The Iranian army said on Saturday two soldiers were killed in Israeli strikes.
In a statement the army identified the two victims as major Jahandideh and lieutenant Shahrokhifar, without mentioning their first names.
Israel attacked military targets in Iran with a series of pre-dawn airstrikes on Saturday in retaliation for the barrage of ballistic missiles the Islamic Republic fired upon Israel earlier in the month.
The Israeli military said its aircraft targeted facilities that Iran used to make the missiles fired at Israel as well as surface-to-air missile sites.
There was no immediate indication that oil or missile sites were hit — strikes that would have marked a much more serious escalation — and Israel offered no immediate damage assessment.
Explosions could be heard in the Iranian capital, Tehran, though the Islamic Republic insisted they caused only “limited damage” and Iranian state-run media downplayed the attacks.
Still, the strikes risk pushing the arch enemies closer to all-out war at a time of spiralling violence across the Middle East, where militant groups backed by Iran — including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon — are already at war with Israel.
Following the airstrikes, Iran’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying it had a right to self defence, and “considers itself entitled and obligated to defend against foreign acts of aggression.”
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