(The Epoch Times)—The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said early June 8 that its forces have struck Iranian military targets in “western and central Iran.”
Iran’s paramilitary said Israel fired air-launched ballistic missile to its territory early June 8 but provided no details on any damage or casualties.
Explosions were heard in some areas including Isfahan, Karaj, Tabriz, and Tehran, forcing Iran to close the airspace around the Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran, according to state television.
The strikes came just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to retaliate against Iran after its regime fired a barrage of missiles at Israel late on June 7.
“I am going to call Bibi right now and tell him not to retaliate. Each of them had their fun. Israel had its strike, and Iran had its strike. We don’t need another one,” Trump told Axios.
“We are very close to a final deal with Iran,” the president said. “It is going to be a good deal. I don’t want it to blow up because of what is happening now.”
Several Israeli officials issued statements indicating their country is ready to retaliate with full force.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in response to Iran’s attack that it would “strike the enemy with full force the moment the green light is given.”
Israel’s ambassador to the United States sent a message to Trump on X saying, “Iran deceives you, Israel respects you, Israel must strike back, hard.”
IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin issued a statement affirming his nation’s commitment to continue striking Hezbollah targets in Beirut it would not allow Iran’s leadership to “establish a new equation.”
But Trump said that whatever deal the United States can make with Iran, Israel will be forced to accept.
“He won’t have any choice,” Trump told the Financial Times in a telephone interview. “I call the shots. I call all the shots. He [Netanyahu] doesn’t call the shots.”
The president said that the day’s events would not have any impact on the ongoing negotiations between the United States and Iran.
The IDF announced that it detected and intercepted missiles fired from Iran on June 7 in retaliation for Israel’s strike on a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut, Lebanon.
Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, has historically aligned itself with Iran’s Islamic regime, and continuous instances of fighting between it and Israel—despite the United States’s attempts to broker parallel ceasefires between the two nations—have complicated ongoing negotiations between the United States and Iran.
The U.S. embassy in Jerusalem and its branch office in Tel Aviv announced they would be closed on June 8, issuing a shelter in place order to U.S. government employees and their families.
“The Iranian strikes didn’t hurt anybody,” Trump told Axios. “Hopefully, Israel is not going to retaliate. If Bibi strikes them back, it’s just gonna keep going like the last 47 years—or the last 3,000 years.”
