VIDEO: Iran launches new wave of attacks, hits several sites in Israel
Iran on Sunday launched a new wave of attacks on Israel, state television reported, as an intense exchange of fire raged between the two sides for a third day.
The official IRNA news agency also announced the beginning of "a new wave of missiles" launched towards Israel.
Israel's military said several sites were hit by the latest Iranan missile barrage on Sunday, with firefighters reporting a residential building struck on the country's Mediterranean coast.
"Homefront Command Search and Rescue teams have been dispatched to several hit sites in Israel, following the latest barrage from Iran," the military said in a statement shortly after telling the public they could leave protected shelters.
The fire services, meanwhile, said rescuers were heading to building on the coast that sustained a "direct hit."
Israel's first responders agency, the Magen David Adom, published footage of its teams deployed in the coastal city of Haifa, showing several cars on fire and a residential building whose facade was torn off by a blast.
A journalist reported a large plume of black smoke visible on the city skyline from a distance.
Earlier Israel unleashed airstrikes across Iran for a third day on Sunday and threatened even greater force as some Iranian missiles evaded Israeli air defenses to strike buildings in the heart of the country. Planned talks on Iran's nuclear programme, which could provide an off-ramp, were called off.
Israeli rescuers search through the rubble at the site of an overnight Iranian missile strike in Bat Yam on Sunday. AFP
The region braced for a protracted conflict after Israel's surprise bombardment of Iran's nuclear and military sites on Friday killed several top generals and nuclear scientists, and neither side showed any sign of backing down. Israel reportedly targeted a gas installation, raising the prospect of a broader assault on Iran's heavily sanctioned energy industry that could affect global markets.
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.
New explosions echoed across Tehran and were reported elsewhere in the country early 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.
Flames and smoke rise, following what the Iranian Red Crescent Society says was an Israeli strike, in a location given as Tehran, Iran, on Sunday. Reuters
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.
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 Israel, at least six people, including two children, 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 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.
Four people were killed when a missile struck a building in the northern Israeli town of Tamra and another 24 were wounded. A strike on the central city of Rehovot wounded 42 people.
People watch from a bridge as flames from an Israeli attack rise from Sharan Oil depot, following Israeli strikes in Tehran, Iran, on Sunday. Reuters
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 a sophisticated multi-tiered missile defence system that is able to intercept most projectiles fired at it, but officials have always said it is imperfect.
World leaders made urgent calls to deescalate. The attack on nuclear sites set a "dangerous precedent,' China's foreign minister said. The region is already on edge as Israel seeks to annihilate the Palestinian group Hamas, an Iranian ally, in the Gaza Strip, where the war is still raging after Hamas' Oct. 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.
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.
Responders work beside a damaged building following a strike by an Iranian missile in the Israeli city of Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv, early on Sunday. AFP
The UN's atomic watchdog censured Iran last week for not complying with its obligations.
Semiofficial Iranian news agencies meanwhile reported that an Israeli drone strike had caused a "strong explosion' at an Iranian natural-gas processing plant, in what could be the first Israeli attack on Iran's oil and natural gas industry. 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.
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 on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks.
Iran's top diplomat, Abbas 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.'
Agencies
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The National
an hour ago
- The National
Trump's push for 'real end' to Iran-Israel conflict faces significant obstacles
Deal or no deal? On his flight leaving the G7 summit in Canada on Monday, US President Donald Trump said he wanted something 'better than a ceasefire' between Israel and Iran. He said he wanted 'an end, a real end, not a ceasefire' and a 'complete give-up' by Tehran. A day earlier, he promised that peace between Israel and Iran would come 'soon'. "Many calls and meetings now taking place,' he wrote on his Truth Social site. But peace appears distant. If anything, the war that began on Friday has intensified. Israel scaled up its attacks on Monday, targeting Iran's broadcasting authority. Iran's ninth wave of missiles strikes sent Israeli civilians back into shelters early on Tuesday. Iranian officials have reported 224 deaths so far, mostly civilians, in the most intense exchange of fire in decades of Israel-Iran enmity. Israel said 24 of its civilians had been killed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacks on military and nuclear facilities were to stop Iran from creating an atomic weapon. But they were launched while Iran was still negotiating with the US on a deal to contain its nuclear programme. The White House is reportedly discussing a possible meeting this week between US envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, according to the Axios news website. Iran, which has limited capability to strike Israel, has reportedly asked Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to press Mr Trump to rein in Mr Netanyahu and bring about an immediate ceasefire in exchange for flexibility on nuclear talks. Yet despite low appetite for war in the region, any diplomatic path faces obstacles, analysts say. The first challenge: containing any push for regime change, for which Israel is showing a growing interest. The second: crafting a deal that lets Iran save face while convincing Israel that Tehran's nuclear ambitions are completely eradicated. Task for Trump Karin von Hippel, a former US State Department official and former director of Rusi, the London-based defence think tank, said this is a task tailor-made for Mr Trump. 'Trump is one of the few people who has any sway over Netanyahu. Not many do,' she said. 'And, thankfully, Trump has a lot of crazy views – and he's done a lot of crazy things – but one thing he's not is a warmonger.' The US has shown little interest in engaging indirect confrontation with Iran. For Mr Trump, the escalation serves as a negotiation tactic, putting pressure on Iran into capitulating and giving up all uranium enrichment. Tehran has insisted it must retain the right to enrich uranium under any deal, to serve civilian purposes. Capitulating on this point might mean a damaging loss of credibility. 'I think Trump would be very happy to return to the negotiating table. Putting military pressure on Iran so that they sign the agreement is, in his view, part of his deal-making,' Ms von Hippel said. She believes any future deal is likely to resemble the 2015 agreement negotiated under president Barack Obama, which allowed only low-level uranium enrichment suitable for civilian nuclear energy production. Mr Trump pulled the US out of the agreement in 2018, calling it the 'worst deal ever negotiated'. 'He'll put his own mark on it … whatever deal they come up with, Mr Trump can claim ownership over it,' Ms von Hippel said. It remains unclear what guarantees Israel would deem acceptable, given that Mr Netanyahu opposed the 2015 agreement and is seemingly against any deal that would prevent him from destroying Iran's nuclear programme. Some analysts say it is because Israel does not want a deal at all – but rather the collapse of the Iranian regime. 'Yes, Bibi [Mr Netanyahu] wants regime change,' said Danny Citrinowicz, senior researcher in the Iran programme at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Israel. Reports that Mr Trump recently vetoed an Israeli plan to assassinate Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, support this view. 'Israel claims that it wants a 'good agreement' that will lead to Iran giving up its nuclear ambitions, but its recent moves show that Israel may have greater ambitions,' Mr Citrinowicz said. 'First and foremost, to convince the American administration to enter the campaign, destroy the enrichment facility at Fordow and, most importantly, undermine the foundations of the regime.' Crushing the enemy For Karim El Mufti, professor of international relations at Sciences Po university in Paris, Israel is not interested in the diplomatic path. 'There is no longer a logic of containment from Israel, rather a drive to completely crush the enemy, especially in the absence of international pressure,' he said. 'Israel is in 'full-in' mode, it's going after Mr Khamenei, pushing the Iranians to rethink their entire system and dismantle the Axis of Resistance,' he said, referring to the Iran-led alliance of armed groups that includes Hamas in Gaza, Lebanon's Hezbollah – once Iran's most formidable asset, now weakened after 14 months of conflict with Israel – Yemen's Houthi rebels and Iraqi militias. 'For Israel, it's now or never, they're going for the head of the snake after dismantling the proxies.' Naysan Rafati, senior Iran analyst at Crisis Group, agrees the current situation does not favour a diplomatic outcome, especially because Israel has the upper hand. 'Two things would have to happen for that to lead to a diplomatic outcome between Washington and Tehran, neither of which is assured at this time,' he said. First, Iran would have to make concessions that satisfy the US. The next sticking point, he said, is whether Israel can be convinced to halt its strikes, given its upper hand, and depending on how much it believes it has achieved towards its objectives of destroying Iran's nuclear and missile capabilities. 'The momentum towards escalation appears to outweigh efforts towards an immediate diplomatic resolution,' Mr Rafati said. For Ms von Hippel, however, it is not too late. 'In every war, there is always a chance for diplomacy,' she said. 'The problem is, when conflicts drag on, grievances multiply and calls for accountability become much harder to navigate. There may not be much time left,' she said.
The National
an hour ago
- The National
Oil climbs while US stock futures dip as Israel-Iran conflict continues
Oil prices rose on Tuesday while US stocks slumped further as the Israel-Iran conflict stoked fears that an escalation could spill into the Gulf region, choking global energy supplies. Iran and Israel's air war, which began on Friday when Israel attacked Iran's nuclear facilities, has dented the mood of investors as they also await an interest decision by the US Federal Reserve. Brent, the benchmark for two-thirds of the world's oil, was trading 2.25 per cent higher at $74.88 a barrel at 4.17pm on Tuesday, extending oil's advance since hostilities started to more than 7 per cent. West Texas Intermediate, the gauge that tracks US crude, jumped 2.09 per cent to $73.27 per barrel. Oil prices could surge to as much as $120 a barrel if the attacks by Iran halt traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a gateway for about a fifth of the world's daily output, according to analysts. 'While Iran appears to be signalling restraint, US President Donald Trump urged the evacuation of Tehran, and Israel has vowed to continue its strikes,' said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote Bank. 'This makes it a one-sided de-escalation at best, and keeps risks across energy markets and haven assets tilted to the upside. If Iran fails to find room to manoeuvre diplomatically, it could easily make a U-turn.' The upside for oil appears limited as the market remains well-supplied, with the US pumping crude oil at record levels and Opec+ adding hundreds of thousands of barrels back into the market, Ms Ozkardeskaya added. 'Yet global energy supply remains fragile and it wouldn't take much to shake the physical flow of oil and reverse market sentiment in a heartbeat,' she said in a note to investors. As Israel and Iran continued to trade attacks, President Trump left the G7 leaders' meeting in Canada early to deal with the crisis. Though he has not outlined what comes next, Mr Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One he was looking for 'a real end, not a ceasefire' to the conflict. 'Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran,' Mr Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday. ' Iran should have signed the 'deal' I told them to sign. What a shame, and waste of human life,' he wrote. The nuclear talks, which Mr Trump has accused Iran of 'slow-walking', have stalled amid the conflict. South Pars gas field Separately, Qatar said on Tuesday that its gas production at Iran's South Pars field is steady and supply is proceeding normally, after the world's largest gas field was struck by Israel on Saturday. Iran partially suspended production at South Pars, which it shares with Qatar. Qatar is the world's third-biggest liquefied natural gas exporter after the US and Australia. 'So far, gas supplies are proceeding normally. However, the ill-advised targeting raises concerns for everyone regarding gas supplies,' Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said, according to Reuters. 'This is a reckless move … The companies operating in the fields are international, and there is a global presence, especially in the North Field,' he said during a weekly press briefing in Doha. Stock futures and Fed decision While energy markets remain volatile, global equities have recovered from the knee-jerk reaction after Israel began its military campaign last week. S&P 500 futures, which track the S&P 500 stock market index, slid 0.34 per cent, while Dow Jones futures dropped 0.39 per cent and Nasdaq futures declined 0.36 per cent. Global equity investors are monitoring the Fed's monetary policy decision on Wednesday, when interest rates are widely expected to remain unchanged. Traders are pricing in two cuts by the end of the year. 'While no change in Fed rates is expected, geopolitical uncertainty and trade tensions make the outlook more complex. Recent inflation data has been reassuring – suggesting price pressures are not accelerating – but tariffs and the risk of an oil price spike due to Middle East tensions will likely keep the Fed in a cautious stance,' according to Ms Ozkardeskaya. That said, markets could still react strongly to even a hint of dovishness from the Fed this week, she said. 'Investor positioning and sentiment suggest a clear appetite to push the S&P 500 to fresh all-time highs. But with little fundamental support behind the current risk rally, much of it appears to be driven by FOMO – the fear of missing out,' she added. Haven assets Spot gold was up 0.1 per cent to $3,386.29 an ounce on Tuesday. Zero-yield bullion is considered a hedge against geopolitical and economic uncertainty and tends to thrive in a low-interest environment. The gold market's reaction to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran remains very moderate, with prices up less than 1 per cent since before Israel's initial attack, according to Carsten Menke, head of next-generation research at Swiss bank Julius Baer. 'Barring a severe economic impact or a spreading in the region, we do not expect the conflict to lastingly lift prices, in line with the historical pattern,' he said. 'We assume that this reaction has been driven by some speculators and automated trading systems in the futures market rather than by physical safe-haven demand.'
The National
an hour ago
- The National
Iran-Israel conflict: The US could have averted this in 2003
A sixth round of US-Iran nuclear talks was supposed to take place in Oman last Sunday, but was cancelled owing to the surprise Israeli attack on Iranian targets that began two days earlier. The collapse of these negotiations comes at a significant moment. In a few weeks, it will have been 10 years since the signing of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Notwithstanding its flaws, the deal worked. In 2018, during his first term in office, US President Donald Trump withdrew his country from the JCPOA. Mr Trump is now paying the price for this decision, inheriting a conflict in the Middle East that he could have prevented. His country also faces the possibility of being sucked into another regional war, something that his supporters were promised a second Trump administration would avoid. The 2015 nuclear agreement, which was signed in Vienna after four years of negotiations, was a historic breakthrough for US-Iran relations. Despite warnings that it was an imperfect deal, it provided a potential opening for deeper engagement in the future. Mr Trump sought to undo the diplomatic legacy of the preceding US administration, arguing that the JCPOA failed to prevent the development of Tehran's ballistic missile programme and end its support for armed proxies across the Middle East. As of this year, Iran developed a ballistic missile force that has hit Israel numerous times, demonstrating the futility of Mr Trump's objectives back in 2018. Mr Trump wanted a grand bargain with Iran. The irony is such a bargain was on the table before – but was rejected. Iran itself proposed a deal in 2003, and it was Mr Trump's Republican predecessor, George W Bush, who failed to pursue it. That failure led to Iran waging a low-intensity proxy war against the US in Iraq. From Tehran's perspective, particularly that of its hardliners, the US – from Mr Bush to Mr Trump – is fickle and cannot be trusted. Following the September 11 attacks on US soil in 2001, Mr Bush included Iran, along with Iraq and North Korea, in what he called the 'axis of evil'. In 2003, US forces were at Iran's border, having led the invasion of Saddam Hussein's Iraq. It was at this point that Iran offered the US a comprehensive negotiation proposal, with Tehran expressing a willingness to open its nuclear programme to inspections, work as a partner to stabilise Iraq, and co-operate against fighting Al Qaeda. Essentially it offered Washington then what Mr Trump would have asked Iran for on Sunday were it not for Israel's attack. The response to the 2003 offer from the office of then-vice president Dick Cheney allegedly was: 'We don't talk to evil.' When Washington refused to engage with it through diplomacy and collaboration in 2003, Iran decided to undermine American interests in the region. One tool at Tehran's disposal was the variety of Iraqi armed groups targeting US forces. Thus, the US had to tackle two distinct foes during Iraq's insurgency: Al Qaeda in Iraq, which later morphed into ISIS, and a set of Iran-backed armed proxies. Several of the militias active in Iraq today grew out of Iran's low-intensity proxy war against US forces. Tehran's rationale was that the Bush administration sought regime change and was considering bombing Iran's nuclear facilities. The lesson from 2003 is that when the US failed to communicate with Iran through dialogue and diplomacy, Tehran chose to respond through its many armed proxies in the region. Despite some of these proxies having been considerably weakened, activating them could still be an option for Iran today, just as it was in 2003, along with its ability to close the Strait of Hormuz. Mr Trump enabled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's attack. According to the Washington-based Centre for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, most estimates suggest that Israel has about 90 plutonium-based nuclear warheads. This arsenal serves as a deterrent to any hypothetical scenario in which Iran seeks to pursue a nuclear weapon. Israel's unstated objection to the Trump deal was that it left Iran's nuclear infrastructure intact, giving Tehran the potential to challenge Israel's unofficial nuclear monopoly in the region. The 2015 deal was the first opportunity for US-Iran engagement that could have provided some stability to an unstable Middle East had it lasted longer. Today, Tehran is the first and only Middle Eastern state in the 21st century to strike Israel directly, launching a huge salvo of ballistic missiles from its territory, not once, but three times since October 7, 2023. In April last year, Iran launched 300 drones as well as ballistic and cruise missiles towards Israel, some hitting the Nevatim air base that houses squadrons of US-made F-35 fighters. Last October, it fired 200 ballistic missiles towards Israel, some targeting the same military base and others allegedly coming close to the headquarters of Mossad, Israel's spy agency. As of last Friday, Iran continues to fire ballistic missiles at Israel in retaliation to its surprise first strike last Friday. Israel, on the other hand, uses American aircraft and naval vessels to intercept projectiles, sometimes even needing direct US support. That has not only made Washington a party to an undeclared war with Iran since October 2023, but it has also made American forces vulnerable to retaliation. The war that began in October 2023 has the potential to become America's third conflict in the Gulf and Middle East since the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The anniversary of that conflict is approaching in August, marking 35 years of US involvement in the region. Without a return to diplomacy and de-escalation, Mr Trump may find himself embroiled in another direct conflagration in the Middle East.
