Israel’s defense minister warned that if Iran continues to shoot at Israel after at least three people died, “Tehran will burn” after Israel’s nuclear program and its armed forces.
Israeli Katz said after meeting with the Army Chief of Staff that Iran would pay a huge price to hurt Israeli citizens.
“If (Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei continues to launch missiles at home in Israel, Tehran will burn,” he said.
Iran’s state television reported that the air defense system was opening fire in the cities of Horamabad, Kelmansa and Tabiris, indicating that it could be the beginning of a new Israeli attack.
Black smoke from the city rises from the city, according to a video released by the Iran State Television branch.
Officials said Israel’s attacking aircraft and drones were smuggled to the country in advance to attack critical facilities and kill senior generals and scientists.
Iran’s UN ambassador said 78 people were killed and more than 320 were injured in the attack.
Tehran retaliated by the wave of launching drones and ballistic missiles in Israel, where the explosion ignited the night sky of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and shocked the buildings below.
Israeli troops urge civilians to go to shelters in the 20-month war triggered by Hamas’s October 2023 attack.
Israel and Iran say their attacks will continue, which adds to the prospect of another protracted Middle East conflict.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that his goal is to eliminate any threat to Israel, but he also urged Iranians to compete with their leaders.
Israel’s strike has led to further negotiations between the United States and Iran on a nuclear deal, which will then meet in Oman on Sunday.
“The United States has done a job that makes negotiations meaningless,” said Esmail Baghaei, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry. He added that Israel passed the red line of all Tehran by committing “criminal acts”.
Rescuers work at the explosion site in Tehran (Iranian Red Crescent Society/AP)
However, he no longer said that the negotiations were cancelled. “It’s still unclear our decision on Sunday’s talks,” Mizan News Agency, run by the Iranian judiciary, quoted him as saying.
“We will not allow them to escape the enormous crimes they committed,” Mr. Khamenei said in a recording message on Friday.
Iran launched a missile wave from Israel from late Friday. The Iranians woke up on Saturday and aired to state television, playing recurring strike clips on Israel. Israeli troops said more drones were intercepted near the Dead Sea earlier Saturday.
A hospital in Tel Aviv injured seven people in the second Iranian barrage, but all were injured. Israel’s fire and rescue services said they were injured when the projectiles hit a building in the city. A spokesman for Bellinson Hospital said a woman was killed.
A few hours later, an Iranian missile attacked a house in the central Israeli city of Lesson, killing two people and injuring 19 people, according to Israeli caregiver David Adom. Israel’s Fire and Rescue Bureau said four homes were severely damaged.
Meanwhile, shortly after midnight on Saturday, explosions and Iranian air defense systems fired at the target.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported a fire at Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran. A video posted on X shows a column of smoke and flames rising, and what the media is talking about is the airport.
The Israeli military said it launched a one-night strike on dozens of targets, including “in the Tehran region.”
Israeli care workers service said 34 people were injured in the barrage in Tel Aviv area, with one woman injured after being trapped in the rubble.
Explosion scene of a residential compound in northern Tehran (Vahid Salemi/ap)
A U.S. ground air defense system in the region is helping to shoot down Iranian missiles, a U.S. official said.
The latest strike has raised concerns about a full-scale war between the two countries and has driven greater unrest in the region.
The country in the region condemns the Israeli attack, while global leaders call for immediate downgrade from both sides.
Israel has long threatened such strikes, which later the U.S. government tried to prevent, fear that it would cause wider conflicts throughout the Middle East and could ineffectively undermine Iran’s spread and strong nuclear program.
But the development triggered by Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attacks (plus the re-election of U.S. President Donald Trump) created conditions that would make Israel follow its threat. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the United States was notified before the attack.
On Thursday, the UN Atomic Observatory failed to comply with a condemnation aimed at preventing its nuclear weapons from developing.
Firefighting between Israel and Iran ruined travel across the Middle East, a major global air route, but state-run Petra News Agents said the country reopened its space to civilian planes on Saturday morning, indicating there was no direct danger.
The Natanz nuclear facility’s goal is (Maxar Technologies/AP)
The main site of the Israeli attack was Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz, where black smoke can be seen rising into the air. According to Iranian news media, it also appeared to have attacked Fordo’s second smaller nuclear-rich facility, which was reported near the nearby government.
Israel said it also attacked a nuclear research institute in Isfahan and destroyed dozens of radar devices and surface-to-air missile launchers in western Iran. Iran confirmed the strike in Isfahan.
UN nuclear director Rafael Grossi told the Council that the above-ground parts of the Natanz facility were destroyed. He said the main centrifugal facilities underground didn’t seem to have been hit, but losing power could damage the infrastructure there.
Mr Netanyahu said the attack had been ongoing for several months and was scheduled to be postponed in April.
Israel’s Mossad spy agency has positioned the blasted drones and precision weapons in advance and used to target Iranian air defense and missile launchers near Tehran, two security officials said.
Among those killed were five Iranian military leaders: General Mohamed Bagri, who oversaw the entire armed forces; General Hosen Salami, who led the paramilitary revolutionary guard; General Amir Ali Hajizad, head of the Guard Ballistic Missile Program; General Gholamreza Mehrabi, deputy intelligence representative of the General Staff of the Armed Forces; and General Mehdi Rabani, operational representative.
