More now from Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari, who announced the strikes as they were taking place overnight.
In a new statement, Hagari says Iran has “paid the price” for its recent attacks on Israel.
He says Israel carried out “precise and targeted strikes on targets in different areas in Iran”. These targets included missile manufacturing facilities, surface-to-air missile arrays and other aerial capabilities, he says.
He says Israel selected these sites from a “broad target bank”, and that it would be able to “select additional targets from it and strike them if required”.
“This is a clear message – those who threaten the State of Israel will pay a heavy price,” he adds.
Videos from Iran show bright objects moving across the sky above Tehran as explosions can be heard.
The Iranian media confirmed that Israel had targeted the west of Tehran, but has so far played down the impact. In all, Israel says it carried out three waves of strikes.
In Syria, the state news agency said there’d also been widespread strikes by Israel – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has long relied on Iranian military support to stay in power.
The Pentagon moved quickly to say that it had been informed beforehand by Israel and that there was no US involvement in the operation. A US official has said the targets did not include energy infrastructure or nuclear facilities – targets the Biden administration had urged Israel not to attack.
It’s now up to the Iranian leadership to decide how to respond. The semi-official Tasnim news agency has said there’s no doubt Israel will face what it called a “proportional reaction”. The Israeli military has already said that if Iran were to make what it called the mistake of beginning a new round of escalation.