Zero casualties as Israeli air defenses thwart Iranian ballistic missile assault
More than 180 missiles were launched into Israel from Iran and Israeli air defenses, mainly Arrow 2 and Arrow 3, were activated to intercept them.
Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday, with alarms sounding across the country and explosions heard in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and the Jordan River valley. Israel said more than 180 missiles were launched into Israel from Iran and Israeli air defences, mainly Arrow 2 and Arrow 3, were activated to intercept them. U.S. Navy warships helped intercept some projectiles fired by Iran at Israel, a U.S. defence official told Reuters.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Iran had launched tens of missiles at Israel, and that if Israel retaliated Tehran's response would be "more crushing and ruinous". Tehran targeted three Israeli military bases in its attack, Iran's state news agency said.
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said the attack would have consequences, as did Israel's U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon.
"As we have previously made clear to the international community, any enemy that attacks Israel should expect a painful response", Danon said in a statement.
Israel's military said it would continue "powerful strikes" through Tuesday night throughout the Middle East after Iran's strike, Israeli media reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a few other ministers were meeting in a bunker near Jerusalem, where the security cabinet was due to convene shortly, two Israeli officials said.
Israel's military was not aware of any injuries from the Iranian missile attacks, Hagari said. But the Palestinian civil defence authority in the West Bank said a man was killed near Jericho and falling rocket debris had caused damage and started fires in the area.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters the order to launch missiles at Israel had been made by the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei remains in a secure location, the senior official added.
Oil prices shot up 5% on the news of the Iranian missile strikes, which raise the prospect of a wider war between the two arch enemies.
A previous round of Iranian missiles fired at Israel in April - the first ever - were shot down with the help of the U.S. military and other allies. Israel responded at the time with airstrikes in Iran, but wider escalation was averted.
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Iran had vowed to retaliate following Israeli strikes that killed the top leadership of its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, including the group's leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Hamas, the Iran-backed militant group in Gaza, praised the Iranian missile strikes, saying they avenged Israeli assassinations of three militant leaders, including Nasrallah.
In Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden said the United States was prepared to help Israel defend itself from Iranian missile attacks.
"We discussed how the United States is prepared to help Israel defend against these attacks, and protect American personnel in the region," Biden said on X about a meeting held with Vice President Kamala Harris and the White House national security team earlier in the day.
