Iran Fires Waves of Missiles at Israel After Israeli Airstrike on Beirut

TEL AVIV—Iran fired at least four waves of missiles toward Israel on Sunday in response to a deadly Israeli airstrike on Beirut hours earlier targeting the Tehran-backed militants Hezbollah.

The attack marks the first time Iran has targeted Israel since its ceasefire with the U.S. went into force in early April and threatens to escalate a conflict that has been largely contained since then, despite a series of lower-intensity skirmishes.

“The Iranian regime made a serious mistake,” an Israeli military spokesperson said, adding that Israel would continue its operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israel intercepted the Iranian missiles, and there were no reported injuries. Iran warned it would respond with force against Israel and its allies should Israel retaliate.

President Trump appeared to be trying to de-escalate the situation, telling reporters at Fox News and Axios that he was pressing Iran and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stand down.

Fox News said Trump told its chief foreign correspondent, Trey Yingst, in an interview, “What I would suggest to Iran: You’ve shot your missiles, that’s enough. Get back to the table and make a deal.”

The U.S. Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East, earlier posted a video featuring U.S. jet fighters with the message: “U.S. forces across the Middle East remain vigilant and ready.”

The Iranian attack came after Tehran threatened to strike Israel and American bases in the Middle East in response to the attack on the Lebanese capital, the first time Israel had targeted Beirut since a ceasefire on that front was announced by the U.S. last week. Israel had agreed not to hit Beirut as long as Hezbollah didn’t attack Israel proper, and agreed with Lebanon on a broader truce as long as the militant group stops fighting.

Iran’s state broadcaster quoted the Iranian armed forces as saying that Israel must stop its attacks on southern Lebanon and the suburbs.

“If it expands its attacks on that region or responds to Iran’s actions, it will begin with devastating strikes against the regime and its supporters,” Iran’s armed forces said, according to Iran state media.

Netanyahu ordered the strike on what he said was a Hezbollah headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of the militant group. Earlier, Israel’s military said Hezbollah had fired rockets into northern Israel, which it intercepted.

Senior officials in Tehran, who have sought a halt to Israeli operations inside Lebanon as part of their peace negotiations with Washington, had vowed to hit back with a decisive and painful response.

On Sunday, Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, said the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and what he described as the U.S. green light for the Israeli strike in Lebanon “turn American and regime bases and assets in the region into legitimate targets.”

The Israeli prime minister’s office didn’t respond to requests for comment on whether Israel’s latest strike on Beirut had Washington’s approval.

In the interview on Fox News on Sunday, Trump said the latest Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon weren’t coordinated with the U.S. But for weeks U.S. officials have said Washington supports Israel defending itself against attacks from the Iranian proxy.

Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press” he supports “surgical” strikes against Hezbollah after telling Netanyahu last week that he wouldn’t accept a large-scale Israeli assault on Beirut.

The U.S. has previously stationed warplanes in Israel, at an Israeli base in the Negev and at the airport in Tel Aviv. But there are no indications they have been targeted or caught up in the attacks.

Israel said last week the ceasefire agreement with Lebanon included an American understanding it could strike Beirut if Hezbollah attacked Israel.

The U.S. military said Saturday it shot down four Iranian attack drones that had been launched toward the strategic waterway, which Iran has effectively blocked since early in the war and which the U.S. has made sporadic efforts to pry open. 

The military said it also struck what it called surveillance and radar sites along Iran’s coast to diminish Tehran’s ability to launch further attacks.

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