6 wounded as Iran cluster bombs smash homes in central Israel; IDF hits Iran infrastructure

Iran fired several salvos of ballistic missiles at Israel on Saturday, causing extensive damage to homes and lightly wounding six people, officials said, as the Israeli Air Force carried out a wave of strikes against Iranian infrastructure targets in Tehran and beyond.

The strikes came as the US military pressed ahead Saturday in a frantic search for a missing pilot after Iran shot down an American warplane, as Iran called on people to turn the pilot in, promising a reward.

Shortly after 1 a.m., a ballistic missile carrying a conventional warhead of several hundred kilograms slammed into the Neot Hovav industrial zone, south of Beersheba, sparking a fire.

“Upon arrival at the scene, firefighters detected a fire and are working to extinguish the fire and conduct searches. As of this time, there are no known injuries and no involvement of hazardous materials have been identified,” the Fire and Rescue Service said in a statement.

An hour later, Iran fired a ballistic missile, carrying a cluster bomb warhead, at central Israel.

The munitions caused a building to partially collapse in Ramat Gan, while a high-voltage electricity line was damaged in the attack in Rosh Ha’ayin, causing a power outage in parts of the city.

A 45-year-old man was lightly injured by shattered glass in Bnei Brak and taken to hospital for treatment, medics said.

After a 10-hour lull, a second ballistic missile salvo was fired at central Israel, also containing cluster munitions that disperse small bomblets indiscriminately across the area.

The attack caused heavy damage to residential buildings in the central cities of Bnei Brak and Ramat Gan. Bomblets also struck Tel Aviv and Petah Tikva, causing damage to roads and cars.

Four people were lightly wounded in the strike. Magen David Adom said a man aged 24 suffered smoke inhalation, two men in their 20s were hit by glass shards, and another man was injured by a blast.

The blast from another Iranian missile carrying a cluster bomb warhead that was fired at central Israel later Saturday afternoon lightly wounded a 52-year-old.

Damage was also reported amid impacts in the Tel Aviv suburbs of Ramat Gan, Givatayim, and Bnei Brak.

Israel has condemned Iran’s use of cluster munitions to target civilian areas as a war crime.

In another salvo in the afternoon, targeting northern Israel, one missile struck an open area while others were likely intercepted, according to IDF assessments. No injuries were reported.

Iran also continued to hit targets in the Gulf.

A drone attack on a refinery owned by Kuwait’s national oil company on Friday sparked fires, while a separate Iranian attack damaged a power and desalination complex.

Shrapnel from intercepted drones injured four people in Bahrain on Saturday.

Separately, two buildings in Dubai were hit by debris, including one housing the US cloud computing firm Oracle, authorities in the United Arab Emirates said.

????????????#BREAKING: UAE authorities confirm that fragments from an intercepted Iranian projectile fell on a #Dubai building, including an Oracle facility.#IranWar pic.twitter.com/Ol8cVG44Sz

— Aisha Ali (@CaptAisha) April 4, 2026

Iranian infrastructure

The IDF said it carried out a wave of strikes on Saturday targeting infrastructure in Tehran but did not give details. An AFP journalist saw a thick haze of gray smoke covering the city’s skyline after hearing several blasts over the capital. It was not immediately clear what had been targeted.

Iranian media also reported strikes in southern Iran targeting petrochemical facilities, a cement factory and and attack that hit the perimeter of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, killing one person.

The Fars news agency reported that several facilities at the Mahshahr Petrochemical Special Zone in the Khuzestan Province were hit by strikes.

Israeli security sources confirm the strikes were carried out by the Israeli Air Force.

The deputy governor for Khuzestan province Valiollah Hayati told Fars that the attacks hit three companies in the area, while the Tasnim news agency quotes him as saying that “the extent of the damage remains unknown.”

Five people were wounded as a result of the strikes but it is not immediately clear if there were any deaths, he added.

Footage posted to social media showed thick black smoke billowing up into the air at the scene.

Heavy Strike Hits Key Petrochemical Complex in Iran

A major strike targeted the Mahshahr petrochemical complex in Khuzestan, a facility said to supply around 70% of Iran’s gasoline along with other petroleum products.

The attack effectively strikes at the heart of Iran’s… pic.twitter.com/eITLjEt77f

— Ahmad Algohbary (@AhmadAlgohbary) April 4, 2026

Last week, The Times of Israel reported that Israel’s political leadership instructed the IDF to shift to striking “economic targets” in Iran, aimed at causing massive financial damage to the regime.

Iranian media also reported that strikes hit a cement factory in southern Iran.

No casualties were caused by the “American-Zionist attack on the Bandar Khamir cement factory,” the Tasnim news agency reported, citing a Hormozgan Province security official.

The report also said that “no disruption has occurred in the production chain” at the factory.

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said in a social media post Saturday that an airstrike near its Bushehr nuclear facility killed a security guard and damaged a support building.

It is the fourth time the facility has been targeted during the war.

The Bushehr nuclear power plant uses low-enriched uranium from Russia, along with Russian technicians, to supply about 1,000 megawatts of power for Iran.

Its pressurized-water reactor can power hundreds of thousands of homes and other businesses and industries. But it contributes only 1% to 2% of Iran’s total power needs.

Iran has been trying to expand the facility to multiple reactors. In 2019, it began a project that ultimately plans to add two additional reactors to the site, each adding another 1,000 megawatts apiece.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said it has been informed by Iran about the strike and that “no increase in radiation levels was reported.”

Earlier Saturday, the Israeli military said that it hit air defense sites and missile storage facilities during a wave of airstrikes in Tehran on Friday.

The IDF said that the targets included several air defense sites, including one belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, where anti-aircraft missiles were stored.

The IAF also struck a military site tasked with “safeguarding the Iranian terror regime’s weapons research and development facilities,” the military said, adding that it struck a ballistic missile storage site and a weapons production, research and development site.

Frantic search for downed pilot

Also Saturday, the US military pressed ahead in a frantic search for a missing pilot after Iran shot down an American warplane, as Iran called on people to turn the pilot in, promising a reward.

The plane, identified by Iran as a US F-15E Strike Eagle, was one of two attacked on Friday, with one service member rescued and at least one missing. It was the first time the United States lost aircraft in Iranian territory during the war, now in its sixth week, and could mark a new turning point in the campaign.

Neither the White House nor the Pentagon released public information about the downed planes.

In an email from the Pentagon obtained by The Associated Press, meanwhile, the military said it received notification of “an aircraft being shot down” in the Middle East, without providing more details.

A US crew member from that plane was rescued. But the Pentagon also notified the House Armed Services Committee that the status of a second service member on the fighter jet was not known. A US military search-and-rescue operation continued Saturday.

In a brief telephone interview with NBC News, Trump declined to discuss the search-and-rescue efforts but said what happened would not affect negotiations with Iran.

Separately, Iranian state media said a US A-10 attack aircraft crashed in the Persian Gulf after being struck by Iranian defense forces.

A US official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military situation said it was not clear if the aircraft crashed or was shot down or whether Iran was involved. Neither the status of the crew nor exactly where it went down was immediately known.

An anchor on a TV channel affiliated with Iranian state television urged residents to hand over any “enemy pilot” to the police.

Throughout the war, Iran has made a series of claims about shooting down piloted enemy aircraft that turned out not to be true. Friday was the first time the Iranian public was urged to look for a downed pilot.

Extensive damage to US embassy in Saudi Arabia

Meanwhile, it was revealed Saturday that an Iranian drone attack on the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia in March resulted in more damage than was publicly said.

In the March 3 nighttime attack, two Iranian drones slammed into a secure area of the embassy where hundreds of people work during the day and heavily damaged three floors, including a CIA station, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing current and former American officials.

The attack resulted in a blaze that raged for half a day, leading to irreversible damage to parts of the compound, a person briefed on the matter said.

Officials said that if the embassy had been attacked during the working day, it would have caused a mass-casualty event. At the time, the Saudi Defense Ministry claimed the attack only resulted in limited fire and minor damage.