Israel warns 'Tehran will burn' if Iran keeps up retaliatory strikes
Iran's planned nuclear talks with U.S. halted amid tit-for-tat missile volleys with Israel
The latest U.S.-Iran talks on Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program will not take place on Sunday, mediator Oman said on Saturday, while Iran launched another missile barrage a day after Israel's blistering attack on Iranian nuclear and military sites.
Both Israel's military and Iran state television announced the latest round of missiles as explosions were heard overhead in parts of Israel, including Tel Aviv, less than an hour before midnight. Fire officials reported a collapsed building in the north. Neighbouring Jordan said it closed its airspace.
Israel's military quickly noted that it was currently striking "military targets" in Tehran, where witnesses said they heard at least two strong explosions, in the city's northeast and western areas.
Israel's ongoing "widespread strikes" in Tehran and elsewhere have left Iran's surviving leadership with the difficult decision of whether to plunge deeper into conflict with Israel's more powerful forces or seek a diplomatic route.
Oman's foreign affairs minister, Badr al-Busaidi, said on social media that the sixth round of indirect nuclear talks on Sunday "will not now take place." Although the talks are off for now, "we remain committed to talks and hope the Iranians will come to the table soon," said a senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomacy.
Israel and Iran signalled further attacks, despite urgent calls from world leaders to de-escalate and avoid all-out war. The attack on nuclear sites set a "dangerous precedent," Wang Yi, China's foreign affairs minister, said.
The region is already on edge as Israel makes a new push to eliminate the Iranian-backed militant group Hamas in Gaza after 20 months of fighting.
Israel — widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East — said its hundreds of strikes on Iran over the past two days killed a number of top generals, nine senior scientists and experts involved in Iran's nuclear program. Iran's United Nations ambassador has said 78 people were killed and more than 320 wounded.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attack had been months in the making and was planned for April before being postponed.
Among those killed were three of Iran's top military leaders: one who oversaw the entire armed forces, Gen. Mohammad Bagheri; one who led the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami; and the head of the Guard's aerospace division, which oversees its arsenal of ballistic missile program, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh. On Saturday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei named a new leader for the Revolutionary Guard's aerospace division: Gen. Majid Mousavi.
Iran retaliated for a second night Saturday as explosions lit the night skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Israel said three people were killed overnight into Saturday in the first attack and more than 170 wounded.
"If Khamenei continues to fire missiles at the Israeli home front — Tehran will burn," Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said.
Netanyahu, who has made the destruction of Iran's nuclear program his top priority, said Israel's strikes so far are "nothing compared to what they will feel under the sway of our forces in the coming days."
In what could be another escalation if confirmed, semi-official Iranian news agencies reported that an Israeli drone struck and caused a "strong explosion" at an Iranian natural gas processing plant. It would 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.
Iran calls nuclear talks 'unjustifiable'
Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, and U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that Tehran was not actively pursuing a bomb. But its uranium enrichment has reached near weapons-grade levels, and on Thursday, the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, censured Iran for not complying with obligations meant to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran's top diplomat said on Saturday that the nuclear talks were "unjustifiable" after Israel's strikes. Abbas Araghchi's comments came during a call with Kaja Kallas, the European Union's top diplomat.
The Israeli airstrikes were the "result of the direct support by Washington," Araghchi said in a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency. The U.S. has said it isn't part of the strikes.
On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump urged Iran to reach a deal with the U.S. on its nuclear program, adding that "Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left."
U.S. helps to shoot down Iranian missiles
Iran launched its first wave of missiles at Israel late Friday and early Saturday. Iranians awoke to state television airing repeated clips of the strikes, as well as videos of people cheering and handing out sweets.
The Iranian attacks killed at least three people and wounded 174, two of them seriously, Israel said. The military said seven soldiers were lightly wounded when a missile hit central Israel, without specifying where — the first report of Israeli military casualties since the initial Israeli strikes.
U.S. ground-based air defence systems in the region were helping to shoot down Iranian missiles, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the measures.
In Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv, an Associated Press journalist saw burned-out cars and at least three damaged houses, including one whose front was nearly entirely torn away.
Residents of a central Israeli city hit Friday night, Rishon Lezion, said the explosion was so powerful that it shook their shelter door open. "We thought, that's it, the house is gone, and in fact half of the house was gone," Moshe Shani said.
Israel's main international airport said it will remain closed until further notice.