Two U.S. officials confirm to CBS News that an Israeli missile has hit Iran. The strike follows last weekend's retaliatory drone and missile attack against Israel, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed to respond to.
Officials were tightlipped about the location or extent of the Israeli strike. When reached by CBS News, the Israel Defense Forces had no comment on the attack.
The Iranian state-run IRNA news agency said air defense batteries fired across several provinces. It didn't elaborate on why the batteries fired, though people across the area reported hearing the sounds.
In particular, IRNA said air defenses fired at a major air base in Isfahan, which long has been home to Iran's fleet of American-made F-14 Tomcats — purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The semiofficial Fars and Tasnim news agencies also reported the sound of blasts, without giving a cause. State television acknowledged "loud noise" in the area.
Isfahan is also home to sites associated with Iran's nuclear program, including its underground Natanz enrichment site, which has been repeatedly targeted by suspected Israeli attacks.
However, state television denied any attack on nuclear facilities, describing all sites in the area as "fully safe," and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it "can confirm that there is no damage to Iran's nuclear sites."
State television said three very small drones were shot down in an area east of Isfahan and was running what it said were live pictures showing calm and normal conditions in Isfahan.
Three Iranian officials told The New York Times the attack on the air base included small drones that may have been launched from inside Iran, saying radar systems didn't detect unidentified aircraft that entered Iran's airspace.
There has been no urgent meeting of the Iran's High National Council, state television added.
It appeared Iran was trying to downplay the impact of any Israeli attack.
Reactions starting to pop up
And at least one ultra-hardline Israeli cabinet member, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, posted one word on social media, seemingly referring to the attack: "lame."
Oman, which often acts as an intermediary between Tehran and the West, condemned an "Israeli attack" on Iran Friday, according to Agence France-Presse.
A senior Israeli official told The Washington Post the attack "was intended to signal to Iran that Israel can attack its territory."
Dubai-based carriers Emirates and FlyDubai began diverting around western Iran about 4:30 a.m. local time. They offered no explanation, though local warnings to aviators suggested the airspace may have been closed.
Iran then announced it had grounded commercial flights in Tehran and across areas of its western and central regions, but Iranian state television later said flights were operating normally again.
Around the time of the incident in Iran, Syria's state-run SANA news agency quoted a military statement saying Israel carried out a missile strike targeting an air defense unit in its south and causing material damage.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said the strike hit a military radar for government forces. It wasn't clear if there were casualties, the Observatory said. That area of Syria is some 930 miles west of Isfahan and east of Israel.
Meanwhile in Iraq, where a number of Iranian-backed militias are based, residents of Baghdad reported hearing sounds of explosions, but the source of the noise wasn't immediately clear.
Regional tension continues to escalate
Iran last weekend launched an unprecedented retaliatory strike against Israel in response to a deadly attack on an Iranian consulate in Syria that killed seven officers, including two generals, from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Iran's attack on Israel included 170 drones, over 30 cruise missiles and 120 ballistic missiles, according to the IDF and U.S. officials. None of the drones crossed into Israeli territory before they were shot down by Israel and its allies, including the U.S., the IDF said.
Five of the ballistic missiles struck Israel, with four of them hitting Israel's Nevatim Air Base, where Israeli F-35s are based, U.S. officials told CBS News. The officials believe the base was likely Iran's primary target, as the strike against the consulate in Syria is believed to have been carried out by an F-35.
The U.S. and other Israeli allies have urged Netanyahu to exercise restraint in any possible response to Iran. U.S. officials have said the U.S. would not participate in any Israeli retaliatory strike.
In the aftermath of Iran's attack, which the IDF said caused "very little damage," President Biden pressed the Israeli prime minister,"to think about what that success says all by itself to the rest of the region," according to National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.
— Margaret Brennan, James LaPorta, David Martin, Haley Ott and Tucker Reals contributed reporting.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
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