Iran fires air defence batteries, explosions heard

Israeli missiles have hit a site in Iran, with flights diverted over Iranian airspace and the US confirming the strike.

Iran’s Fars news agency said explosions were heard at an airport in the Iranian city of Isfahan but the cause was not immediately known. Several flights were diverted over Iranian airspace, CNN reported.

CBS News is reporting that US officials have confirmed the strike.

But BNO News is reporting an Iranian official as saying there was no missile.

“There’s been no airstrike in Isfahan or other parts of the country,” the official reportedly said.

“They only made a failed and humiliating attempt to fly quadcopters, and they were all shot down.”

State news agency IRNA said air defences fired across several provinces. It did not elaborate on what caused the batteries to fire, though people across the area reported hearing the sounds.

Several Iranian nuclear sites are located in Isfahan province, including Natanz, the centrepiece of Iran’s uranium enrichment program.

Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport was closed to all flights until 7am GMT, according to a notice to airmen posted on a US Federal Aviation Administration database.

Some flights that were over Iran early on Friday made sudden sharp turns away from the airspace, according to flight paths shown on tracking website Flightradar24.

Israel had said it would retaliate against Iran’s weekend attack, which involved hundreds of drones and missiles in retaliation for a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Syria.

Most of the Iranian drones and missiles were downed before reaching Israeli territory.

Analysts and observers have been raising concerns about the risks of the Israel-Gaza war spreading into the rest of the region.

Iran told the UN Security Council on Thursday that Israel “must be compelled to stop any further military adventurism against our interests” as the UN secretary-general warned the Middle East was in a “moment of maximum peril”.

Oil prices jumped on the reports of the Israeli strike. Brent crude futures rose two per cent to $88.86 a barrel, the US dollar gained broadly, gold rose one per cent and S&P 500 futures dropped one per cent.

Israel’s assault on Gaza began after Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s military offensive has killed over 33,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the local health ministry.

Iran-backed groups have declared support for Palestinians, launching attacks from Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq.

With AP