Live updates of Israeli strikes of ‘military targets’ in Iran

Highlights

• Israel has launched strikes on “military targets” in Iran, describing the operation as a response to Tehran and its proxies “relentlessly attacking” Israel since October 7. The targets do not include energy infrastructure, an Israeli military source told CNN.

• Iranian state media reported several explosions in the capital early Saturday morning local time. One resident told CNN she “woke up to a distant sound of blasts” and described a heavy Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps presence in the city all day.

• The US is not participating in the Israeli military operation, a senior administration official said Friday. Israel did give the White House a heads up in advance of the strikes, according to a source familiar with the notification.

• The region has been bracing for Israel’s retaliation to Tehran’s major missile attack earlier this month, as it also wages war on Iran-backed militant groups in Lebanon and Gaza.

Iran has closed its airspace, according to an official notice issued by its civil aviation authority.The airspace will be closed until Saturday 9:00 a.m. local time (1:30 a.m. ET), according to the notice. Earlier on Saturday morning, around the time of the strikes, CNN observed four civilian planes begin flying away from the Iranian capital of Tehran on the flight tracking website FlightRadar24.

Israel’s decision to strike what it described as Iranian military targets early Saturday morning came after weeks of deliberations within its security cabinet about the nature and scope of such an attack, Israeli officials said. Ultimately, Israel chose to strike only military targets. One Israeli official said they were targets “that posed a threat or could pose a threat.” A second Israeli official described the decision as the result of a “very diligent decision-making process.”

CNN