Israel and Iran have intensified their hostilities overnight, raising concerns about a larger conflict as Israel escalated its unexpected campaign against its main adversary with a strike on the world’s largest gas field.
In response, Iran has suspended nuclear negotiations that the US claimed were vital to halting Israel’s bombardment, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remarked that the current attacks were just a prelude to what Iran would soon experience.
According to Israel’s military, additional missiles were fired from Iran towards Israel overnight, prompting retaliatory strikes on military sites in Tehran.
A fire rages in the oil depots of Shahran, northwest of Tehran.
Early this morning, air raid sirens sounded across Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Multiple missiles were observed traveling above the Israeli capital, prompting ground-based interceptor rockets to be launched.
Israel’s ambulance service reported three women were killed and ten others injured in an earlier missile strike near a residence in northern Israel.
Emergency responders, equipped with flashlights, were visible sifting through the debris of a partially collapsed home in Tamra, a largely Palestinian city.
Around 2:30 AM local time, the Israeli military issued a warning of another missile barrage from Iran and advised the public to take shelter. By 3:30 AM, at least four people had died and 36 had been reported injured due to multiple missile strikes overnight.
Israeli media disseminated an image of a ten-story residential building, said to be in central Israel, exhibiting considerable damage following a strike.
Iran indicated that the Shahran oil depot in Tehran was hit in an Israeli assault, asserting that the situation was under control and noting a fire ignited following an attack on an oil refinery near the capital.
Israeli strikes also targeted a defense ministry building in Tehran, causing minor damage, as reported by Iran’s Tasnim news agency.
The Revolutionary Guards of Iran claimed they launched missiles and drones aimed at Israel’s energy infrastructure and fighter jet fuel production facilities.
The elite force warned that Iranian attacks would become “heavier and more extensive” if Israel persisted in its aggressions.
Israeli emergency responders examine a location struck by a missile fired from Iran south of Tel Aviv.
US President Donald Trump has cautioned Iran about potential escalations, yet stated it’s not too late for Iran to curb its nuclear program in exchange for an end to Israel’s offensive.
A planned round of US-Iran nuclear discussions in Oman was canceled, with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi stating that talks could not occur while Iran faced Israel’s “barbarous” assaults.
In what appears to be the initial strike affecting Iran’s energy infrastructure, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that production at the world’s largest gas field was partially halted following an Israeli attack which sparked a fire.
The South Pars field, located offshore in Iran’s southern Bushehr province, is responsible for the majority of gas production in Iran.
Iran has reported significant casualties.
On the first day of Israel’s campaign, Iran claimed 78 individuals were killed, with additional casualties on the second day, including 60 fatalities resulting from a missile strike that collapsed a 14-story apartment building in Tehran, with 29 of the deceased being children.
Iran also retaliated with its own missile barrage, leading to at least three fatalities in Israel.
As Israel indicated its operations could extend for weeks, Prime Minister Netanyahu encouraged the Iranian populace to rise against their Islamic clerical leaders, heightening fears of a regional conflagration involving outside forces.
Demonstrators congregate in Tehran during a rally in support of the government against Israel’s assaults.
B’Tselem, a prominent Israeli human rights organization, asserted that instead of exploring all diplomatic avenues, the Israeli government opted to initiate a conflict that threatens the entire region.
Iran has cautioned Israel’s allies that their military bases in the region would be targeted if they assisted in intercepting Iranian missiles.
Nevertheless, 20 months of conflict in Gaza, coupled with last year’s hostilities in Lebanon, have severely weakened Tehran’s strongest regional allies, Hamas and Hezbollah, limiting its options for retaliation.
Israel views Iran’s nuclear program as an existential threat and contends that its bombardment aims to disrupt progress towards nuclear weapon production.
Iran maintains that its nuclear program is purely for civilian purposes and denies any intention of developing an atomic bomb.
However, the UN nuclear watchdog has reported that Iran is in violation of its commitments under the global non-proliferation treaty this week.
