Iranian nuclear sites are “fully safe” and have not been impacted by Israeli strikes, the country’s regime says.

Israel carried out limited strikes on areas of Iran early Friday in retaliation for Tehran firing a barrage of missiles and drones at Israel last Saturday.

The region surrounding the city of Isfahan — home to the country’s “nuclear energy mountain” — was among the areas targeted in the strike.

ISRAEL STRIKES SITE IN IRAN IN RETALIATION FOR WEEKEND ASSAULT: SOURCE

Isfahan is home to Iran’s Uranium Conversion Facility and three research reactors. The country’s underground Natanz enrichment site is also in the region.

Iranian state media stated following the attack that the nation’s atomic sites were “fully safe” and not struck by the missiles.

“The explosion this morning in the sky of Isfahan was related to the shooting of air defense systems at a suspicious object that did not cause any damage,”  Iranian army commander Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi said.

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The International Atomic Energy Agency, a United Nations affiliate watchdog organization, later confirmed “there is no damage to Iran’s nuclear sites.”

The agency said it “continues to call for extreme restraint from everybody and reiterates that nuclear facilities should never be a target in military conflicts.”

Details surrounding the intended target of the strike – if there was one – were not immediately available, but Fox News was previously able to confirm the target was “not nuclear or civilian.”

Vehicles drive past an anti-Israeli banner showing missiles being launched in a square in downtown Tehran, Iran. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A senior Iranian official allegedly told Reuters that Iran has no plans to immediately respond to the Israeli strike, which was described differently in Iranian state media. The explosions heard in Isfahan were allegedly a result of the country’s air defense systems activating and not a missile attack, the official told Reuters.

Former Israel Defense Forces spokesman Jonathan Conricus wrote on X that while Iran appears to downplay the strike, he “think[s] they’ve gotten the message.”

Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz, Jennifer Griffin and Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.

Social media users have been claiming that the World Economic Forum (WEF) executive chairman and founder, Klaus Schwab, was recently admitted to hospital in a serious condition.

A large number of posts on X spreading the rumours have been seen and shared thousands of times. Some of them link his supposed condition to a cardiac incident after running, while others even go as far as claiming he may be dead.

None of these claims is true.

It seems like the allegations stemmed from satirical articles, such as this one from the website Weekly Crier.

It doesn’t provide any details about Schwab’s supposed hospitalisation, nor does it cite any sources.

The website’s own “About Us” page says that it posts “satire and comedic opinion pieces and editorials”, alongside supposedly “reliable and unbiased news and information”.

Not only that, the WEF has confirmed that Schwab is in perfectly good health.

The organisation has said that the claims are “entirely baseless and unfounded” and that Schwab’s health is “excellent”.

It added that, like many high-profile individuals and organisations, he has routinely been the target of conspiracy theories and misinformation campaigns.

They’re not wrong: the claims about Schwab’s health came in lockstep with other misleading allegations that the US Delta Force arrested Schwab at his home in Switzerland.

An article by website Real Raw News said that a Delta Force strike team apprehended Schwab after a “deadly firefight” in his house, and that he was found in bed connected to an adrenochrome infusion machine.

Once again, this appears to be an attempt at satire.

Real Raw News’s “About Us” page also says that the website contains “humour, parody and satire”, but that hasn’t stopped the claims from also doing the rounds on social media.

Various posts on X, Reddit and Facebook have all shared the allegations out of context, although some of them at least with a dose of scepticism.

The WEF hasn’t made any reference to an arrest, and a quick Google search for the story from more reliable news outlets doesn’t yield any results.

WASHINGTON and DUBAI –

Israel has attacked Iran, three people familiar with the matter said, as Iranian state media reported early on Friday that its forces had destroyed drones, days after Iran launched a retaliatory drone strike on Israel.

One source told Reuters the U.S. was not involved but was notified by Israel before the attack.

Iran’s Fars news agency reported three explosions were heard near an army base in the central city of Isfahan. An Iranian official told Reuters there was no missile attack and the explosions were the result of the activation of Iran’s air defence systems.

Iranian state TV said that shortly after midnight “three drones were observed in the sky over Isfahan. The air defence system became active and destroyed these drones in the sky.”

The broadcaster later said the situation in Isfahan was normal and no ground explosions had occurred.

The Israeli military had no comment on the reports.

Israel had said it would retaliate against Iran’s weekend attack, which involved hundreds of drones and missiles, in response to a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Syria. Most of the Iranian drones and missiles were downed before reaching Israeli territory.

Analysts and observers have raised concerns about the risks of the Israel-Gaza war spreading into the rest of the region.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi had warned Israel before Friday’s strike that Tehran would deliver a “severe response” to any attack on its territory.

Iran told the United Nations Security Council on Thursday that Israel “must be compelled to stop any further military adventurism against our interests” as the UN secretary-general warned that the Middle East was in a “moment of maximum peril.”

Asian shares and bond yields sank on Friday while safe-haven currencies, gold and crude oil jumped. Brent crude futures rose two per cent to US$88.86 a barrel, the dollar gained broadly, rose one per cent and S&P 500 futures dropped one per cent.

Iran’s state television said nuclear facilities where Iran has been conducting work – which Tehran says is peaceful but which the West believes is aimed at building a weapon – were unharmed.

The Natanz nuclear site, the centrepiece of Iran’s uranium enrichment program, is in Isfahan province.

Airports in Tehran, Shiraz and Isfahan were closed until 7 a.m. GMT, subject to extension, and flights have been cleared from the western half of Iran, slight tracking website FlightRadar24 reported.

Some flights destined for Tehran from Turkish Airlines and Emirates were returning to their origin, FlightRadar24 said on X. An Iran Air flight from Rome to Tehran was diverting to Ankara, Turkey, it showed.

FlightRadar24 showed Emirates, flydubai, Turkish Air, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi and Belavia were among the carriers continuing to use the part of Iran’s airspace that remained open on Friday morning.

Israel’s assault on Gaza began after Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s military offensive has killed over 33,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the local health ministry.

Iran-backed groups have declared support for Palestinians, launching attacks from Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq.