Israel and Iran trade blows despite Trump’s efforts to put a lid on hostilities

Updated June 8, 2026 — 5:24pm,first published June 8, 2026 — 5:45am

Beirut/Dubai/Jerusalem: Iran and Israel have exchanged tit-for-tat strikes that threaten to drag the wider Middle East back into a regional war.

In response to missile fire from Tehran, Israel launched strikes on central and western Iran early on Monday, in the most serious crossfire since an April 8 ceasefire was reached in the war. Iran retaliated with waves of attacks, and explosions could be heard in central Israel as Israeli air defences sought to intercept incoming Iranian fire.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted two military bases in Israel, describing the attack as being part of Operation Nasr, or “Victory”. The Guard said it launched the missiles after Israel targeted radar sites in three areas of Iran.

Tehran had warned of retaliation on Sunday after Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs without warning in defiance of Washington’s request days ago to stand down.

Iran yesterday said Israel’s actions in Lebanon, whether carried out with US knowledge and consent or not, were aimed at sabotaging diplomacy and warned that the US would be responsible for any escalation.

“No one believes that the Israeli regime would take any action without co-ordination with the United States,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said during a briefing with journalists in Tehran. “The United States bears responsibility for the Israeli regime’s aggression, and it will also be responsible for the consequences of any escalation in tensions.”

Monday marked the 100th day of the Iran war, launched on February 28 when Israel and the United States killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior Iranian leaders.

The war raged until reaching a nominal ceasefire on April 8, but a permanent end to the hostilities has been challenged by Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed in peacetime.

With global energy supplies threatened, Iran still holding a vast stockpile of highly enriched uranium and even Yemen’s Houthi rebels apparently getting involved in the fighting on Monday, the risk of the war fully erupting again appears to be rising.

Iranian state television reported the sound of explosions being heard in Isfahan, Karaj, Tabriz and Tehran, without elaborating. A witness in Tehran described hearing at least one large blast somewhere to the west of the country’s capital. Iran closed the airspace around Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport, the country’s main airfield, after t