Bogotá (AFP) – A Colombian armed group comprised of ex-guerrillas who rejected a 2016 peace deal, claimed responsibility Friday for a wave of bomb and shooting attacks that killed seven people this week.

Two police officers and five civilians died and 28 people were injured in the attacks on Tuesday in the country's southwest.

On Friday, in a video sent to a journalists' chat, a man describing himself as commander Marlon Vasquez claimed responsibility on behalf the so-called Central General Staff (EMC).

Dressed in camouflage and surrounded by guerrillas with rifles, he said the attacks came "in the midst of the commemoration of the 61 years of struggle" of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), founded in June 1964.

The FARC -- the country's biggest rebel group -- signed a deal with the government in 2016 and laid down its arms.

But some groups rejected the demobilization process and regrouped in two structures: Segunda Marquetalia and the EMC, the biggest of the dissident groups.

Colombia is experiencing its biggest security crisis in a decade.

On Tuesday, the country was rocked by a string of coordinated attacks across the southwest, where government forces are fighting FARC dissidents.

Authorities reported 24 attacks, but the EMC said there were 40.

The group meanwhile denied any involvement in the shooting on Saturday of presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe, who remains in a critical condition.

His alleged shooter, a 15-year-old, and a man alleged to have been involved in the "logistics" of the attack, are under arrest.

New York (AFP) – Pro-Palestinian student protest leader Mahmoud Khalil remained in US detention Friday despite an expected release, his lawyer said, following reported accusations of inaccuracies in his permanent residency application.

US District Judge Michael Fabiarz had issued an order Wednesday that the government could not detain or deport Khalil, a legal permanent resident, based on Secretary of State Marco Rubio's assertions that his presence on US soil posed a national security threat.

The order gave the government until Friday to release Khalil.

But by Friday afternoon, the Trump administration "represented that the Petitioner is being detained on another, second charge," the judge wrote.

The Department of Homeland Security has provided the court with press clippings from various American tabloids suggesting Khalil, who is married to a US citizen, had failed to disclose certain information about his work or involvement in a campaign to boycott Israel when applying for his permanent resident green card, ABC News reported.

"The government is now using cruel, transparent delay tactics to keep him away from his wife and newborn son ahead of their first Father's Day as a family," Khalil attorney Amy Greer said in a statement, referring to the US holiday observed on Sunday.

"Instead of celebrating together, he is languishing in ICE detention as punishment for his advocacy on behalf of his fellow Palestinians. It is unjust, it is shocking, and it is disgraceful."

Since his March 8 arrest by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Khalil has become a symbol of President Donald Trump's willingness to stifle pro-Palestinian student activism against the Gaza war, in the name of curbing anti-Semitism.

At the time a graduate student at New York's Columbia University, Khalil was one of the most visible leaders of nationwide campus protests against Israel's war in Gaza.

Authorities transferred Khalil, who was born in Syria to Palestinian parents, nearly 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) from his home in New York to a detention center in Louisiana, pending deportation.

His wife Noor Abdalla, a Michigan-born dentist, gave birth to their son while Khalil was in detention.

San Salvador (AFP) – Supporters of Venezuelans deported by the United States to El Salvador said Friday they had been refused permission to see the migrants in prison.

The spurned group included the first family member of a detainee to come to the Central American nation in hopes of establishing contact with them.

More than 250 Venezuelans were expelled by the United States to El Salvador in March after being accused of being members of the Tren de Aragua criminal gang.

"I came with great hope," Jhoanna Sanguino, the aunt of 24-year-old Widmer Agelvis Sanguino, told AFP shortly before leaving El Salvador.

"I promised my sister that her boy would soon be free, and I promised many mothers. I don't want them to lose faith. We were so close, yet so far away," she said.

Sanguino was accompanied by Reina Cardenas, a friend of deportee Andry Hernandez Romero, and activists from the Amparo Foundation, a human rights NGO providing legal support to some of the Venezuelans.

They said their request to visit the migrants in the high-security CECOT prison built by President Nayib Bukele to house gang members was unsuccessful.

US President Donald Trump invoked rarely used wartime laws to fly many of the migrants to El Salvador without holding any court hearings.

His administration struck a deal to pay the government of ally Bukele millions of dollars to hold the deportees in prison.

"There are 252 Venezuelans whose families are crying and fighting for them," said Sanguino.

Relatives are waiting in Venezuela for "some contact, by phone or a letter, some proof of life," she said.

A law firm hired by Caracas to represent some of the other detained Venezuelans also says that it has been denied access.

Geneva (AFP) – At least 2,680 people were killed in Haiti in the first five months of the year, the United Nations said Friday, voicing alarm at widening gang violence.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere with swathes of the country under the control of rival armed gangs who carry out murders, rapes and kidnappings.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk said the crisis had plummeted to a new low, with gangs extending their reach beyond the coastal capital Port-au-Prince into central regions.

The UN Human Rights Office said at least 2,680 people had been killed between January 1 and May 30, including 54 children.

Those figures were from information it has been able to verify, but it said the true toll would likely be far higher.

At least 957 others had been wounded and 316 kidnapped for ransom, it added. Sexual violence by gangs and their recruitment of children was also still rising.

"Alarming as they are, numbers cannot express the horrors Haitians are being forced to endure on a daily basis," Turk said in a statement.

"I am horrified by the ever-increasing spread of gang attacks and other human rights abuses beyond the capital, and deeply concerned by their destabilising impact on other countries in the region."

With law enforcement struggling to restore security, mobs and self-defence groups were taking matters into their own hands, leading to even more human rights abuses, he added.

Turk cited deadly clashes between gangs and so-called self-defence groups, including one in which at least 25 were killed with machetes.

While the country is nominally run by a transitional government, there has been a fresh surge of violence since February, with gangs pressing into previously safe areas.

Gangs control 85 percent of Port-au-Prince, according to the UN, and have stepped up attacks on areas not yet under their control.

A record number of people -- almost 1.3 million -- have been forced to flee their homes in Haiti due to violence, the UN's migration agency said Wednesday.

Turk said the coming months would test the international community's ability to take stronger action to stabilise Haiti and the wider region.

China says it will sign a new economic pact with Africa that will get rid of all tariffs on the 53 African states it has diplomatic ties with – a move that could benefit middle-income nations as they prepare for tariff hikes on products entering the United States.

The move, announced at a China-Africa co-operation meeting (FOCAC) in Changsha, central China, comes as the continent faces the possibility of increased tariffs on its products entering the US.

The Asian economic giant already offers duty- and quota-free market access to least developed countries (LDCs), including 53 countries in Africa, but the new initiative will level the playing field by also offering middle-income countries similar market access.

Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) is the only African country excluded from the zero-tariff deal. It maintains diplomatic ties with Taiwan, whereas China regards it as a breakaway province.

The timing of Beijing's decision is significant. In April, President Donald Trump announced high tariffs on its imports from many countries, including a 50 percent rate for Lesotho, 30 percent for South Africa and 14 percent for Nigeria.

While the implementation of the tariff hikes has been paused until next month, they've caused consternation nonetheless.

"Faced with an international situation marked by changes and turmoil, China and Africa should uphold solidarity and self-reliance more than ever," said Foreign Minister Wang Yi, calling on both sides to respond to uncertainties in the world with a stable and resilient China-Africa relationship.

China is Africa's largest trading partner, its main investor and its largest creditor. In 2023, Africa exported goods to the Asian nation worth around $170bn.

A key objective for Beijing is to provide major industrial powers within Africa – such as Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, and Morocco – with greater market access in order to boost their export capacity.

Beijing also hopes the initiative will help ease its own structural trade surplus with Africa, which currently stands at $62 billion.

As part of President Xi Jinping’s broader diplomatic strategy to foster South-South solidarity and “build a community with a shared future” Tanzania and Mali were also promised technical and commercial assistance in the form of training, marketing and logistical support.

It is still not clear, however, which sectors will be affected by the tariff changes, reports RFI's Beijing correspondant Clea Broadhurst.

Currently, most African exports to China are raw materials, ores and oil, all of which have limited added value.

Some question whether Beijing will apply its exemption policy to South Africa’s car exports, and if there is sufficient demand for them in the Chinese market,

There are also concerns that the policy might keep many African countries locked into their role as raw material producers, rather than helping them move up the value chain.

Since 2005, the 27 least developed countries in Africa have been eligible for exemption from nearly all custom duties on their exports, with limited measurable effects. The new policy could inadvertently prolong their dependency on extractive industries, instead of fostering transformation.

Washington (AFP) – The timing of Israel's plan to attack Iran was top secret. But Washington pizza delivery trackers guessed something was up before the first bombs fell.

About an hour before Iranian state TV first reported loud explosions in Tehran, pizza orders around the Pentagon went through the roof, according to a viral X account claiming to offer "hot intel" on "late-night activity spikes" at the US military headquarters.

"As of 6:59 pm ET nearly all pizza establishments nearby the Pentagon have experienced a HUGE surge in activity," the account "Pentagon Pizza Report" posted on Thursday.

Not confining its analysis to pizza, the account noted three hours later that a gay bar near the Pentagon had "abnormally low traffic for a Thursday night," and said this probably pointed to "a busy night at the Pentagon."

While far from scientific, the Pentagon pizza theory "is not something the internet just made up," The Takeout, an online site covering restaurants and food trends, noted earlier this year.

Pentagon-adjacent pizza joints also got much busier than usual during Israel's 2024 missile strike on Iran, it said, as there are "a multitude of fast food restaurants in the Pentagon complex, but no pizza places."

Pizza deliveries to the Pentagon reportedly doubled right before the US invasion of Panama in December 1989, and surged again before Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

President Donald Trump told The Wall Street Journal he was fully aware in advance of the bombing campaign, which Israel says is needed to end Iran's nuclear program. "We know what's going on."

For the rest of Americans, pepperoni pie activity was not the only way to tell something was about to happen.

Washington had already announced it was moving some diplomats and their families out of the Middle East on Wednesday.

And close to an hour before Israel unleashed its firepower on Iran, the US ambassador in Jerusalem, Mike Huckabee, sent out a rather revealing X post: "At our embassy in Jerusalem and closely monitoring the situation. We will remain here all night. 'Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!'"

Tehran (AFP) – Iranians called for revenge on Friday demanding a swift response to a dizzying wave of strikes by Israel, as some took to the streets in protest, while others sheltered inside, unsure what would happen next.

The aerial onslaught killed several of the military's top brass, targeted an array of leading scientists and struck military and nuclear sites across Iran in an unprecedented attack that left many seething with anger.

"How much longer are we going to live in fear?" asked Ahmad Moadi, a 62-year-old retiree. "As an Iranian, I believe there must be an overwhelming response, a scathing response."

The raids appeared to push the longtime enemies into full-blown conflict following years of fighting a shadow war mostly conducted through proxies.

Iran regularly arrests individuals it accuses of spying for Israel amid a flurry of targeted assassinations and acts of sabotage targeting its nuclear programme in recent years.

At least six scientists involved in Iran’s nuclear programme were killed in Friday's strikes.

"They’ve killed so many university professors and researchers, and now they want to negotiate?" Moadi exclaimed, referring to calls for Iran to go ahead with nuclear talks with Israel's US ally planned for this weekend.

As Iran continued to assess the damage, some residents rallied in the streets of Tehran chanting: "Death to Israel, death to America," while waving Iranian flags and portraits of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

State television said similar demonstrations were held in cities across the country.

The Israeli strikes followed repeated threats from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who appeared to finally cap a years-long quest to strike Iran’s nuclear programme.

"We can't let this bastard continue, or we'll end up like Gaza," Abbas Ahmadi, a 52-year-old Tehran resident, told AFP from behind the wheel of his car.

"Iran must destroy him, it must do something."

Friday's attacks came after more than a year of soaring tensions as Israel took on Iran's regional allies Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Huthis in Yemen.

Amid the tensions, Israel and Iran exchanged aerial barrages on two separate occasions last year. while stopping short of a full-scale war.

But following Friday’s attack, all bets were off over what would come next, with Khamenei warning Israel faced a "bitter and painful" fate, while the Iranian military said there would be "no limits" to its response.

Apart from scattered protests, Tehran's streets were largely deserted, except for queues at petrol stations, a familiar sight in times of crisis.

Air traffic was halted at Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport amid disruption across the region.

In the upscale district of Nobonyad in north Tehran, rescuers continued to comb through the rubble of two apartment blocks targeted in Israeli strikes.

Families with tear-streaked faces gathered nearby.

"They want to deprive us of our nuclear capability — that's unacceptable," said Ahmad Razaghi, 56, calmly echoing the official line.

For Farnoush Rezaei, a 45-year-old nurse wearing a colourful hijab, Friday’s attacks represented a final act by Israel -- a country "on its last breath".

Iranian leaders have for decades insisted that Israel will "soon" disappear. "If God wills it, at least a bit of peace will come from this," said Rezaei.

Egyptian authorities have detained more than 200 pro-Palestinian activists who arrived in Cairo by plane as part of a solidarity march to Gaza to push for increased humanitarian aid access to the enclave. A convoy that left Tunisia for Gaza is currently blocked in Libya.

"Over 200 participants were detained at Cairo airport or questioned at hotels across Cairo," the march's spokesperson, Saif Abukeshek, told France's AFP news agency on Thursday.

The detainees included people from Algeria, Australia, France, Morocco, the Netherlands, Spain and the United States, he said.

Plainclothes officers entered Cairo hotels on Wednesday with lists of names, questioning activists, and in some cases, confiscating phones and searching personal belongings, Abukeshek said.

"After interrogations, some were arrested and others were released."

More than 20 French activists who had planned to join [Friday's] march were held at Cairo airport for 18 hours, he said.

"What happened was completely unexpected," Abukeshek said.

Egyptian authorities said the measures were the result of failure to follow proper procedures, including obtaining prior consent from embassies and securing visas.

Cairo maintains that the march towards Rafah constitutes a threat to both its own security and that of the participants.

After 21 months of war, Israel is facing mounting international pressure to allow more aid into Gaza, which the United Nations has dubbed "the hungriest place on Earth".

In a statement, the organising collective said: “We hope we can work with the Egyptian authorities … Our priorities are the same – calling for an end to the Palestinian genocide.”

Egyptian authorities have also deployed reinforcements at its border with Libya to block a convoy of around 1,500 people that set out from Tunisia on Monday.

The caravan, dubbed Soumoud meaning "resiliance" in Arabic, left Tunis with the aim of reaching Gaza to symbolically “break the Israeli blockade”.

Around 1,500 people, including Algerian and Tunisian medics, activists and supporters, are travelling in a dozen buses and a hundred cars.

The convoy arrived in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Wednesday, but is currently blocked in Sirte in the centre-north of the country, which is under the control of forces led by Marshal Khalifa Hafta.

"The caravan was prevented from proceeding at the entrance to the city of Sirte,” said one of the organisers, Wael Naouar, in a video on Facebook.

“So far we do not know whether we will be able to continue or not,” Naouar added, while insisting they would not turn back.

The Global March to Gaza, which is coordinating with Soumoud, said around 4,000 participants from more than 40 countries are expected to take part in Friday's event.

According to the plan, participants are set to travel by bus to the city of El-Arish in the heavily secured Sinai Peninsula before walking 50 kilometres towards the border with Gaza.

Israel has called on Egyptian authorities "to prevent the arrival of jihadist protesters at the Egypt-Israel border".

Egypt's foreign ministry said that while it backs efforts to put "pressure on Israel", any foreign delegations visiting the border area must receive approval through official channels.

The Israeli army said on Wednesday that it had allowed 56 trucks carrying World Food Programme humanitarian aid to enter the north of Gaza.

Earlier this week, Israel intercepted a ship carrying Western pro-Palestinian activists and aid for Gaza.

The twelve activists aboard, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, were deported.

Rima Hassan, a French MEP from the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party who is of Palestinian descent, returned to France on Thursday evening having been held in solitary confinement in Israel.

Israel launched strikes on Iran on Friday, targeting its nuclear facilities, missile factories and killing the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards and top nuclear scientists. The strikes came amid growing tension over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear programme and ahead of the sixth round of US-Iran nuclear talks on Sunday in Muscat, Oman.

Israel's "Operation Rising Lion" involved the use of more than 200 fighter jets and more than 100 drones to strike more than 100 targets across Iran on Friday morning, the Israeli military said.

Calling it a "decisive moment in Israel's history", Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country was also targeting Iranian nuclear scientists in an operation that would "continue as many days as it takes".

Iran, which vowed to retaliate, has long maintained that its nuclear-related activity is for peaceful purposes.

Israel declared a state of emergency in anticipation of retaliatory missile and drone strikes by Tehran.

"It's not a war, it's a decapitation operation and an operation to stop the nuclear programme... which has been progressing in a very dangerous way recently," Joshua Zarka, Israel's ambassador to France told French radio on Friday. "We were obliged to stop this dangerous programme.

Israel did not warn France ahead of its attack on Iran because it is no longer as close an ally as it was before, the ambassador said, adding that the strikes would last days, but not weeks or months.

"The French state for a certain period is not as close as it was before," Zarka, who was previously in charge of the Iran dossier at the Israeli foreign ministry, told RTL radio.

"It's an ally but not to the point to be pre-warned of such an operation."

Here are some reactions from top officials and governments around the world.

Iran

Iranian state media have confirmed the deaths of top Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders and senior nuclear scientists. Iranian media also reported 50 people, including women and children, had been injured.

"The Zionist regime has committed a crime in our dear country today at dawn with its satanic, bloodstained hands," Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said.

"That regime should anticipate a severe punishment. By God’s grace, the powerful arm of the Islamic Republic’s Armed Forces won’t let them go unpunished."

"With this crime, the Zionist regime has prepared for itself a bitter, painful fate, which it will definitely see."

United States

US President Donald Trump told Fox News he was aware Israel was going to conduct strikes on Iran before they happened and stressed that Tehran "cannot have a nuclear bomb", according to the US broadcaster.

"Tonight, 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" said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

"Let me be clear: Iran should not target US interests or personnel."

United Kingdom

"The reports of these strikes are concerning and we urge all parties to step back and reduce tensions urgently. Escalation serves no one in the region," said UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

"Stability in the Middle East must be the priority and we are engaging partners to de-escalate. Now is the time for restraint, calm and a return to diplomacy."

United Nations

"The Secretary-General condemns any military escalation in the Middle East," said a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. "He is particularly concerned by Israeli attacks on nuclear installations in Iran while talks between Iran and the United States on the status of Iran's nuclear programme are underway.

"The Secretary-General asks both sides to show maximum restraint, avoiding at all costs a descent into deeper conflict, a situation that the region can hardly afford."

Oman

Oman is mediating Iran-US talks over Tehran's nuclear programme, the sixth round of which is due to begin on Sunday in Muscat.

"Oman considers this act a dangerous, reckless escalation, representing a flagrant violation of the United Nations Charter, the principles of international law. Such aggressive, persistent behavior is unacceptable and further destabilizes the regional peace and security."

"The Sultanate of Oman holds Israel responsible for this escalation and its consequences, and calls upon the international community to adopt a firm and unequivocal stance to halt this dangerous course of action."

Trump said after the strikes he was "still hoping" for talks.

Saudi Arabia

"Saudi Arabia expresses its strong condemnation and denunciation of the blatant Israeli aggressions against the brotherly Islamic Republic of Iran, which undermine its sovereignty and security and constitute a clear violation of international laws and norms."

(with newswires)

Frankfurt (Germany) (AFP) – At a time of growing concern over the power of the world's mighty tech companies, one German state is turning its back on US giant Microsoft.

In less than three months' time, almost no civil servant, police officer or judge in Schleswig-Holstein will be using any of Microsoft's ubiquitous programs at work.

Instead, the northern state will turn to open-source software to "take back control" over data storage and ensure "digital sovereignty", its digitalisation minister, Dirk Schroedter, told AFP.

"We're done with Teams!" he said, referring to Microsoft's messaging and collaboration tool and speaking on a video call -- via an open-source German program, of course.

The radical switch-over affects half of Schleswig-Holstein's 60,000 public servants, with 30,000 or so teachers due to follow suit in coming years.

The state's shift towards open-source software began last year.

The current first phase involves ending the use of Word and Excel software, which are being replaced by LibreOffice, while Open-Xchange is taking the place of Outlook for emails and calendars.

Over the next few years, there will also be a switch to the Linux operating system in order to complete the move away from Windows.

The principle of open-source software is to allow users to read the source code and modify it according to their own needs.

The issue of the power wielded by American tech titans has been thrown into sharper relief by Donald Trump's return to the White House and the subsequent rise in US-EU tensions.

In the case of Microsoft, there have long been worries about the dominant position it enjoys thanks to it owning both the Windows operating system and a suite of programs found in offices the world over.

In 2023, the European Union launched an antitrust investigation against Microsoft over the way it tied Teams to its other programs for businesses.

"The geopolitical developments of the past few months have strengthened interest in the path that we've taken," said Schroedter, adding that he had received requests for advice from across the world.

"The war in Ukraine revealed our energy dependencies, and now we see there are also digital dependencies," he said.

The government in Schleswig-Holstein is also planning to shift the storage of its data to a cloud system not under the control of Microsoft, said Schroedter.

He explained that the state wants to rely on publicly owned German digital infrastructure rather than that of an American company.

Experts point to economic incentives for the sort of shift Schleswig-Holstein is making, as investing in open-source alternatives and training staff to use them often costs less than the licences for Microsoft's programs.

This is particularly the case when businesses and public bodies find themselves taken "by the throat" when hit by unexpected extra costs for mandatory updates, said Benjamin Jean from consulting firm Inno3.

Schleswig-Holstein hopes that its move away from Microsoft will eventually save it tens of millions of euros.

But organisations considering this sort of change have to reckon with resistance from staff who fear upheaval.

"If people aren't guided through it, there's an outcry and everyone just wants to go back to how it was before," warned Francois Pellegrini, an IT professor at Bordeaux University.

The potential pitfalls can be seen in the experience of Munich, whose city administration was a pioneer in using open-source programs in the 1990s.

In 2017, the city announced an about-turn, citing a lack of political support and the difficulty of interacting with other systems.

But other public bodies are staying the course: France's gendarmerie, around 100,000 strong, has been using the Linux operating system since the 2000s and India's defence ministry was in 2023 reported to have launched a homegrown system called "Maya OS".

Across the border from Schleswig-Holstein, in Denmark, reports say that the local governments of Copenhagen and Aarhus are also looking into ditching Microsoft.

Another factor that could push the trend is the EU "Interoperable Europe Act", which came into effect last year and encourages the use of open-source software.

According to Jean, "Within the space of two or three years" there could be a number of pioneer administrations who will be able to give feedback on their experiences and inspire others to make the switch.

Washington (AFP) – Democratic senators sharply criticized US ally Israel on Thursday for its strikes on Iran, as the White House distanced itself from the attack but Republican senators voiced gratitude to Israel.

"Israel's alarming decision to launch airstrikes on Iran is a reckless escalation that risks igniting regional violence," Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island said in a statement.

His comment came after Israel carried out a "preemptive" strike against Tehran's nuclear and military sites, in defiance of a call from US President Donald Trump to refrain from attacking Iran.

Reed, the top Democrat on the US Senate Armed Services Committee, warned that the "strikes threaten not only the lives of innocent civilians but the stability of the entire Middle East and the safety of American citizens and forces."

"While tensions between Israel and Iran are real and complex, military aggression of this scale is never the answer," he insisted.

"I urge both nations to show immediate restraint, and I call on President Trump and our international partners to press for diplomatic de-escalation before this crisis spirals further out of control."

Other Democrats also voiced alarm.

"This action ordered by Prime Minister Netanyahu appears to deliberately undermine ongoing American diplomatic negotiations about Iran's nuclear program," Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey said on X.

Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut agreed.

"This is a disaster of Trump and Netanyahu's own making, and now the region risks spiraling toward a new, deadly conflict," he warned on X.

He also took a political jab at the US president, insisting that Israel's decision to attack "is further evidence of how little respect world powers -- including our own allies -- have for President Trump."

Republican senators responded as well, but with a very different tone.

Tom Cotton of Arkasas insisted on X that "Iran is the world's worst state sponsor of terrorism, has the blood of thousands of Americans on its hands, and is rushing to build not only nuclear weapons, but also missiles that can strike the United States."

"We back Israel to the hilt, all the way."

Ted Cruz of Texas agreed.

"Israel is doing a favor to America right now by taking out Iran's nuclear capacity," he said.

Tehran (AFP) – Israel pounded Iran in a series of air raids on Friday, striking 100 targets including Tehran's nuclear and military sites, and killing the armed forces' chief of staff, the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards and top nuclear scientists.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Israel it faced a "bitter and painful" fate over the attack, which also killed a senior Guards commander according to Iranian media.

Iran had launched 100 drones in response towards Israel whose defences were working to intercept, the Israeli military said.

US President Donald Trump told Fox News he had advance notice of the Israeli strikes which Israel's military said involved 200 fighter jets. Trump also stressed that Tehran "cannot have a nuclear bomb".

The United States also underlined that it was not involved in the Israeli action and warned Tehran not to attack its personnel or interests.

But Tehran said the United States would be "responsible for consequences" as Israel's operation "cannot have been carried out without the coordination and permission of the United States".

Israel's operation struck at the "heart of Iran's nuclear enrichment programme", taking aim at the atomic facility in Natanz and nuclear scientists, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

The operation against Iran will "continue as many days as it takes," Netanyahu said, adding in a later video statement that the initial strikes were "very successful".

Iran's Revolutionary Guards leader Hossein Salami and armed forces Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri were killed in the Israeli operation, said Iranian media.

Iranian state media said residential buildings in Tehran were hit as well, killing a number of civilians including women and children.

Air traffic was halted at Tehran's main international airport Imam Khomeini, while neighbouring Iraq has also closed its airspace and suspended all flights at all airports, state media reported.

Israel declared a state of emergency, likewise closing its airspace, with Defence Minister Israel Katz anticipating retaliatory action from Tehran.

"Following the State of Israel's preemptive strike against Iran, a missile and drone attack against the State of Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate future," Katz said.

An Israeli military official added that the Israeli army believed that Iran had the ability to strike Israel "any minute".

Oil prices surged 12 percent while stocks sank on the Israeli strikes, which came after Trump's warning of a "massive conflict" in the region.

Trump had also said the United States was drawing down staff in the Middle East, after Iran threatened to target US military bases in the region if conflict breaks out.

Trump said he believed a "pretty good" deal on Iran's nuclear programme was "fairly close", but said that an Israeli attack on its arch foe could wreck the chances of an agreement.

The US leader did not disclose the details of a conversation on Monday with Netanyahu, but said: "I don't want them going in, because I think it would blow it."

Trump quickly added: "Might help it actually, but it also could blow it."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Iran not respond to Israeli strikes by hitting US bases, saying Washington was not involved.

"Let me be clear: Iran should not target US interests or personnel," Rubio said in a statement.

Prior to Friday's attack, Iran had threatened to hit US bases in the Middle East if conflict were to erupt.

"All its bases are within our reach, we have access to them, and without hesitation we will target all of them in the host countries," Iran's Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh said this week.

With the violence raising questions on whether a sixth round of talks planned between the US and Iran will still take place on Sunday in Oman, Trump said however that Washington is still "hoping to get back to the negotiating table".

Confirming Natanz among targets, the UN's nuclear watchdog said it was "closely monitoring" the situation.

"The agency is in contact with Iranian authorities regarding radiation levels. We are also in contact with our inspectors in the country," International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi said.

Israel, which counts on US military and diplomatic support, sees Iran as an existential threat.