Iran’s top military command Khatam al-Anbiya central headquarters has announced the end of current attacks on Israel.

But they have warned that if Israeli attacks continue, "including in southern Lebanon," Iran will respond “more severe and forceful than before.”

Israel and Iran exchanged strikes last night and into today after Iran announced military operations in response to Israel's air strikes on Beirut in Lebanon on Sunday.

Hezbollah said this morning that it had fired rockets at a group of Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon, where the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is carrying out ground operations in what it says is an attempt to stop Hezbollah firing rockets at northern Israel.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) claimed it launched a missile attack on a petrochemical plant in northern Israel, according to state media, after the Israeli military said it launched strikes on "several targets" at an Iranian petrochemical facility.

The IDF also said it had completed a large-scale strike on "strategic defence systems" in Iran, while the IRGC said it had targeted two Israeli air bases in Israel, according to Iranian media.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei says the US bears responsibility for aggression from Israel and that consequences of escalating tensions will "also be on the US".

He also said that the exchange of messages between Iran and the US "had not stopped", but did not clarify whether the exchange of messages has been happening since yesterday or not.

Earlier today US President Donald Trump said Israel and Iran are looking to do an "immediate ceasefire" and that things should move quickly. He previously said that Iran and Israel must stop "shooting" immediately.

Source: BBC

– Agencies