Missiles launched from Iran are seen over Ashkelon during the Iran-Israel war. (Photo: Reuters)
Dubai: Israel and Iran traded fire early Monday, June 8, in retaliatory strikes that threatened to drag the wider Middle East back into a full-scale regional war, while Yemen’s Houthi rebels also fired at Israel and warned they would target Israel-affiliated ships in the Red Sea, further escalating tension.
Israel launched strikes on central and western Iran early Monday in response to missile fire from Tehran and Iran retaliated with waves of attacks, in the most serious crossfire since an April 8 ceasefire was reached.
Explosions could be heard in central Israel as air defences sought to intercept incoming Iranian fire.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted two military bases in Israel, describing the attacks as being part of Operation Nasr, or “Victory.” The Guard said it launched the missiles after Israel targeted radar sites in three areas of Iran.
Tehran warned of retaliation on Sunday after Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs without warning in defiance of Washington’s request days ago to stand down.
Monday marked the 100th day of the Iran war, launched February 28 when Israel and the United States killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior Iranian leaders.
The war raged until the two sides reached a nominal ceasefire on April 8, but a permanent end to the hostilities have been challenged by Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas once passed in peacetime, as well as fighting between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah.
With global energy supplies threatened, Iran still holding a vast stockpile of highly enriched uranium and even Yemen’s Houthi rebels apparently getting involved in the fighting Monday, the risks of the war fully erupting again appears to be rising.
The White House did not respond to messages about the Israeli strikes and whether they were done in coordination with the US.
A senior US official on Sunday said US President Donald Trump had called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to urge him not to retaliate immediately for the Iranian missile attack. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a private phone call, said that Trump believed he had convinced Netanyahu to wait.
Trump “got Bibi to hold off for the time being,” the official said. The official would not offer any other details of the call, and there was no immediate comment from Netanyahu’s office.
Trump earlier told a Fox News Channel reporter that he wanted the Iranians to stop firing missiles and return to the negotiating table. He also said that Israel’s strikes in Lebanon earlier Sunday were not coordinated with the US and “I’m not happy about it.”
Speaking to The Financial Times before the Israeli strikes on Iran, Trump insisted he dictated terms to Netanyahu on how the war should be prosecuted.
“He won’t have any choice,” Trump told the newspaper in a telephone interview. “I call the shots. I call all the shots. He (Netanyahu) doesn’t call the shots.”
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed an attack on Israel and said Israel-affiliated vessels would again be a target in the Red Sea, putting the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait connected them in danger.
The statement from Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree was broadcast on the Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel. During the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis killed at least nine mariners and sunk four ships in over 100 attacks, often targeting vessels with tangential or no ties at all to Israel.
The assaults upended shipping in the Red Sea, through which about USD 1 trillion of goods passed each year before the war.
They also greatly disrupted transits through Egypt’s Suez Canal, which links the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. The canal remains one of the top providers of hard currency for Egypt, providing it USD 10 billion in 2023 as its wider economy struggles.
The renewed attack also comes as Saudi Arabia is relying on its East-West Pipeline to export oil out through the Red Sea as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian state television reported the sound of explosions being heard in Isfahan, Karaj, Tabriz and Tehran, without immediately elaborating. A witness in Tehran described hearing at least one large blast somewhere to the west of the country’s capital city.
Iran closed the airspace around Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport, the country’s main airfield, after the Israeli attack.
Officials offered no details on what had been struck, nor any damage information. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said that Israel used air-launched ballistic missiles in its attack Monday morning, without elaborating.
The semiofficial Fars and Mehr news agencies said Israeli strikes had hit a petrochemical factory in city of Mahshahr in Khuzestan province. It did not elaborate on damage.
The Israeli military later confirmed the strike on the petrochemical plant.
Earlier Monday, sirens sounded across Israel after its military said a missile launched from Yemen targeted the country, without elaborating. Israel’s rescue services said there were no reports of casualties or impacts from the launch from Yemen.
Yemen is home to the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. The Houthis have fired missiles at Israel during the Israel-Hamas war and later, but haven’t been fully involved in the Iran war. The Houthis did not immediately claim the attack, though it can take them hours or even days to acknowledge their assaults.
In Saudi Arabia, missile alert sirens sounded Monday morning in an area home to an air base that hosts US forces.
Saudi state media reported the alert around its Al Kharj governorate, home to Prince Sultan Air Base. The alert came after Israel’s strikes on Iran. Saudi Arabia shortly after said the missile danger in the area had passed, without elaborating.
This post was last modified on June 8, 2026 1:11 pm