The latest US-Iran talks on Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program will not take place, mediator Oman says, as Israel and Iran traded blows a day after Israel's blistering attack on Iranian nuclear and military sites.
Israel's ongoing “widespread strikes” in Tehran and elsewhere have left Iran’s surviving leadership with the difficult decision of whether to plunge deeper into conflict with Israel’s more powerful forces or seek a diplomatic route.
Oman’s foreign minister, Badr al-Busaidi, said the sixth round of indirect nuclear talks on Sunday “will not now take place," adding that “diplomacy and dialogue remain the only pathway to lasting peace”.
Although the talks are off for now, “we remain committed to talks and hope the Iranians will come to the table soon," said a senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomacy.
Sirens wail in Tel Aviv as Iron Dome intercepts Iranian missiles. – AP
Israel and Iran signalled more attacks are coming, despite urgent calls from world leaders to deescalate and avoid all-out war.
The attack on nuclear sites set a “dangerous precedent,” China's foreign minister said.
The region is already on edge as Israel makes a new push to eliminate the Iranian-backed militant group Hamas in Gaza after 20 months of fighting.
Israel – widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East – said its hundreds of strikes on Iran over the past two days killed a number of top generals, nine senior scientists and experts involved in Iran’s nuclear program. Iran’s UN ambassador has said 78 people were killed and more than 320 wounded.
Iran retaliated by launching waves of drones and ballistic missiles at Israel, where explosions lit the night skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and shook buildings. Israel said three people were killed and over 170 wounded.
Paramedics said an Iranian missile that hit near homes in central Israel killed two people and injured 19 others. - AP
"If (Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei continues to fire missiles at the Israeli home front – Tehran will burn,” Defence Minister Israel Katz said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has made the destruction of Iran’s nuclear program his top priority, said Israel's strikes so far are "nothing compared to what they will feel under the sway of our forces in the coming days”.
In what could be another escalation if confirmed, semiofficial Iranian news agencies reported an Israeli drone struck and caused a “strong explosion” at an Iranian natural-gas processing plant.
It would 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.
Israel says strikes on Iran were defence against surprise attack. – AP
Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, and US intelligence agencies have assessed that Tehran was not actively pursuing the bomb.
But its uranium enrichment has reached near weapons-grade levels, and the UN’s atomic watchdog censured Iran for not complying with obligations meant to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran’s top diplomat said the nuclear talks were “unjustifiable” after Israel's strikes. Abbas Araghchi's comments came during a call with Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat.
The Israeli airstrikes were the “result of the direct support by Washington,” Araghchi said in a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency. The US has said it isn’t part of the strikes.
US President Donald Trump urged Iran to reach a deal with the US on its nuclear program, adding that "Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left”.
Aerials show damage after Iran's retaliatory strikes against Israel. – AP
Iran launched waves of missiles at Israel and Iranians awoke to state television airing repeated clips of the strikes, as well as videos of people cheering and handing out sweets.
The Iranian attacks killed at least three people and wounded 174, two of them seriously, Israel said.
The military said seven soldiers were lightly wounded when a missile hit central Israel, without specifying where – the first report of Israeli military casualties since the initial Israeli strikes.
Residents in central Israel describe moments of Iran's retaliatory missile strikes. – AP
US ground-based air defence systems in the region were helping to shoot down Iranian missiles, said a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the measures.
In Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv, there were burned-out cars and at least three damaged houses, including one whose front was nearly entirely torn away.
Residents of a central Israeli city Rishon Lezion, said the explosion was so powerful it shook their shelter door open. “We thought, that’s it, the house is gone, and in fact half of the house was gone,” said Moshe Shani.
Israel’s main international airport said it will remain closed until further notice.
Plumes of smoke, fire seen at Tehran's Mehrabad international airport. - Reuters
Israel's army spokesman, Brigadier General Effie Defrin, said Israel had attacked more than 400 targets across Iran, including 40 in Tehran, where dozens of fighter jets were “operating freely”.
He said it was the deepest point Israel's air force had operated.
Defrin said fighter jets struck over 40 “missile-related targets and advanced air defence array systems” across Iran.
A governor of Eastern Azerbaijan province in northwestern Iran said 30 troops and a rescuer had been killed there, with 55 others wounded. Governor Bahram Sarmast's remarks were the latest acknowledgment of mass casualties.
Iranian state television reported online that air defences were firing in the cities of Khorramabad, Kermanshah and Tabriz. Footage from Tabriz showed black smoke rising.
Israeli military says operation in Iran "is still in the beginning". – AP
The sound of explosions and Iranian air defence systems firing at targets echoed across central Tehran.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported a fire at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport.
Israel attacked Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz. Satellite photos show extensive damage there.
The images 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.
Buildings damaged in Tehran after Israeli strikes. – Reuters
Israel said it also struck a nuclear research facility in Isfahan, including “infrastructure for enriched uranium conversion,” and said it destroyed dozens of radar installations and surface-to-air missile launchers in western Iran. Iran confirmed the strike at Isfahan.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said four “critical buildings” at the Isfahan site 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”.
Hundreds gather in Iranian capital to protest Israeli strikes. – AP
Israel denied it had struck the nuclear enrichment facility in Fordo, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) southeast of Tehran, after an Iranian news outlet close to the government reported the sound of explosions nearby.
Netanyahu said the attack had been months in the making and was planned for April before being postponed.
Among those killed were three of Iran’s top military leaders: one who oversaw the entire armed forces, General Mohammad Bagheri; one who led the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, General Hossein Salami; and the head of the Guard’s aerospace division, which oversees its arsenal of ballistic missile program, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
Two of Bagheri’s deputies were also killed, Iran confirmed. Khamenei named a new leader for the Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace division: General Majid Mousavi.
UN Secretary-General condemns any military escalation in the Middle East, says spokesperson. – Reuters