Israel strikes Iran after missile attack, escalating Middle East tensions

Israel launched airstrikes targeting central and western Iran early Monday in response to missile fire from Tehran, marking a dangerous escalation that threatens to drag the wider Middle East back into open conflict.

Iranian state television reported explosions heard in Isfahan, Karaj, Tabriz, and Tehran, with witnesses in the capital describing at least one large blast west of the city. Iran closed airspace around Tehran's main international airport after the attack and said Israel used air-launched ballistic missiles, though Iranian officials offered no immediate details on damage or what was struck.

The Israeli military said in a brief statement that it "struck military targets belonging to the Iranian terror regime in western and central Iran" but provided no elaboration.

The strikes came after Iran retaliated with its own missile attack on Sunday, which itself followed Israeli airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs. For days, negotiations between Iran and the U.S. over a fragile ceasefire had stalled amid fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, with Israel now occupying southern Lebanon and areas it hadn't held in 25 years.

U.S. President Donald Trump told a Fox reporter he wanted Iran to stop firing missiles and return to negotiations. A senior U.S. official said Trump had called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to urge restraint, though Netanyahu's office made no immediate comment. Saudi Arabia sounded missile alert sirens Monday morning in its Al Kharj governorate, home to Prince Sultan Air Base, which hosts U.S. forces.