Israel strikes Iran after intercepting missiles, testing US push for Tehran deal

Israel said early Monday it struck military targets in Iran after intercepting Iranian missiles, attacks that threatened to derail the negotiations between Tehran and Washington.

The Israeli military said its forces carried out strikes against military targets in western and central Iran hours after it intercepted missiles launched from Iranian territory.

"The Israeli Air Force struck military targets belonging to the Iranian terror regime in western and central Iran a short while ago," the military said in a statement.

Several loud explosions were reported in Tehran, according to the state-run Mehr News Agency.

State broadcaster IRIB also reported blasts in the Iranian cities of Tabriz and Isfahan.

Iran said its missile launches were retaliation for Israeli strikes on Beirut, adding another front to a conflict that has increasingly drawn in regional actors.

The latest exchange came despite efforts by US President Donald Trump to prevent further escalation.

Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call Sunday to hold off on retaliatory action against Iran because the United States was close to reaching a diplomatic breakthrough with Tehran, reported Axios, quoting a US official familiar with the conversation.

Trump said that "we are close to doing something good in terms of a deal," the official said.

Netanyahu pushed back during the discussion but ultimately "pseudo agreed" to stand down, according to the report.

The report described Sunday's conversation as calmer than a tense exchange between the two leaders last week and said Trump did not raise his voice during the call.

"We think the president bought a little bit of time," Axios quoted the official as saying. "He is pretty adamant that we are close to a deal with Iran."

"We are in a moment in time — why jeopardize a potential deal when you are in the fourth quarter," the official said. "The president thinks that we have been in this thing for three months — now is the time to end this thing."

In comments published Sunday by the Financial Times, Trump said Netanyahu would have to accept any agreement Washington reaches with Tehran.

"I call the shots. I call all the shots. He doesn't call the shots," Trump said of the Israeli leader.

Meanwhile, Iran threatened to disrupt shipping through the Bab al-Mandab Strait if Israel intensifies its military campaign.

Ali Velayati, a senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Tehran could move to block the strategic waterway through its regional allies if the conflict worsens, according to Iranian state media.

Located between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, the Bab al-Mandab Strait is a critical maritime chokepoint linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and carrying a significant share of global trade between Europe and Asia.

"The current security situation in Bab al-Mandab should not lead the enemy into miscalculation," Velayati told Iran's Press TV.

"The choice is yours: stop this foolishness or enter a balanced equation for disciplining the two straits," he said, in an apparent reference to both the Bab al-Mandab and the Strait of Hormuz.