KEY POINTS
- Iranian missile attacks killed at least 10 people overnight in Israel
- Israel struck over 80 sites across Iran
- Trump warned Iran against attacking US interests, while denying American involvement in Israel’s offensive
- Iran claimed Israel crossed a “red line” by targeting nuclear facilities
- Iran cancelled planned nuclear talks with the US
TEHRAN, Iran: Israel and Iran continued strikes against each other on Sunday in the most intense direct confrontation between the two rivals.
Israel targeted multiple sites across Iran, including a defence ministry facility in Isfahan and fuel depots near Tehran, while Iran responded with missile and drone attacks on various sites across Israel.
According to Israeli authorities, Iranian missiles killed at least 10 people overnight, pushing the death toll up to 13 since Iran began its retaliatory strikes on Friday.
In Tehran, a heavy cloud of smoke hung above the city after Israeli aircraft hit two fuel depots.
Iranian media later said Israel attacked a facility affiliated with the defence ministry in the central city of Isfahan, reporting “possible damage”.
The Israeli military said its air force had targeted “more than 80” positions in Iran’s capital overnight.
Trump warns Iran
Following the strikes, US President Donald Trump said Washington “had nothing to do” with ally Israel’s intense bombardment campaign that was launched early Friday, hitting military and nuclear sites as well as residential areas.
But Trump also threatened to launch “the full strength and might” of the US military if Iran attacks American interests, saying on his Truth Social platform that “we can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict!!!”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday claimed that Tehran had “solid proof” that US forces had supported Israel in its attacks.
Israeli police said six people were killed and at least 180 injured at the site of an overnight missile strike in Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv on Israel’s Mediterranean coast.
First responders wearing helmets and headlamps picked through the bombed-out building as dawn broke, with police saying at least seven people were missing.
“There was an explosion and I thought the whole house had collapsed,” said Bat Yam resident Shahar Ben Zion.
In northern Israel, rescuers and medics said a strike late Saturday destroyed a three-storey building in the town of Tamra, killing four women.
Israeli authorities have reported a total toll of 13 dead and 380 injured in the country since Friday.
Iran’s UN ambassador said 78 people were killed and 320 wounded in Friday’s first wave of Israeli strikes.
Iranian authorities have not provided an updated toll as of Sunday, but Tehran said Israel has killed several top military commanders and nuclear scientists.
Iran says Israel crosses red line
After decades of enmity, it is the first time Iran and Israel have traded fire with such intensity, triggering fears of a prolonged conflict that could engulf the entire Middle East.
On Sunday, explosions were heard northeast of Tehran, the Reuters news agency reported, citing the Iranian state-run Nour News. It added the cause of the explosions were not immediately clear.
The head of Tehran’s traffic police Ahmad Karami told IRNA news agency “heavy traffic was reported at the capital’s exit points”.
Israel said its forces had struck the defence ministry headquarters in Tehran, where Iranian news agency Tasnim reported damage.
The Israeli military also said it had struck nuclear sites, including the secretive Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), fuel tankers and other targets.
The Iranian oil ministry said Israel targeted two fuel depots in the Tehran area.
Iranian media later said that police had arrested two suspects over alleged links to Israel’s Mossad spy agency.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to hit “every target of the ayatollah regime”, while Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned of “a more severe and powerful response”.
On Sunday, the Israeli military warned Iranians to evacuate areas near weapons facilities nationwide.
“The Zionist regime crossed a new red line in international law” by “attacking nuclear facilities”, Araghchi told foreign diplomats, according to state TV.
“If the aggression stops, naturally our responses will also stop,” he added.
Iran warns of fierce retaliation
Araghchi also condemned on Sunday Israel’s attack a day earlier on a major gas facility operating at South Pars, the world’s largest known gas reserve located off of Iran’s southern Bushehr province.
The attacks persisted despite global calls for de-escalation, with Iran scrapping scheduled nuclear talks with the US, saying it was “meaningless” to negotiate while under fire from Israel.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Sunday they had struck sites used by Israeli warplanes for refuelling, in retaliation for the earlier Israeli strikes.
The Guards in a statement vowed to respond “more fiercely and more broadly” if Israel keeps up its deadly campaign.
The Israeli military said it had intercepted seven drones launched at the country within an hour on Sunday.
