Israeli strikes kill more senior Iranian officials on the 3rd day of open conflict – National
Israel said they operated almost freely in the sky above Iran on a third day of air strikes on Sunday and killed more security personalities, while some Iranian missiles have slipped through the Israeli air defenses. The two parties threatened to launch more attacks.
In an indication of the extent to which Israel was ready to go among the fears of a total war, an American official told the Associated Press that President Donald Trump in recent days had vetoed an Israeli plan to kill the supreme Iranian chief of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Iranian Ministry of Health said late Sunday Sunday that 224 people had been killed since the start of Israel’s attack. The spokesman Hossein Kermanpour said on social networks that 1,277 other people had been hospitalized. He said more than 90% of victims were civilians.
The paramilitary revolution goalkeeper, who controls the arsenal of ballistic missiles by Iran, said that General of Intelligence, General Mohammad Kazemi and two other generals, were the last killed, Iranian state television reported on Sunday evening. Israel’s attacks have killed several nuclear generals and scientists.
Iran also said that Israel had struck two oil refineries, increasing the prospect of a broader attack on the strongly sanctioned energy industry in Iran which could affect global markets. The Israeli army warned the Iranians to evacuate arms factories, signaling an additional enlargement of the campaign. The Iranian army, on state television, warned the Israelis to stay away from the “occupied” areas.
Israel, the only non -declared nuclear weapons in the Middle East, said that it had launched the attack – its most powerful of all time against Iran – to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. The two countries have been opponents for decades. Iran’s last US interviews on its nuclear program were canceled.
The explosions rocked the Iranian capital of Tehran. The sirens went to Israel. The Israeli army noted “several success sites” on Sunday evening, including in Haifa in the North, and the Magen David Adom emergency service said that it had treated nine injured.
Israel said 14 people had been killed there since Friday and 390 injured. Iran pulled more than 270 missiles, 22 of which crossed the country’s aerial defenses, according to Israeli figures. International airport and Israel’s airspace were closed for a third day.
The Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abbas Araghchi, said that if the strikes of Israel at the Iranian stop, then “our answers will also stop”. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian criticized the United States for supporting Israel and said that “the answers will be more decisive and more serious” if Israel continues to attack, reported state television.
Trump said that the United States “had nothing to do with the attack” and that Iran can only avoid additional destruction by accepting a new nuclear agreement.
The photos shared by the Iran Iran news agency have shown that bloody people helped from the Israeli strike scene in downtown Tehran. A man wore a girl splashed with blood.
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Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said that Israel had struck a building from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the north of Tehran, with several wounded civilians “including a number of my colleagues,” reported the Iran of Iran news agency.
Israeli strikes have also targeted the Iranian Defense Ministry after hitting the air defenses, military bases and sites associated with its nuclear program. On Sunday evening, Israel said that it had struck “many” sites across Iran that produce missile and air defense components.
Israel also claimed to have attacked an Iranian refueling plane in Mashhad in the northeast, appealing the most distant strike that the army had made. Iran immediately recognized any attack. The video obtained and verified by the AP showed that smoke rising from the city.
The Iranian Foreign Minister said that Israel was aimed at an oil refinery near Tehran and another in a Persian Gulf province.
State television reported that metro stations and mosques would be made available as a bombing from Sunday evening.
The number of deaths increases in Israel
Earlier Sunday in Israel, at least six people, including a 10 -year -old child and a 9 -year -old child, were killed when a missile struck an apartment building in Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv. Daniel Hadad, a local police commander, said 180 people had been injured and seven disappeared.
Four other people, including a 13 -year -old child, were killed and 24 injured when a missile struck a building in the Arab city of Tamra in northern Israel. A strike on the central city of Rehovot injured 42. The Weizmann Institute of Science, an important center for military research and others in Rehovot, reported “a certain number of successes in the buildings on the campus” and said that no one had been injured.
An oil refinery was damaged in the Israeli city in northern Haifa, according to the company which operated it, which said that no one was injured.
Netanyahu says that the change of diet in Iran could be a result
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected urgent calls from world leaders to descend.
In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, he said that the change of diet in Iran “could certainly be the result” of the conflict. He also said, without testifying, that Israeli information said that Iran intended to give nuclear weapons to the Houthi rebels supported by Iran in Yemen.
Iran has always declared that its nuclear program was peaceful and that the United States and others have evaluated that it had not been pursuing a weapon since 2003. But Iran has enriched larger stocks of uranium at levels close to the quality of weapons in recent years and would have the capacity to develop several weapons in a few months if it did.
The UN atomic watchdog published a rare censorship of Iran last week.
A senior American official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive nuclear talks, said Washington has remained attached to them and hoped that the Iranians would return to the table.
The region is already on board while Israel seeks to destroy Hamas, an Iranian ally, in the Gaza Strip, where war is still raging after the attack on October 7, 2023 of Hamas.
In an article on social networks, Trump warned Iran that all reprisals directed against this would bring an American response “at levels never seen before”.
“ Over a few weeks ” to repair nuclear installations
In Iran, satellite photos analyzed by AD have significant damage in the main nuclear enrichment installation of Iran in Natanz. The images taken on Saturday by Planet Labs PBC show several damaged or destroyed buildings. Structures struck include buildings identified by experts and providing energy to installation.
The UN nuclear chief, Rafael Grossi, told the Security Council that the section above the ground of the Natanz installation had been destroyed. The main underground centrifuge does not seem to be affected, but the loss of power could have damaged the infrastructure, he said.
Israel also struck a nuclear research installation in Isfahan. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations nuclear custody said that four “critical buildings” had been damaged, including the Isfahan uranium conversion installation. IAEA said there was no sign of radiation in Natanz or Isfahan.
An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity on Sunday in accordance with official procedures, said that it would be “several months, perhaps more” to restore the two sites.
Melzer reported Nahariya, Israel and Goldenberg of Tel Aviv, Israel. The writers of the associated press Nasser Karimi and Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran; Sam Mednick and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
