As Israel fires missiles at Iran, Elon Musk shares message of peace

After reports emerged that Israel had fired missiles at Iran, Tesla chief Elon Musk took to social media platform X to share his message of peace. In a post on Friday morning, he wrote, "We should send rockets not at each other, but rather to the stars."

Musk is widely considered a supporter of Israel. Last year in November, he visited the country and met with President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Musk also toured the Kfar Azza kibbutz, a rural village that Hamas militants stormed on October 7 last year, which subsequently led to the ongoing war. 

"It was jarring to see the scene of the massacre,” Musk had then said in a conversation with Netanyahu streamed on X. 

The development comes after Iran’s state media reported explosions in the central province of Isfahan. Fars News reported that three blasts were heard near the Shekari army airbase in the northwest of Isfahan province.

Isfahan also is home to sites associated with Iran's nuclear programme, including its underground Natanz enrichment site, which has been repeatedly targeted by suspected Israeli attacks.

Iran's Tasnim news agency, however, said that all nuclear facilities in Isfahan were "completely secure".

Earlier, Iran launched missiles and drone attacks at Israel. Tehran said it was in retaliation for the presumed Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus which killed two generals and several others on April 1.

Following the attack, the US imposed sanctions and export control measures on Iran.

"The sanctions target leaders and entities connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran's Defense Ministry, and the Iranian government's missile and drone program that enabled this brazen assault," US President Joe Biden said in a statement.

After Friday's attack, several flights have been diverted over Iranian airspace.

Dubai-based carriers Emirates and FlyDubai began diverting around western Iran at about 4:30 a.m. local time. They did not explain, though local warnings to aviators suggested the airspace may have been closed.

Iran later announced it grounded commercial flights in Tehran and across areas of its western and central regions. Loudspeakers informed customers of the incident at Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran, online videos showed.

Iran's state-run agency IRNA also reported that Iran has fired air defence batteries after explosions were heard. In particular, IRNA said air defences fired at a major airbase in Isfahan, which long has been home to Iran's fleet of American-made F-14 Tomcats purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

(With agency inputs)