An Israeli attack on Iran damaged facilities at a secretive military base that experts have in the past linked to Tehran’s nuclear weapons programme and at another site tied to its ballistic missile systems, satellite photos show.
Images analysed by the Associated Press show some of the buildings damaged are within the Parchin military base, where the International Atomic Energy Agency suspects Iran in the past conducted tests of high explosives that could trigger a nuclear weapon.
Iran has long insisted its nuclear programme is peaceful, though the IAEA, Western intelligence agencies and others say Tehran had an active weapons programme up until 2003.
The other damage could be seen at the nearby Khojir military base, which analysts believe hides an underground tunnel system and missile production sites.
Iran’s military has not acknowledged damage at either Khojir or Parchin from Israel’s attack early on Saturday, though it has said the assault killed four Iranian soldiers working in the country’s air defence systems.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the strikes had “severely harmed” Iran and achieved all of Israel’s goals.
“The air force struck throughout Iran,” he said. “We severely harmed Iran’s defence capabilities and its ability to produce missiles that are aimed towards us.”
Iran’s supreme leader has said Israel’s attack “should not be exaggerated nor downplayed”, while stopping short of calling for retaliation.
The remarks from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday are the latest suggesting Iran is carefully weighing its response to the attack.
“It is up to the authorities to determine how to convey the power and will of the Iranian people to the Israeli regime and to take actions that serve the interests of this nation and country,” said Khamenei, who has the final say over all major decisions in Iran.
Cascading conflicts in the Middle East have raised fears of an all-out regional war pitting Israel and the United States against Iran and its militant proxies, which also include the Houthi rebels in Yemen and armed groups in Syria and Iraq.
Earlier, Iran’s president warned against further attacks on his country after Israel targeted military sites in pre-dawn air strikes on Saturday.
In a statement on social media site X, Masoud Pezeshkian gave his condolences to the families of the four people killed in the attacks and said Iran will continue to defend itself.
“Enemies of Iran should know these brave people are standing fearlessly in defence of their land and will respond to any stupidity with tact and intelligence,” he wrote.
The Israeli military said its aircraft targeted facilities Iran used to make the missiles fired at Israel, as well as surface-to-air missile sites.
There was no indication oil or nuclear sites were struck and Iran insisted the strikes caused only “limited damage”.
US President Joe Biden told reporters Israel had informed him before the strikes and said it looked like “they didn’t hit anything but military targets”.
His administration won assurances from Israel in mid-October that it would not hit nuclear facilities and oil installations. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran’s nuclear facilities were not impacted.
“I hope this is the end,” Mr Biden said.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence minister, that “Iran should not make the mistake of responding to Israel’s strikes, which should mark the end of this exchange”, according to Major General Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary.
