JERUSALEM/TEHRAN: Israel launched airstrikes across Iran on Monday, defying a public call from US President Donald Trump to avoid further retaliation after Tehran fired missiles at Israel a day earlier.
The strikes heightened tensions and threatened a fragile April 8 ceasefire as the conflict entered its 100th day. The United States continues efforts to broker a deal aimed at ending the war.
Iranian state television reported explosions in Tehran and two other cities. The Israeli military said it targeted sites in western and central Iran.
Israel described the operation as a response to Iran’s missile barrage on Sunday. Tehran launched 11 missiles toward Israel, but Israeli defenses intercepted all of them. No casualties were reported.
Trump publicly urged restraint and sought to prevent further escalation.
“I am going to call Bibi right now and tell him not to retaliate,” Trump told Axios journalist Barak Ravid in a phone interview, using Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nickname.
“Israel had its strike and Iran had its strike. We don’t need another one,” Trump said.
Ravid later reported that a US official confirmed Trump spoke with Netanyahu. The White House did not immediately comment.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper also called for de-escalation.
“The resumption of conflict between Iran and Israel is in no one’s interest,” she wrote on X, urging all sides to pursue diplomacy.
Iran Issues Warning
Tehran said any agreement to permanently end the conflict must also address fighting in Lebanon, where Israel continues military operations against the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.
Iran warned that any new Israeli attacks on Beirut could trigger a full resumption of hostilities.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali Safari said Tehran acted after weeks of restraint in the face of what he described as Israeli aggression.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) called Sunday’s missile attack a “warning” following Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs. The IRGC threatened broader action if Israel launches further attacks.
On Monday, Iran also struck what it described as bases of “terrorist groups” in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, adding pressure to already fragile regional stability.
Tehran accuses armed Kurdish groups operating in the area of serving Israeli and Western interests.
Lebanon Front Intensifies
Israel said its military was also working to intercept a missile launched from Yemen, where Iran-aligned Houthi rebels have repeatedly targeted Israeli territory.
On Sunday, Netanyahu’s office said Israeli forces struck a militant command center in Beirut’s Dahiyeh district after Hezbollah launched attacks on northern Israel.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said the strike killed two people and wounded 20 others.
Hezbollah later confirmed that it had fired missiles and drones at two Israeli military positions earlier in the day.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker and chief negotiator in talks with Washington, accused the United States of giving Israel a “green light” for the Beirut strike.
He warned that US and Israeli assets had become “legitimate targets.”
The head of Iran’s military central command said Israel had “crossed all red lines” by striking Beirut and demanded an end to Israeli operations in Lebanon.
“Tonight’s operation was a warning,” the IRGC said in a statement. “If such aggressions are repeated, the responses will be broader and will cover all US-Zionist targets in the region.”
