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Israel and Iran trade strikes, threatening to drag region back to war
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The Associated Press
Israeli security forces examine a fragment of an intercepted Iranian missile in northern Israel, early Monday, June 8, 2026.
+ Special Series Middle East conflict Conflict in the Middle East has been escalating.
− Rami Shlush/AP hide caption
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Israel and Iran traded fire early Monday in retaliatory strikes that threatened to drag the wider Middle East back into a full-scale regional war, while Yemen's Houthi rebels also fired at Israel and warned they would target Israel-affiliated ships in the Red Sea, further escalating tension.
+ These stories provide context for current developments and the history that led up to them.
− World Israel hits Beirut's suburbs in retaliatory attack against Hezbollah Israel launched strikes on central and western Iran early Monday in response to missile fire from Tehran and Iran retaliated with waves of attacks, in the most serious crossfire since an April 8 ceasefire was reached.
Explosions could be heard in central Israel as air defenses sought to intercept incoming Iranian fire.
+ Greg Myre
A man look at the wreckage of an Iranian missile that landed near the West Bank city of Jericho Monday, June 8, 2026.
− Missile sirens also sounded across neighboring Jordan.
+ Mahmoud Illean/AP hide caption
TEL AVIV — Israel and Iran exchanged missile fire in the first such attacks between the two bitter rivals since a Middle East ceasefire was declared two months ago. President Trump called on both countries early Monday to stop the attacks.
− Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted two military bases in Israel, describing the attacks 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.
+ "Israel and Iran must immediately stop 'shooting'," Trump wrote on social media.
− Tehran 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.
Monday marked the 100th day of the Iran war, launched Feb.
+ World Israel hits Beirut's suburbs in retaliatory attack against Hezbollah The exchange marked a major escalation that came on the 100th day of a war that began on Feb.
− 28 when Israel and the United States killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior Iranian leaders.
+ 28.
− The war raged until the two sides reached a nominal ceasefire on April 8, but a permanent end to the hostilities have been challenged by Iran's chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas once passed in peacetime, as well as fighting between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah.
+ But this was only part of increased military action in recent days that has also included the U.S., several Arab Gulf countries and the militant Lebanese group Hezbollah.
− With global energy supplies threatened, Iran still holding a vast stockpile of highly enriched uranium and Yemen's Houthi rebels getting involved in the fighting Monday, the risk of the war fully erupting again appears to be rising.
+ All the shooting in an already tense region has further complicated efforts to end the war in Iran. President Trump says an agreement is within reach — a claim he has made repeatedly in recent weeks.
− Two regional officials said concerted diplomatic efforts were underway Monday to salvage the ceasefire between Iran and the United States after the exchange of strikes between Israel and Iran.
Officials from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan and Qatar, have urged the U.S.
+ "We are very close to a final deal with Iran.
− administration to pressure Israel to rein in its strikes on Iran and Beirut.
+ It's is going to be a good deal.
− They have also urged Iranian officials to stop attacks on Israel, they said. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.
+ I don't want it to blow up because of what is happening now," Trump told Axios on Sunday.
− One of the officials, who is involved in mediation efforts between Iran and the U.S., said the Pakistan-led mediators were furious about the Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, which came while Pakistan's interior minister was in Tehran in a fresh bid to push U.S.-Iranian negotiations forward.
+ Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said its missiles late Sunday night and Monday morning targeted three military air bases in Israel, two in the center of the country and one in the north.
− The mediators told the U.S.
+ Iran launched nearly 30 ballistic missiles at Israel since last night, according to the IDF.
− administration that the Israeli strike on Beirut meant "to disrupt our efforts to reach a deal" and that "Trump has to stop Netanyahu's reckless maneuvers."
The White House did not respond to messages about the Israeli strikes and whether they were done in coordination with the U.S.
+ The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen launched two additional projectiles toward Israel; one fell before reaching Israeli territory.
− Middle East conflict Trump confirms calling Netanyahu 'crazy,' says they still get along A senior U.S.
+ The Israeli military said it had shot down all the incoming fire.
− official on Sunday said U.S.
+ Falling debris ignited brush fires, but no damage or injuries were reported.
− President Donald Trump had called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to urge him not to retaliate immediately for the Iranian missile attack. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a private phone call, said that Trump believed he had convinced Netanyahu to wait.
+ Israel ordered schools closed on Monday as a precautionary measure.
− Trump "got Bibi to hold off for the time being," the official said. The official would not offer any other details of the call, and there was no immediate comment from Netanyahu's office.
+ Middle East conflict Trump confirms calling Netanyahu 'crazy,' says they still get along Trump told Britain's Financial Times that his message to Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu was not to fire back on Iran, and Netanyahu had no option but to accept.
− Trump earlier told a Fox News Channel reporter that he wanted the Iranians to stop firing missiles and return to the negotiating table.
+ "He won't have any choice," Trump said of Netanyahu.
− He also said that Israel's strikes in Lebanon earlier Sunday were not coordinated with the U.S. and "I'm not happy about it."
Speaking to The Financial Times before the Israeli strikes on Iran, Trump insisted he dictated terms to Netanyahu on how the war should be prosecuted.
"He won't have any choice," Trump told the newspaper in a telephone interview.
− He (Netanyahu) doesn't call the shots."
Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed an attack on Israel and said Israel-affiliated vessels would again be a target in the Red Sea, putting the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait connected them in danger.
+ He doesn't call the shots."
But Israel made clear it would hit back.
− The statement from Brig.
+ "Iran fired 11 ballistic missiles at Israel," Israel's ambassador to the U.S., Yechiel Leiter, said on X.
− Gen.
+ "No self-respecting country in the world would tolerate such an attack, and neither will Israel.
− Yahya Saree was broadcast on the Houthis' al-Masirah satellite news channel.
+ Israel is now targeting Iranian surface-to-surface missile launch sites."
Israeli security forces examine a fragment of an intercepted Iranian missile in northern Israel, early Monday, June 8, 2026.
− During the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis killed at least nine mariners and sunk four ships in over 100 attacks, often targeting vessels with tangential or no ties at all to Israel.
+ Rami Shlush/AP hide caption
In the early hours of Monday, Israel unleashed missile strikes on Iran. Dozens of Israeli warplanes took part in the operation, Israel's military said.
− The assaults upended shipping in the Red Sea, through which about $1 trillion of goods passed each year before the war.
+ Iranian citizens reported explosions in the capital Tehran, as well as Isfahan and Tabriz. The Iranian media reported that the country's airports had been shut down.
− They also greatly disrupted transits through Egypt's Suez Canal, which links the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.
+ The Israeli military said it hit several targets at a huge petrochemical complex in Mahshahr, in southwestern Iran.
− The canal remains one of the top providers of hard currency for Egypt, providing it $10 billion in 2023 as its wider economy struggles.
+ The workers at the plant were evacuated, the Iran media said.
− World Israel has reportedly used white phosphorus near Lebanese cities and towns.
+ Israel also targeted at least three radar sites in Iran, according to its Revolutionary Guard Corps.
In another development, the Houthis in Yemen said they fired missiles at Israel, prompting another round of sirens in the Tel Aviv area.
− What is it?
+ There were no reports of the missiles hitting any targets.
The Houthis also said they would prevent Israeli-linked ships from sailing in the Red Sea.
− The Houthis' renewed threat also comes as Saudi Arabia is relying on its East-West Pipeline to export oil out through the Red Sea as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.
+ The Houthis disrupted shipping traffic in the Red Sea for two years, from the fall of 2023 to the fall of 2025, in a show of solidarity with the Palestinians over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
− Iranian state television reported the sound of explosions being heard in Isfahan, Karaj, Tabriz and Tehran, without immediately elaborating.
+ World Israel has reportedly used white phosphorus near Lebanese cities and towns.
− A witness in Tehran described hearing at least one large blast somewhere to the west of the country's capital city.
+ What is it?
− Iran closed the airspace around Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport, the country's main airfield, after the Israeli attack.
+ A recent increase in attacks A ceasefire, declared on April 8, has been fraying with missile and drone attacks picking up in recent days across the region.
− Officials offered no details on what had been struck, nor any damage information.
+ Most of the shooting exchanges had involved either the U.S.
− Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said that Israel used air-launched ballistic missiles in its attack Monday morning, without elaborating.
+ and Iran, or Israel and Hezbollah.
− The semiofficial Fars and Mehr news agencies said Israeli strikes had hit a petrochemical factory in city of Mahshahr in Khuzestan province. It did not elaborate on damage.
+ The direct attacks between Israel and Iran further complicate the efforts to end the fighting.
− The Israeli military later confirmed the strike on the petrochemical plant.
Earlier Monday, sirens sounded across Israel after its military said a missile launched from Yemen targeted the country, without elaborating.
+ The Israel-Hezbollah conflict has been particularly intense.
− Israel's rescue services said there were no reports of casualties or impacts from the launch from Yemen.
+ Israel last month invaded southern Lebanon to the deepest point in 26 years and now has a large force operating in that territory. It has been fighting the militant group Hezbollah, which Iran helped establish to counter Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon and it stills support.
− Yemen is home to the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.
+ Israel and the Lebanese government met in Washington last week and agreed to renew the earlier ceasefire that had collapsed.
− The Houthis have fired missiles at Israel during the Israel-Hamas war and later, but haven't been fully involved in the Iran war.
+ However, the Lebanese government army is not strong enough to control Hezbollah, which rejected the agreement, saying it amounted to the group's surrender.
− The Houthis did not immediately claim the attack, though it can take them hours or even days to acknowledge their assaults.
+ The agreement stipulates that Hezbollah, but not Israel stop attacks and does not include an Israeli withdrawal from occupied areas.
− In Saudi Arabia, missile alert sirens sounded Monday morning in an area home to an air base that hosts U.S.
+ Israeli attacks in Lebanon since the war began on March 2 have killed 3,600 people, including hundreds of women and children, according to Lebanon's health ministry.
− forces.
+ Israel says two civilians have been killed in Hezbollah attacks.
Iran had been warning it might act against Israel due to its ongoing attacks against Hezbollah, a group Iran helped establish more than four decades ago and still supports.
A series of events escalated rapidly on Sunday.
− Saudi state media reported the alert around its Al Kharj governorate, home to Prince Sultan Air Base. The alert came after Israel's strikes on Iran. Saudi Arabia shortly after said the missile danger in the area had passed, without elaborating.
+ In the morning, Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel.
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+ Hours later, Israel launched airstrikes against Hezbollah strongholds in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
By late night, Iran unleashed its missile barrage against Israel, and Israel fired back early Monday morning.
Officials in countries throughout the region — including Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey — have been holding a series of phone calls in an attempt to calm the region.
NPR's Jane Arraf contributed reporting from Beirut, Lebanon.
Editors Note: Updates with Trump's social media post, IDF's latest on Iranian missiles, additional context. June 8, 2026
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