Israel warns attacks on Iran are 'nothing' compared with what is coming, as conflict deepens
Israel pounded Iran for a second day on Saturday and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said its campaign would intensify, while Tehran called off nuclear talks that Washington had held out as the only way to halt the bombing. A day after Israel wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command with a surprise attack, it appeared to have hit Iran's oil and gas industry for the first time, with Iranian state media reporting a blaze at a gas field. Netanyahu said Israel's strikes had set back Iran's nuclear programme possibly by years and rejected international calls for restraint. "We will hit every site and every target of the Ayatollahs' regime, and what they have felt so far is nothing compared with what they will be handed in the coming days," he said in a video message.
In Tehran, Iranian authorities said around 60 people, including 29 children, were killed in an attack on a housing complex, with more strikes reported across the country. Israel said it had attacked more than 150 targets. Iran had launched its own retaliatory missile volley on Saturday morning, killing at least three people in Israel. Air raid sirens sent Israelis into shelters as missiles and interceptors streaked across the sky. Early on Sunday, Israel's military said more missiles were launched from Iran towards Israel, and that it was also attacking military targets in Tehran. Iranian state television reported that Iran had launched missiles and drones at Israel. Several projectiles were visible in the sky over Jerusalem early on Sunday morning. Air raid sirens, which warn of a potential missile or drone attack, did not sound in the city but were heard in the northern Israeli city of Haifa. There were no immediate reports of casualties in Israel.
US President Donald Trump has lauded Israel's strikes and warned Iran of much worse to come. He said it was not too late to halt the Israeli campaign, but only if Tehran accepted a sharp downgrading of its nuclear programme at talks with Washington which had been scheduled for Sunday. Host Oman confirmed on Saturday that the next round of talks had been scrapped. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said holding talks was unjustifiable while Israel's "barbarous" attacks were ongoing. In the first apparent attack to hit Iran's energy infrastructure, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said Iran partially suspended production at the world's biggest gas field after an Israeli strike caused a fire there on Saturday. The South Pars field, offshore in Iran's southern Bushehr province, is the source of most of the gas produced in Iran. Fears about potential disruption to the region's oil exports had already driven up oil prices 9 per cent on Friday even though Israel spared Iran's oil and gas on the first day of its attacks. An Iranian general, Esmail Kosari, said Tehran was reviewing whether to close the Strait of Hormuz controlling access to the Gulf for tankers.
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Trump for 50 minutes on Saturday, focusing on hostilities between Israel and Iran and calling for efforts to bring them to an end. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Putin condemned the Israeli military operation against Iran and expressed concern about the risks of escalation. Trump, in his account on Truth Social, said most of the discussion centred on the Middle East, but that he also told Putin that Russia's war in Ukraine should end. "Vladimir Putin condemned Israel's military operation against Iran and expressed serious concern about a possible escalation of the conflict, which would have unpredictable consequences for the entire situation in the Middle East," Ushakov told reporters. Ushakov said Trump described events in the Middle East as "very alarming". But the two leaders said they do not rule out a return to the negotiating track on Iran's nuclear programme, Ushakov said. Israel sees Iran's nuclear programme as a threat to its existence, and said the bombardment was designed to avert the last steps to production of a nuclear weapon. Tehran insists the programme is entirely civilian and that it does not seek an atomic bomb. However the UN nuclear watchdog reported it this week as violating obligations under the global non-proliferation treaty.
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Israeli rescue teams combed through the rubble of residential buildings destroyed in overnight strikes using flashlights and sniffer dogs to look for survivors after at least seven people were killed, including children, authorities said. Tehran has called off nuclear talks that Washington had said were the only way to halt Israel's bombing, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacks by Israel so far were nothing compared with what Iran would see in the coming days. "If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the US Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before," Trump said in a message on Truth Social. "However, we can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict." Trump gave no details of any possible deal. 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Iran has said 78 people were killed there on the first day of Israel's campaign on Friday, and scores more on the second, including 60 when a missile brought down a 14-storey apartment block in Tehran, where 29 of the dead were children. The Shahran oil depot in Tehran was targeted in an Israeli attack, Iran said, but added the situation was under control. A fire had erupted after an Israeli attack on an oil refinery near the capital, while Israeli strikes also targeted Iran's defence ministry building, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said on Sunday. The latest wave of Iranian attacks on Israel began late on Saturday night, sending about a million people into bomb shelters in Jerusalem and Haifa. The Israeli military warned of another incoming missile barrage in the early hours of Sunday, urging residents to seek shelter. Explosions echoed through Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as missiles streaked across the skies, with interceptor rockets launched in response. 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Israel says its operation could last weeks, sparking fears of a regional conflagration dragging in outside powers. Tehran has warned Israel's allies their military bases in the region will come under fire if they help shoot down Iranian missiles. However, 20 months of war in Gaza and a conflict in Lebanon in 2024 have decimated Tehran's strongest regional proxies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel says its bombardment was designed to avert Iran's last steps to the production of a nuclear weapon. Tehran insists the program is entirely civilian and that it does not seek an atomic bomb.
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