Death toll grows as Israel, Iran trade attacks for third day
Jerusalem: The death toll grew Sunday as Israel and Iran exchanged missile attacks for a third consecutive day, with Israel warning that worse is to come.
Israel targeted Iran’s Defence Ministry headquarters in Tehran and sites it alleged were associated with Iran’s nuclear programme, while Iranian missiles evaded Israeli air defences and slammed into buildings deep inside Israel.
In Israel, at least 10 people 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.
The country’s main international airport and airspace remained closed for a third day. There was no update to an Iranian death toll released the day before by Iran’s UN ambassador, who said 78 people had been killed and more than 320 wounded.
The region braced for a drawn-out conflict after Israel’s strikes hit nuclear and military facilities, killing several senior generals and top nuclear scientists. President Donald Trump said the US had “nothing to do with the attack on Iran” and warned Tehran to expect “the full strength and might of the US Armed Forces” if it retaliates against the United States.
Meanwhile, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian criticised the United States and some Western countries for supporting Israel’s attacks on Iran.
He said that if Israeli attacks continue, Iran’s responses “will be more decisive and severe.”
Pezeshkian said that Israel “is not capable of any action without the permission of the U.S.” and that “what we are witnessing today is being done with the direct support of Washington.”
In a report carried on state TV, Pezeshkian said that Iran has never sought war and conflict. “However, just as our armed forces, including the powerful army and Islamic Revolutionary Guard, have so far provided appropriate and firm responses, in case of continued hostile actions, the responses will be more decisive and severe.”
Israel doesn’t want regime change in Iran, foreign minister says.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Sunday that the goal of its military campaign in Iran “is not a regime change.”
“This is for the Iranian people to decide,” Sa’ar said in an interview on CNN. He said the Israeli security Cabinet set the objective as eliminating Iran’s nuclear program and minimizing its ballistic missile threat.
“I believe what we are doing, as an ally for the U.S. and for the Western civilization as a whole, is critical for stability in this part of the world,” Sa’ar said, adding: “If we learn something from our history, when somebody says I’m going to eliminate the Jews,’ take him at his word.”
Sa’ar said Iran was within six months of being able to build as many as nine nuclear bombs.
Iran’s foreign minister was scheduled to also be interviewed on CNN but had to cancel at the last minute, the network said.
Macron calls for de-escalation
French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated his call for “de-escalation” in the Israel-Iran conflict.
“We continue to call for de-escalation and for talks to resume,” Macron said Sunday in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital.
Macron spoke with both U.S. President Donald Trump and Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday. He said the issue will be addressed at the meeting of the Group of Seven most industrialized nations this week in Canada, with the aim “to prevent any escalation in Iran’s acquisition of nuclear capability, and to avoid any kind of conflagration in the region.”
Trump says in a post that Iran and Israel should and will’ make a deal.
US President Donald Trump in a social media post Sunday said that Iran and Israel “should make a deal, and will make a deal,” comparing his efforts to agreements that had stopped hostilities between India and Pakistan and in other global hotspots.
“Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal, just like I got India and Pakistan to make, in that case by using TRADE with the United States to bring reason, cohesion, and sanity into the talks with two excellent leaders who were able to quickly make a decision and STOP!” Trump wrote.
“Also, during my first term, Serbia and Kosovo were going at it hot and heavy, as they have for many decades, and this long time conflict was ready to break out into WAR. I stopped it (Biden has hurt the longer term prospects with some very stupid decisions, but I will fix it, again!). Another case is Egypt and Ethiopia, and their fight over a massive dam that is having an effect on the magnificent Nile River. There is peace, at least for now, because of my intervention, and it will stay that way! Likewise, we will have PEACE, soon, between Israel and Iran! Many calls and meetings now taking place. I do a lot, and never get credit for anything, but that’s OK, the PEOPLE understand. MAKE THE MIDDLE EAST GREAT AGAIN!”
Smoke is rising over several parts of Tehran
Iran’s Hamshahri Daily, which is affiliated with the Tehran municipality, on its Telegram channel published a video showing a large volume of gray smoke over the Tehran Pars area in the eastern part of the capital.
Iranian state television reported on its Telegram channel that the Tehran Police Command building in the city center sustained minor damage from a drone strike, resulting in minor injuries to several officers.
Images circulating on social media depicted white smoke, with claims that it resulted from an explosion in the Niavaran area of northern Tehran. An Associated Press reporter said that buildings in the vicinity of the explosion were shaken.
UK advises against travel to Israel.
Britain has updated its guidance to advise against all travel to Israel as tensions escalate in the Middle East.
Israel went from “amber” to “red.” That puts it on the same level as Iran.
Britain on Friday had advised against all but essential travel to Israel, and the advice Sunday reflects a step further.
Neighborhoods in Tehran targeted by Israeli airstrikes, media reports say.
Iran’s semi-officials Fars and Tasnim news agencies, both close to the Revolutionary Guard, reported that two areas in Tehran were targeted by Israeli attacks Sunday.
Tasnim said that an explosion occurred in the Vali-e Asr Square area in the capital downtown. Fars reported that an explosion hit the Niroo Havaei neighborhood, “Air Force” in Farsi, in the east of Tehran. The extent of these explosions has not yet been reported.
The Niroo Havaei neighborhood is where the headquarters of Iran’s air force is situated.
Earlier, the Israeli military warned personnel to evacuate military weapons production factories in Tehran.
Pakistan denies Iranian media reports that it would send missiles to Iran.
A senior Foreign Ministry official from nuclear-armed Pakistan denied Iranian media reports that Pakistan would soon supply Iran with a consignment of some 750 non-nuclear ballistic missiles to aid in the campaign against Israel.
There was no immediate comment about the Iranian media reports from the Pakistani military. The Foreign Ministry official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the issue.
Pakistan does not disclose details about its missile stockpiles, but it regularly test-fires short, medium and long-range missiles in response to rival India, also a nuclear power.
Egypt’s currency plunges as Israel-Iran conflict escalates.
Egypt’s pound and the stock market plunged on Sunday as the conflict between Iran and Israel escalates.
The pound slumped against the U.S. dollar, trading at over 50.60 in banks, down from about 49.8 last week.
Egypt’s EGX 30 Index plunged with all its stocks reported delicate. The benchmark fell over 7.5% at the beginning of the day, but closed with losses at 4.6%.
Explosions shook Tehran on Sunday afternoon
Just before 3:30 p.m. (1200 GMT) in Tehran, four loud explosions shook the capital, likely from new Israeli strikes.
It wasn’t immediately clear what had been targeted.
Iraqi militia warns the United States.
The powerful Iran-linked Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah on Sunday warned it will target U.S. interests and bases in the region if Washington intervenes in the hostilities between Israel and Iran.
The group said in a statement that it is “closely monitoring the movements of the American enemy’s military in the region” and “should the United States intervene in the war (between Israel and Iran), we will directly target its interests and bases spread throughout the region without hesitation.”
The statement was the first explicit and direct threat issued by an Iraqi militia to target U.S. forces and interests in the region since the outbreak of the Iran-Israel conflict.
Iraqi militias have previously targeted U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria, but have largely remained quiet since Israel launched a barrage of strikes on Iran and Tehran retaliated. Three drones launched at the Ain al Assad base housing U.S. troops in western Iraq on Friday were shot down, and no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Iran lists members of its missile program killed in Israeli strike
Iran said an Israeli strike that killed the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s missile program also took out seven of his trusted deputies, seriously disrupting its command.
Iran previously acknowledged the death of Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Guard’s aerospace division in Friday’s strike.
Also killed were Gen. Mahmoud Bagheri, Gen. Davoud Sheikhian, Gen. Mohammad Bagher Taherpour, Gen. Mansour Safarpour, Gen. Masoud Tayyeb, Gen. Khosro Hasani and Gen. Javad Jarsara, the Guard said Sunday.
The Guard did not elaborate on why the men had gathered in one place.
Iran says metro stations and mosques will be bomb shelters
Signaling Iran believed Israel’s strikes would continue, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said metro stations and mosques would be available as bomb shelters for the public beginning Sunday night, Iranian state television reported.(AP)
