New Delhi: Iran activated its air-defence system today morning amid reports of missile and drone strikes by Israel. Israel fired missile at an Iran airport, ABC News reported citing a US official. Local media said that loud explosion was heard at Isfahan.
Here are 10 facts about the big story:
- Israel launched a strike against Iran in retaliation for its weekend attack, US media reported.
- Iran activated its air defense system over several cities, state media reported, after the country’s official broadcaster said explosions were heard near the central city of Isfahan.
- Several Iranian nuclear sites are located in Isfahan province, including Natanz, centerpiece of Iran’s uranium enrichment program.
- Though some media reports said that missiles had been fired, Iran said that they have shot down several drones but there had been “no missile attack for now”.
- Several drones “have been successfully shot down by the country’s air defence, there are no reports of a missile attack for now,” Iran’s space agency spokesman Hossein Dalirian said on X.
- Israel military says ‘don’t have comment at this time’ after reports of blasts in Iran, reports AFP.
- Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport was closed to all flights, according to a notice to airmen posted on a US Federal Aviation Administration database.
- Some Emirates and Flydubai flights that were flying over Iran early on Friday made sudden sharp turns away from the airspace, according to flight paths shown on tracking website Flightradar24.
- Israel had warned it would hit back after Iran fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel over the weekend. Most of them were intercepted.
- That strike came in the wake of an attack on Iran’s consulate in Damascus widely blamed on Israel.
