Israel Katz, head of Israel's Ministry of Defense, announced that he had introduced a “state of emergency throughout the country” with immediate effect. Iran, in turn, closed its airspace.
The target of the attack was the office of the leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Reuters reported on Saturday. An Iranian official told Reuters he was not in the city and was taken to a safe place.
Foreign media confirm that Israel's attack is coordinated with the actions of the United States troops, which are to conduct their own strikes against Iran.
The attack was expected
Preparations for a conflict with Iran have been underway in Israel for several days. As reported by Ynet, citing documents from the Israeli Ministry of Health, hospitals across the country analyzed their experiences from the 12-day conflict with Iran last June.
Then, rocket attacks forced the facilities to move patients and staff to underground floors, including garages.
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem announced on Friday on Platform X that some U.S. diplomatic staff and their families had been withdrawn from Israel. The decision was justified by the threat to security.
Other countries are also taking action in connection with the possible outbreak of war.
The British Foreign Office said it was temporarily withdrawing staff from its embassy in Tehran, which will now operate remotely. Canada and China have ordered their citizens to leave Iran immediately. Foreign embassies in Israel have prepared contingency plans in the event of Iranian attacks, local diplomats said.
Australia has ordered family members of diplomats in Israel and Lebanon to leave the countries. She also proposed voluntary evacuations for the families of diplomats in Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Israel vs. Iran. The US joins
According to the Wall Street Journal, the United States also joined the armed conflict. On Thursday dThe American aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford approached Israel, and the Wall Street Journal reported on the “intensification of US actions” in this context.
USS Gerald R. Ford is the second American aircraft carrier in the Middle East. There are already large US air and naval forces in the region. For the first time, the United States also sent F-22 fighters to an air base in Israel. Air tankers were also transferred to the airport near Tel Aviv. According to the media, the US has gathered the largest military force around Iran since the Iraq war in 2003.
On Thursday, Fox News, citing American officials, reported the reduction of staff at the headquarters of the American 5th Fleet in Bahrain. The television recalled that a similar evacuation was carried out before last year's American operation Midnight Hammer, during which US troops attacked Iranian nuclear installations.
Why is Israel attacking Iran? Background to the conflict
The main cause of the conflict is Iran's work on nuclear weapons through uranium enrichment. Not only Israel but also the United States don't like this.
The latest round of talks between Iran and the US in Geneva ended on Thursday without a breakthrough. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi said after the negotiations that to reach an agreement, the US would have to withdraw its “exorbitant demands.”
ANDran rejected the most important US proposals, including the transfer of enriched uranium abroad, the suspension of uranium enrichment and the decommissioning of some nuclear facilities – the Wall Street Journal reported, citing well-informed sources.
On Monday, representatives of Iran and the US are scheduled to meet in Vienna for technical talks.
In recent months, Iran has strengthened the defense of its nuclear facilities, also repairing the damage caused during the last war with Israel, which can be considered preparations for a conflict with the US – world media wrote last week, based on the analysis of satellite images.
A confidential report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), discussed by the media on Friday, shows that the IAEA is unable to verify whether Iran has stopped enriching uranium and cannot assess the state of stocks of uranium enriched by this country.
