Alarms sounded across Israel and explosions could be heard in Jerusalem and the Jordan River valley on Tuesday. Israelis piled into bomb shelters and reporters on state television lay flat on the ground during live broadcasts.
Israel said more than 180 missiles were launched into Israel from Iran and Israeli air defences were activated to intercept them. US Navy warships fired about a dozen interceptors against Iranian missiles headed toward Israel, the Pentagon said.
Israelis took cover on the side of the road as sirens warned of incoming missiles fired from Iran. (AP PHOTO)
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said the assault was in retaliation for recent Israeli killings of militant leaders and aggression in Lebanon and Gaza. Its forces used hypersonic Fattah missiles for the first time, and 90 per cent of its missiles successfully hit their targets in Israel, the Revolutionary Guards said.
No injuries were reported in Israel, but one man was killed in the occupied West Bank, authorities there said.
Israeli officials promised consequences for the onslaught. Israeli Major General Herzi Halevi said in a statement: "We will choose when to collect the price, and prove our precise and surprising attack capabilities, in accordance with the guidance of the political leadership."
Washington backed up its longtime ally.
"We have made clear that there will be consequences, severe consequences, for this attack, and we will work with Israel to make that the case," spokesman Jake Sullivan said at a White House briefing.
This morning, — President Biden (@POTUS) @VP and I convened our national security team to discuss Iranian plans to launch an imminent missile attack against Israel.We discussed how the United States is prepared to help Israel defend against these attacks, and protect American personnel in the region.October 1, 2024
Sullivan did not specify what those consequences might be, but he stopped short of urging restraint by Israel as the US did in April when Iran carried out a drone and missile attack on Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a few other ministers were meeting in a bunker near Jerusalem, where the security cabinet was due to convene shortly, two Israeli officials said.
Iran said if Israel retaliated Tehran's response would be "more crushing and ruinous". Tehran targeted three Israeli military bases in its attack, Iran's state news agency said.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a social media post: "This is just part of our capability. Do not get into a confrontation with Iran."
Projectiles were seen flying into Israeli air space after Iran launched its missiles. (EPA PHOTO)
A senior Iranian official told Reuters the order to launch missiles at Israel had been made by the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei remains in a secure location, the senior official added.
Oil prices shot up five per cent on the news of the Iranian missile strikes, which raise the prospect of a wider war between the two arch enemies.
The previous round of Iranian missiles fired at Israel in April - the first ever - were shot down with the help of the US military and other allies. Israel responded at the time with air strikes in Iran, but wider escalation was averted.
The Pentagon said the scope of Tuesday's air strikes was about twice the size of April's assault.
Iran had vowed to retaliate following Israeli strikes that killed the top leadership of its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, including the group's leader Hassan Nasrallah, a towering figure in Iran's network of fighters across the region.
Hamas, the Iran-backed militant group in Gaza, praised the Iranian missile strikes, saying they avenged Israeli assassinations of three militant leaders, including Nasrallah.
In Washington, US President Joe Biden said the United States was prepared to help Israel defend itself from Iranian missile attacks, and Sullivan said the president was tracking developments "minute by minute."
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned what he called "escalation after escalation", saying: "This must stop. We absolutely need a ceasefire".