Israel unleashed a punishing barrage of strikes targeting the capital Tehran Sunday, after prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to make Iran pay ‘a very heavy price’ for killing civilians, on the third day of fierce fighting.
With no let-up in sight, Iran said it would begin opening mosques, metro stations and schools to serve as makeshift bomb shelters for civilians, as Israel kept up its withering blows.
President Donald Trump told a news network Sunday the United States could become involved in the Iran-Israel conflict, and that he would be ‘open’ to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin being a mediator.
The Republican president, according to ABC News, also said talks over Iran’s nuclear programme were continuing and that Tehran would ‘like to make a deal,’ perhaps more quickly now that the Islamic republic is trading massive strikes with Israel.
After decades of enmity and war by proxy, the latest conflict marked the first time the arch-enemies have traded fire with such intensity, triggering fears of a prolonged conflict that could engulf the entire Middle East.
As Israel continued to target sites across the Islamic republic, Iran launched a new barrage of missiles aimed at Israel on Sunday afternoon, setting off air raid sirens in Jerusalem and elsewhere.
Earlier Sunday, Netanyahu slammed Iran for allegedly targeting civilian areas.
‘Iran will pay a very heavy price for the premeditated murder of civilians, women and children,’ Netanyahu said during a visit to the site of a missile strike on a residential building in the coastal city of Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv.
The remarks came hours came after Iranian missile fire targeting Israel killed at least 10 people overnight, according to authorities, pushing the death toll up to 13 since Iran began its retaliatory strikes Friday, with 380 reported injured.
Iranian media, citing the health ministry, meanwhile reported at least 128 killed in Israeli attacks from Friday to Saturday, including women and children, with 900 more reported injured.
In Tehran, a heavy cloud of smoke hung above the city after Israeli aircraft hit two fuel depots. Local media later reported an Israeli strike hit the police headquarters in the city centre.
The Israeli military said its air force had targeted ‘more than 80’ positions in Tehran overnight.
Donald Trump said Washington ‘had nothing to do’ with Israel’s intense bombardment campaign that was launched early Friday, hitting key military and nuclear sites as well as residential areas.
But Trump also threatened to launch ‘the full strength and might’ of the US military if Iran attacks American interests, later urging the two foes to ‘make a deal’.
‘It’s possible we could get involved’ in the ongoing battle between the Middle East arch-foes, Trump said in an off-camera interview with ABC News senior political correspondent Rachel Scott that was not previously publicized.
He stressed that the United States is ‘not at this moment’ involved in the military action.
As for Putin being a potential mediator in the conflict, ‘he is ready. He called me about it. We had a long talk about it,’ Trump said.
Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi nonetheless said that Tehran had ‘solid proof’ that US forces had supported Israel in its attacks.
Israeli police said six people were killed and at least 180 injured at the site of an overnight missile strike in Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv on Israel’s Mediterranean coast.
In Iran’s capital early Sunday, AFP journalists heard a series of blasts.
The head of Tehran’s traffic police Ahmad Karami told IRNA news agency ‘heavy traffic was reported at the capital’s exit points’.
Israel said its forces had struck the defence ministry headquarters in Tehran, where Iranian news agency Tasnim reported damage.
The Israeli military also said it had struck nuclear sites, including the secretive Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, fuel tankers and other targets.
The Iranian oil ministry said Israel targeted two fuel depots in the Tehran area.
Iran scrapped nuclear talks with the US planned for Sunday, saying it was ‘meaningless’ to negotiate while under fire.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Sunday they had struck sites used by Israeli warplanes for refuelling.
