Dubai: Israel’s defence minister warned Saturday that “Tehran will burn” if Iran continues firing missiles, as the countries traded blows a day after Israel launched a blistering surprise attack on Iranian nuclear and military sites, killing several top generals. The attacks have left Iran’s surviving leadership with the difficult decision of plunging deeper into conflict with Israel’s more powerful forces or seeking a diplomatic route. The ongoing Israeli strikes appear to have halted — for now — any diplomacy between the US and Iran over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear programme.
Israel and Iran signalled more attacks are coming despite urgent calls from world leaders to deescalate to avoid all-out war. The region is already on edge as Israel makes a new push to eliminate the Iranian-backed militant group Hamas in Gaza after 20 months of fighting.
Israel — which is widely believed to have a nuclear weapons programme — said its hundreds of strikes on Iran over the past two days also killed nine senior scientists and experts involved in Iran’s nuclear programme. Iran’s UN ambassador said 78 people were killed and more than 320 wounded. Iran retaliated by launching waves of drones and ballistic missiles at Israel, where explosions lit the night skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and shook buildings. The Israeli military urged civilians, already rattled by the war in Gaza sparked by Hamas’ October 7 attack, to head to shelter for hours.
Health officials said three people were killed and dozens wounded.
Defence Minister Israel Katz said Iran will pay a heavy price for harming Israeli citizens. “If (Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei continues to fire missiles at the Israeli home front — Tehran will burn,” Katz said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that his objective was to eliminate any Iranian threat to Israel, but he also urged Iranians to rise up against their leaders.
The US and Iran were scheduled to be in Oman on Sunday for their sixth round of indirect talks over Iran’s nuclear programme. Iran’s top diplomat said Saturday the talks were “unjustifiable” after the Israeli strikes, likely signalling no negotiations this weekend.
But he stopped short of saying the talks were cancelled.
The comments by Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s minister of foreign affairs, came during a call with Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat.
The Israeli airstrikes were the “result of the direct support by Washington,” Araghchi said in a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency.
The US has said it isn’t part of the strikes.
There was no immediate word from the White House after Araghchi’s comments. On Friday, US President Donald Trump urged Iran to reach a deal with the US on its nuclear programme. He warned on social media that Israel’s attacks “will only get worse,” adding that “Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left.”
Khamenei signalled in a recorded message Friday that Iran was prepared to keep up its retaliatory attacks on Israel: “We will not allow them to escape safely from this great crime they committed.”
Iran launched waves of missiles at Israel late Friday and early Saturday, and Iranians awoke to state television airing repeated clips of strikes on Israel, as well as videos of people cheering and handing out sweets.
The Iranian attacks killed at least three people and wounded 76, mostly in and around Tel Aviv, according to two local hospitals. One missile severely damaged at least four homes in the nearby city of Rishon Lezion, according to first responders.
The Israeli military said seven soldiers were lightly wounded when a missile hit central Israel, without specifying where. It was the first report of Israeli military casualties since the initial Israeli strikes.
US ground-based air defence systems in the region were helping to shoot down Iranian missiles, said a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the measures.
In Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv, an Associated Press journalist saw burned-out cars and at least three damaged houses, including one whose front was nearly entirely torn away.
Residents of a central Israeli city that was hit Friday night told the AP the explosion was so powerful it shook their shelter door open.
“We thought, that’s it, the house is gone, and in fact half of the house was gone,” said Moshe Shani.
Israeli police said debris from the interception of drones and missiles fell in dozens of locations in northern Israel, causing damage and fires but no injuries.
Israel’s main international airport said Saturday it will remain closed until further notice.
Iranian state television reported online that air defenses were firing in the cities of Khorramabad, Kermanshah and Tabriz. Footage from Tabriz showed black smoke rising from the city.
An Israeli military official said Saturday that the military was poised to carry out more strikes in Iran, saying, “This is not over.” He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with official procedures.
Israel’s army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, said Israel had attacked more than 400 targets across Iran, including 40 in Tehran, where dozens of fighter jets were “operating freely.” He said it was the deepest point Israel’s air force had operated.
Defrin said fighter jets struck over 40 “missile-related targets and advanced air defence array systems” across Iran.