Israel hits Iran LIVE: Latest updates as strikes reported in city that hosts nuclear programme and flights are diverted after Netanyahu ignored Biden’s plea for calm

Biden had warned Israel not to retaliate for Saturday’s attacks and urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “take victory” from the foiled Iranian attack.

Israeli officials warned the Biden administration of their intention to strike ahead of the launch in previous days, but an official told CNN that the US did not greenlight any Israeli response.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, on Thursday afternoon, but a high-level source declined to confirm to the New York Times Yes Galán warned about the strikes that occurred hours after the meeting.

Israeli military officials have reportedly emphasized that today’s strikes were a “limited response” to Iran’s attack, and that they appeared to target military centers used by Iran in its attack on Saturday.

Iran closed its airports in Tehran, Shiraz and Isfahan after the attack and authorized flights from the western part of its airspace for a few hours after the attack, according to the flight tracking website FlightRadar24.

By 0445 GMT, airports and airspace had reopened and closure notices posted in a US Federal Aviation Administration database had been removed.

Before airports reopened, Flydubai said it had canceled its Friday flights to Iran. One of his previous flights returned to Dubai, he said.

An Iran Air flight from Rome to Tehran was diverted to Ankara, Turkey, Flightradar 24 showed.

Emirates, Flydubai, Turkish Air, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi and Belavia were among airlines that continued to fly over the part of Iran’s airspace that remained open in the early hours after the attack early Friday, the tracking website showed. .

“We are closely monitoring the situation and will make changes to our flight routes in consultation with the relevant authorities,” Flydubai said in a statement.

Iran sought to downplay any significant damage to its military facilities and strongly denied that any nuclear plants had been destroyed, stating that “so far, no large-scale attacks or explosions by any air threat have been reported.”

Reports citing senior US military sources contradict this and claim that objectives were achieved. Neither Israel, Iran nor the United States have published any official comments.

Israel has carried out strikes against a target in Iran, defying President Joe Biden’s warnings that the Middle East will descend further into conflict.

US officials confirmed that the strikes hit a site in Iran, however, it is unclear what exact target was hit or the extent of the damage.

Authorities say the central Iranian city of Isfahan was attacked at 5 a.m. local time. The city is home to one of Iran’s nuclear facilities, although US military sources reportedly said the target was not believed to be nuclear.