Dubai, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel unleashes Iranian airstrikes for the third day on Sunday, threatening even greater power as Iranian missiles avoid Israeli air defense and attack buildings in the country’s central location. Planned consultations regarding Iran’s nuclear program, which could provide an off-ramp, have been cancelled.
Israeli strikes have killed at least 406 people in Iran and injured another 654, according to human rights groups that have long tracked the Washington-based human rights activist. The Iranian government has not provided overall victim figures.
After Israel’s shocking bombing and Iran’s nuclear and military locations killed several top generals and nuclear scientists, the area was prepared for a prolonged conflict. Neither side showed any signs of back down.
Iran said Israel has attacked two oil refineries and increased the prospects of a broader attack on Iran’s heavily licensed energy industry that could have an impact on global markets. In a social media post, Israeli military warned Iranians to evacuate arms factories and show further expansion of the campaign.
Israel, an undeclared nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, said Iran launched an attack to prevent the development of nuclear weapons. Both countries have been enemies for decades.
The explosion shook the Iranian capital Tehran at about noon and disappeared beyond much of Israel at around 3:30pm and 4pm, warning Iran’s first daytime attack since the battle began.
Israel said 14 people have died there since Friday and 390 have been injured. Iran launched more than 270 missiles, 22 of which passed through the country’s sophisticated multi-layered air defense. Israel’s major international airports and outer space remained closed for the third day.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragci said if Israel is hit by Iran’s halt, “our response will also cease.” Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian criticized the United States for supporting Israel, saying that “the reaction will be more decisive and more serious” if Israel’s “hostile behaviour” continues.
President Donald Trump said the United States “has nothing to do with the attack,” and that Iran can avoid further destruction only by agreeing to a new nuclear deal.
A mosque as a bomb shelter
Photos shared by Iranian ISNA news agency showed bloody people being helped from the scene of an Israeli strike in downtown Tehran.
Israel targeted Iran’s Ministry of Defence early Sunday morning after crashing into air defense, military bases and sites related to the nuclear program. On Sunday night, Israel said it began to surprise dozens of surface-to-surface missile targets in western Iran.
Israel also claimed it was attacking an Iranian refueling aircraft in Mashhad, in the northeastern part of the country, calling it the furthest strike yet implemented by the military. Iran did not immediately admit the attack. Videos obtained and verified by the Associated Press showed smoke rising from the city.
Iran’s foreign minister said Israel targeted oil refineries near Tehran and another oil refinery in the Persian Gulf province. Iran’s semi-public news agency reports that Israel’s drone strike caused a “strong explosion” at the Iranian natural gas processing plant in the Southpurs natural gas field.
Human rights activists said the collapse of the victims so far showed that at least 197 civilians and 90 military members had been killed throughout Iran. At least 119 deaths could not be identified.
The group cross-checks local reports against networks of domestic sources where access to international media is more restricted than Israel.
Amid signs that Iran is hoping that Israel’s strike will continue, state television reported that metro stations and mosques will be available as bomb shelters starting Sunday night.
The death toll rises in Israel
In Israel, at least six people were killed, including a 10- and 9-year-old boys, when missiles struck a Batyam apartment near Tel Aviv. Local police commander Daniel Haddad said 180 people were injured and seven were missing.
Four more people, including the 13-year-old, were killed, and 24 were injured when missiles struck a building in the Arab town of Tamura in northern Israel. 42 strikes in the central city of Rehobot.
The Weizmann Institute, a key center for military and other research at Rehovot, reported “many hits on campus buildings.” He said no one could hurt him.
The oil refinery is operated as damaged in Haifa, a city in Haifa in northern Israel.
Netanyahu says a change of government could lead to Iran
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared an urgent call from world leaders.
In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, he said the change in Iranian regime “can certainly be a consequence” of the conflict, and announced that Israel had killed the Intelligence Chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. He also argued that Israeli Intelligence Agency showed Iran intended to grant nuclear weapons to Iranian-backed Hooti rebels in Yemen, without giving evidence.
Iran has always rated its nuclear programme as peaceful, and that the US and others have not pursued weapons since 2003. However, Iran has in recent years enriched a larger stockpile of uranium close to weapons-grade levels, and is believed to have the ability to develop multiple weapons within months if it chooses to do so.
The United Nations Atomic Watchdog issued a rare Iranian denunciation last week.
The region is already on the edge as Israel is trying to annihilate Hamas, an Iranian ally in the Gaza Strip.
Iran calls nuclear lectures “unjust impossible”
Iran’s foreign minister on Saturday called the nuclear talks “unjust” after Israel’s strike.
A senior US official who has been discussing the delicate nuclear talk on condition of anonymity said Washington wanted them to continue committing to them and Iranians to return to the table.
In a social media post, Trump warned Iran that retaliation directed against it would lead to an American response “at a level that he has never seen before.”
“But it is easy to make a deal between Iran and Israel and end this bloody conflict!!” he wrote.
“More than a few weeks” to repair nuclear facilities
In Iran, satellite photos analyzed by the Associated Press show significant damage at Iran’s major nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz. Images taken by Planet Labs PBC on Saturday show multiple buildings damaged or destroyed. The hit structures include buildings identified by experts as powering the facility.
UN Nuclear Chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that the ground division of the Natantz facility has been destroyed. The main underground centrifugal facilities did not appear to have been hit, but the loss of electricity could have damaged the infrastructure there, he said.
Israel also attacked Isfahan’s nuclear research facility. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations nuclear watchdog, said four “significant buildings” that included the uranium conversion facility in Isfahan have been damaged. The IAEA said there are no signs of increased radiation in Natanz or Isfahan.
An Israeli military official on Sunday spoke on condition of anonymity in line with official procedures, saying it would take “months, perhaps more” to restore the two sites.
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Meltzer reported from Naharia, Israel, and from Goldenberg from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press authors Nasser Karimi and Amir Vardat are Tehran, Iran. Sam Mednick and Melanie Ridman of Julia Frankel of Tel Aviv, Israel and Jerusalem contributed to this report.
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