Israel says it has killed another Iranian general as Trump tamps down ceasefire talk
UN nuclear watchdog believes Israeli strikes have hit Natanz site's underground centrifuge halls
Israel claimed Tuesday to have killed a top Iranian general as it traded more strikes with its longtime foe, and U.S. President Donald Trump warned residents of Tehran to evacuate while demanding that Iran surrender without conditions.
Trump left the Group of Seven summit in Alberta a day early to deal with the Israel-Iran conflict, telling reporters on Air Force One during the flight back to Washington: "I'm not looking at a ceasefire. We're looking at better than a ceasefire."
When asked to explain, he said the U.S. wanted to see "a real end" to the conflict that could involve Iran "giving up entirely."
"I'm not too much in the mood to negotiate," he said.
Later on social media, he warned Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that the U.S. knows where he is hiding and called for Iran's "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER."
It was not clear whether he was suggesting that the country give up its nuclear ambitions.
Trump posted that there were no plans to kill Khamenei "at least not for now." Despite warning that U.S. "patience is wearing thin," he indicated that diplomatic talks remained an option and said he could send U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and special envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with the Iranians.
Iran offered no immediate response to the U.S. president's posts, but the country's military leaders vowed that Israel would soon see more attacks.
"The operations carried out so far have been solely for the purpose of warning and deterrence," Gen. Abdul Rahim Mousavi, the commander in chief of Iran's army, said in a video. "The punishment operation will be carried out soon."
Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke about the evolving situation over the phone on Tuesday, according to a White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Uncertainty roiled the region on the fifth day of Israel's air campaign aimed at Iran's military and nuclear program. Residents of Tehran fled their homes in droves.
The United Nations nuclear watchdog for the first time said Israeli strikes on Iran's main uranium-enrichment facility at Natanz had also damaged its main underground section, not just an above-ground facility, as previously acknowledged.
Israel says its sweeping assault is necessary to prevent its adversary from getting any closer to building an atomic weapon. The strikes have killed at least 224 people in Iran. Iran has retaliated by launching some 400 missiles and hundreds of drones at Israel. So far, 24 people have been killed in Israel.
No immediate comment on general's killing
Iran did not immediately comment on the reported killing of Gen. Ali Shadmani, whom Israel described as the most senior military commander in Iran.
Shadmani was little known in the country before being appointed last week to a chief-of-staff-like role as head of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters. That appointment followed the killing of his predecessor, Gen. Gholam Ali Rashid, in an Israeli strike.
Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin announced a new wave of strikes on Tuesday evening as explosions and anti-aircraft fire boomed throughout Tehran, shaking buildings. The Israeli military said its warplanes had targeted 12 missile launch sites and storage facilities.
The Israeli military warned the population to stay close to shelters as Iran fired new salvos of missiles, but officials said most were intercepted. Sirens blared in southern Israel, including in the desert town of Dimona, the heart of Israel's never-acknowledged nuclear arms program.
Iran launched another barrage early Wednesday. Israeli rescue services had no immediate reports of injuries.
Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard claimed in a message that the barrage included the use of Fatah missiles, which Tehran describes as hypersonic. Israel has not acknowledged Iran using hypersonic missiles. Hypersonic weapons, which fly at speeds higher than Mach 5, pose crucial challenges to missile defence systems because of their speed and manoeuvrability.
The U.S. State Department announced that the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem will remain closed through Friday due to "the current security situation and ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran."
Iran has fired fewer missiles in each of its barrages, with just a handful launched late Tuesday. It has not explained the drop in missiles fired, but the decline comes after Israel targeted many Iranian launchers.
Trump warned on social media that "everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran," echoing an earlier Israeli military call for some 330,000 residents of a downtown neighbourhood there to evacuate.
Tehran is one of the largest cities in the Middle East, with around 10 million people, roughly equivalent to the entire population of Israel. People have been fleeing since hostilities began.
Asked why he had urged the evacuation of Tehran, Trump said, "I just want people to be safe."
Downtown Tehran emptied out early Tuesday, with many shops shuttered — even the ancient Grand Bazaar, which has closed only in times of crisis, including during the 2022 anti-government protests and the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the roads out of Tehran to the west, traffic stood bumper to bumper. Many middle- and upper-class Iranians were headed to the Caspian Sea, a popular getaway spot. Long lines snaked from Tehran's gas stations.
Satellite images analyzed on Wednesday by The Associated Press appear to show no vessels anchored off the headquarters of the U.S. navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain, more than 1,000 kilometres south of Tehran. Dispersing ships is a common safety technique employed by navies around the world in times of trouble.
Iran has threatened to target U.S. military installations in the region, though there's not been any attack so far since the Israeli campaign against Iran began on Friday.
Internet, phone service disruption
Iranian authorities appeared to be curbing the public's access to the outside world. Phone and internet service was disrupted, with landline phones unable to receive or dial international calls. NetBlocks, an internet monitoring group, reported that it had detected a significant drop in internet traffic from the country.
Iran's Cyber Security Command acknowledged the internet restrictions and in a statement carried by Iranian state television said it was "implementing numerous measures for different parts of the country." The move was meant to stop enemies from "continuing to exploit infrastructure to carry out cyber and military operations," the statement said.
Iran has restricted important communications tools during past nationwide protests and the 1980s Iran-Iraq war.
International websites appeared to be blocked, but local websites were functioning, likely signalling that Iran had turned on the so-called halal net, its locally controlled version of the internet aimed at limiting what the public can see.
Iran's state TV on Tuesday urged the public to remove the messaging app WhatsApp from their cellphones, alleging without evidence that the app gathered user information to send to Israel.
In a statement, WhatsApp said it was concerned "these false reports will be an excuse for our services to be blocked at a time when people need them the most."
'Direct impacts' on Natanz facility
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Tuesday it now believes Israeli airstrikes on Iran's Natanz enrichment site had directly affected the facility's underground centrifuge facility.
Satellite imagery collected after Friday's attacks showed "additional elements that indicate direct impacts on the underground enrichment halls," the watchdog said.
The IAEA earlier reported that Israeli strikes had destroyed an above-ground enrichment hall at Natanz and knocked out electrical equipment that powered the facility, which is 220 kilometres southeast of Tehran.
However, most of Iran's enrichment takes place underground to protect from airstrikes.
Israel has struck Natanz repeatedly and claims to have hurt its underground facilities, which experts assess contain 10,000 centrifuges that enrich uranium up to 60 per cent.
Iran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful, and the U.S. and others have assessed that Tehran has not had an organized effort to pursue a nuclear weapon since 2003. But the IAEA has repeatedly warned that the country has enough enriched uranium to make several nuclear bombs should it choose to do so.
While Netanyahu claimed Monday that Israeli strikes on Iran's nuclear sites have set the country's nuclear program back a "very, very long time," Israel has not been able to reach Iran's Fordow uranium enrichment facility, which is built deep into a mountainside.
Hitting Fordow would require the U.S. to get involved militarily and deploy B-2 stealth bombers to drop its bunker-busting bomb. The 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator uses its weight and sheer kinetic force to reach deeply buried targets.