"Tehran will burn" if Iran continues firing missiles, Israel's defence minister warned Saturday as the two countries traded blows a day after Israel attacked nuclear and military sites in Iran, killing a number of top generals.
Israel's military said the strikes had also killed nine senior scientists and experts involved in Iran's nuclear program.
Iran's UN ambassador said 78 people died and more than 320 were wounded in the attacks.
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 20 months of war in Gaza sparked by Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, to head to shelter for hours. Health officials said three people were killed and dozens wounded.
Speaking after an assessment meeting with the army's chief of staff, 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 his objective was to eliminate any Iranian threat to Israel, but he also urged Iranians to rise up against their leaders. Israel would welcome the government's overthrow even if it is not actively
seeking it.
Israel's strikes also put further talks between the United States and Iran over a nuclear accord into doubt. The U.S. and Iran were scheduled to meet in Oman on Sunday.
Iran's top diplomat said Saturday that talks with the United States were "unjustifiable" after Israeli strikes on his country, likely signalling no negotiations this weekend with Washington.
However, he stopped short of saying the talks were cancelled.
The comments by Abbas Araghchi, Iran's minister of foreign affairs, came when he spoke by phone 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 U.S. has said it isn't part of the strikes.
Iranian missiles strike IsraelKhamenei said in a recorded message Friday: "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.
Israeli security forces inspect destroyed houses in Rishon Lezion that were struck by a missile fired from Iran on Saturday. (Ohad Zwigenberg/The Associated Press)The Iranian attacks killed at least three people and wounded around 70, 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 the impact occurred. It was the first report of Israeli military casualties since the initial Israeli strikes.
WATCH | Could the U.S. get involved in the Iran-Israel conflict?: Scores of Iranian retaliatory missiles shook the skies of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Friday. The attacks followed blistering strikes from Israel earlier that day, which Iran says ‘initiated a war.’ CBC’s Crystal Goomansingh and Sasa Petricic provide the latest, and former U.S. assistant secretary of state P.J. Crowley speaks to Hanomansing Tonight about what this could mean for Iranian nuclear negotiations and if the U.S. could get involved in the conflict.U.S. ground-based air defence systems in the region were helping to shoot down Iranian missiles, said a U.S. 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 where the 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, it fell apart," 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.
Indications of a new Israeli attackIranian state television reported online that air defences were firing in the cities of Khorramabad, Kermanshah and Tabriz, signalling the start of what could be a new Israeli attack. Footage from Tabriz showed black smoke rising from the city.
An Israeli military official said Saturday 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.
The trace of a projectile is seen before hitting Tel Aviv early on Saturday. (Leo Correa/The Associated Press)Overnight, the sound of explosions and Iranian air defence systems firing at targets echoed across central Tehran. Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported a fire at Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport.
The Israeli military said it carried out overnight strikes on dozens of targets, including air defences, "in the area of Tehran."
Israel's ongoing airstrikes and Iran's retaliation raised concerns about all-out war between the countries and propelled the region, already on edge, into even greater upheaval. Israel's 20-month war with Gaza shows no signs of ending. At least 27 people were killed by Israeli fire in Gaza overnight, according to local hospitals.
Countries in the region condemned Israel's attack, while leaders around the world called for immediate deescalation from both sides.
'More than a few weeks' to fix nuclear facilitiesAmong the key sites Israel attacked was Iran's main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz, where black smoke could be seen rising into the air.
Israel said it also struck a nuclear research facility in Isfahan and it destroyed dozens of radar installations and surface-to-air missile launchers in western Iran. Iran confirmed the strike at Isfahan.
The Israeli military official said that according to the army's initial assessment, "it will take much more than a few weeks" for Iran to repair the damage to the Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites. The official said the army had "concrete intelligence that production in Isfahan was for military purposes."
Rescue personnel stand next to damaged vehicles following an Iranian missile strike in Rishon Lezion, on Saturday. (Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)Israel denied it had struck the nuclear enrichment facility in Fordo, about 100 kilometres southeast of Tehran, after an Iranian news outlet close to the government reported the sound of explosions near the site.
UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that the above-ground section of the Natanz facility was destroyed.
The main centrifuge facility underground did not appear to have been hit, but the loss of power could have damaged the infrastructure there, he said.
Netanyahu said the attack had been months in the making and was planned for April before being postponed.
Among those killed were three of Iran's top military leaders:
One who oversaw the entire armed forces, Gen. Mohammad Bagheri. One who led the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami. The head of the Guard's ballistic missile program, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh.Two of Bagheri's deputies were also killed, Iran confirmed Saturday: Gen. Gholamreza Mehrabi, the deputy of intelligence for the armed forces' general staff, and Gen. Mehdi Rabbani, the deputy of operations.
On Saturday, Khamenei named a new leader for the Revolutionary Guard's aerospace division. Gen. Majid Mousavi will replace Hajizadeh, who was killed in Friday's airstrike. The Revolutionary Guard's aerospace division oversees Iran's arsenal of ballistic missiles.
Trump urged Iran on Friday to reach a deal with the U.S. on its nuclear program, warning on his Truth Social platform that Israel's attacks "will only get worse."
"Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left," he wrote.