Tehran/Tel Aviv, 13 June 2025 (dpa/MIA) - Israel launched a "preemptive" strike early on Friday against Iran's nuclear programme, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on its Telegram channel.

The IDF said the attack was in response to the Iran's ongoing aggression against Israel. Dozens of jets struck military targets in various locations of Iran in a first stage, the IDF said.

The Iranian news agency Tasnim, considered the mouthpiece of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reported that Major General Hossein Salami, the commander-in-chief of the IRGC, was killed in an Israeli strike on the IRGC's high command headquarters.

He was considered one of the most powerful men in the Islamic Republic.

Several loud explosions rocked the Iranian capital Tehran overnight, state media and eyewitnesses reported.

Netanyahu: Israeli strikes to continue as long as needed

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel's strikes on Iran, aimed at eliminating its nuclear threat, would continue for as long as needed.

The attack, dubbed "Operation Rising Lion," is to continue "for as many days as it takes to remove this threat," he said.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Israel Katz declared a state of emergency for the country, saying a missile and drone attack on Israel was expected "in the immediate future," according to the Times of Israel.

US says this was an Israeli operation

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States was not involved in Israel's strike against Iran. He warned Tehran not to target US personnel in the region.

US President Donald Trump is planning to meet with the White House's the National Security Council, a group of foreign and security policy experts, on Friday at 11 am (1500 GMT) in the white House, the government said.

Rubio emphasized that the attacks were an Israeli operation.

"Tonight, Israel took unilateral action against Iran. We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region," he said in a post on X.

"Let me be clear: Iran should not target U.S. interests or personnel," he added.

The Israeli Ministry of Transport announced, according to the news site ynet, that Israeli airspace would be closed to take-offs and landings until further notice.

Iran has also closed its airspace following Israel's attack. The order will remain in effect until further notice, according to a statement from the national aviation authority.

Recently, concerns in the Middle East about a possible Israeli attack on Iran had grown. The dispute over Iran's nuclear programme had increasingly escalated. At the end of May, US media reported that Israel had already prepared a potential attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

In his speech, Netanyahu said Israel struck "Iran's main enrichment facility in Natanz" and also targeted Iran's leading nuclear scientists who were working to develop the bomb. Israel also struck at the centre of Iran's ballistic missile programme, the prime minister added.

Netanyahu condemned what he said was Iran's stepped up pursuit of uranium enrichment that he called "a clear and present danger to Israel's very survival."

The Israeli prime minister also thanked Trump "for his leadership in confronting Iran's nuclear weapons programme."

Photo: epa