Iran warns US intervention in conflict with Israel risks ‘all out war'
Iran has warned that any United States intervention in the conflict with Israel would risk an 'all-out war' as the two sides traded attacks for a sixth straight day.
In an interview with Al Jazeera on Wednesday, Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei warned: 'Any American intervention would be a recipe for an all-out war in the region.'
'We have very good relations with Arab countries, and they are very cognisant of the fact that Israel has been trying to drag others into the war. … We are sure our Arab countries hosting US bases would not allow their territory to be used against their Muslim neighbours,' he added.
US President Donald Trump, who initially distanced himself from the Israeli attacks, has since hinted at greater US involvement in the conflict, saying he wants something 'much bigger' than a ceasefire. The US has sent more warplanes to the region and is also sending the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier.
Thousands of American soldiers are based in nearby countries within range of Iran's weapons. The US, however, has threatened a massive response to any attack.
On Tuesday, Trump demanded Iran's 'unconditional surrender'.
He also boasted that the United States could easily assassinate Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
'We know exactly where the so-called 'Supreme Leader' is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now,' Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
'A storm is passing over Tehran,' Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz posted on the social media platform X. 'This is how dictatorships collapse.'
Khamenei promised on Wednesday that his country would show no mercy towards Israel's rulers.
'We must give a strong response to the terrorist Zionist regime. We will show the Zionists no mercy,' Khamenei posted on X, hours after Trump's threat. He was expected to address the country on Wednesday.
Iran will respond to Israeli strikes 'strongly' and 'without restraint', its ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva told reporters on Wednesday.
'We will not show any reluctance in defending our people, security and land. We will respond seriously and strongly without restraint,' Ali Bahreini said.
The warnings were issued as the two sides exchanged fire for a sixth day. The Israeli military said two barrages of Iranian missiles were launched towards Israel in the first two hours of Wednesday morning. Explosions were also heard over Tel Aviv.
The military said it intercepted at least 10 drones launched from Iran.
Early on Wednesday, Iran told residents of Tel Aviv to prepare for an attack as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed its hypersonic Fattah-1 missiles were 'repeatedly shaking the shelters' in the commercial hub [of Israel] overnight.
'The 11th wave of the proud Operation Honest Promise 3 using Fattah-1 missiles' was carried out, the IRGC said in a statement broadcast on state television.
Hypersonic missiles travel at more than five times the speed of sound and can manoeuvre midflight, making them harder to track and intercept.
Reporting from Amman, Jordan, Al Jazeera's Nour Odeh said that overnight, volleys of Iranian missiles were fired towards Israel, concentrating on the central area as well as the north.
'We know from the Israeli Ministry of Health that 94 Israelis have been treated for injuries from those overnight strikes and that there were several fires where these missiles hit or where fragments from the interceptors hit,' she said.
Later on Wednesday, the Israeli military said it struck weapons manufacturing sites and a facility used to make centrifuges in Tehran.
In a statement posted on Telegram, the military said the latest wave of attacks was carried out as 'part of the extensive effort to damage Iran's nuclear weapons development programme'.
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that two centrifuge production facilities, a workshop in Karaj and the Tehran Nuclear Research Center, were hit.
'At the Tehran site, one building was hit where advanced centrifuge rotors were manufactured and tested; and at Karaj, two buildings were destroyed where different centrifuge components were manufactured,' the nuclear watchdog said on the social media platform X.
Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera's Tohid Assadi said people in Iran also heard a lot of explosions overnight.
'What we are seeing on the ground is escalation upon escalation as Israeli strikes continue. For its part, the IRGC also came out to say that they are going to continue their retaliation as long as Israeli strikes go on,' he said.
'And in the city of Tehran, which houses at least 10 million people, we are seeing that a considerable proportion of the population has decided to leave the area. But still, there are many civilians remaining here, and they are very anxious about the future, given the threats from the Israelis as well as the US president, who have told them to evacuate,' he added.
Iran's state broadcaster IRIB reported that Iranian forces shot down an Israeli Hermes drone in Isfahan. It also published footage of the downed unmanned aircraft used for surveillance.
The official IRNA news agency reported that Iranian forces destroyed an Israeli F-35 fighter jet in the Javadabad area of Varamin city.
Globally, leaders from Russia, China and the European Union have expressed concern as the conflict continues to rage.
More than 700 foreigners living in Iran have crossed into neighbouring Azerbaijan and Armenia since Israel launched its campaign on Friday, according to government figures.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said more than 700 citizens have been evacuated from Iran and Israel and moved to 'places of safety'.
The US also said it was closing its embassy in Jerusalem until Friday due to the conflict.
A Washington, DC-based Iranian human rights group said at least 585 people, including 239 civilians, have been killed and more than 1,300 wounded in the Israeli attacks on Iran. More than 24 people have been killed in Iranian attacks on Israel so far.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
an hour ago
- Al Jazeera
Israel-Iran conflict rages with ongoing aerial strikes amid war of words
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned the United States that joining Israeli strikes on the Islamic Republic will 'result in irreparable consequences' for the US, as his and US President Donald Trump's war of words accelerate and the Israel-Iran hostilities rage for a sixth day. In his first televised address since Israel began its attacks on Friday, Khamenei said on Wednesday his country 'will not surrender to anyone'. Iran 'will stand firm against an imposed war, just as it will stand firm against an imposed peace', he said. Pointedly responding to threatening remarks made a day earlier by Trump, Khamenei said those who know Iran and its history 'know that Iranians do not answer well to the language of threat'. In recent days, Trump has strongly hinted that the US could join in Israel's military operation against Iran, saying he is seeking something 'much bigger' than a ceasefire. In fresh comments made on Wednesday on the White House lawn at a flag raising ceremony, Trump said 'I may do it, I may not do it,' when asked if the US was moving closer to striking Iran. He claimed, without offering any evidence, that Iran is 'totally defenceless, they have no air defence whatsoever'. Iran has said it has had success in bringing down Israeli drones and fighter jets. 'The next week is going to be very big, maybe less than a week,' Trump said, without elaborating. The US has in recent days sent more warplanes to the region and is also sending the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier. The US president claimed Iranian officials reached out to him and suggested visiting the White House, something Iran denies. 'No Iranian official has ever asked to grovel at the gates of the White House. The only thing more despicable than his lies is his cowardly threat to 'take out' Iran's Supreme Leader,' the Iran Mission to the UN said in a post on comments came after he demanded on Tuesday Iran's 'unconditional surrender', saying, 'We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran.' He also boasted that the US could easily assassinate Khamenei. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei echoed Khamenei's sentiments, warning: 'Any American intervention would be a recipe for an all-out war in the region.' Iran is 'under an attack by a genocidal' regime and it will defend itself with 'full force' against Israel's 'war of aggression', Baghaei said. Significantly, he added he that trusted that Iran's Arab neighbours will not allow the US to launch attacks from their countries. The warnings were issued as Israel and Iran exchanged fire for a sixth consecutive day. The Israeli military said it struck 40 sites in Iran, including centrifuge production and weapons facilities. The strikes targeted two centrifuge production facilities – one in Tehran and one in Kahraj – according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera's Tohid Assadi said explosions were heard near the Payam airport in Kahraj, as well as in areas in eastern Tehran. An Iranian government spokesperson also confirmed cyberattacks on at least two of Iran's banks, he Another attack near the same previous location in northeast Tehran, Sadr Highway is visible in the footage. Defence Minister Israel Katz claimed that Israeli jets 'destroyed the Iranian regime's internal security headquarters', without providing evidence. Israel's military confirmed one of its remotely piloted aircraft fell in Iran after being shot at by a surface-to-air missile. 'No injuries were reported, and there is no risk of an information breach,' the military said. Iranian state media earlier had said that Iranian forces shot down an Israeli drone and fighter jet. Israeli strikes have continued to target various other areas of Iran, including central Isfahan province. An Israeli strike on a vehicle in Najafabad killed six people, including a pregnant woman and two children, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported. According to Iran's Health Ministry, at least 240 people, including 70 women and children, have been killed since Israel began attacking the country. In a statement earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli army claimed it is 'operating freely' in Iranian skies and said it also shot down 10 Iranian drones, while confirming one of its unmanned aircraft has been downed in Iranian territory. It also said its forces intercepted an Iranian drone that entered the south of the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights. Meanwhile, explosions were heard over Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning as the army said two barrages of Iranian missiles were launched towards the country. Al Jazeera's Nour Odeh, reporting from Amman, said Iran's missile attacks are creating an unprecedented 'disruption' of life. 'Over the past six days, the Israeli public has experienced something they haven't in the past: a formidable army that is firing ballistic missiles at Israeli cities and sensitive Israeli sites,' Odeh said. They're seeing 'reports in their back yard of dozens of buildings damaged and condemned for demolition,' she said. 'There are more than 1,300 Israelis who now have to live in hotels because their homes are unliveable, damaged beyond repair.' The attacks have continued to cause global concern, with many countries expressing the need for de-escalation. Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated his country's willingness to help mediate the crisis. Speaking to members of his ruling Justice and Development Party in parliament, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country wants to see the crisis resolved diplomatically and Ankara could play a constructive role. Erdogan accused Israel of waging 'crazed' attacks against Iran that amount to 'state terrorism'. Iran's response, he said, is natural, legal and legitimate. Hassan Ahmadian, an associate professor at the University of Tehran, says he doubts the prospects for any diplomatic solution between Iran and the US. 'The minimal trust that led to the negotiations with the US is currently nonexistent,' Ahmadian said, adding that many Iranians now view the previous round of nuclear talks as little more than a distraction before the surprise Israeli attack. 'I don't see much of a chance for diplomacy at this point – not until this confrontation ends and we see what comes next,' he told Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera
an hour ago
- Al Jazeera
Citizen Musk
Elon Musk has emerged as one of the most powerful figures in American politics. After contributing more than $250m to President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign, Musk joined his administration as head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency. From that post, he launched an aggressive effort to slash the federal workforce—targeting entire agencies, some of which regulate his own companies. His position also gave him access to vast troves of government data, potentially fuelling the growth of his artificial intelligence ventures. Fault Lines traces Musk's transformation from Trump critic to top donor and political ally. Through interviews with historians, insiders and journalists, Citizen Musk investigates whether one billionaire bought his way into power—and whether the United States is sliding into oligarchy.
Al Jazeera
an hour ago
- Al Jazeera
How has Iran managed to pierce through Israel's air defence systems?
Israel's launch of air attacks against Iran on Friday prompted Tehran to fire a wave of retaliatory strikes on Israel, and some Iranian ballistic missiles have pierced through Israel's missile defence systems and hit key targets. Israel's escalating attacks have killed more than 240 people, including 70 women and children, in Iran. In retaliation, Iran has fired about 400 missiles and hundreds of drones, killing at least 24 people in Israel, wounding hundreds and forcing Israelis across the country to take cover in bomb shelters. Some Iranian strikes have hit residential areas in central Israel, causing heavy damage. Israel's fortified military headquarters in Tel Aviv, the Kirya, was also hit although damage was limited there. On Tuesday, Iran said it hit a military intelligence centre and a Mossad spy agency operations planning centre, breaching Israel's advanced missile defence systems – some of the most advanced in the world. In recent history, Israel has successfully intercepted most aerial attacks coming its way through these systems, such as its signature Iron Dome. So how are Iranian missiles making it past Israel's air defences? While the Iron Dome is at the heart of Israel's air defences, it is only a part of a larger system, comprising 'the lowest level of these multitiered, integrated air defences,' said Alex Gatopoulos, Al Jazeera's defence editor. The Iron Dome detects an incoming rocket or missile, determines its path and intercepts it. Israel said the Iron Dome is 90 percent effective. It became operational in 2011 after it was developed to counter rocket attacks during the war with Hezbollah in 2006. Gatopoulos explained that the Iron Dome was designed to intercept low-level rockets that larger systems would not be able to detect. Israel also has the Barak-8 surface-to-air missile system, which intercepts medium-range missiles; the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, which intercepts short-, medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles; and the David's Sling, which intercepts medium- to long-range missiles. The Israeli missile defence systems use the Arrow-2 and Arrow-3 interceptors to intercept long-range missiles, such as Iranian missiles fired in the current conflict. The main contractor for the Arrow project is state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, and Boeing is involved in making the interceptors. The Arrow-2 is designed to intercept incoming missiles at slightly higher altitudes within and outside the Earth's atmosphere. Besides using air defence systems, Israel also carries out air-to-air missile defence, which involves the use of aircraft, such as combat helicopters or fighter jets, to destroy drones heading towards Israel. Israeli air defence systems are made of three components: a radar system, a command and control centre, and a launcher with interceptor missiles. An incoming enemy missile is tracked on the radar, which alerts the control centre to assess which targets to engage. The launcher normally sends out two interceptor missiles for one incoming enemy missile, Marina Miron, a postdoctoral researcher at King's College London, told Al Jazeera. All air defence systems are equipped with a limited number of interceptor missiles, and the exact number of interceptor missiles in Israel's air defence systems is unknown to the public. On Saturday, an Israeli military official said its defence systems had an '80 or 90 percent success rate', emphasising that no system has a perfect rate, the Reuters news agency reported without naming the official. This means that some Iranian missiles had pierced the fortifications. While we do not know exactly how some Iranian missiles made it past Israeli air defence systems, there are a few possible ways Iranian drones and missiles managed to avoid interception. One way Iran possibly evaded Israeli air defences is by exhausting Israel's interceptor missiles. 'No system shoots down 100 percent [missiles] anyway,' Miron said, adding: 'You cannot shoot down more missiles if you only have a limited number of interceptors.' Gatopoulos said Iran has hypersonic missiles, a direct reaction to evolving and maturing ballistic missile defences. This is because one way to evade an air defence system is to use missiles that fly faster, giving the air defence system less time to react. Miron said hypersonic missiles are difficult for air defence systems to intercept even if they are detected by radar. Some hypersonic missiles are also equipped with a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV), a warhead attached to a missile that can manoeuvre and glide at speeds five times faster than the speed of sound. In Iran, the Fattah-2 uses the HGV. 'It looks like a normal missile with a craft attached to the end of it,' Gatopoulos said. He explained that besides travelling faster, HGVs also zigzag and do not move on a predictive path like regular ballistic missiles. Such quick, erratic movements evade air defence systems, which are designed to predict the path a missile will take. Cruise missiles can also change their trajectory and become difficult to intercept, Miron said. Iran has cruise missiles in its arsenal, such as the Hoveyzeh missile, and has used such missiles against Israel. While these missiles are slower than ballistic missiles, they fly like pilotless planes, low and steady, sneaking past air defences. Another way air defence systems can be tested is by overloading their systems by tricking them with decoys of drones and missiles, Miron added. 'It shows up as a threat on the radar, but in actuality, it's not. And usually such decoys are used … to empty the interceptor missile reserve so that the actual missiles and drones can get through.' Miron added that some missiles are also equipped with radar suppression technologies that make them undetectable for air defence systems. Gatopoulos explained that the conflict between Iran and Israel is 'attritional' at the moment. On Monday, Israel claimed dominance over Iranian skies. However, the shortest distance between Iran and Israel is 1,000km (620 miles). 'It is a long way for Israeli planes to go unfuelled,' Gatopoulos said. 'You can loiter there, but only up to a certain amount of time,' he added. He explained that while the US could possibly help Israel with air-to-air refuelling, adding external tanks on planes makes them lose stealth properties. Gatopoulos added that this raises questions of how many missiles Iran has to continue the conflict of attrition as Israeli planes patrol and try to destroy any mobile launchers and how many interceptors, Arrow-2 and -3 especially, Israel has that it can keep firing.
