Iran is responding to the Israeli attack with older-generation missiles and has not yet used the latest missiles, said Ali Saeidi, head of the Political and Ideological Directorate of the Iranian Armed Forces.
“It is worth noting that most of the missiles used in the latest operation belong to Iran's older generation of weapons. And this is despite the fact that modern missiles and technologies have not yet been used on the battlefield“, the official website of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said.
Earlier, Iranian media reported that Iran used medium-range ballistic missiles “Emad“, “Ghadr“ and “Khaibar Shekan“ in their strikes against Israel. The IRIB news website also claims that the Iranian military used a hypersonic missile.
The “Emad“ ballistic missile can carry a 750 kilogram payload and its range can reach 1,700 kilometers. The “Khaibar Shekan“ has a claimed maximum range of around 1,500 kilometers, while the “Ghadr“ missile has a range of around 2,000 kilometers.
Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that they had struck Iranian launchers aimed at the state of Israel. “On Sunday night, the Israeli Air Force struck and destroyed ready-to-use surface-to-surface missile launchers in Iran. In addition, the Israeli Air Force struck launchers that were firing missiles towards the State of Israel,“ the army press service said in a statement.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Defense Minister Israel Katz visited the site where an Iranian missile hit a residential building in the suburbs of Tel Aviv. A crowd of dozens of journalists surrounded the ministers, but security did not allow everyone to pass.
It was earlier reported that the death toll in the city of Bat Yam as a result of the Iranian attack on Sunday evening had risen to six people. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) earlier confirmed that Iran had launched an attack on Israel on Saturday evening in response to the “repeated attack“ against the Islamic Republic.
Iran, like Israel, extended the closure of the country's airspace until 02:00 on Monday, the IRNA news agency reported, citing the country's Civil Aviation Organization.
Earlier, aviation authorities announced that flights at all airports in the country would not operate until “further notice“.