Israel strikes Iran LIVE: Latest updates as strikes reported in city hosting nuclear program, flights diverted after Netanyahu ignores Biden’s call for calm

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

Israeli officials warned the Biden administration of its intention to strike before launching the strikes in previous days, but one official told CNN that the United States had not given the “green light” to any Israeli response.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke Thursday afternoon with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant, but a senior source declined to confirm to the New York Times whether Gallant had warned of the strikes that took place a few hours after the meeting.

Israeli military officials reportedly stressed that today’s strikes were a “limited response” to the Iranian attack, appearing to target military centers used by Iran in its Saturday attack.

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

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

Before airports reopened, Flydubai announced that it had canceled its Friday flights to Iran. One of his earlier flights turned back 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 the carriers that continued to fly over the part of Iranian airspace that remained open in the first hours after Friday’s attack, the tracking site showed.

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

Iran has sought to downplay any significant damage to its military facilities and has categorically denied any destruction of nuclear power plants, saying that “so far no large-scale strikes or explosions due to an aerial threat have been reported.” “.

Reports citing high-ranking US military sources contradict this claim and claim that targets were hit. No official comment has been released by Israel, Iran or the United States.

Israel carried out strikes on a target in Iran, defying President Joe Biden’s warnings that it could plunge the Middle East further into conflict.

U.S. officials confirmed that the strikes hit a site in Iran, but it is unclear which target was hit or the extent of the damage.

Authorities say the central Iranian city of Isfahan was struck 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 would not be nuclear.