DUBAI: Iran fired a new wave of missile attacks on Israel early Monday, triggering air raid sirens across the country as emergency services reported at least five killed and dozens more wounded in the fourth day of open warfare between the regional foes that showed no sign of slowing.
Iran announced it had launched some 100 missiles and vowed further retaliation for Israel’s sweeping attacks on its military and nuclear infrastructure, which have killed at least 224 people in the country since last Friday.
The attacks raised Israel’s total death toll to at least 18, and in response the Israeli military said fighter jets had struck 10 command centers in Tehran belonging to Iran’s Quds Force, an elite arm of its Revolutionary Guard that conducts military and intelligence operations outside Iran.
Smoke billows from a site in the city of Haifa on June 16, 2025, following a fresh barrage of Iranian missiles. (AFP)
Powerful explosions, likely from Israel’s defense systems intercepting Iranian missiles, rocked Tel Aviv shortly before dawn on Monday, sending plumes of black smoke into the sky over the coastal city.
Authorities in the central Israeli city of Petah Tikva said Iranian missiles had hit a residential building there, charring concrete walls, shattering windows and ripping the walls off multiple apartments.
The Israeli Magen David Adom emergency service reported that two women and two men — all in their 70s — were killed in the wave of missile attacks that struck four sites in central Israel.
“We clearly see that our civilians are being targeted,” said Israeli police spokesman Dean Elsdunne outside the bombed-out building in Petah Tikva. “And this is just one scene, we have other sites like this near the coast, in the south.”
The MDA added that paramedics had evacuated another 87 wounded people to hospitals, including a 30-year-old woman in serious condition, while rescuers were still searching for residents trapped beneath the rubble of their homes.
Iran tells Qatar, Oman it won't negotiate ceasefire with US while under Israeli attack
Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on Sunday, killing and wounding civilians and raising concerns of a broader regional conflict, with both militaries urging civilians on the opposing side to take precautions against further strikes.
Israel warned that the worse is to come. It targeted Iran's Defense Ministry headquarters in Tehran and sites it alleged were associated with Iran's nuclear program, while Iranian missiles evaded Israeli air defenses and slammed into buildings deep inside Israel.
An Iranian health ministry spokesperson, Hossein Kermanpour, said the toll since the start of Israeli strikes had risen to 224 dead and more than 1,200 injured, 90 percent of whom he said were civilians. Those killed included 60 on Saturday, half of them children, in a 14-story apartment block flattened in the Iranian capital.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he hoped a meeting of the Group of Seven leaders in Canada on Sunday would reach an agreement to help resolve the conflict and keep it from escalating.
Iran has told mediators Qatar and Oman that it is not open to negotiating a ceasefire with the US while it is under Israeli attack, an official briefed on the communications told Reuters on Sunday. The Israeli military, which launched the attacks on Friday with the stated aim of wiping out Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, warned Iranians living near weapons facilities to evacuate.
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.
Explosions rattled Tel Aviv in the afternoon as Iran launched its first daylight missile raid since Israel attacked on Friday. Hours later, shortly after nightfall, Iran launched a second wave of missiles, which struck a residential street in Haifa, a mixed Jewish-Arab city in northern Israel.
The national emergency service reported nine people were injured in the strike, along with two others following a missile impact in the south. In Bat Yam on Sunday evening, shocked residents surveyed the damage of an overnight strike, while many across Israel braced for another sleepless night, unsure of what may come next.
“It’s very dreadful. It’s not fun. People are losing their lives and their homes,” said Shem, 29, whose home was shaken overnight when a missile struck a nearby apartment tower.
Images from Tehran showed the night sky lit up by a huge blaze at a fuel depot after Israel began strikes against Iran’s oil and gas sector — raising the stakes for the global economy and the functioning of the Iranian state.
“Iran will pay a heavy price for the murder of civilians, women and children,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said from a balcony overlooking blown-out apartments where six people were killed in Bat Yam, a town south of Tel Aviv.
Iran’s armed forces told residents of Israel to leave the vicinity of “vital areas” for their safety.
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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 U.S. Armed Forces” if it retaliates against the US.
Trump has expressed full support for Israel’s actions while warning Iran that it can only avoid further destruction by agreeing to a new nuclear deal.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that if the Israeli strikes on Iran stop, then “our responses will also stop.” He said the United States “is a partner in these attacks and must take responsibility.”
Trump vetoes plan to target Khamenei, US officials say
In Washington, two US officials told Reuters that US President Donald Trump had vetoed an Israeli plan in recent days to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“Have the Iranians killed an American yet? No. Until they do we’re not even talking about going after the political leadership,” said one of the sources, a senior US administration official.
When asked about the Reuters report, Netanyahu told Fox News on Sunday: “There’s so many false reports of conversations that never happened, and I’m not going to get into that.”
“We do what we need to do,” he told Fox’s “Special Report With Bret Baier.” Regime change in Iran could be a result of Israel’s military attacks, Netanyahu said in the interview, adding that Israel would do what it takes to remove what he called the “existential threat” posed by Tehran.
Israel’s military spokesperson has said the current goal of the campaign is not regime change, but the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs and removing its capabilities “to annihilate us.”
Israel launched a surprise attack on Friday morning that wiped out the top echelon of Iran’s military command and damaged its nuclear sites, and says the campaign will escalate in coming days.
Trump warns Iran not to attack
Trump has lauded Israel’s offensive while denying Iranian allegations that the US has taken part.
“If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the US Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before,” he said in a message on the Truth Social platform. “However, we can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict.”
Trump had earlier said the US had no role in Israel’s attack and warned Tehran not to widen its retaliation to include US targets. The US military has helped shoot down Iranian missiles that were headed toward Israel, two US officials said on Friday.
The US president has repeatedly said Iran could end the war by agreeing to tough restrictions on its nuclear program, which Iran says is for peaceful purposes but Western countries say could be used to make an atomic bomb.
The latest round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the US, due on Sunday, was scrapped after Tehran said it would not negotiate while under Israeli attack.
Financial markets are holding their breath to see whether oil prices surge further when trading resumes on Monday, with potentially punishing consequences for the global economy, or settle down on hopes that Gulf exports will escape relatively unscathed.
Oil prices already shot up by 9 percent on Friday before Israel had struck any Iranian oil and gas targets.
Iran accuses Israel of ‘deliberate’ strike on foreign ministry building
Iran on Sunday accused Israel of deliberately targeting a foreign ministry building in Tehran, saying the “ruthless” strike wounded several civilians.
“The criminal regime of Israel launched a deliberate and ruthless strike on one of the buildings of Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” deputy foreign minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a post on X alongside a video showing blown-out windows and debris littering the floors.
“Several civilians were injured in the attack.”
Death of IRGC intelligence chief confirmed
An Israeli strike on Sunday killed the intelligence chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Mohammed Kazemi, along with two other officers, the official IRNA news agency reported.
“Three intelligence generals, Mohammad Kazemi, Hassan Mohaghegh and Mohsen Bagheri were assassinated and fell as martyrs,” the agency said, citing a Revolutionary Guards statement.
The deaths of Kazemi and his deputy were also announced by Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said.
Kazemi was appointed as IRGC intelligence chief in mid-2022 to replace Hossein Taeb, who was dismissed as Turkiye arrested eight people working for an alleged Iranian terror cell that planned to murder Israeli tourists in Istanbul.
Military says several sites hit in Israel after Iran missile barrage
Israel’s military said several sites were hit by the latest Iranian missile barrage on Sunday, with firefighters reporting a residential building struck on the country’s Mediterranean coast.
“Homefront Command Search and Rescue teams have been dispatched to several hit sites in Israel, following the latest barrage from Iran,” the military said in a statement shortly after telling the public they could leave protected shelters.
The fire services, meanwhile, said rescuers were heading to building on the coast that sustained a “direct hit.”
Israel hits aerial refueling plane in Iran in ‘longest-range strike’
The Israeli military said it struck an aerial refueling aircraft at Mashhad Airport in eastern Iran on Sunday, describing it as its longest-range attack since launching operations against Iran last week.
Iran launches new wave of attacks on Israel: State media
Iran on Sunday launched a new wave of attacks on Israel, state television reported, as an intense exchange of fire raged between the two sides for a third day.
The official IRNA news agency also announced the beginning of “a new wave of missiles” launched toward Israel.
Israel air force struck ‘more than 80’ positions in Tehran
Israel’s military said Sunday that its air force had targeted “more than 80” positions in Iran’s capital Tehran in the third day of the most intense confrontation yet between the two arch-foes.
The strikes were conducted “throughout the night”, the military said in a statement, and “targeted more than 80 objectives, including the headquarters of the Iranian Ministry of Defense, the headquarters of the nuclear project (SPND), and additional targets where the Iranian regime hid the nuclear archive”.
El Al cancels flights to and from many cities until June 23
Israel’s El Al Airlines has cancelled flights to and from many European cities as well as Tokyo and Moscow until June 23 owing to the conflict between Israel and Iran, it said on Sunday.
The Israeli flag carrier said that all flights have been cancelled up to and including June 17, with Israel’s airspace still closed.
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 released the day before by Iran’s UN ambassador, who said 78 people had been killed and more than 320 wounded.
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.
Israeli strikes targeted Iran’s Defense Ministry early Sunday after hitting air defenses, military bases and sites associated with its nuclear program. The killing of several top generals and nuclear scientists in targeted strikes indicated that Israeli intelligence has penetrated Iran at the highest levels.
Death toll mounts in Israel
In Israel, at least six people, including a 10-year-old and a 9-year-old, 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.
Another four people, including a 13-year-old, were killed and 24 wounded when a missile struck a building in the Arab town of Tamra in northern Israel. A strike on the central city of Rehovot wounded 42.
The Weizmann Institute of Science, an important center for research in Rehovot, said “there were a number of hits to buildings on the campus.” It said no one was harmed.
Israel has sophisticated multi-tiered air defenses that are able to detect and intercept missiles fired at populated areas or key infrastructure, but officials acknowledge it is imperfect.
Israel attacks defense ministry facility in Isfahan
Iranian media said Sunday that Israel attacked a facility affiliated with the defense ministry in the central city of Isfahan, on the third consecutive day of Israeli strikes.
“One of the centers affiliated with the Ministry of Defense in Isfahan was attacked, and possible damages are under investigation,” ISNA news agency reported quoting deputy provincial governor Akbar Salehi.
Pipelines, transmission lines in Haifa damaged
Israel’s Oil Refineries said its pipelines and transmission lines in Haifa had been damaged by missile strikes by Iran, according to a regulatory filing to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
It said that no injuries or casualties were reported at the sites, with refining facilities continuing to operate despite a shutdown of some downstream operations.
It said it is examining the impact of the damage on its operations and implications on its financial results.
Israeli military issues evacuation warning to Iranians
Israel on Sunday issued an evacuation warning to Iranians residing near weapons facilities in Iran, an Israeli military spokesperson said in a post on X in Arabic and Farsi.
The spokesperson said the evacuation warning includes all weapons factories and supporting facilities.
Iran FM says has ‘solid proof’ US forces supported Israel in attacks
Araghchi said Sunday Tehran had evidence to show US forces supported the intense bombardment campaign Israel launched against the Islamis republic this week.
“We have solid proof of the support of the American forces and American bases in the region for the attacks of the Zionist regime military forces,” Araghchi told foreign diplomats in a meeting broadcast on state TV.
Araghchi also slammed the United Nations Security Council, accusing it of “indifference” over Israel’s deadly attacks on the Islamic republic.
Gas field attack
In the first apparent attack to hit Iran’s energy infrastructure, Tasnim news agency said Iran partially suspended production at South Pars, the world’s biggest gas field, after an Israeli strike caused a fire there on Saturday.
The South Pars field, offshore in Iran’s southern Bushehr province, is the source of most of the gas produced in Iran.
Fears about potential disruption to the region’s oil exports had already driven up oil prices 9 percent on Friday even though Israel spared Iran’s oil and gas on the first day of its attacks.
An Iranian general, Esmail Kosari, said on Saturday that Tehran was reviewing whether to close the Strait of Hormuz controlling access to the Gulf for tankers.
With Israel saying its operation could last weeks, and Netanyahu urging Iran’s people to rise up against their Islamic clerical rulers, fears have grown of a regional conflagration dragging in outside powers.
B’Tselem, a leading Israeli human rights organization, said on Saturday that instead of exhausting all possibilities for a diplomatic resolution, Israel’s government had chosen to start a war that puts the entire region in danger.
Tehran has warned Israel’s allies that their military bases in the region would come under fire too if they helped shoot down Iranian missiles.
However, 20 months of war in Gaza and a conflict in Lebanon last year have decimated Tehran’s strongest regional proxies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, reducing its options for retaliation.
Israel sees Iran’s nuclear program as a threat to its existence, and said the bombardment was designed to avert the last steps to production of a nuclear weapon.
Tehran insists the program is entirely civilian and that it does not seek an atomic bomb. The UN nuclear watchdog, however, reported Iran this week as violating obligations under the global non-proliferation treaty.
Iran says scores killed
Iran said 78 people were killed on the first day of Israel’s campaign, and scores more on the second, including 60 when a missile brought down a 14-story apartment block in Tehran, where 29 of the dead were children.
Iran had launched its own retaliatory missile volley on Friday night, killing at least three people in Israel.
With Israel saying its operation could last weeks, and Netanyahu urging Iran’s people to rise up against their Islamic clerical rulers, fears have grown of a regional conflagration dragging in outside powers.
‘We will hit every site’
Israel said three people were killed and 76 wounded by Iran’s retaliatory drone and missile barrage overnight, which lit up the skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to keep up Israel’s campaign.
“We will hit every site, every target of the ayatollah regime,” he said in a video statement, threatening greater action “in the coming days.”
He added that the Israeli campaign had dealt a “real blow” to Iran’s nuclear program and maintained it had the “clear support” of US President Donald Trump.
Netanyahu’s defense minister, Israel Katz, warned “Tehran will burn” if it kept targeting Israeli civilians.
Urgent calls to deescalate
World leaders made urgent calls to deescalate and avoid all-out war. The attack on nuclear sites set a “dangerous precedent,” China’s foreign minister said.
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.
After decades of enmity and conflict by proxy, it is the first time the arch-enemies have traded fire with such intensity, triggering fears of a prolonged conflict that could engulf the Middle East.
Highlighting the unease, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned against a “devastating war” with regional consequences in a call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Ankara said.
Jordan reopens airspace
Jordan announced the reopening of its airspace Sunday morning after a night of attacks by arch-foes Israel and Iran.
The civil aviation authority in Jordan, which borders Israel, said in a statement that the country’s airspace had been reopened “for civilian flights following a careful risk assessment.”
Turkiye denies sharing information with Israel
At the United Nations, the Turkish mission dismissed as "black propaganda" reports that “information was shared with Israel from the radar base in Kürecik.”
In a statement, the mission said the Kürecik Radar Station, a NATO installation, was established in line with Türkiye's national security and interests and is intended to ensure the protection of the NATO allies.
"The data obtained from the Kürecik radar base is exclusively shared with NATO allies within a specific framework, in accordance with NATO procedures," said the statement. "Sharing radar base data with non-NATO allies, such as Israel, is absolutely out of the question."
It maintained that "Türkiye stands against Israel's operations to destabilize the Middle East and will never support Israel's actions in this regard."
Reports of alleged data transmission came a day after Israel, without any provocation, bombarded Iran's capital on Friday.
Iran calls nuclear talks ‘unjustifiable’
“We remain committed to talks and hope the Iranians will come to the table soon,” said a senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomacy.
Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, and US intelligence agencies have assessed that Tehran was not actively pursuing the bomb. But its uranium enrichment has reached near weapons-grade levels, and on Thursday, the UN’s atomic watchdog censured Iran for not complying with obligations meant to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran’s top diplomat said Saturday the nuclear talks were “unjustifiable” after Israel’s strikes. Abbas Araghchi’s comments 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.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump urged Iran to reach a deal with the US on its nuclear program, adding that “Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left.”
‘More than a few weeks’ to repair nuclear facilities
Israel attacked Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz. Satellite photos analyzed by AP show extensive damage there. The images shot Saturday by Planet Labs PBC show multiple buildings damaged or destroyed. The structures hit include buildings identified by experts as supplying power to the facility.
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 infrastructure there, he said.
Israel said it also struck a nuclear research facility in Isfahan, including “infrastructure for enriched uranium conversion,” and said it destroyed dozens of radar installations and surface-to-air missile launchers in western Iran. Iran confirmed the strike at Isfahan.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said four “critical buildings” at the Isfahan site were damaged, including its uranium conversion facility. “As in Natanz, no increase in off-site radiation expected,” it added.
An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with official procedures, 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.”
Israel denied it had struck the nuclear enrichment facility in Fordo, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Tehran.
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; and the head of the Guard’s aerospace division, which oversees its arsenal of ballistic missile program, Gen. Amir Ali Hajjizadeh. On Saturday, Khamenei named a new leader for the Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace division: Gen. Majid Mousavi.
Iran rallies citizens to unite, ‘rise up’ says Netanyahu
Iran called on its citizens to unite in the country’s defense, while Netanyahu urged them to rise up against against the government.
Iran’s Mehr news agency said Tehran had warned Britain, France and the United States it could retaliate if they came to Israel’s defense.
AFP images from the city of Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv showed blown-out buildings, destroyed vehicles and streets strewn with debris after Iran’s first wave of attacks.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had struck dozens of targets in Israel. One Iranian missile wounded seven Israeli soldiers, the military said.
Firefighters had worked for hours to free people trapped in a Tel Aviv high-rise building on Friday.
Chen Gabizon, a resident, said he ran to an underground shelter after receiving an alert.
“We just heard a very big explosion, everything was shaking, smoke, dust, everything was all over the place,” he said.
In Tehran, fire and heavy smoke billowed over Mehrabad airport on Saturday, an AFP journalist said.
The Israeli army said it had struck an underground military facility Saturday in western Iran’s Khorramabad that contained surface-to-surface and cruise missiles.
Iranian media also reported a “massive explosion” following an Israeli drone strike on an oil refinery in the southern city of Kangan.
The attacks prompted several countries to temporarily ground air traffic, though on Saturday Jordan, Lebanon and Syria reopened their airspace.
Iran’s airspace was closed until further notice, state media reported, as was Israel’s, according to authorities.
