Israel claimed to operate almost freely in the skies over Iran during a third day of airstrikes on Sunday and killed more high-ranking security figures, while some Iranian missiles slipped through Israel’s air defences. Both sides threatened to launch more attacks.
In an indication of how far Israel was prepared to go amid fears of all-out war, a US official told The Associated Press that US President Donald Trump in recent days vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Iranian Health Ministry said that 224 people have been killed since Israel’s attack began on Friday. Spokesman Hossein Kermanpour said on social media that 1,277 other people were admitted to hospital. He asserted that more than 90% of the casualties were civilians.
The paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which controls Iran’s arsenal of ballistic missiles, said intelligence chief General Mohammad Kazemi and two other generals were the latest killed, Iran’s state TV reported. Israel’s attacks have killed several top generals and nuclear scientists.
Iran said Israel struck two oil refineries, raising the prospect of a broader assault on Iran’s heavily sanctioned energy industry that could affect global markets.
The Israeli military, in a social media post, warned Iranians to evacuate arms factories, signalling what could be a further widening of the campaign.
At around noon local time, explosions were heard again in the Iranian capital Tehran.
US President Donald Trump has expressed full support for Israel’s actions while warning Iran that it can only avoid further destruction by agreeing to a new nuclear deal.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that if the Israeli strikes on Iran stop, then “our responses will also stop”.
He said the United States “is a partner in these attacks and must take responsibility”.
New explosions echoed across Tehran and were reported elsewhere in the country early on Sunday, but there was no update to a death toll put out the day before by Iran’s UN ambassador, who said 78 people had been killed and more than 320 wounded.
In Israel, at least 10 people were killed in Iranian strikes overnight and into Sunday, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service, bringing the country’s total death toll to 13.
The country’s main international airport and airspace remained closed for a third day.
Israeli strikes targeted Iran’s Defence Ministry early on Sunday after hitting air defences, military bases and sites associated with its nuclear programme.
The killing of several top generals and nuclear scientists in targeted strikes indicated that Israeli intelligence has penetrated Iran at the highest levels.
In a sign that Iran expects the Israeli strikes to continue, state television reported that metro stations and mosques would be made available as bomb shelters for the public beginning on Sunday night.
In Israel, at least six people, including a 10-year-old and a nine-year-old, were killed when a missile hit an apartment building in Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv.
Daniel Hadad, a local police commander, said 180 people were wounded and seven are still missing.
An Associated Press (AP) reporter saw streets lined with damaged and destroyed buildings, bombed out cars and shards of glass.
Responders used a drone at points to look for survivors.
Some people could be seen leaving the area with suitcases.
Another four people, including a 13-year-old, were killed and 24 wounded when a missile struck a building in the Arab town of Tamra in northern Israel.
A strike on the central city of Rehovot wounded 42.
The Weizmann Institute of Science, an important centre for research in Rehovot, said “there were a number of hits to buildings on the campus”.
It said no-one was harmed.
Israel has sophisticated multi-tiered air defences that are able to detect and intercept missiles fired at populated areas or key infrastructure, but officials acknowledge it is imperfect.
World leaders made urgent calls to de-escalate.
The attack on nuclear sites sets a “dangerous precedent”, China’s foreign minister said.
The region is already on edge as Israel seeks to annihilate Hamas, an Iranian ally, in the Gaza Strip, where the war is still raging after Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brushed off such calls, saying Israel’s strikes so far are “nothing compared to what they will feel under the sway of our forces in the coming days”.
Israel, the sole though undeclared nuclear-armed state in the Middle East – said it launched the attack to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
The two countries have been regional adversaries for decades.
Iran has always said its nuclear programme was peaceful, and the US and others have assessed it has not pursued a weapon since 2003.
But it has enriched ever larger stockpiles of uranium to near weapons-grade levels in recent years and was believed to have been able to develop multiple weapons within months if it chose to do so.
The UN’s atomic watchdog censured Iran last week for not complying with its obligations.
Mr Araghchi said Israel had targeted an oil refinery near Tehran and another in the country’s Bushehr province on the Persian Gulf.
He said Iran had also targeted “economic” sites in Israel, without elaborating.
Mr Araghchi was speaking to diplomats in his first public appearance since the initial Israeli strikes.
Semi-official Iranian news agencies reported that an Israeli drone strike had caused a “strong explosion” at an Iranian natural-gas processing plant.
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.
An oil refinery was also damaged in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, according to the firm operating it.
Bazan Group said pipelines and transmission lines between facilities were damaged, forcing some downstream facilities to be shut down.
It said no-one was wounded.
The Arab Gulf country of Oman, which has been mediating indirect talks between the US and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear programme, said a sixth round planned for Sunday would not take place.
“We remain committed to talks and hope the Iranians will come to the table soon,” a senior US official said.
Mr Araghchi said on Saturday that the nuclear talks were “unjustifiable” after Israel’s strikes, which he said were the “result of the direct support by Washington”.
In a post on his Truth Social account early on Sunday, Mr Trump reiterated that the US was not involved in the attacks on Iran and warned that any retaliation directed against it would bring an American response “at levels never seen before”.
“However, we can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict!!!” he wrote.
