Iran has launched retaliatory missile strikes on Israel into Saturday morning after a series of blistering Israeli attacks on the heart of Iran’s nuclear program and its armed forces, killing at least three people and wounding dozens.

Iran launched three retaliatory waves of missiles at targets in Israel on June 13, as Israelis rode out the attacks in bomb shelters and world leaders discussed the deepening conflict. Plumes of smoke rose over central Tel Aviv and at least one building was hit and set ablaze.

Interviews with half a dozen senior Iranian officials show that they were not expecting Israel to strike before another round of talks.

Israel’s sweeping attack across Iran struck at the heart of Tehran’s nuclear program, delivering a blow to the country’s ability to enrich uranium and potentially setting its nuclear ambitions back by months or years.

In remarks before the UN Security Council, Iranian Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani claimed that 78 people had been killed in Israeli attacks across Iran -- using the term "martyred" -- and that another 320 had been injured.

The State Department told regional allies about Israel's plan to strike Iran, and indicated it wasn't a U.S. operation, four sources told CBS News.

Before Israel launched a wave of strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities and top military leaders this week, its spies were already on the ground in enemy territory.

Israel’s decision to attack Iran’s nuclear program on June 12 might go down in history as the start of a significant regional war, and the inflection point that led Iran to finally acquire nuclear weapons.

The Israeli military targeted Iranian nuclear facilities, research scientists and senior military commanders in dozens of preemptive airstrikes​.

Israel badly damaged one of Iran’s key nuclear sites and killed a startling array of top military and nuclear officials in the attacks that started on Friday morning. But when the sun rose after that devastating assault, it was also clear how much of Iran’s nuclear program remained, at least for now.

Mossad released footage that it said showed two agents on Iranian soil who deployed precision attack systems "designed to destroy Iranian air defense systems."

President Trump joked that Iranian officials killed in Israel's airstrike clearly did not die of an illness, warning that Iran should have heeded his warning.