Israel has launched 'preemptive strikes' against Iran and declared a state of emergency as the country braces for retaliation.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an address that the attacks will continue 'for as many days at it takes to remove this threat' of Iran's nuclear program.
Netanyahu said that Israel targeted Iran's main enrichment facility in Natanz and the country's ballistic missile program, as well as top nuclear scientists and officials.
He alleged that Iran was working on a new plan to destroy Israel after its old plan, its circle of proxies, failed. He called that an intolerable threat that must be stopped.
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency quotes an anonymous official saying Iran will offer a 'decisive' response to Israel's attack.
The New York Times reported at least a half dozen military bases around Tehran residential homes used by military personnel were among the targets.
An Israeli defense official said the strikes likely killed members of Iran's general staff, including the chief of staff and several senior nuclear scientists.
The head of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami, was killed in the strikes, Iranian state television reported.
It added that one other top Guard official, as well as two nuclear scientists, were also feared dead. The report offered few other details.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard, created after its 1979 Islamic Revolution, is one of the main power centers within the country's theocracy. It also controls Iran's arsenal of ballistic missiles, which it has used to attack Israel twice during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
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