UPDATE – Iran intercepts ‘hostile’ targets after Israeli strike in Bushehr

UPDATES WITH DETAILS, CHANGES HEADLINE

By Ikram Kouachi

ANKARA (AA) – Iran said Sunday that it had intercepted and destroyed “hostile” targets over the southern province of Bushehr after an Israeli airstrike on two military sites.

The deputy governor of Bushehr province, whose name was not given, said the attack came “in continuation of the Zionist regime’s violation” of Iranian territory, the Tasnim news agency reported.

He said air defenses in the province “were immediately activated and, by identifying and intercepting hostile targets, proceeded to destroy them.”

The semi-official Mehr news agency earlier reported loud explosions in Bushehr, home to Iran’s only nuclear power plant.

No details were provided about any damage.

Bushehr is home to Iran’s only operational nuclear power plant. The facility, located on the Persian Gulf coast, plays a central role in Iran’s nuclear energy program and has long been monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

In the central city of Yazd, Iranian media reported that local air defenses were activated and placed on high alert, without giving any further details.

US President Donald Trump said early Sunday that his forces bombed three Iranian nuclear sites in Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan.

The attacks came as the latest escalation in a US-backed Israeli military assault on Iran since June 13, prompting Tehran to launch retaliatory attacks on Israel.

Israeli authorities said at least 25 people have been killed and hundreds injured since then in Iranian missile attacks.

Meanwhile, in Iran, 430 people have been killed and more than 3,500 wounded in the Israeli assault, according to the Iranian Health Ministry.