The wail of air raid sirens and the rumble of explosions could be heard throughout Israel on Friday, and Associated Press journalists documented explosions as Iranian rockets hit Tel Aviv, the commercial hub of Israel.

Paramedics said five people were wounded.

Hours earlier and again Friday night, Israel launched strikes across Iran that targeted its nuclear program and military sites, killing several top military officers and raising the prospect of an all-out war between the two bitter Middle East adversaries. It appeared to be the most significant attack Iran has faced since its 1980s war with Iraq.

As the Iranian rockets descended on Israel, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed not to let Israel "escape safely from this great crime."

The strikes came amid simmering tensions over Iran's rapidly advancing nuclear program. For years, Israel had threatened such a strike and successive American administrations had sought to prevent it, fearing it would ignite a wider conflict across the Middle East and possibly be ineffective at destroying Iran's dispersed and hardened nuclear program.

Iranian missiles could be seen from as far away as Beirut, leaving behind yellow streaks like comets as they descended on Israel.

In other videos posted on social media, the missiles burned fast through the air above Jerusalem's Old City.

Associated Press journalists reported the rumbling of explosions sounded like a thunderstorm.

Israeli paramedics report five people injured in the Tel Aviv area — one in moderate condition and four lightly injured by shrapnel.

Video taken by AP journalists shows multiple Israeli interceptor rockets slicing through the night sky over Tel Aviv, trailing columns of smoke and occasionally exploding in balls of yellow fire. Some of the Iranian rockets hurtled downward in a straight line, and a few could be seen impacting in flashes of orange that lit up the glittering skyline of Israel's commercial hub.

In a recorded message to the nation broadcast as Iranian missiles flew toward Israel, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the military was prepared to counterattack.

"Don't think that they (Israel) hit and it's over. No. They started the work and started the war. We will not allow them to escape safely from this great crime they committed," he said.

The rumble of explosions could be heard throughout Jerusalem, and Israeli TV stations showed plumes of smoke rising in Tel Aviv after an apparent missile strike. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The army said dozens of missiles were launched.

The army has ordered residents across the country to move into bomb shelters.

The Israeli military's Home Front Command has instructed people to move into shelters ahead of an expected Iranian missile attack.

The army says Iran has launched missiles, and the safety order applies to the entire country.

Israel's Channel 13 TV says the missiles are expected to take about 10 minutes to arrive.

Israel's military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said that despite Israel's attack, "Iran has capability to hurt Israel's civilian front in a meaningful way."

Defrin's briefing was cut short. An Israeli military official says this was due to an incoming Iranian attack on central Israel. The official spoke on condition pending a formal announcement.

The facility in Isfahan, some 215 miles southeast of Tehran, employs thousands of nuclear scientists. It also is home to three Chinese research reactors and laboratories associated with the country's atomic program.

French President Emmanuel Macron says a top-level U.N. conference on a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians has been postponed because of renewed tensions in the Mideast.

France and Saudi Arabia were due to co-host the conference in New York next week, and Macron had been scheduled to attend.

Macron said Friday it was postponed for logistical and security reasons and because some Palestinian representatives couldn't come to the event.

American fighter jets are patrolling the sky in the Middle East to protect personnel and installations, according to a U.S. official. The official spoke Friday on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing operations.

It comes at the same time as the Navy has directed the destroyer USS Thomas Hudner, which is capable of defending against ballistic missiles, to begin sailing from the western Mediterranean Sea toward the eastern Mediterranean. A second destroyer also has begun moving forward so it can be available if requested by the White House.

The Fordo nuclear enrichment facility is buried hundreds of meters underground.

Nour News, which is close to Iran's Supreme National Security Council, reported on its Telegram channel that two explosions were heard from the area nearby.

Separately, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported that a radar site near Tabriz was attacked, according to an official in the East Azerbaijan province.

Majid Farshi told IRNA that 11 military sites in East Azerbaijan province have been attacked, and that 18 people were killed, including one Red Crescent aid worker.

Israelis are on high alert bracing for a larger response from Iran, which has already launched over 100 drones toward Israel in retaliation for Friday's attacks.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or fallen shrapnel in Israel. A loud boom could be heard in the Holy City, possibly from Israeli interceptor fire.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen did not immediately claim the attack.

Civilian witnesses told The Associated Press they heard what sounded like loud explosions in neighborhoods in the capital's east, west and center, while an AP journalist in the city's north also heard a blast.

Air defense systems were heard going off Friday night in Tehran. There was no immediate acknowledgement from authorities.

In a video statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel told the U.S. about its plans to attack Iran in advance. "They knew about the attack. What will they do now? I leave that to President Trump."

Netanyahu said he ordered an attack plan in November 2024, shortly after the elimination of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah — one if Iran's strongest proxies. That's when Israel forecasted Iran would start rapidly advancing its nuclear program.

In a video statement circulated to journalists Friday evening, Netanyahu said the attack was supposed to happen in April but was postponed.

Since Tehran and Washington don't have diplomatic relations, Switzerland has looked out for America's interests in Iran since the 1979 U.S. Embassy hostage crisis.

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency says Isa Kameli, an assistant to foreign minister, told the Swiss ambassador that Friday's Israeli attacks were a crime and said, "It is not possible to imagine that invasion acts by the Zionist regime have taken place without cooperation and coordination and at least green light from the U.S."

The military said it was calling up reservists from different military units as "part of preparations for defense and offense" as its attack on Iran continues.

The move comes as Israel braces for further counterattacks from Iran or Iranian proxy groups on Israel's borders.

Israel's targeted killings of officials and scientists were "clear instances of state terrorism," Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a letter to the U.N. Security Council requesting an emergency meeting.

In the letter obtained by The Associated Press, he said Iran affirms its right to self defense under the U.N. Charter.

"This right is non-negotiable," Araghchi said. "Israel will come to deeply regret this reckless aggression and the grave strategic miscalculation it has made."