Israel strikes back at Iran military targets hours after missile barrage over Lebanon attack

Israel struck several military targets in Iran on Sunday, hours after the Islamic Republic launched a barrage of missiles at the Jewish state.

The Israel Defense Forces said its air force struck targets “belonging to the Iranian terror regime” in western and central Iran in a statement on X Sunday evening.

Iran state media separately reported that explosions were heard in Tehran, Tabriz and Isfahan after Israel fired “air-launched ballistic missiles,” citing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. 

Israel, led by PM Benjamin Netanyahu (above), conducted strikes against Iran on Sunday. POOL/AFP via Getty Images

The Israeli military hit Iranian surface-to-surface missile launch sites and non-energy infrastructure, Israel’s ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, said.

Nearly two hours later, the Israeli air force said it was intercepting a missile “from the direction of Yemen toward Israeli territory.”

A missile hasn’t been launched from Yemen at Israel since April 4 — just four days before the Pakistan-brokered cease-fire between the US and Iran went into effect.

Earlier, Iran fired at least 10 missiles at Israel, all of which were intercepted. Iranian officials claimed responsibility and asserted the attack was in response to Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon that morning.

Israel’s strike violated its delicate cease-fire with Lebanon. Both countries agreed to the US-brokered cease-fire last week, but Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah rejected it.

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighborhood in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on June 7, 2026. AFP via Getty Images The IDF completed a large-scale strike on strategic defense systems belonging to Iran. IDF

President Trump said he would talk Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu out of conducting a retaliatory strike on Iran, telling the Financial Times that he’s still the one “calling the shots.”

“He won’t have any choice,” Trump said.

Israel, however, has insisted on maintaining its military presence in Lebanon despite US officials’ demands for de-escalation. 

A man looks at the wreckage of an Iranian missile that landed near the West Bank city of Jericho Monday, June 8, 2026. AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean The trail of an interceptor missile launched from Israeli air defense systems is visible over Jerusalem on June 7, 2026. Xinhua/Shutterstock Iran launches missiles toward Israel, at an unknown location, in this still image taken from a video released June 7, 2026. via REUTERS Citizens carrying Iranian and Hezbollah flags gather at Enghelab Square to hold a demonstration in support of the government following Iran’s missile attack on Israel, on June 8, 2026, in the capital, Tehran, Iran. Anadolu via Getty Images

On Sunday, IDF officials defiantly announced they would “continue to operate” and “intensify its actions against the Hezbollah terrorist organization” in Lebanon, even though Israel agreed to a cease-fire that stipulated a decrease in hostility between the warring countries.

Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he is “not demanding” that Lebanon be included in the greater cease-fire deal for the Iran war.

Iran’s military subsequently shared a statement with regime media on Sunday accusing Israel and the US of violating the April cease-fire. 

“Our acceptance of the ceasefire on April 8 was conditional on a ceasefire on ALL fronts; but as always, America and Israel did not adhere to their commitment, they continued the aggression and crimes in Lebanon, and attacked Iranian vessels,” it said.

Before Israel’s strikes in Lebanon, Iran warned an attack would spark a full-scale war across the Middle East.

Israel, Lebanon, and foreign intermediaries are supposed to meet for negotiations the week of June 22, according to the State Department.