Tehran activates air defense system, sirens sound in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem amid rising Iran-Israel tensions

Tehran has activated its air defense system, and sirens have sounded in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv amid escalating tensions between Iran and Israel.

Exclusive footage from China Central Television (CCTV) revealed that the air defense system in Tehran intercepted multiple objects in the sky on Friday.

Tensions between Israel and Iran arose following a large-scale "preemptive, precise, combined" strike on Iranian military and nuclear sites by Israel on Friday.

Israeli airstrikes, which killed several high-ranking Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists, have triggered retaliatory attacks from Iran.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said on Friday it launched a military operation against "tens of" targets, military centers, and aerial bases in Israel.

The IRGC said that the "crushing and precise" response was in retaliation for Israel's "aggression", according to the IRGC's official news outlet Sepah News.

Also on Friday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Israel will receive harsh punishment following its airstrikes on Iranian targets earlier in the day.

Israel "has prepared a bitter fate for itself, which it will definitely receive", he said in a statement.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian pledged on Friday that Iran will deliver a "legitimate and powerful" response to Israel's airstrikes earlier in the day, according to a statement published on the website of his office.

Pezeshkian said the Iranian people and officials would not remain silent in the face of Israel's "crime", adding Iran's response would make Israel "regret its foolish action".

Pezeshkian said Israel's "brutal aggression" against Tehran and other Iranian cities, which resulted in "the martyrdom of a number of children and women, a group of innocent citizens, military commanders, and nuclear scientists, was in violation of international obligations and indicative of the criminal nature of the illegitimate regime of Israel."

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi had phone conversations with his counterparts in Iraq, Egypt, Kuwait and some other countries on Friday, emphasizing that Israel's actions represented a clear violation of Iran's sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as a grave breach of the UN Charter.

Iran is determined to take necessary measures to defend its national sovereignty, people, and national security, and will respond decisively to the "illegal and cowardly" acts of aggression by the Israeli regime, he said.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Friday summoned the Swiss ambassador to Tehran, who is acting on behalf of United States in Iran, to expressed Iran's strong condemnation and protest.

Meanwhile, crowds of people took to the streets in Tehran in protest against Israel's actions.

Iran has announced its withdrawal from the sixth round of nuclear talks with the United States, as reported by Iranian state television on Friday.

On the Israeli side, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Effie Defrin said on Friday evening that Israeli military operation in Iran was only beginning.

The IDF confirmed on Friday evening that the Israeli air forces struck the nuclear facility near Iran's second largest city of Isfahan earlier that day.

Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that the Fordow nuclear facility in central Iran was also attacked Friday night.

Dozens of missiles were fired from Iran into Israel on Friday evening, according to statements issued by the IDF.

Explosions were heard over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, according to CCTV reporters.

Following the launches, air defense sirens were activated, sending millions of residents to protected rooms and shelters for more than an hour.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said following the launches that "Iran crossed red lines when it dared to fire missiles at civilian population centers in Israel".

The Israeli military announced on Friday that it has called up reservists from various units and is deploying them to all combat areas throughout the country.

The reservist call-up comes as part of the IDF's preparations for defense and offense across all arenas and with the start of operation in Iran, it said.

Tehran activates air defense system, sirens sound in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem amid rising Iran-Israel tensions

Tehran activates air defense system, sirens sound in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem amid rising Iran-Israel tensions

Tehran activates air defense system, sirens sound in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem amid rising Iran-Israel tensions

Tehran activates air defense system, sirens sound in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem amid rising Iran-Israel tensions

Demonstrators from civil groups, trade unions and other communities in South Africa rallied outside the U.S. Consulate in Johannesburg on Friday, denouncing U.S. unilateral military actions against Venezuela and voicing solidarity with the Latin American nation.

They gathered along the street in front of the consulate, carrying banners that read "Hands Off Venezuela" and "Stop Imperialism," chanting slogans against U.S. hegemony and aggression.

"We are here to protest the U.S. threats to global peace, the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro Moros of Venezuela, which was done in violation of international law, in violation of territorial integrity of Venezuela, of course, in violation of national sovereignty of Venezuela," said Solly Afrika Mapaila, general secretary of the South African Communist Party.

In the early hours of Jan. 3, the United States carried out a military strike against Venezuela and captured President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, taking them to the United States.

Some protesters said the crisis in Venezuela shows how geopolitical struggles have direct and immediate effects on ordinary people's lives.

"Venezuela belongs to the people of Venezuela and nobody else. For American belligerent and colonial aggression, quite frankly, is not just something very distant. Never before have questions of geopolitics been of immediate and direct relevance and direct and immediate impacts on the day-to-day lives of ordinary people, as you are seeing today," said Mametlwe Sebei, president of the General Industries Workers Union of South Africa (GIWUSA).

Placards at the rally blended English and Spanish slogans, while some demonstrators sang liberation songs from South Africa's anti-apartheid era to express solidarity. Passing motorists slowed in front of the consulate, honking in support.

Defying the summer heat, the crowd remained spirited and resolute, their chants echoing along the street in a clear call for an end to foreign interference and respect for Venezuela's sovereignty.

South Africans rally in solidarity with Venezuela against U.S. aggression