Israel's military says it has carried out retaliatory strikes on Iran after local media reported several explosions in the capital.
The explosions were heard in Tehran and the nearby city of Karaj on Saturday, Iranian media said, although there has been no official comment about the source.
Sources in the west of Tehran have told SBS News that heard at least five explosions.
What has been said about the explosions in Iran?
The semi-official Iranian Fars news agency said several military bases in the west and southwest of Tehran had been targeted by Israel.
Iranian state media reported that strong explosions were heard around Tehran and nearby Karaj, but played down the attack in initial reports, saying life continued as normal.
The Tasnim News Agency said
(IRCG) bases that were attacked were not damaged.
The Air Defense of Tehran Province said in a statement that explosions heard around Tehran were related to air defence systems responding to Israel's attempted attack in three locations outside the capital.
"The aspects of the matter are under investigation," it said.
A view of Tehran in the early hours of Saturday. Source: AAP, EPA / Abedin Taherkenareh
State TV showed footage of Tehran's Imam Khomeini international airport with arriving passengers getting off their flights.
Foad Izadi, an associate professor of world studies at Tehran University, told the Qatar-based Al Jazeera media outlet the city was "very quiet now" and there did not appear to be "any activities or movements".
"The city is functioning as normal, and if we had any attacks, I think they weren't that big," Izadi told Al Jazeera.
Meanwhle, Iranian authorities announced the cancellation of flights on all routes until further notice.
Was there a second wave of attacks?
Hours after the explosions in the west of Tehran, there were reports about sounds of explosions in the eastern part of Iran's capital.
The US Wall Street Journal newspaper reported that Israel's attack on Iran was "unfolding in multiple stages", citing a US official.
Footage shared by local media showed explosions over Tehran.
Iran was "ready to respond" to Israeli aggression" Tasnim news agency reported on, citing "informed sources".
"There is no doubt that Israel will face a proportional reaction for any action it takes," Tasnim reported the sources as ssaying.
What have Israel and the US said?
Israel has been planning a response to
, Tehran's second direct attack on Israel in six months.
Iranian authorities have repeatedly warned Israel against launching an attack, saying any strike on Iran would be met with stronger retaliation.
The Israeli military said early on Saturday it was conducting "precise strikes" on military targets in Iran in response to what it called "the continuous attacks from the regime in Iran against Israel".
Targets did not include energy infrastructure or nuclear facilities, a United States official said, according to the Reuters news agency.
Israel said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant were closely following the operation at the military's command and control centre in Tel Aviv, according to Reuters.
The United States was notified by Israel ahead of its strikes on targets in Iran but was not involved in the operation, a US official told Reuters.
"We understand that Israel is conducting targeted strikes against military targets in Iran as an exercise of self-defence and in response to Iran's ballistic missile attack against Israel on October 1st," said White House National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett on Saturday.
Tensions growing between Iran and Israel
Iran said 90 per cent of its missiles successfully hit their target in Israel, although Israel said most of the missiles were successfully intercepted.
Tehran said this attack was in response to Israeli killings of militant leaders and aggression in Lebanon against the Iran-backed armed movement Hezbollah, and in the
.
. The Iranian government and Hamas accused Israel of the assassination, but Israel has not claimed direct responsibility.
In late September, Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese militant and political group Hezbollah,
alongside Abbas Nilforoushan, deputy commander of operations for IRGC.
More recently, Israel's military
, considered to be one of the masterminds behind last year's October 7 attack on southern Israel led by the militant group that sparked the ongoing
.
Explosions in Iran earlier this year
In April,
that came after Iran launched a barrage of more than 300 drones and missiles in its first-ever direct assault on Israel's soil.
Iran's Fars news agency at the time reported there were "three explosions" near an army airbase, while a spokesperson for the country's space agency said several drones had been shot down, adding there were no reports of a missile attack.
That incident came after Iran blamed Israel for an attack airstrike on its embassy in Damascus, Syria, which killed two of its generals and five military advisers.
Israel did not claim responsibility for the attack.
