‘Strike everywhere': Netanyahu threat as Iran calls for help

Perth Now

5 hours ago

For a fifth day, intense attacks have continued between Israel and Iran as conflict escalates amid failing nuclear negotiations, as Israel claims it is 'changing the face of the Middle East' and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu keeps the door open to eliminating Iran's Supreme Leader to 'end the conflict'.
Iran has called on US President Donald Trump to force Israel to cease fire as the only way to end the now five-day-old aerial war, while Mr Netanyahu says his country is on the 'path to victory'.
Israeli forces stepped up their bombardment of Iranian cities while Iran proved capable of piercing Israeli air defences with one of its most successful volleys yet of retaliatory missile strikes.
'If President Trump is genuine about diplomacy and interested in stopping this war, next steps are consequential,' Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on X.
'Israel must halt its aggression, and absent a total cessation of military aggression against us, our responses will continue. It takes one phone call from Washington to muzzle someone like Netanyahu. That may pave the way for a return to diplomacy.' Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi. Credit: AAP
Sources told Reuters that Iran had asked Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Oman to press Mr Trump to use his influence on Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire.
In return, Iran would show flexibility in nuclear negotiations, said the two Iranian and three regional sources.
Mr Netanyahu told Israeli troops on Monday at an air base that Israel was on its way to achieving its two main aims: wiping out Iran's nuclear program and destroying its missiles.
'We are on the path to victory,' he said.
'We are telling the citizens of Tehran: 'Evacuate' - and we are taking action.'
Israel first launched its air war on Friday with a surprise attack that killed nearly the entire top echelon of Iran's military commanders and its leading nuclear scientists.
It has said it now has control of Iranian airspace and intends to escalate its campaign in the coming days.
The IDF posted an evacuation order on Monday night (local time), foreshadowing the planned attack. In the warning, the IDF said: 'Israeli civilians do not get evacuation warnings before running to shelters. We aren't the same.'
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A TV presenter for the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network was forced to run for her life as an Israeli missile struck the media facility. A loud hit from the missile could be heard in the broadcast as power to parts of the studio was lost.
The presenter, Sahar Emami, said: 'You hear the sound of the aggressor attacking the truth.'
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Emami rushed off-camera as the screen behind her cut out, and people were heard saying 'Allahu akbar,' the Arabic phrase for God is great.
The broadcast quickly switched to pre-recorded programs.
Soon, Emami came back live from another studio and was seen speaking with another anchor.
She said that 'bodies of reporters' were at the site of the initial broadcast, and images showed smoke and flames in the sky.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz took credit for the attack on the State news organisation.
'The Iranian regime's propaganda and incitement broadcasting authority was attacked by the IDF after a widespread evacuation of the area's residents,' Katz said in a statement.
'We will strike the Iranian dictator everywhere.'
In a US TV interview, Mr Netanyahu said that Israel is 'doing something that is in the service of mankind' with its recent attacks on Iran.
'Today it's Tel Aviv. Tomorrow it's New York,' he told ABC News.
'I understand America first, but I don't understand America dead. That's what these people want. They chant Death to America.
'So we are doing something that is the service of mankind, in humanity.
'It's a battle of good versus evil. I deeply appreciate Trump.' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Credit: Supplied
Mr Netanyahu responded to claims that Mr Trump 'vetoed' a move to kill Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
'Look, we're doing what we need to do,' Mr Netanyahu said.
'It's not going to escalate the conflict, it's going to end the conflict,' he added, in reference to a possible assassination.
The IDF also posted video of airstrikes destroying F-14 fighter jets in Tehran that is Iran was going to use to 'intercept Israeli aircraft'.
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Iran's retaliation is the first time in decades of shadow war and proxy conflict that missiles fired from Iran have pierced Israeli defences in significant numbers and killed Israelis in their homes.
Iran says more than 224 Iranians have been killed, most of them civilians.
Media published images of wounded children, women and the elderly from cities across the country.
State TV broadcast scenes of collapsed presidential buildings, burned-out cars, and shattered streets in Tehran.
Many residents were trying to flee the capital, describing queues for petrol and bank machines that were out of cash.
'I am desperate. My two children are scared and cannot sleep at night because of the sound of air defence and attacks, explosions. But we have nowhere to go. We hid under our dining table,' Gholamreza Mohammadi, 48, a civil servant, told Reuters by phone from Tehran.
In Israel, 24 people have been killed so far in Iran's missile attacks, all of them civilians.
'It's terrifying because it's so unknown,' said Guydo Tetelbaum, 31, a chef in Tel Aviv who was in his apartment when the alerts came in shortly after 4am.
- with Reuters, AP