Iran unleashed deadly barrages of missiles at Israel overnight Saturday into Sunday (local time), killing at least 10 people, including children, and wounding around 200, according to Israeli emergency services.
Air raid sirens and booms rang out in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv early Sunday as Israel’s military said millions of Israelis were “running for shelter as sirens sound” in dozens of cities and communities around the country.
The first wave of Israeli strikes on Iran killed 78 people and wounded 320, according to Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, but Iranian authorities had not provided an updated toll as of early Sunday.
Iran also struck sites used by Israeli warplanes for refuelling, the Revolutionary Guards said early Sunday.
Israel said it had also intercepted seven drones launched towards its territory, as it worked to head off attacks while carrying out further strikes on Iran.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels on Sunday said they had launched several missiles at Israel.
Israel expands targets
After targeting Iranian military and nuclear facilities, including killing top brass and scientists, Israel expanded targets to air defences and oil infrastructure.
Israeli strikes hit two fuel depots in Tehran, the Iranian oil ministry said Sunday, with AFP journalists reporting seeing fire at the oil depots in Shahran northwest of the Iranian capital.
On Saturday, Israel’s military said it was attacking dozens of missile launchers in Iran after announcing it had targeted air defences with a wave of strikes in the Tehran area.
Iranian news agency Tasnim reported early Sunday that an Israeli strike had also targeted the country’s defence ministry headquarters in Tehran and damaged one of its buildings. The defence ministry did not comment.
Faltering nuclear diplomacy
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that Israel had “crossed a new red line” by targeting Iran’s nuclear sites, after Tehran on Saturday had pledged to limit its cooperation with the UN’s nuclear watchdog, criticising it for its silence over Israeli strikes.
“It is entirely clear that the Israeli regime does not want any agreement on the nuclear issue. It does not want negotiations and does not seek diplomacy,” Araghchi told foreign diplomats, saying the attack launched on Friday was an “attempt to undermine diplomacy and derail negotiations”.
The fiercest exchange of fire between the arch foes came amid ongoing talks between Tehran and Washington seeking to reach a deal on Iran’s nuclear programme.
Before the Israeli strikes, the two sides had been set to hold a sixth round of negotiations in Oman on Sunday.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday that Tehran would not attend nuclear talks with the United States so long as Israel kept up its attacks on the Islamic republic.
Western governments have repeatedly accused Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon, which it denies.
International unease
Others states have urged restraint and warned against a larger conflict.
US President Donald Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed in a phone call on Saturday that the conflict between Iran and Israel “should end.”
But on Sunday morning, Trump issued a warning to Iran saying it would experience “the full strength” of the US military if it attacks the United States, reiterating that Washington “had nothing to do” with Israel’s strikes on Tehran’s nuclear and intelligence facilities.
Iraq - a close ally of Tehran, but also a strategic partner of Iran’s arch-foe the United States - has approached the Iranian and US governments in a bid to prevent being caught up in a regional escalation.
-Agence France-Presse
