A projectile streaks through the sky over central Israel during an Iranian missile attack, Sunday, June 7, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ohad Zwigenberg)<\/small><\/p>\n
2026-06-08T01:46:57Z<\/p>\n
DUBAI, United Arab Emirate (AP) \u2014 Israel launched airstrikes early Monday targeting central and western Iran in response to missile fire from Tehran, attacks that threatened to drag the wider Middle East back into a regional war. <\/p>\n
Iranian state television reported the sound of explosions being heard in Isfahan, Karaj, Tabriz and Tehran, without immediately elaborating. A witness in Tehran described hearing at least one large blast somewhere to the west of the country\u2019s capital city. Iran closed the airspace around Tehran\u2019s Imam Khomeini International Airport, the country\u2019s main airfield, after the Israeli attack.<\/p>\n
Iranian officials offered no details on what had been struck, nor any damage information. Iran\u2019s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said that Israel used air-launched ballistic missiles in its attack Monday morning, without elaborating.<\/p>\n
The Israeli military at dawn in Iran issued a short statement as the strikes started: \u201cA short while ago, the Israeli Air Force struck military targets belonging to the Iranian terror regime in western and central Iran.\u201d It did not elaborate. <\/p>\n
The White House did not respond to messages about the strikes and whether they were done in coordination with the U.S.<\/p>\n
For days, negotiations between Iran and the United States over the fragile ceasefire in the war had been stalled by the fighting between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah. Israel now occupies southern Lebanon and had moved into areas of the country it hadn\u2019t held in a quarter century \u2014 leading to fears about them further widening their campaign. <\/p>\n