Israel has carried out dozens of airstrikes on Iran, declaring an emergency as it braces up for retaliation.
Israeli military said a “pre-emptive, precise, combined offensive based on high-quality intelligence” had been launched – called Operation Rising Lion.
“Dozens of IAF jets completed the first stage that included strikes on dozens of military targets, including nuclear targets in different areas of Iran,” said a statement.
Mehr News reported nuclear scientist Fereydoun Abbasi was also dead, as was theoretical physicist Dr Mohammed Mehdi Tehranchi and Major General Gholam Ali Rashid.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attack was to “roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival” and would last for “as many days as it takes to remove the threat”.
Iranian state media reported the head of the country’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, Hossein Salami, had been killed.
