Daylight broke in Iran after several hours of Israeli airstrikes. The Israeli military said the strikes, which have now ended, were in retaliation for Iran’s ballistic missile barrages on Israel earlier this month and in April.

Israel’s military has warned Iran against further escalation, saying it “reserves the right to defend its citizens” as it fears the long-running standoff between the two powerful militaries could escalate into a wider regional war, which could attract the United States.

Israel’s military said it struck production sites used to make missiles that Iran has fired at Israel over the past year. It is unclear whether those factories also produced rockets fired by Iran’s proxies Hezbollah, Hamas and Yemen’s Houthi rebels, as tensions in the region have risen since Israel’s invasion of Gaza more than a year ago.

Israel also said it struck Iranian air defense sites early Saturday to allow its aircraft to attack the other targets.

The official Islamic Republic of Iran News Agency (IRNA) said parts of military sites in three provinces – Tehran, Ilam and Khuzestan – were hit, but said its air defenses were successful and damage was ” limited”.

“The extent of this incident is under investigation,” IRNA said. Earlier, videos posted on social media by Tehran residents showed explosions in the sky and trailing fire rising from the city as dawn approached.

Images released by Iranian state media showed calm on the streets of Tehran, with traffic moving and people going about their daily business.

Israel’s decision to strike early Saturday morning came after weeks of deliberations within its security cabinet over the nature and scale of such an attack, Israeli officials said.

The United States has pushed Israel not to attack Iran’s energy infrastructure for fear of sparking a wider conflict, a request Israel appears to have heeded, according to preliminary reports.

“This should be the end of this direct exchange of fire between Israel and Iran,” a senior US administration official said after the strikes.