Video: Smoke and fire rise over Isfahan after Israeli airstrike

Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani discussed mediation efforts between Iran and the United States in a phone call with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday, Qatar News Agency reported.

The two also reviewed the latest developments in Lebanon, the report said.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Monday that its aerospace forces had launched an operation, targeting Israel’s Nevatim and Tel Nof air bases.

The IRGC said the operation was carried out in response to what it called Israeli missile attacks on several radar sites in three locations inside Iran.

The Guards said they were fully prepared for wider operations across all fronts.

Iran’s judiciary has opened cases against 3,121 people on accusations of “cooperation with the enemy,” and 2,406 of them have been arrested and remain in detention, the judiciary spokesperson said on Monday.

“So far, the assets of hundreds of these individuals have been identified and seized, and after judicial reviews and court rulings, these assets will be confiscated for the benefit of the nation,” Asghar Jahangir said.

The comments came as Iran and Israel exchanged fire in the first direct hostilities between the two countries since a ceasefire paused the war in April.

An Israeli airstrike hit the Karoun petrochemical company in Mahshahr in Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province on Monday, a provincial security official said.

Khuzestan’s deputy governor for security affairs said projectiles struck the site and damaged part of the facility.

The IDF said later that the Israeli Air Force struck several targets at a petrochemical complex in Mahshahr.

Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter said on Monday that Israel was targeting Iranian surface-to-surface missile launch sites and infrastructure facilities unrelated to the energy sector.

“Israel is now targeting Iranian surface-to-surface missile launch sites, as well as infrastructure facilities unrelated to the energy sector,” he wrote on X.

Leiter said Israel would strike Hezbollah command centers in Dahieh, the group’s stronghold in southern Beirut, if the Iran-backed group fired at Israel.

“The people of Lebanon have rejected Iran’s proxy, Hizballah, and have told Iran to get out of their country,” he said. “Everyone has had enough of this maniacal Iranian regime.”