Nils Adler, Ali Harb and Tim Hume
Israel
warns ‘Tehran will burn’ after deadly missile barrage by Iran
Rescue personnel evacuate a wounded woman after an Iranian missile attack in Ramat Gan, Israel [Itai Ron/Reuters]
Iran and Israel trade missiles and air
strikes as the conflict that’s killed dozens escalates with no end in sight.
At least 80 people – including 20 children
– have been killed in Iran and four in Israel, with hundreds wounded on both
sides in the ongoing tit-for-tat attacks.
US President Donald Trump has lauded
Israel’s premeditated assault and warned of much worse to come unless Iran
quickly accepts the sharp downgrading of its nuclear programme.
Continuing Iran-US nuclear talks is
unjustifiable while “barbarous” Israeli attacks persist on the country, Iranian
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says.
The Israeli military says its air strikes
on Iran killed more than 20 Iranian army and Revolutionary Guards commanders.
Iran
and Israel exchange missiles and air strikes, a day after Israel launched a
sweeping air offensive, killing top generals and scientists.
Explosions and air raid sirens
are being heard again in Iran and Israel as the two nations continue to
exchange missiles and drones, a day after the Israeli military killed top
Iranian generals and nuclear scientists in the worst such escalation in decades.
Iran’s retaliatory strikes have
killed at least four people and wounded more than 200 others in Israel since
Friday, as a barrage of dozens of Iranian missiles lit up the skies over
Jerusalem and Tel Aviv overnight.
On the Iranian side, at least 80
people, including women and children, have been killed and more than 320 others
injured, as the Israeli army targeted residential areas in capital Tehran,
military sites and nuclear facilities, killing at least nine nuclear scientists
so far.
Accusing Israel of initiating a
war, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said it “must expect severe
punishment” for killing several top-level military commanders and scientists.
In a message on state TV, he said
Israel “should not think that it is over because they attacked and it is
finished”.
“No. They started this and
initiated the war. We won’t allow them to escape unscathed from this great
crime they have committed,” Khamenei said.
Following decades of enmity and
conflict by proxy, it is the first time that Israel and Iran have traded fire
with such intensity, with fears of a prolonged conflict engulfing the region.
‘Tehran will burn’
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel
Katz warned on Saturday that “Tehran will burn” and its residents will pay
dearly if Iran continues its missile strikes against Israeli civilians.
“The Iranian dictator is turning
the citizens of Iran into hostages and bringing about a reality in which they –
especially the residents of Tehran – will pay a heavy price because of the
criminal harm to Israeli civilians,” said Katz.
“If Khamenei continues to fire
missiles towards the Israeli home front, Tehran will burn,” the minister added.
On Saturday, two projectiles hit
Tehran’s Mehrabad airport which hosts an air force base with fighter jets and
transport aircraft, and is located close to key Iranian government buildings.
“The attacks caused explosions at
the airport but did not affect any runways, buildings or facilities,” Iran’s
state-run news agency IRNA said.
The Israeli military also
continued to launch strikes on nuclear facilities in Iran.
“There has been limited damage to
some areas at the Fordow enrichment site,” ISNA news agency reported Atomic
Energy Organization of Iran spokesperson Behrouz Kamalvandi as saying on
Saturday.
“We had already moved a
significant part of the equipment and materials out, and there was no extensive
damage and there are no contamination concerns.”
Israel’s Iron Dome penetrated
Meanwhile, several Iranian
missiles penetrated Israel’s Iron Dome defence system and struck central Tel
Aviv, Rishon LeZion and Ramat Gan areas.
Air raid sirens blared in Tel
Aviv and Jerusalem, sending residents rushing into shelters. An Israeli
official said Iran had fired about 200 ballistic missiles in four waves.
A high-rise building was hit
overnight in a densely populated area of central Tel Aviv. At least nine
buildings were also destroyed in Ramat Gan, according to Israel’s Haaretz
newspaper.
Mike Huckabee, the United States
ambassador to Israel, said he had to go to shelters five times overnight amid
Iran’s missile barrage. “It’s now Shabbat here. Should be quiet. Probably won’t
be. Entire nation under orders to stay near shelter,” he posted on X.
The Israeli army on Saturday said
seven of its soldiers were wounded in a ballistic missile attack on central
Israel. They were taken to hospitals and have since been released, according to
a military statement.
This is the first confirmation of
Israeli military casualties since the escalation of hostilities between Iran
and Israel began two days ago.
Meanwhile, Palestinian news
agency Wafa reported that five people in the occupied West Bank were also
injured as rocket shrapnel fell near the town of Sa’ir near Hebron. The five
injured included three children, aged six, seven and 12.
Wafa earlier reported that Israel
had imposed widespread closures across the occupied West Bank amid the
escalating conflict with Iran. Israeli forces have shut down roads, set up
checkpoints and prevented freedom of movement for the Palestinians.
Iran warns Israel’s allies
Iran has also warned Israel’s
allies – the United States, the United Kingdom and France – that their bases
and ships in the region will be targeted if they help defend Israel.
“Any country that participates in
repelling Iranian attacks on Israel will be subject to the targeting of all
regional bases of the complicit government, including military bases in the
Persian Gulf countries and ships and naval vessels in the Persian Gulf and the
Red Sea by Iranian forces,” a government statement said, according to Iran’s
semiofficial Mehr news agency.
Iran has already accused the US
of being complicit in the attacks and said it shared full responsibility for
the consequences.
Shahram Akbarzadeh, professor of
Middle East politics at Deakin University in Australia, said both Israel and
Iran appear to be “settling in for the long haul” and more attacks could be
expected. He said the US would also be dragged into the conflict.
“When Israel launches attacks on
Iran, Iran has to respond, and I think Israel is actually banking on this
dynamic – that once the conflict starts, the United States has an obligation
and a commitment to Israeli security,” Akbarzadeh told Al Jazeera.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu urged people in Iran to stand up to the “evil and
oppressive” regime under Khamenei and seek “freedom”.
Reporting from Tehran, Al
Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi said according to the people in Iran, Netanyahu’s message
was unwelcome.
“We have to remember that Iranian
people are living under the shadow of war, which is now getting translated into
a real war. They are also under the pressure of sanctions,” he said.
“People are angry, specifically
at the fact that it’s not just military officials and nuclear scientists but
very ordinary citizens who were affected by the recent strikes.”
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