India, Feb. 28 -- Israel on Saturday launched a pre-emptive military strike against Iran, the country's defence minister announced. A loud explosion was heard in the Iranian capital.

There was no immediate response from the Iranian government regarding the reported blast.

The development comes at a time of heightened strain between Iran and the United States over Tehran's nuclear programme.

Around the same time, sirens were activated in several parts of Israel. It was not immediately clear whether the alerts were directly linked to the reported strike.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Hindustan Times....