The death toll is increasing as Israel and Iran continued their missile exchanges for a third day in a row on Sunday, with Israel cautioning that the situation could worsen.
Israel targeted Iran’s Defense Ministry headquarters in Tehran and sites it claimed were linked to Iran’s nuclear program, while Iranian missiles bypassed Israeli air defenses and struck buildings deep within Israel.
The region prepared for a prolonged conflict as Israel’s attacks on nuclear and military installations resulted in the deaths of several senior generals and leading nuclear scientists.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump also had a warning for Tehran, saying it can expect “the full strength and might of the U.S. Armed Forces” if it retaliates against the United States. Trump insisted that Washington had nothing to do with Israel’s attack on Iran.
Israel launched its attacks after weeks of escalating tensions between Israel and Iran over Iran’s nuclear program. Iran announced Thursday that it planned to activate a third nuclear enrichment facility shortly after the U.N. nuclear watchdog censured Iran for failing to comply with nonproliferation obligations.
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Here’s the latest:
Death toll grows in Israel
At least 10 people in Israel 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.
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.
Explosions in Tehran
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 U.N. ambassador, who said 78 people had been killed and more than 320 wounded.
Semiofficial Iranian news agencies 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.
World leaders are issuing urgent calls to deescalate.
But Israeli’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel’s strikes so far are “nothing compared to what they will feel under the sway of our forces in the coming days.”
Trump warns Tehran not to target U.S.
President Donald Trump said the U.S. had “nothing to do with the attack on Iran” and warned Tehran against targeting U.S. interests in retaliation.
“If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the U.S. Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before. However, we can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social late Saturday.
Nuclear talks called off
Planned talks on Iran’s nuclear program, which could provide an off-ramp, have been called off.
The Arab Gulf country of Oman, which has been mediating indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program, said a sixth round planned for Sunday would not take place.
Iran’s top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, said Saturday that the nuclear talks were “unjustifiable” after Israel’s strikes, which he said were the “result of the direct support by Washington.”
Iran has always said its nuclear program was peaceful, and the U.S. 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.
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