Israel launches strike on Iran’s nuclear program, IDF says

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Israel’s military conducted a strike on Iran targeting its nuclear facilities early Friday morning local time, the Israel Defense Forces said. 

The United States was not part of the operation, and was not involved in intelligence sharing, multiple U.S. sources told CBS News.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed in a statement: “Israel took unilateral action against Iran. We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region. Israel advised us that they believe this action was necessary for its self-defense.”

Rubio added, “Iran should not target U.S. interests or personnel.”

An IDF spokesperson said the military “launched a preemptive, precise, combined offensive based on high-quality intelligence to strike Iran’s nuclear program, and in response to the Iranian regime’s ongoing aggression against Israel.”

The spokesperson said “dozens” of Israeli air force jets struck “dozens of military targets, including nuclear targets in different areas of Iran.” The statement referred to it as “the first stage.”

CBS News reported  Wednesday that Israel was ready to launch an operation on Iran. The U.S. anticipated Iranian retaliation on American sites in Iraq — leading the Trump administration to advise non-emergency U.S. government officials and military families to leave the entire region.

When asked about those precautionary measures for U.S. nationals in the Mideast, President Trump said only that the region “could be a dangerous place, and we’ll see what happens.”

This is a breaking story; it will be updated.

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Margaret Brennan is moderator of “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on CBS. Based in Washington, D.C., Brennan is also the Network’s chief foreign affairs correspondent and a contributing correspondent to 60 Minutes. Additionally, she appears regularly on the “CBS Evening News,” leading coverage from Washington when news breaks on the political and foreign affairs fronts.

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