Israel, Iran Trade Overnight Strikes; IRGC Says It Hit Air Bases

Israel and Iran traded missile and air strikes through the overnight hours into Sunday, 8 June, with Israeli forces hitting a major petrochemical complex in southwestern Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps saying it had launched ballistic missiles at Israeli air bases in response. Israel’s Security Cabinet was convened as interceptions were reported across the country, Iran shut civilian airspace over key airports, and a missile fired from Yemen was intercepted before it reached Israeli territory.

Israeli officials confirmed an attack on the Mahshahr petrochemical facility, one of the largest industrial sites on Iran’s Persian Gulf coast, according to Middle East Eye. The same outlet reported that the Israeli air force launched a wave of attacks on central and western Iran, citing Iranian state media. The IRGC said the Israeli aircraft had used air-launched ballistic missiles in the strikes, a stand-off weapon that lets Israeli pilots release from beyond the range of most Iranian air defenses.

Within hours, the IRGC said it had retaliated by striking Israeli air bases with ballistic missiles, framing the salvo as a direct response to the Mahshahr raid and the broader Israeli campaign. Middle East Eye also reported that Iran launched missiles toward Israel as explosions were heard near Jerusalem, with sirens triggered across multiple districts. Damage assessments at the targeted bases were not immediately public, and Israeli authorities did not release casualty figures in the first hours after the exchange.

Israel’s air defenses engaged inbound projectiles in what Middle East Eye described as large-scale missile interceptions reported across Israel, with the Security Cabinet called into session to weigh next steps. A separate launch from Yemen was also intercepted; the Israeli military said the missile fired from Yemen was brought down before reaching its target, an indication that Houthi forces are again coordinating salvos with the Iranian axis as the cycle escalates.

The strike on Mahshahr marks one of the most significant Israeli hits on Iran’s energy infrastructure since the air war between the two states resumed. The complex sits on the northern shore of the Persian Gulf and produces aromatics and petrochemical feedstock that feed both domestic and export markets. The blow lands as Iran is already trying to manage the fallout of an earlier round of strikes; civil aviation authorities closed airspace over multiple cities, with Middle East Eye reporting that Iran shuttered airspace at key airports and that Saudi authorities issued a warning alert across the Gulf — the kind of cross-border advisory that typically signals concern about debris, off-course missiles or extended exchanges.

The exchange comes despite an effort by Washington to slow the cycle. The Guardian reported that Israel pressed ahead with the Iran strikes despite a personal plea from President Donald Trump to hold fire while diplomatic tracks remained open. Trump said on Saturday that a deal with Iran was very close, and US envoys had been signaling that a return to talks was possible. The decision to hit Mahshahr, the air bases salvo that followed, and the convening of the Security Cabinet suggest that channel has been overtaken by the operational tempo on both sides.

Tehran’s public posture hardened in step with the strikes. The Iranian foreign ministry warned of broad retaliation against future Israeli attacks, per Middle East Eye, language that points beyond a one-for-one exchange and toward a wider target set. A senior Iranian official told the same outlet that Iran will not yield to pressure, a statement consistent with Tehran’s framing throughout the current cycle that diplomatic concessions cannot be extracted under bombardment.

The overnight round follows a turbulent Saturday in which the IRGC fired a missile barrage at Israel after Israeli strikes on Beirut, having earlier warned of a painful response to the Dahiyeh raids. Hezbollah opened a parallel front, with Lebanese sources tracking 22 attacks across the northern border overnight. Energy markets had already priced in escalation: oil futures spiked and US equity futures slid in the first response to the Saturday barrage, and the Mahshahr strike adds a direct hit on Iranian export infrastructure to the equation.

The Mahshahr strike also lands against a backdrop of an unresolved nuclear file. Iran filed an IAEA complaint on day 100 of the war accusing Israel of targeting safeguarded sites, a track Tehran has used to argue that the strikes are not merely defensive operations against missile production but attacks on civilian and dual-use infrastructure under international monitoring. The petrochemical complex itself is not a safeguarded nuclear facility, but its destruction will sharpen Iranian arguments at the agency and at the UN.

For Israeli planners, the operational logic of hitting Mahshahr is straightforward: degrade Iran’s industrial base, complicate Tehran’s ability to finance and supply its proxies, and force the Iranian leadership to weigh internal economic damage against the political costs of escalation. The retaliatory IRGC salvo, paired with the Yemen launch, suggests the Iranian response is being coordinated across the axis. The question through Sunday is whether the Security Cabinet authorizes a follow-on wave or pauses to assess battle-damage and US messaging.

What we’re watching

• Damage at Mahshahr — satellite imagery and Iranian state media reporting on the extent of damage to processing units, storage and shipping infrastructure at the petrochemical complex.
• IRGC strike claims — whether independent confirmation emerges of hits on Israeli air bases, and any IDF acknowledgment of damage or casualties.
• Security Cabinet decisions — readouts from the cabinet meeting on whether Israel authorizes another round of strikes on Iran or shifts focus back to Lebanon.
• Gulf airspace — duration of Iran’s airport closures and any spread of Saudi warning alerts that would signal a wider regional risk envelope.
• Yemen and Hezbollah tempo — frequency of follow-on launches from Yemen and northern Lebanon, the clearest near-term indicator of whether the axis is moving from signaling to a sustained multi-front campaign.
• US posture — whether the White House publicly distances itself from the Mahshahr strike, and whether the talks track Trump described on Saturday is suspended, paused or quietly continued.