April 19, 2024 - Iran targeted in aerial attack

The attack on Iran early Friday was likely intended as both a retaliatory measure and a cautionary message, a retired US Army Major General told CNN's Michael Holmes.

For days, Israel has been weighing its response to unprecedented weekend strikes from Iran, which were launched in retaliation for a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Syria earlier this month.

A US official told CNN that Friday's attack was an Israeli strike. Israel has declined to comment on it.

“Israel must maintain its vigilance” in case Iran decides to respond with another show of force, retired Major General Mark MacCarley said.

By targeting the Iranian province of Isfahan — the site of significant nuclear facilities —Israel was likely warning that it could easily overwhelm Iran's defenses, MacCarley said.

“I think that there was a very deliberate thought process on the part of the Israeli war cabinet," he said.

A loud blast heard near the Iranian city of Isfahan was caused by "air defense firing at a suspicious object," an Iranian senior military commander said, according to Iran's state-aligned Tasnim news agency.

There was no "damage or incident," said senior military commander Second Brigadier General Mihandoust in Isfahan province, according to Tasnim.

A US official told CNN that Israel had carried out a strike inside Iran. The Israeli military has not commented.

Iranian state media are reporting that all facilities in the area are secure, including significant nuclear facilities.

Three explosions were heard early Friday near the military base where fighter jets are located in Isfahan province, Iran's semi-official FARS news agency reported.

Iran's National Cyberspace Center spokesman, Hossein Dalirian, said air defenses shot down three drones and "there are no reports of a missile attack for now."

Iran has lifted flight suspensions put in place after reports of explosions near a military base in Isfahan province, according to the spokesperson of the Civil Aviation Organization.

Flights have resumed at Mehrabad Airport and Imam Khomeini International Airport, the two major airports in Iran's capital, Tehran, after being suspended earlier today.

Iran had earlier temporarily suspended all flights heading to the cities of “Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz, the airports of the West, North West and South West," state-run Mehr TV reported.

Outgoing flights were also briefly canceled.

Following a strike in Iran's Isfahan province, Iranian state media are reporting that all facilities in the area are secure, including significant nuclear facilities, CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson reports.

Though a US official told CNN Israel has carried out a strike inside Iran, Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack.

State media is also reporting that they have not had any enemy aircraft come into Iranian airspace, he added.

The strike against Iran early Friday is just the latest in an intensifying and uncertain series of attacks in the Middle East.

Should a tit-for-tat between Israel and Iran develop, the conflict between the nations threatens to get "very grim very quickly," an international relations expert told CNN.

Iran could choose to target Israel through proxies in Lebanon and Iraq, as well as with the help of Hamas in Gaza and the Houthi militant group in Yemen, Ghosh said.

Friday's strikes have pitched the conflict into "unknown territory," he said.

CNN Global Affairs Analyst Kim Dozier said this "escalation ladder" between the countries could lead to "something really dire — an all-out back and forth between the two."

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant earlier Thursday about “regional threats and Iran’s destabilizing actions in the Middle East,” according to a Pentagon readout.

The call happened before Israel carried out a strike inside Iran. The Pentagon readout does not mention any discussion of Israel’s plans to attack.

Austin also discussed "the importance of increasing and sustaining the flow of humanitarian aid to Gazan civilians, including via the new route from Ashdod Port in Israel," the readout said.

CNN reported Thursday night that Israel had told the US that it would be retaliating against Iran in the coming days, according to a senior US official.

Iranian air defenses shot down three drones Friday, according to a Tehran official, as state media said no large-scale strikes or explosions had been reported following blasts near the central city of Isfahan.

It comes after a US official told CNN Friday that Israel had carried out a strike inside Iran, in a move that threatens to raise regional tensions.

Iran's air defense systems were activated in several regions as a precaution against potential aerial threats, according to state news agency IRNA.

Extensive checks in Isfahan, a critical central province with significant nuclear facilities, indicate that all sensitive military and security installations remain secure, with no incidents reported.

Missile defense systems were not activated, IRNA added.

The Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) urged its citizens in Israel to "depart if it's safe to do so."

The department warned that "military attacks may result in airspace closures, flight cancellations & diversions & other travel disruptions."

It is concerned that Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport "may pause operations due to heightened security concerns at any time, & at short notice."

Israel has carried out a strike inside Iran, a US official tells CNN, in a move that threatens to trigger further deadly conflict throughout the Middle East.

The attack came hours after Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told CNN that if Israel takes any further military action against Iran, its response would be “immediate and at a maximum level.”

The details of a potential “maximum response” have been planned by Iran’s armed forces, he said.

Israel had for days been weighing its response to Iran's unprecedented weekend strikes, most of which were intercepted.

Iran launched the attack in retaliation for a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Syria earlier this month.

That airstrike destroyed the consulate building and killed at least seven officials, including two top commanders.