Israel attacks Iran's capital with explosions booming across Tehran

JERUSALEM (AP) — Iranian state television says the head of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard is feared dead after an Israeli attack.

The report offered few other details about what happened to General Hossein Salami of the Guard.

The report on air added that one other top Guard officials, as well as two nuclear scientists were also feared dead.

State television also reported the attack set the headquarters of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard ablaze.

Multiple sites in the capital had been hit in the attack, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said targeted both nuclear and military sites and officials leading Iran's nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal.

Israel attacked Iran's capital early Friday, with explosions booming across Tehran.

The attack comes as tensions have reached new heights over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear programme. The Board of Governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency for the first time in 20 years on Thursday censured Iran over it not working with its inspectors. Iran immediately announced it would establish a third enrichment site in the country and swap out some centrifuges for more-advanced ones.

Israel for years has warned it will not allow Iran to build a nuclear weapon, something Tehran insists it doesn't want — though official there have repeatedly warned it could build them. The US has been preparing for something to happen, already pulling some diplomats from Iraq's capital and offering voluntary evacuations for the families of US troops in the wider Middle East.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an address on YouTube that the attacks will continue "for as many days at it takes to remove this threat."

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel took "unilateral action against Iran" and that Israel advised the US that it believed the strikes were necessary for its self-defence.

As the explosions in Tehran started, President Donald Trump was on the lawn of the White House mingling with members of Congress. It was unclear if he had been informed but the president continued shaking hands and posing for pictures for several minutes.

Trump earlier said he was urging Netanyahu to hold off from taking action for the time being while the administration negotiated with Iran.

"As long as I think there is a (chance for an) agreement, I don't want them going in because I think it would blow it," Trump told reporters.

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