AP- Iran launched missiles at Israel in the first such bombardment since a fragile ceasefire took effect in early April, raising the possibility of a return to heavy fighting and complicating mediation efforts to end the war.

Loud explosions were heard in Tehran and other cities early Monday, according to Iranian media.

“Several explosions heard in Tehran, Tabriz and Isfahan,” state TV posted on Telegram.

Shortly after Israel said it had struck targets in Iran.

“A short while ago, the Israeli Air Force struck military targets belonging to the Iranian terror regime in western and central Iran,” the Israel Defense Forces posted on Telegram.

Iran’s state broadcaster confirmed the earlier launches toward Israel, and Iran closed its western airspace to brace for a possible response. Tehran had warned of retaliation after Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs without warning earlier Sunday in defiance of Washington’s request days ago to stand down. Israel said the Iranian-backed Hezbollah fired at northern Israel earlier in the day.

“Should these acts of aggression be repeated, the responses will be broader in scope and will encompass all American and Zionist targets throughout the region,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said in a statement that referenced attacks in Lebanon and on Iran’s coast and vessels around the Strait of Hormuz.

Sirens sounded in several areas of Israel, sending millions running for shelter. Israel’s military said it intercepted the missiles, and multiple explosions were heard in the north. Less than an hour later, the military said people could leave areas reinforced against missile attacks.

“Iran has made a grave mistake,” Israel military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said. The military’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, said it will “strike the enemy with determination as soon as the order is given.”

Iran had warned that an attack on Beirut would renew full-scale war across the Mideast, even as Pakistan and other mediators try to restart talks between Tehran and Washington.

“US forces across the Middle East remain vigilant and ready,” the US Central Command posted on X shortly before the missile launches.

Trump urged Israel not to strike Iran

Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan, said US President Donald Trump told it that he doesn’t think Israel needs to respond further.

Trump, who was spending the weekend at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, and Netanyahu spoke by phone for a little less than half an ‌hour, an Israeli official ‌said, without giving further details. The White House and the Israeli prime minister’s office did not immediately ​respond ‌to ⁠requests for comment.

Earlier, ​Trump ⁠told news outlet Axios he would press Netanyahu not to retaliate.

“Israel had its strike and Iran had its strike. We don’t need another one,” Trump said. “We are very close to a final deal with Iran. It is going to be a good deal. I don’t want it to blow up because of what is happening now.”

Israel would retaliate, said an Israeli source, speaking to Reuters on the condition of anonymity following the Iranian attack.

Shortly after midnight local time, the Israeli military issued a brief statement, citing Zamir as saying his forces had not been directed to attack Iran so far, but would do so “with determination” once given the order.

Complicated route to peace

Israel’s attack on Beirut came a few days after the Lebanese and Israeli governments agreed to a ceasefire in US-hosted talks, though Hezbollah rejected the deal. The strike on a residential building killed two people and wounded 20, Lebanon’s health ministry said.

“The army will continue to act in all of Lebanon,” the Israel military spokesperson said.

Israel’s strikes and ground invasion in Lebanon in pursuit of Hezbollah, and the militant group’s resistance to disarming, have complicated an overall deal to end the war in the Middle East.

Iran says any deal must include an end to fighting in Lebanon.

Trump told a Fox News Channel reporter that he wanted the Iranians to stop firing missiles and return to the negotiating table. He also said that Israel’s strikes earlier Sunday were not coordinated with the US and “I’m not happy about it.”

Israel on Monday had announced it would strike the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital, but urgent talks via Washington halted that on the condition that Hezbollah stop targeting Israeli border towns.

Hezbollah, which claimed responsibility for firing at Israel earlier Sunday, wants the direct talks between Lebanon and Israel to end. Instead, it supports Iran’s stance that an overall ceasefire deal between Tehran and Washington include the situation in Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who seeks reelection later this year, is under heavy domestic pressure to respond to both Iran and the Hezbollah threat, which has paralyzed life for thousands of residents along Israel’s northern border.

But Trump has made clear he does not want to see the war resume.

Trump said earlier Sunday in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he would like to see a “more surgical attack on Hezbollah.” He also said he was “not demanding” that Lebanon be part of an overall ceasefire deal in the Iran war.

Iran continues to assert its grip on the Strait of Hormuz and the US continues its blockade of Iranian ports, with shipments of oil, natural gas and fertilizer affected and the global economy in pain.

Iran since the ceasefire took effect has launched missiles and drones at Gulf nations and said it was targeting the US military presence. After its launches against Israel, Iraq’s Civil Aviation Authority announced that the country’s airspace would close for 72 hours and Syria’s aviation authority announced a 12-hour airspace closure.

Diplomacy continues before and after missile launches

Pakistan’s interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, was in Tehran on Sunday delivering a message to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei from Pakistan’s army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, according to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency. There were no details on the message’s contents.

Khamenei has not been seen in public since he was named the Islamic Republic’s ruler after his father was killed on Feb. 28 as Israeli and US strikes sparked the war.

Pakistani authorities have said Islamabad, with support from regional countries including Qatar, Turkiye and Egypt, is working to help bridge differences.

In Cairo, the Egyptian and Qatari foreign ministers discussed “proposed elements” of a potential agreement between the US and Iran, the Egyptian foreign ministry said, without details.

And after Iran’s missile launches at Israel, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke with counterparts in Britain, Egypt and Turkiye as well as Pakistan’s army chief of staff, Iran’s state TV said.

Asia stocks down after Mideast strikes

Stocks in Asia fell sharply and oil prices rose early Monday after Iran fired missiles at Israel and following heavy losses on Wall Street.

At 9:53 am (0053 GMT) Japan’s Nikkei 225 was off 3.41 percent at 64,318.06 points while South Korea’s Kospi was down 6.81 percent at 7,604.98.

Brent crude was up 2.4 percent at $95.32 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate was 2.3 percent higher at $92.59.