Dubai: Israel unleashed airstrikes across Iran for a third day Sunday and threatened even greater force as some Iranian missiles evaded Israeli air defences to strike buildings in the heart of the country. Planned talks on Iran’s nuclear programme, which could provide an off-ramp, were called off.
The region braced for a protracted conflict after Israel’s surprise bombardment of Iran’s nuclear and military sites Friday killed several top generals and nuclear scientists, and neither side showed any sign of backing down. Israel reportedly targeted a gas installation, raising the prospect of a broader assault on Iran’s heavily sanctioned energy industry that could affect global markets.
US President Donald Trump has expressed full support for Israel’s actions while warning Iran that it can only avoid further destruction by agreeing to a new nuclear deal.
New explosions echoed across Tehran and were reported elsewhere in the country early Sunday, but there was no update to a death toll put out the day before by Iran’s UN ambassador, who said 78 people had been killed and more than 320 wounded.
In Israel, at least 10 people were killed in Iranian strikes overnight and into Sunday, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service, bringing the country’s total death toll to 13.
Israeli strikes targeted Iran’s Defence Ministry early Sunday after hitting air defences, military bases and sites associated with its nuclear programme. The killing of several top generals and nuclear scientists in targeted strikes indicated that Israeli intelligence has penetrated Iran at the highest levels.
Death toll mounts in Israel
In Israel, at least six people, including two children, were killed when a missile hit an apartment building in Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv. Daniel Hadad, a local police commander, said 180 people were wounded and seven are still missing.
An Associated Press reporter saw streets lined with damaged and destroyed buildings, bombed out cars and shards of glass. Responders used a drone at points to look for survivors. Some people could be seen leaving the area with suitcases.
Four people were killed when a missile struck a building in the northern Israeli town of Tamra and another 24 were wounded. A strike on the central city of Rehovot wounded 42 people.
The Weizmann Institute of Science, an important center for research in Rehovot, said “there were a number of hits to buildings on the campus.” It said no one was harmed.
Israel has a sophisticated multi-tiered missile defence system that is able to intercept most projectiles fired at it, but officials have always said it is imperfect.
Urgent calls to deescalate
World leaders made urgent calls to deescalate. The attack on nuclear sites set a “dangerous precedent,” China’s foreign minister said. The region is already on edge as Israel seeks to annihilate Hamas, an Iranian ally, in the Gaza Strip, where the war is still raging after Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023, attack.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brushed off such calls, saying Israel’s strikes so far are “nothing compared to what they will feel under the sway of our forces in the coming days.”
Israel, the sole though undeclared nuclear-armed state in the Middle East — said it launched the attack to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran has always said its nuclear programme was peaceful, and the U.S. and others have assessed it has not pursued a weapon since 2003. But it has enriched ever larger stockpiles of uranium to near weapons-grade levels in recent years and was believed to have been able to develop multiple weapons within months if it chose to do so.
The UN’s atomic watchdog censured Iran last week for not complying with its obligations.
Semiofficial Iranian news agencies meanwhile reported that an Israeli drone strike had caused a “strong explosion” at an Iranian natural-gas processing plant, in what could be the first Israeli attack on Iran’s oil and natural gas industry. Israel’s military did not immediately comment.
The extent of damage at the South Pars natural gas field was not immediately clear. Such sites have air defence systems around them, which Israel has been targeting.
Iran calls nuclear talks unjustifiable
The Arab Gulf country of Oman, which has been mediating indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear programme, said a sixth round planned for Sunday would not take place.
“We remain committed to talks and hope the Iranians will come to the table soon,” a senior US official said on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks.
Iran’s top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, said Saturday that the nuclear talks were “unjustifiable” after Israel’s strikes, which he said were the “result of the direct support by Washington.”
In a post on his Truth Social account early Sunday, Trump reiterated that the US was not involved in the attacks on Iran and warned that any retaliation directed against it would bring an American response “at levels never seen before.”
“However, we can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict!!!” he wrote.
More than few weeks to repair nuclear facilities
In Iran, satellite photos analysed by AP show extensive damage at Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz. The images shot Saturday by Planet Labs PBC show multiple buildings damaged or destroyed. The structures hit include buildings identified by experts as supplying power to the facility.
UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that the above-ground section of the Natanz facility was destroyed. The main centrifuge facility underground did not appear to have been hit, but the loss of power could have damaged infrastructure there, he said.
Israel also struck a nuclear research facility in Isfahan. The International Atomic Energy Agency said four “critical buildings” were damaged, including its uranium conversion facility. “As in Natanz, no increase in off-site radiation expected,” it added.
An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with official procedures, said that according to the army’s initial assessment, “it will take much more than a few weeks” for Iran to repair the damage to the Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites. The official said the army had “concrete intelligence that production in Isfahan was for military purposes.
AP
