A senior Western defence source said Israeli warplanes have been refuelling over Syria - a bastion of Iranian influence until Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December. Israel is now operating over Syria with "near-total freedom", the source said.

Israel stunned Iran last week with an intelligence and military operation years in the making that struck high-level targets with precision.

When Israel launched its series of strikes against Iran last week, it also issued a number of dire warnings about the country’s nuclear program, suggesting Iran was fast approaching a point of no return in its quest to obtain nuclear weapons and that the strikes were necessary to preempt that outcome.

VIENNA (Reuters) -An Israeli military strike on Iran's nuclear complex at Natanz directly hit the underground uranium enrichment plant there, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Tuesday, revising its assessment after initially reporting it had been hit only indirectly.

Israeli officials have been pushing the United States to join the fray and use its huge bunker-busting bomb to crush Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

Israel's command of Iranian air space leaves few obstacles in the way of its expanding bombardment, though it will struggle to deal a knock-out blow to deeply buried nuclear sites without the U.S. joining the attack,

Degrading Iran's nuclear and military capabilities is good for geopolitical stability, which would be good for markets, Eisman said.

We are doing what we need to do,” the Israeli leader told ABC News when asked if he plans on going after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.