US, Israel launch “pre‑emptive” attacks on Iran

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Israeli Ministry of Defence announced on Saturday that it had carried out a “pre‑emptive missile strike” against Iran, media reports said.

The New York Times, citing a US official, reported that US strikes on Iran were underway.

Reuters quoted a source as saying that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was not in Tehran and had been moved to a secure location.

The attack — coming after Israel and Iran engaged in a 12‑day air war in June — follows repeated US and Israeli warnings that they would strike again if Iran continued to advance its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

An Israeli defence official said the operation had been planned for months in coordination with Washington, and that the launch date had been decided weeks ago.

Explosions were heard in Tehran on Saturday, Iranian media reported, and sirens sounded across Israel at around 08:15 local time, in what the military described as a proactive alert to prepare the public for the possibility of an incoming missile strike.

The US and Iran renewed negotiations in February in a bid to resolve the decades‑long dispute through diplomacy and avert the threat of a military confrontation that could destabilise the region.

kk/sa