to an incoming Iranian attack on central Israel,” the official said.
Iran’s state-run IRNA confirmed that Tehran’s air defense systems intercepted multiple incoming projectiles.
“Enemy projectiles were intercepted by the Tehran air defence,” IRNA stated. The ISNA news agency also reported successful interceptions by Iranian defense systems over the capital.
Meanwhile, tensions spilled beyond Iran’s borders. Air raid sirens were heard in Jerusalem on Friday after Israel’s military detected a missile launch from Yemen.
According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), a projectile was fired toward Israeli territory, and explosions were heard as defense systems responded.
Israel’s covert confrontation with Iran erupted into overt warfare on Friday, as the Israeli military launched a sweeping and coordinated assault under the codename Operation Rising Lion.
The strikes targeted Iran’s most sensitive nuclear and military infrastructure, killing several top commanders.
Loud explosions were reported across multiple Iranian cities, including Tehran, as Israeli warplanes struck strategic sites. Among the targets was the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, central to Iran’s atomic program as well as multiple missile bases.
Israeli officials confirmed the operation and announced the deaths of three of Iran’s most senior military figures, General Mohammad Bagheri, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces; General Hossein Salami, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC); and General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the IRGC’s aerospace and ballistic missile division.
Two prominent nuclear scientists were also killed in the strikes.
Putin condemns Israeli strikes on Iran, says ready to mediate
Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned Israel’s wave of strikes on Iran, the Kremlin said Friday, following separate phone calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Russia and Iran have deepened their military ties amid Moscow’s offensive on Ukraine, threatening its efforts to maintain warm relations with all major players in the Middle East.
“Vladimir Putin stressed that Russia condemns Israel’s actions, which violate the UN Charter and international law,” the Kremlin said in a statement Friday.
He also told Netanyahu of his “readiness to provide mediation services in order to prevent further escalation of tensions”.
The Kremlin added that Russia was committed to “resolving the current situation, which is fraught with the most disastrous consequences for the entire region”.