Israel and Iran exchanged fire in what is being the most dangerous escalation since April.
08:07, Mon, Jun 8, 2026 Updated: 08:12, Mon, Jun 8, 2026
Israel and Iran traded fire overnight (Image: Getty)
Missile launches from Iran trigger sirens across central and southern Israel (Image: Getty)
Israel and Iran have traded fire overnight, in the most serious exchange of hostilities since the ceasefire was agreed in April. The exchange of attacks began on Sunday evening, when Iran sent a barrage of missiles at Israel - which were intercepted.
Tel Aviv has since struck a number of targets in Iran, including a petrochemical complex in the southwest of the country, the Israeli military said. As fears the Middle East may be dragged into a regional war grow, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said the operation against Israel "is not a passing event, but rather the beginning of a full week of continuous strikes". The Iran-backed Houthi group in Yemen have since joined the new hostilities, claiming responsibility for this morning's attack on central Israel and vowing to block "Israeli maritime navigation in the Red Sea".
Israeli army confirms striking petrochemical plant
Israeli forces carried out strikes on the Karun Petrochemical Company in Mahshahr, a city in Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province, according to Iranian media reports.
The Israeli military confirmed in a statement that it had targeted multiple sites within the petrochemical complex located in the region.
Iranian officials said that parts of the facility were damaged, although the full extent of the impact and whether there were any casualties remained unclear.
The Israeli military later reiterated that several locations within the complex had been hit and indicated that further details would be released at a later time.
Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, has justified the country’s recent strikes on Iran, stating that “no self-respecting country” would tolerate missile attacks on its own territory.
In a post on X, he explained that the operation specifically targeted Iran’s surface-to-surface missile launch facilities as well as other non-energy infrastructure.
He said: "The people of Lebanon have rejected Iran’s proxy, Hizballah, and have told Iran to get out of their country."
Iran fired 11 ballistic missiles at Israel today. Each one of those missiles can level an entire neighborhood and kill hundreds. No self-respecting country in the world would tolerate such an attack, and neither will Israel.
Israel is now targeting Iranian surface-to-surface\u2026
\u2014 Ambassador Yechiel (Michael) Leiter (@yechielleiter) June 8, 2026
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