Israel and the United States carry out military strikes against Iran

Israel carried out what it described as a pre-emptive strike against Iran on Saturday, while a separate US assault was also in progress, pushing the Middle East into a fresh phase of military confrontation and further weakening prospects for a diplomatic resolution to Tehran’s nuclear standoff with Western powers.

According to two US officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, the American military launched a series of attacks on targets inside Iran. The full scale of the air and naval operations was not immediately known. An Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran was preparing a forceful response.