U.S. officials confirmed that Israel launched a “limited” attack against Iran early Friday morning following Iran’s unprecedented attack against Israel last weekend.
Fox News reported that while the United States was not involved in Friday’s retaliatory strike, a military source confirmed that the Israeli strike against Iran was “limited.” Anonymous sources told Fox News that the United States was notified by Israel prior to the strike, which reportedly was documented near the Natanz nuclear facility in Isfahan.
Fox News reported that while the intended targets of Friday’s strike have not yet been confirmed, sources indicated that the target was “not nuclear or civilian.” According to The Daily Wire, Iran confirmed that none of the nation’s nuclear facilities were hit by the Israeli strike.
Iranian army commander Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi said, “The explosion this morning in the sky of Isfahan was related to the shooting of air defense systems at a suspicious object that did not cause any damage.”
The Daily Wire noted that other reports suggested that Friday’s explosions occurred near a military base that houses Iranian fighter jets. Local reports claimed that people in Isfahan heard multiple explosions Friday morning that “led to the houses shaking violently from the intensity of the explosions.”
Friday’s strike caused multiple commercial airplanes to reroute flights, while Iran suspended flights in Isfahan, Tehran, and Shiraz, according to The Daily Wire.
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Following Israel’s retaliatory attack on Iran, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who serves as the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, tweeted, “Israel has the ability to conduct strikes against targets inside Iran without entering Iranian air space from aircraft over Syrian and Iraqi airspace.”
Israel’s limited strike against Iran comes less than a week after Iran launched over 300 drones and missiles at Israel, marking the first time Iran had directly attacked Israel after decades of escalating tension.
According to Reuters, a senior Iranian official indicated that Iran does not plan to respond to Friday’s strike. “The foreign source of the incident has not been confirmed,” the senior Iranian official told Reuters. “We have not received any external attack, and the discussion leans more towards infiltration than attack.”
While U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not elaborate on Friday’s reports, he emphasized that the United States had “not been involved in any offensive operations,” according to NBC News.
When asked by NBC News to confirm Friday’s strike against Iran, both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office and the Israel Defense Forces answered, “No comment.”
A video released Friday morning by Fox News allegedly shows Israel’s limited strike against Iran.
