World leaders are calling for restraint after Israel launched a series of airstrikes on Iran early Friday morning, in an escalation of regional tensions.
Israel has said that the strikes were targeting Iran’s nuclear program. Leading nuclear scientists and high-ranking military officials were killed in the strikes, according to Iranian media.
While the U.S. did not partake in the strikes, President Donald Trump was briefed on them beforehand.
“We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. Washington, which has been carrying out negotiations to reach a new nuclear agreement with Tehran, has previously said it would prefer a brokered deal to an armed offensive.
As of the latest, Iran has launched around 100 drones toward Israeli territory that the Jewish state was working to intercept, according to an Israeli military spokesperson. A state of emergency was declared in Israel.
