We will wrap up our live coverage here

 We will wrap up our live coverage here for now. 

Updates on the situation will continue on the ABC News website. 

A full wrap of the latest news can be found here:

US officials describing attacks as 'effective'

We've just been briefed on the strikes by a senior Biden administration official on what the US knew of the attacks.

The US is insisting it was not involved in the strikes, but it was given warning by the Israeli government.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was briefing by Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in a phone call.

The White House is describing the strikes as "targeted and proportional" after Iran launched more than 180 missiles at Israel in October.

The senior official suggested Israel had heeded international warnings to contain its retaliatory attack to military targets, limiting the risk to Iranian civilians.

But, and it's a big but, the official said the White House was of the opinion this should be the end of direct attacks between Israel and Iran.

The official said there would be consequences to any further response by Iran.

Iran says attacks thwarted, caused 'limited damage'

Iran says its air defence system successfully countered Israel's attacks but that "limited damage" was caused to some locations.

In a statement, the Iranian air defence said Israel attacked military targets in the provinces of Tehran, Khuzestan and Ilam.

Israeli military says it completed 'targeted' attacks against Iran

The IDF has released a statement saying that it has "completed precise and targeted strikes on military targets in a number of areas in Iran".

"The strike was conducted in response to the attacks by the Iranian regime against the State of Israel and its citizens in recent months," it read. 

"The retaliatory strike has been completed and the mission was fulfilled."

The IDF claims that the Israeli Airforce struck missile manufacturing facilities used to produce the missiles that Iran fired at the Israel over the last year. 

"These missiles posed a direct and immediate threat to the citizens of the State of Israel," it read. 

"Simultaneously, the IDF struck surface-to-air missile arrays and additional Iranian aerial capabilities, that were intended to restrict Israel's aerial freedom of operation in Iran."

It wrote says that the IDF is "conducting ongoing situational assessments and is ready to conduct defensive and offensive action."

Why did Israel strike now?

Israel has been promising a retaliatory attack against Iran for weeks now, after Iran fired more than 180 missiles at Israel at the beginning of October.

Since then the world has been waiting to see what Israel would do.

Last week, US intelligence on Israeli preparations for such an attack were leaked. They detailed things like Israeli military exercises and what weapons might be used in any attack.

That has been embarrassing for the United States, and an investigation has been launched. 

The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken toured the Middle East this week — a trip billed as a week long series of talks, which seemingly got cut short.

He met with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem, before travelling to Riyadh to meet Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and on to London to meet Jordanian and Lebanese officials.

This attack has happened after that, showing any overtures he made to Israel for restraint went unheard.

Israel has also been waiting for its own defences to be bolstered.

The United States deployed its THAAD anti-missile defence system to Israel, along with around 100 troops to operate it — wanting to shore up Israel's ability to protect itself from any further strikes from country's such as Iran.

That is now in place and operational, giving Israel some extra cover.

Israeli media reporting the strikes are now over

Israel's public broadcaster is now reporting the IDF's strikes against Iran have now finished.

It says there were three waves of strikes.

What is Israel targeting in Iran?

When the IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari announced Israel's strikes had begun on Iran, he said they were "precise strikes on military targets".

The international community, particularly the United States, had been urging Israel to focus its retaliatory attacks on military assets rather than other targets — energy infrastructure, or Iran's nuclear facilities for example.

Any attacks beyond military targets would be an even more dramatic escalation in the Middle East conflict — hitting things like Iranian military bases allows Israel to make its point without being seen as targeting areas where civilians could be harmed.

Government website Smartraveller updates Middle East warning

Smartraveller has been warning Australians not to travel to Iran for a while, but it has now  provided updated information on its channels to warn of the risk of travelling to the Middle East. 

It says the situation in Iran may deteriorate quickly with little or no notice. 

Sounds of explosion heard in Tehran as Israel launches strikes
Pro-Iran factions in Iraq claim responsibility for drone strike in Israel

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose network of pro-Iran factions, claimed responsibility early on Saturday for a drone attack against a "military target" in northern Israel, following the announcement of Israeli strikes on Iran.

"Islamic Resistance fighters in Iraq carried out a drone attack at dawn on Saturday against a military target in Acre", in northern Israel, the group said in a statement on Telegram.

AFP