The Latest: Trump sits down with Joe Rogan, Harris rallies with Beyoncé

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump centered their attention on Texas on Friday with both presidential candidates holding events in the staunchly Republican state. The vice president teamed up with Beyoncé for a rally aimed at highlighting the perilous medical fallout from the state’s strict abortion ban and putting the blame squarely on Trump.

Meanwhile, the former president held a news conference in Austin on Friday afternoon and sat down with podcaster Joe Rogan later in the day.

President Joe Biden visited a reservation in Arizona, a long-promised trip to Indian Country that Democrats hope could boost Harris' turnout effort in a key battleground state.

Follow the AP’s Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

Here’s the latest:

The nation’s most listened-to podcaster pressed the former president on whether he’s “completely committed” to bringing Robert F. Kennedy Jr., into his administration.

“Oh, I completely am,” Trump responded. “But the only thing I want to be a little careful about with him is the environmental. Because he doesn’t like oil, I love oil and gas.”

He said he’ll tell Kennedy to “focus on health, do whatever you want.” Trump said he’s faced pressure not to work with Kennedy, citing “big Pharma” as one example.

Kennedy has been instrumental in spreading skepticism about vaccines, rejecting the overwhelming consensus among scientists that the benefits of inoculations outweigh the rare risk of side effects.

He also claims pharmaceutical companies conspire to prevent health improvements because they make so much money selling drugs to people with chronic illnesses.

Rogan also is skeptical of vaccines. Trump noted that “they’ve come up with some amazing things” such as the polio vaccine.

After embracing Beyoncé and Rowland, Harris took her spot at the mic, as the crowd cheered her name.

“It’s good to be back in Texas,” she said.

Harris started speaking at 10:20p ET, nearly an hour later than scheduled.

In her hometown of Houston, Beyoncé gave the city’s neighborhoods shoutouts, to raucous cheers from the crowd.

“We are all part of something much bigger,” she said. “We must vote, and we need you.”

“Our moment right now. it’s time for America to sing a new song. Our voices sing a chorus of unity,” she said, casting her remarks forward, and introducing Harris. “Are y’all ready to add your voice to the new American song? So let’s do this, ladies and gentlemen.”

Hometown hero Beyoncé showed up at Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign rally in Houston on Friday night. Her mother, Tina Knowles, introduced Beyoncé and her Destiny’s Child bandmate Kelly Rowland, who took the stage.

Rowland kicked things off, describing this as “a moment where we grab back the pen from those who are trying to write an American story of division and hatred,” she said. “We are grabbing back the pen.” She concluded, “Now Houston, you’ve already had a hand in creating destiny. So do what you do, and do this thing again.”

Allred thanked Harris for “coming to Texas and shining a light on what’s happening to Texas families and Texas women.”

The crowd broke out in cheers of “beat Ted Cruz” after the Democratic congressman said that, “with y’all’s help and God’s grace, we’re gonna beat Ted Cruz.”

“Do you hear that, Ted?” Allred asked.

Allred likened both his opponent and Trump to being too “small” to be effective leaders.

“Everything is bigger in Texas, but Ted Cruz is too small for Texas,” Allred said, eliciting cheers and laughter from the crowd.

Allred also remembered being at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when he said he “was going to defend the House floor from that mob,” while “Ted Cruz was hiding in a supply closet.

“I went to public school in Texas,” the former football linebacker said. “I’m not just going to sit there.”

Actress Jessica Alba kicked off Harris’ star-studded rally in Houston on Friday evening to praise the Democratic nominee as someone who “protects our freedoms and creates a brighter future, a more inclusive future for all.”

Harris is expected to focus her rally on abortion restrictions in the state and the consequences of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

Alba said: “As a woman I know we need a leader like Kamala Harris who is dedicated to protecting reproductive freedom, ensuring that decisions about your body are made by you, never by the government, because Kamala Harris understands that protecting reproductive freedom isn’t about politics, it’s about our right to choose.”

There doesn’t seem to be an empty seat at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston, the site of Harris’ rally with Beyonce.

The more than 20,000-seat stadium is awash in light: flashing red, white and blue lights held by supporters in the stands and strobe lights. Large screens are flashing messages that say “Reproductive Freedom,” “Vote, “Trust Women,” Freedom” and “Vote for Reproductive Freedom.”

Harris is scheduled to speak at 9:30 p.m. ET.

Trump’s plane did not leave Austin, where he was taping a podcast interview, until not long before the rally was set to start.

It’s a chilly night, with temperatures in the low 50’s.

Some, however, are sticking around.

“Well, we rather they were on time,” said Medine Dahlquist from Bay City, Michigan. But, she said, it’s “worth the wait.”

About 35 million people have voted early in the 2024 presidential election.

That’s roughly one-fifth the number of people who cast ballots in 2020. The robust total is due to Republicans voting ahead of time after largely refusing to do so the prior two elections because former President Donald Trump criticized the process.

Now, Trump wants his supporters to vote early.

Remember, early vote statistics don’t tell you who won, merely who showed up. We won’t see who they picked until votes are tallied after polls close on Nov. 5.

▶ Find out how many early votes have been cast in your state

An appeals court in the battleground state of Georgia has declined Friday to expedite the review of an appeal of a judge’s order that county election officials must vote to certify results by the deadline set in law.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled this month that county election officials cannot refuse to certify election results. His ruling came in a lawsuit filed by Julie Adams a Republican member of the election board in Fulton County, which includes most of Atlanta and is a Democratic stronghold.

Adams appealed that order Wednesday and asked the Georgia Court of Appeals to hear it on an expedited basis.

But the appeals court’s decision means that McBurney’s order will almost certainly remain in effect through the deadline for county officials to certify results, which this year falls on Nov. 12.

A judge in South Carolina ruled Friday it is too late for the state to reopen voter registration for nearly 1,900 teens after the state Department of Motor Vehicles failed to notify election officials that they checked the box to register as they got their driver’s licenses.

The teens were 17 at the time they went to the DMV, but would be 18 by Election Day.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit to reopen registration Tuesday, a day after early voting started in South Carolina.

Lawyers for the DMV, election officials and lawmakers say they are sympathetic toward the teens, but it would be chaotic to reopen registration this close to Election Day.

Judge Daniel Coble’s decision came about six hours after he heard arguments in the case.

Early voting started on Monday in South Carolina and in the first four days, more than 500,000 votes have been cast.

“Our government failed these young voters, and now the same government is making excuses rather than making things right. When ‘It’s too hard to fix’ becomes an acceptable reason to disenfranchise voters, we know that there’s work to do,” ACLU of South Carolina Legal Director Allen Chaney said in a statement after the ruling.

After he spoke in Austin, Trump greeted executives from Blue Origin, the space exploration company owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos.

Bezos is the founder of Amazon and the owner of The Washington Post, which reported Friday that its editorial board won’t endorse a candidate for president. The decision was framed as a return to earlier tradition, but it sparked speculation that Bezos wants to avoid antagonizing Trump, who has vowed retribution against his enemies and critics if he returns to the White House.

The Post editorial board endorsed Trump’s Democratic rivals in 2016 and 2020, and the former president has often railed against critical news coverage by the newspaper.

Trump spoke briefly with Blue Origin’s CEO, David Limp, and vice president of government relations, Megan Mitchell, as he left a hangar where he spoke to supporters and journalists at the Austin airport.

The conversation underscores the web of diverse and competing interests in the Bezos business empire. Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to questions about whether the conversation had been planned and whether they had attended the event.

Bezos bought the Washington Post in 2013. He made the purchase as an individual and Amazon.com Inc. was not involved. Bezos stepped down as Amazon CEO in 2021 but remains the company’s executive chairman and largest shareholder.

Officials with Seattle-based Blue Origin did not immediately respond to a message from The Associated Press.

Vice President Kamala Harris will be joined by several musicians, including Mumford & Sons, for a get-out-the-vote rally Wednesday on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, the campaign announced on Friday.

The rally will take place just before former President Donald Trump will be about two hours away for a rally in Green Bay.

Both campaigns are hitting the swing state hard in the final days of the race.

The Harris rally will include two members of the indie rock band The National, Matt Berninger and Aaron Dessner, along with singer-songwriters Gracie Abrams and Remi Wolf. They are performing as part of the “When We Vote We Win” GOTV Concert and Rally Series, the campaign said.

Donald Trump has concluded his remarks in Austin, Texas.

He spoke for about 45 minutes, with a heavy emphasis on immigration.

Trump did not take questions from reporters while speaking, and he didn’t answer shouted questions afterward.

Both major presidential candidates are in Texas on Friday. Kamala Harris took questions from reporters ahead of her rally later this evening with Beyoncé in Houston.

Donald Trump is predicting he’ll break records for the number of people deported from the United States if he wins the election.

At an appearance in Texas, Trump praised President Dwight D. Eisenhower for overseeing mass deportations as part of a sweeping plan known by the racist title “Operation Wetback.” Trump has made mass deportation a centerpiece of his campaign for a second term in the White House.

“I think we’ll break that record,” Trump said of Eisenhower’s deportations. “Not that I want to break it, but I think we have no choice.”

He said his administration will put “these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail or kick them the hell out of the country.”

Leonardo DiCaprio is endorsing Kamala Harris for president, with the Oscar-winning actor expressing support for the Democratic nominee in a video Friday.

“Climate change is killing the earth and ruining our economy. We need a bold step forward to save our economy, our planet and ourselves,” DiCaprio said. “That’s why I’m voting for Kamala Harris.”

DiCaprio, long an outspoken advocate for addressing the climate crisis, has supported Democratic candidates in the past. In early 2020, he attended a fundraiser for Joe Biden at the home of former Paramount Pictures chief Sherry Lansing.

With less than two weeks until Election Day, Harris has received the support of many high-profile entertainers including Taylor Swift, Oprah Winfrey, Meryl Streep, Chris Rock and George Clooney.

Republican nominee Donald Trump’s celebrity supporters include Elon Musk, Dennis Quaid, Roseanne Barr and Kid Rock.

In December 2016, DiCaprio and the head of his eponymous foundation met with Trump, then president-elect, to discuss how jobs centered on preserving the environment could boost the economy.

AUSTIN, Texas — Former President Donald Trump is doubling — and tripling — down on likening the United States to a trash receptacle.

“We’re like a garbage can. We’re like a garbage can,” he said Friday. He noted that, “The first time I said it was last night.”

During a Thursday night event, Trump had declared that the U.S. was “like a garbage can for the world.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, in response on Friday, called that comment, “Another example of how he really belittles our country.”

Moments after her reaction, Trump said it twice more during an appearance in Texas.

AUSTIN, Texas — Donald Trump is dismissing Kamala Harris’ rally in Houston with Beyoncé as his opponent “rubbing shoulders” with “woke celebrities.”

“I think she’s coming here today,” Trump said in Austin. “She picked the wrong place. I think she picked the wrong place.”

He said that instead of her rally with a superstar, Harris should meet with victims of violent crimes committed by people in the country illegally. He called some immigrants arrested for allegedly committing violent crimes “animals.”

AUSTIN, Texas — Former President Donald Trump is saying in Texas that Vice President Kamala Harris is using the state as a “staging ground” to bring armies of people into the U.S. illegally.

The former president says the Biden administration is making Texas “ground zero” for a border “invasion,” though he blamed Harris.

Trump also suggested that mismanagement of the U.S.-Mexico border was a crime against humanity.

There is no evidence to support those claims, however.

AUSTIN, Texas — Trump has kicked off his remarks in Texas by slamming a judge ordering Virginia to restore registered voters who were purged from the state’s voter roles close to Election Day.

“The outrageous decision goes against the bedrock of our democracy,” Trump said.

HOUSTON — Asked about reporting that JP Morgan chief Jamie Dimon would consider a role in Kamala Harris’ possible administration, Harris said she didn’t want to talk about theoretical leadership with the election not over.

“We have 11 days to go,” she said. “I do not have a Cabinet yet.”

HOUSTON — Answering a question about how she as president would advance reproductive rights legislation through Congress, where Democrats might not have control in either chamber following the elections, Kamala Harris promoted Democrat Colin Allred’s effort to unseat GOP Sen. Ted Cruz from his Texas seat.

“It is my pledge — when Congress passes a bill putting back in place reproductive freedom — I will sign it,” she added. “There’s no other plan. We keep fighting.”

HOUSTON — Vice President Kamala Harris kicked off her remarks to reporters ahead of a campaign event in Texas Friday by calling the non-battleground state “ground zero” when it comes to issues related to abortion.

The Democratic nominee called elected leaders to task for that situation, saying her event Friday night will be centered around “the harm” that has caused for Americans.

AUSTIN, Texas — Former President Donald Trump has arrived in Austin, Texas, where he’ll deliver remarks ahead of an expected taping of Joe Rogan’s popular podcast.

He’ll be speaking in an airport hangar before invited guests. Signs that read “END MIGRANT CRIME” and “DEPORT ILLEGALS NOW” will be his backstop.

AUSTIN, Texas — Former President Donald Trump on Friday is heading to Texas — his first public campaign event in the state since receiving the Republican nomination — to sit down with the most listened-to-podcaster in the country, creating another opportunity for him to highlight the hypermasculine tone that has defined much of his 2024 White House bid.

The GOP presidential nominee will hold a news conference in Austin and meet with podcaster Joe Rogan at his studio there. It is only the second time he has campaigned in the state after a Dallas visit where he addressed members of the National Rifle Association in May.

On Friday, his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, will also be visiting Texas for a rally on abortion rights with superstar Beyoncé.

Read more here.

WASHINGTON — A 94-year-old Holocaust survivor is criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris for calling former President Donald Trump a “ fascist.”

Jerry Wartski appears in a video for Trump’s campaign, saying, “I know more about Hitler than Kamala will ever know in a thousands lifetimes.” He’s referring to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, who he describes having murdered his parents.

In the video, Wartski rolls up his sleeve to reveal a number tattooed on his arm while he was a prisoner at the Auschwitz concentration camp.

He says Harris owes Holocaust victims and survivors an apology.

Harris called Trump a fascist during a CNN town hall this week.

She said his comments denouncing the “enemy within” mean he may prove willing to target Americans who disagree with him should he win the Nov. 5 election.

MILWAUKEE — Former President Donald Trump is returning to the site of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee just four days before the election.

Trump plans to hold a rally at the Fiserv Forum on Nov. 1, his campaign said Friday. The stop comes two days after another planned rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

The state is one of the most hard-fought this year with both sides expecting a razor-close finish. Vice President Kamala Harris was in both Milwaukee and Green Bay last week.

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell are criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris for saying she believes that former President Donald Trump is a fascist during a CNN town hall, saying her words could lead to violence.

“Labeling a political opponent as a ‘fascist,’ risks inviting yet another would-be assassin to try robbing voters of their choice before Election Day,” the two Republicans said in their statement.

When asked if she believed Trump is a fascist, Harris replied twice, “Yes, I do.” Later, she brought it up herself, saying Trump would, if elected again, be “a president who admires dictators and is a fascist.”

The two lawmakers said they have been briefed on ongoing threats to Trump and called on Harris to take the threats seriously, adding “stop escalating the threat environment, and help ensure President Trump has the necessary resources to be protected from those threats.”

The two did not address comments coming from Trump, who at his rallies has also referred to Harris as a “Marxist” and a “fascist.”

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A civil rights organization wants South Carolina to reopen voter registration for nearly 1,900 teens after the state Department of Motor Vehicles failed to notify election officials that they checked the box to register as they got their driver’s licenses. The teens were 17 at the time they went to the DMV, but would be 18 by Election Day.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit Tuesday, a day after early voting started in South Carolina.

Lawyers for the DMV, election officials and lawmakers said they are sympathetic toward the teens, but it is too late to verify the teens are eligible and adjust the voting rolls.

A judge promised a ruling Friday after hearing arguments from both sides.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A federal judge on Friday ordered Virginia to restore more than 1,600 voter registrations that she said were illegally purged in the past two months to keep noncitizens from voting.

U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles granted an injunction request brought against Virginia election officials by the Justice Department, which claimed the voter registrations were wrongly canceled during a 90-day quiet period ahead of the November election that restricts states from making large-scale changes to their voter rolls.

Thomas Sanford, an attorney with the Virginia attorney general’s office, told the judge at the conclusion of Friday’s hearing that the state intends to appeal her ruling.

The Justice Department and private groups, including the League of Women Voters, said many of the 1,600 voters whose registrations were canceled were citizens whose registrations were canceled because of bureaucratic errors or simple mistakes like a wrongly checked box on a form.

LANCASTER, Pa. — Officials in a Pennsylvania county say an investigation is underway after election workers identified about 2,500 voter registration forms that may be fraudulent.

The Lancaster County Elections Board and the county prosecutor plan to hold a news conference Friday to discuss the steps taken so far.

The county says the registrations in question arrived in two batches shortly before Pennsylvania’s deadline to register to vote, which was this past Monday.

HOUSTON — Vice President Kamala Harris will team up with Beyoncé on Friday for a rally in solidly Republican Texas aimed at highlighting the perilous medical fallout from the state’s strict abortion ban and putting the blame squarely on Donald Trump.

It’s a message intended to register far beyond Texas in the political battleground states, where Harris is hoping that the aftereffects from the fall of Roe v. Wade will spur voters to turn out to support her quest for the presidency.

Harris will also be joined at the rally by women who have nearly died from sepsis and other pregnancy complications because they were unable to get proper medical care, including women who never intended to end their pregnancies.

Read more here.

PHOENIX — President Joe Biden is at last making his way to Indian Country, paying a long-promised visit to a reservation in Arizona that Democrats hope could provide a boost to Vice President Kamala Harris’ turnout effort in a key battleground state.

Biden’s visit to the Gila River Indian Community’s land on the outskirts of metro Phoenix will be his first to Indian Country as president — something he promised tribal leaders he would do nearly two years ago.

During the visit, Biden intends to formally apologize to Native Americans for the U.S. government’s role in the abuse and neglect of Native children sent to federal boarding schools to assimilate them into white society, according to the White House.

Read more here.

If Donald Trump wins the presidential election, Republicans hope he will fulfill a longstanding GOP goal of privatizing the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which have been under government control since the Great Recession.

But Democrats and some economists warn that, especially in this time of high mortgage rates, doing so will make buying a home even more expensive.

Read more here.

WASHINGTON — With the end of her abbreviated presidential campaign in sight, Kamala Harris is trying to put the focus squarely on Donald Trump and his threat to democratic institutions, echoing the strategy used by Joe Biden before he ended his reelection bid.

It’s a bet that fear of the former Republican president can rally Harris supporters and nudge undecided voters to her side in the final days. Harris’ challenge will be connecting philosophical questions about American democracy with the everyday concerns of individual Americans.

The effort will be on full display Tuesday, when Harris delivers what her team describes as her closing argument from the Ellipse, the grassy space adjacent to the National Mall in Washington. It’s the same place where Trump stood when he urged his supporters to march on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in what became a bloody attempt to prevent the certification of Biden’s election victory.

Read more here.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump waves as he greets attendees upon departs a news conference at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump departs after speaking at a news conference at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A video message from Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump is played at a campaign event Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Traverse City, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Attendees leave a campaign event for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump before he arrives Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Traverse City, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Marcus Gully, center, cheers at a rally for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Annie Mulligan)

Attendees cheer during a rally for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Annie Mulligan)

Giovanni Castro cheers before Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris takes the stage at a campaign rally Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Annie Mulligan)

An attendee dances during a rally for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Annie Mulligan)

Supporters attend a rally for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Annie Mulligan)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a news conference at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to reporters in Houston, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to reporters in Houston, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to reporters in Houston, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Thomas & Mack Center, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally at James R. Hallford Stadium, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, in Clarkston, Ga. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel pounded Iran with a series of airstrikes early Saturday, saying it was targeting military sites in retaliation for the barrage of ballistic missiles the Islamic Republic fired upon Israel earlier this month. Explosions could be heard in the Iranian capital, Tehran, though there was no immediate information on damage or casualties.

The attack risks pushing the archenemies closer to all-out war at a time of spiraling violence across the Middle East, where militant groups backed by Iran — including Hamas in Gaza, and Hezbollah in Lebanon – are already at war with Israel. It also marked the first time Israel's military has openly attacked Iran, which hasn't faced a sustained barrage of fire from a foreign enemy since its 1980s war with Iraq.

Israel's hourslong attack ended just before sunrise in Tehran, with the Israeli military saying it targeted “missile manufacturing facilities used to produce the missiles that Iran fired at the state of Israel over the last year.” It also said it hit surface-to-air missile sties and “additional Iranian aerial capabilities.”

Both Israel and Iran offered no initial damage assessment.

“The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking Israel since Oct. 7 … including direct attacks from Iranian soil,” Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a prerecorded video statement early Saturday. “Like every other sovereign country in the world, the state of Israel has the right and the duty to respond.”

Initially, nuclear facilities and oil installations all had been seen as possible targets for Israel’s response to Iran’s Oct. 1 attack, but in mid-October the Biden administration believed it had won assurances from Israel that it would not hit such targets, which would be a more severe escalation.

Iran’s state-run media acknowledged blasts that could be heard in Tehran and said some of the sounds came from air defense systems around the city.

But beyond a brief reference, Iranian state television offered no other details and even began showing what it described as live footage of men loading trucks at a vegetable market in Tehran in an apparent attempt to downplay the assault.

A Tehran resident told The Associated Press that at least seven explosions could be heard in the first wave of attacks, which rattled the surrounding area. The resident spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

As explosions sounded, people in Tehran could see what appeared to be tracer fire light up the sky. Other footage showed what appeared to be surface-to-air missiles being launched.

Iran closed the country’s airspace early Saturday, and flight-tracking data analyzed by AP showed commercial airlines had broadly left the skies over Iran, and across Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

The White House said President Joe Biden had been briefed and would continue to receive updates.

In Syria, the state news agency SANA, citing an unnamed military official, reported missile fire targeting military sites in the country’s central and southern region. It said that Syria’s air defenses had shot some of the missiles down. There was no immediate information on casualties.

Iran fired a wave of missiles and drones at Israel last April after two Iranian generals were killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike in Syria on an Iranian diplomatic post. The missiles and drones caused minimum damage, and Israel — under pressure from Western countries to show restraint — responded with a limited strike it didn't openly claim.

But after Iran’s early October missile strike, Israel promised a tougher response. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately said Iran had “made a big mistake.”

A forceful Israeli strike on Iran risks further entangling the U.S., which maintains a large troop presence in the Persian Gulf and has helped Israel defend itself against attacks by Iran and its proxies.

Iran launched at least 180 missiles into Israel on the evening of Oct. 1, sending Israelis scrambling into bomb shelters but causing only minimal damage and a few injuries. Iran said the barrage was retaliation for attacks in recent months that killed leaders of Hezbollah, Hamas and the Iranian military.

Before Iran’s October attack, Israel had landed a series of devastating blows against Hezbollah, which has been firing rockets into Israel near-daily for over a year — ever since the deadly Hamas attack against Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.

Dozens were killed and thousands wounded in September when pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah exploded in two days of attacks attributed to Israel. A massive Israel airstrike the following week outside Beirut killed Hezbollah’s longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of his top commanders.

Israel then ratcheted up the pressure on Hezbollah by launching a ground invasion into southern Lebanon. More than a million Lebanese people have been displaced, and the death toll has risen sharply as airstrikes continue to hit in and around Beirut.

Israel has said it will continue to strike Hezbollah until it is safe for Israeli citizens displaced from their homes near the Lebanon border to return. Hezbollah has vowed to keep firing rockets into Israel until there is a cease-fire in Gaza.

When Hamas and other militants attacked Israel last Oct. 7, they killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took some 250 hostages into Gaza. In response, Israel launched a devastating air and ground offensive against Hamas, and Netanyahu has vowed to keep it up until all of the hostages are freed. Some 100 remain and roughly a third are believed to be dead.

More than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to local health officials who don’t delineate between civilians and combatants but say more than half of the dead are women and children.

Israel's strikes on Iran Saturday happened just as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was arriving back in the U.S. after a tour of the Middle East where he and other U.S. officials had warned Israel to respond in a way that would not further escalate the conflict in the region.

Two U.S. officials said the U.S. was notified by Israel in advance of the strikes. They said there was no U.S. involvement in the operation. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing operation.

Israel and Iran have been bitter foes since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Israel considers Iran to be its greatest threat, citing its leaders’ calls for Israel’s destruction, their support for anti-Israel militant groups and the country’s nuclear program.

Israel and Iran have been locked in a yearslong shadow war. A suspected Israeli assassination campaign has killed top Iranian nuclear scientists. Iranian nuclear installations have been hacked or sabotaged, all in mysterious attacks blamed on Israel.

Meanwhile, Iran has been blamed for a series of attacks on shipping in the Middle East in recent years, which later grew into the attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on shipping through the Red Sea corridor.

Since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, the shadow war has increasingly moved into the light.

Associated Press writers Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran; Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel; Abby Sewell in Beirut; and Lolita C. Baldor, Farnoush Amiri and Zeke Miller in Washington, contributed to this report.

A view of Tehran capital of Iran is seen, early Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A view of Tehran capital of Iran is seen, early Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A view of Tehran capital of Iran is seen, early Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A view of Tehran capital of Iran is seen, early Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

In this image taken from video released by the Israel Defense Forces early Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari announces that the IDF is conducting strikes on military targets in Iran. (Israel Defense Forces via AP)

Palestinians sift through the rubble of a building destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)

Palestinians check a body bag of a relative killed in Israeli airstrikes, in a morgue in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)

Family members unzips a body bag of children killed by by Israeli airstrikes in the morgue in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)

EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - A Palestinian kisses a relative killed in Israeli airstrikes, in a morgue in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)

Palestinians check a building destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)

Palestinians sift through the rubble of a building destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)

EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - A Palestinian kisses a relative killed in Israeli airstrikes, in a morgue in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)

People observe a mosque destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in the city of Khan Younis, sothern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi meets with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in London, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (Nathan Howard/Pool photo via AP)

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in London Britain, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (Nathan Howard/Pool photo via AP)

A journalist carries the flack jacket, at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

People observe the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

A Druze man walks by the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

A flack jacket and other items left inside a destroyed car, at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

An injured cameraman flashes victory sign as he moved by the Lebanese Red Cross to a hospital after he injured at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

An injured cameraman is moved by the Lebanese Red Cross to a hospital, at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

A destroyed journalists car is seen at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

People observe the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

A policeman checks a destroyed journalists' car, at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

A journalist observes the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Journalists' items on the ground next to a destroyed vehicle, at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Destroyed vehicles used by journalists at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

A destroyed journalists' car at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on Mansouri village, as it seen from the southern city of Tyre, south Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)