Iran's Khamenei alive; Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami killed in Israeli attack

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is alive and is being continuously briefed about the situation, a security source told Reuters, following an Israeli attack on Iran early on Friday.

Iranian state media confirmed on Friday the killing of Revolutionary Guards Commander Hossein Salami in the attack. Friday's attack also killed nuclear scientists Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi.

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Iran is planning to 'give a harsh response' to Israeli attack launched early on Friday against its nuclear programme, an Iranian security said.

"The response to the Israeli attack will be harsh and decisive," the official said, adding that details of Iran's retaliation "are being discussed at the highest levels" when asked whether the attack would be imminent.

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Israel said it targeted Iran's nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders on Friday at the start of what it warned would be a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon.

Iranian media and witnesses reported explosions including at the country's main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, while Israel declared a state of emergency in anticipation of retaliatory missile and drone strikes.

Iranian state television reported that Hossein Salami, the chief of the elite Revolutionary Guards corps, had been killed and the unit's headquarters in Tehran had been hit. Several children had been killed in a strike on a residential area in the capital, it said.

"We are at a decisive moment in Israel's history," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a recorded video message.

"Moments ago Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel's very survival. This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat."

Israel targeted Iranian scientists working on a nuclear bomb, its ballistic missile program and its Natanz uranium enrichment facility, in an operation that would continue for days, he said.

An Israeli military official said Israel was striking "dozens" of nuclear and military targets including the facility at Natanz in central Iran. The official said Iran had enough material to make 15 nuclear bombs within days.

Alongside extensive air strikes, Israel's Mossad spy agency led a series of covert sabotage operations inside Iran, Axios reported, citing a senior Israeli official. These operations were aimed at damaging Iran’s strategic missile sites and its air defence capabilities.