Israel said it struck several military targets in Iran, retaliating against missile attacks by Tehran despite President Donald Trump’s call for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to refrain from hitting back.
The Israel Defense Forces said it struck targets in western and central Iran, with Iranian state media reporting multiple explosions in Tehran. A US official said the Israel strikes were “relatively limited” in their scope, Axios reported.
The IDF said earlier it had identified and intercepted missiles fired from Iran, adding that emergency services reported no casualties.
The exchange is one of the most serious tests of a ceasefire that took effect on April 8 to halt fighting involving the US, Israel and Iran. It comes as the US and Iran appear to be making little progress toward an interim agreement to end the war, even as Trump has repeatedly said a deal is near.
Oil jumped after the renewed fighting, with Brent crude rising 3% to above $96 a barrel. The US dollar, the haven of choice since the Middle East conflict began, gained against all of its Group-of-10 peers.
The latest strikes follow an escalation between Israel and Hezbollah. Early Sunday, the Lebanese militia attacked targets in northern Israel, prompting a strike by the Israeli military in Beirut’s southern suburbs, killing two people and injuring 11.
Israel used air-launched ballistic missiles to attack several targets inside Iran early Monday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement, state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported. Blasts were heard in the city of Karaj west of Tehran, the country’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
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