Israel strikes 6 Iranian airports, claims destruction of 15 military aircraft

The Israeli military on Monday said it has attacked six airports in Iran, destroying 15 aircraft and damaging runways, as per a BBC report.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the airports targeted were in western, eastern and central Iran. The IDF added that the drone strikes destroyed F-15 and F-5 fighter jets, a refuelling plane, and an AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter.

Iran has not yet confirmed the attack.


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Iran's warning for Trump

Iran said on Monday that the U.S. attack on its nuclear sites expanded the range of legitimate targets for its armed forces and called U.S. President Donald Trump a "gambler" for joining Israel's military campaign against the Islamic Republic.

Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesperson for Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya central military headquarters, said the U.S. should expect heavy consequences for its actions.

ALSO READ: 'Unusual activity': Satellite images indicate severe damage to Fordow, but doubts remain

"Mr Trump, the gambler, you may start this war, but we will be the ones to end it," Zolfaqari said in English at the end of a recorded video statement.

Iran and Israel traded air and missile strikes as the world braced for Tehran's response to the U.S. attack on its nuclear sites over the weekend, which Trump suggested could lead to the overthrow of the Iranian government.

Commercial satellite imagery indicated Saturday's attack on Iran’s Fordow nuclear plant far underground had severely damaged or destroyed the site and the uranium-enriching centrifuges it housed, but its status remained unconfirmed, experts said.

Trump claims US hit 'Bullseye'

In his latest social media comments on the U.S. strikes, Trump said: "Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran."

"The biggest damage took place far below ground level. Bullseye!!!" he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Trump earlier called on Iran to forgo any retaliation and said the government "must now make peace" or future attacks would be "far greater and a lot easier", fuelling global concern about further escalation of conflict in the Middle East.

The U.S. launched 75 precision-guided munitions including bunker-buster bombs and more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles against three Iranian nuclear sites, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, told reporters.

Radiation levels after US attacks

The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said no increases in off-site radiation levels had been reported after the U.S. strikes. Rafael Grossi, the agency's director general, told CNN that it was not yet possible to assess the damage done underground.

A senior Iranian source told Reuters that most of the highly enriched uranium at Fordow had been moved elsewhere before the attack. Reuters could not immediately corroborate the claim.

Tehran, which denies its nuclear programme is for anything other than peaceful purposes, launched a volley of missiles towards Israel in the aftermath of the U.S. attack, wounding scores of people and destroying buildings in Tel Aviv.

But it has not acted on its main options for retaliation, to attack U.S. bases or choke off the 20% of global oil shipments that pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

(With agency inputs)