Discussion ‘leans more towards infiltration than attack’ says anonymous Iranian official as US says Israel has carried out military operation

• Full report: Israel has carried out airstrikes on Iran, US officials say
• What we know so far about Israel’s strike on Iran
• What’s in Isfahan? The city home to Iranian nuclear facilities

It’s 7:24am in Tehran and 6:54 In Tel Aviv. Let’s get a reminder of what we know so far:

US officials have confirmed that Israel has carried out military operations against Iran but did not describe those operations.

The Israeli military has told news agencies including Agence France-Presse and Associated Press: “We don’t have a comment at this time.”

Iran’s state media reported explosions in the central province of Isfahan Friday

Air defence systems over several Iranian cities were activated, state media reported, after the country’s official broadcaster said explosions were heard near the city of Isfahan.

Iran’s Fars news agency reported “three explosions” were heard near the Shekari army airbase in the north-west of Isfahan province, while Iran’s space agency spokesperson Hossein Dalirian said “several” drones had been “successfully shot down”.

Nuclear facilities in Isfahan were reported to be “completely secure”, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported, citing “reliable sources”.

Flights were suspended across swathes of Iran on Friday. “Iran’s air defence has been activated in the skies of several provinces of the country,” Tehran’s official IRNA news agency said.

Mehr news agency reported that “flights to Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz, and airports in the west, northwest and southwest have been suspended.”

Flight-tracking software showed commercial flights avoiding western Iran, including Isfahan, and skirting Tehran to the north and east.

There was no immediate comment from Dubai’s Emirates airline, which was operating several of the planes.

Blasts were also reported in southern Syria, according to a local activist group. “There were strikes on a Syrian army radar position,” said Rayan Maarouf, who runs the Suwayda24 anti-government website that covers news from Sweida province in the south, reports AFP.

Oil prices surged more than three per cent in early Asian trade on Friday after the reports of explosions.

Iranian state media reports that drones have been shot down over Isfahan province in attack on Friday and that the nuclear site there is ‘completely safe’

• Middle East crisis: live updates
• What we know so far about Israel’s strike on Iran
• What’s in Isfahan? The city home to Iranian nuclear facilities

US officials have confirmed that Israel has carried out airstrikes against Iran as explosions were reported in the sky over the cities of Isfahan and Tabriz, while the Iranian government sought to play down the scale of the attack.

Officials in Washington said Israeli forces were carrying out military operations against Iran but did not describe the character or scale of those operations. Iranian state media said that drones had been shot down over Isfahan province in the early hours, and showed live shots of morning traffic in Isfahan city after sunrise to show that the situation was calm.

US officials have confirmed that Israel carried out a military operation against Iran, while state media reports air defences are active near the city of Isfahan

• Follow live for latest updates

US officials have confirmed that Israel has carried out military operations against Iran. The officials said Israel warned the Biden administration earlier on Thursday that a strike was coming in the next 24 to 48 hours. According to CNN, the Israelis assured their US counterparts that Iran’s nuclear facilities would not be targeted.

Iranian state media reported that air defence batteries had been activated after reports of explosions near a major airbase close to the city of Isfahan. The Iranian government appeared to play down the scale of the attack, with a senior commander in Iran’s army saying there was no damage in Isfahan, according to state TV.

Isfahan is home to sites associated with Iran’s nuclear program, including its underground Natanz enrichment site. State television described all sites in the area as “fully safe” and the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), confirmed there was no damage to any nuclear sites.

The airbase close to Isfahan has long been home to Iran’s fleet of American-made F-14 Tomcats – purchased before the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Airports in Tehran, Shiraz and Isfahan were closed and flights have been cleared from the western half of Iran, flight tracking website FlightRadar24 reported. Local warnings to aviators suggested the airspace may have been closed. At 8am local time some airports lifted restrictions, local media in Iran reported. Although UAE based FlyDubai cancelled all flight to Iran’s capital on Friday.

Tensions across the region remain high after Iran launched hundreds of drones as well as cruise missiles towards Israel on Saturday, in the Islamic Republic’s first ever direct attack on the Jewish state, in response to the 1 April strike on an Iranian diplomatic building in the Syrian capital, Damascus, which killed a senior figure in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards and eight other officers.

On Thursday, Iran’s foreign minister told CNN that if Israel chooses to retaliate, Tehran’s response would be immediate. “If the Israeli regime commits the great error once again our response will be decisive, definitive and regretful for them,” Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said.

Prime minister to express concern about ‘over-medicalising’ normal worries with diagnoses as mental health conditions

Rishi Sunak will today claim Britain is suffering from a “sicknote culture”, as he warns there is a risk of “over-medicalising” normal worries by diagnosing them as mental health conditions.

In a speech on how to reduce people being signed off sick from work, the prime minister will say the government is planning to trial getting “work and health professionals” to issue fit notes, shifting away from GPs carrying out this role.

Husband of Nicola Sturgeon was rearrested ‘in connection with the embezzlement of funds’ from party, say police

Peter Murrell, the husband of the former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, has been charged in connection with embezzlement after being arrested for a second time by police investigating allegations regarding the funding and finances of the Scottish National party.

Murrell, the former chief executive of the SNP, was first arrested and interviewed as a suspect by Police Scotland detectives in April 2023 at the home he shared with Sturgeon in Glasgow, but was released later that day pending further investigation.

Exclusive: 80% of Welsh dairy farms inspected, 69% of English ones, 60% in Scotland and 50% in Northern Ireland breaching regulations

The majority of UK dairy farms are breaking pollution rules, with vast amounts of cow manure being spilled into rivers.

When animal waste enters the river, it causes a buildup of the nutrients found in the effluent, such as nitrates and phosphates. These cause algal blooms, which deplete the waterway of oxygen and block sunlight, choking fish and other aquatic life.

Swifties take to social media to dissect lyrics and celebrate Swift’s 11th album on Friday as the musician releases 15 more songs

• Breakups, fantasies and her most cutting lyrics: inside The Tortured Poets Department
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The Tortured Poets Department is just out but it is already splitting Taylor Swift fans – between those who have already listened to it after it leaked online early, and those who refused to listen out of loyalty to their favourite singer.

Swift’s 11th studio album was released on Friday but all 16 tracks and lyrics began appearing on social media on Wednesday. Some fans – known as Swifties – refused to listen to the leaked album, insisting that “true fans” would wait for the official release, while others shared false links to the leak in attempts to stop people finding it.

First phase in world’s largest democratic exercise begins, with 969 million people eligible to vote over six-week period

Voting has begun in India’s mammoth general election, as Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party hopes to increase its parliamentary majority amid allegations that the country’s democracy has been undermined since it came to power 10 years ago.

India’s elections are the largest democratic exercise in the world, with more than 969 million voters, amounting to more than 10% of the world’s population. The voting began at 8am on Friday, when polling opened at 102 constituencies across the country, and will continue over the next six weeks, in seven phases, until 1 June. All the results will be counted and declared on 4 June.

Exclusive: Under Whitehall blueprint for water company some lenders could lose up to 40% of their money

Thames Water could be renationalised, with the bulk of its £15.6bn debt added to the public purse, under radical plans being considered by the government, the Guardian can reveal.

The blueprint, codenamed Project Timber, is being drawn up in Whitehall and would turn Britain’s biggest water company into a publicly owned arm’s-length body. Some lenders to its core operating company could lose up to 40% of their money under the plans.

Exclusive: India seeking to use approach of UK election as bargaining chip and any exemption would be controversial

India is demanding an exemption from the UK’s planned carbon tax as part of negotiations aiming to finalise a free trade deal before the UK election.

India’s negotiating team have spent this week in London in a surprise set of talks to try to overcome the remaining hurdles to an agreement.