Israeli officials say two people were injured after Iran fired a missile barrage towards the country. Tehran says the attack was retaliation for Israel killing the leaders of Islamic groups supported by Iran.

The Israeli military said Tuesday that over 180 missiles were fired. They say most were shot down. Others landed in the central and southern regions of the country.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement they were targeting military and security sites. They claimed it was retaliation after Israeli attacks killed the leaders of Iran-backed groups.

Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed last week in Lebanon. And the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was also killed in Tehran in July.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that their vengeance failed. He said: "Iran made a big mistake tonight. And it will pay for it. The regime does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies."

Washington says US naval destroyers helped by intercepting missiles. President Joe Biden said, "At my direction, the United States military actively supported the defense of Israel, and we're still assessing the impact, but based on what we know now, the attack appears to have been defeated and ineffective."

Meanwhile, Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, posted about the barrage on social media.

He said he spoke with the foreign ministers of Britain, Germany and France by phone. He told them the operation was over. But he said Iran's response will be "more severe" if Israel -- which he called "the Zionist regime" -- tries to retaliate.

This is not the first time Iran and Israel have exchanged missile fire. Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel in April. It said it was a response to an attack on the Iranian embassy in Syria.

All this comes as Israeli forces continue what they call a "limited" ground operation inside Lebanon.

They say the goal is to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure. Israel says rockets have been used to attack its citizens who live near the border.

There is increasing concern the violence could spill over into a wider conflict across the Middle East.