REUTERS/Amir Cohen
- Iran launched a missile attack on Israel on Tuesday.
- Tehran said the attack is retaliation for the killing of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders.
- US officials said American warships helped defend Israel from the Iranian missiles.
Iran launched a massive attack on Israel on Tuesday as tensions soar and violence further grips the volatile Middle East.
The Israel Defense Forces said on Telegram that "a short while ago, missiles were launched from Iran towards the State of Israel." On other social media pages, it said that "all Israeli civilians are in bomb shelters as rockets from Iran are fired at Israel."
"The air defense system is fully operational, detecting and intercepting threats wherever necessary, even at this moment," the IDF said. Air raid sirens could be heard across the country.
Video footage showed Israeli air defenses intercepting Iranian missiles over Jerusalem. Other footage has shown incoming missiles impacting Israel, which so far has not reported any injuries. Tehran reportedly fired nearly 200 missiles in the barrage.
Bond yields and stocks fell on news of the attack, with major US equity indexes falling more than 1% at intraday lows. Safe haven assets like gold surged, as did oil prices, which rose as much as 6% on speculation the conflict could limit production.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attacked Israel in response to the killings of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, according to Tasnim, a news agency linked to the IRGC.
Iran had vowed to retaliate against Israel after Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas' political wing, was assassinated in Tehran in July. Israel killed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, in an airstrike in Beirut on Friday.
The Iranian attack also comes just hours after the Israeli military announced the start of a "limited" ground operation inside Lebanon.
The IDF issued a statement shortly after 8:30 p.m. local time that said people were allowed to leave their bomb shelters, indicating that the missile attack was over for the time being.
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters at a briefing that the US did not know of any damage to Israeli aircraft or strategic military assets, adding that the attack appears to have been "defeated" and "ineffective."
Also on Tuesday evening, two men killed six people and injured eight in the Tel Aviv suburb of Jaffa in a suspected terror attack, Israeli authorities said.
Photo by Wisam Hashlamoun/Anadolu via Getty Images
Earlier on Tuesday, a White House official said the US had indications that Iran was preparing to "imminently" launch a ballistic missile attack against Israel.
"We are actively supporting defensive preparations to defend Israel against this attack. A direct military attack from Iran against Israel will carry severe consequences for Iran," the official said.
The US military has a wide range of assets in position around the Middle East and in the Eastern Mediterranean that can protect Israel, as American forces did in April when Iran launched a massive retaliatory missile and drone attack on the country.
The US now has more assets positioned in the region than it did at that time. A Pentagon spokesperson said two American destroyers fired around a dozen interceptors to defend Israel from the Iranian missiles.
The US has repeatedly said that it is ready to defend Israel again and protect its own forces in the region from any attack by Iran or its regional proxies. As it has stepped up its force presence, Washington has also tried to contain rising tensions and conflicts in the Middle East to prevent them from escalating, but it has been unable to do so.
Speaking at the United Nations on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a warning to Iran that any direct attack by the country would be met with a response. After the unprecedented April bombardment, Israel then struck Iran directly.
"If you strike us, we will strike you," he said, adding that there's no place in Iran where "the long arm of Israel cannot reach. And that's true of the entire Middle East."
Staff writer Filip De Mott contributed to this report.