Israel-Iran War: Major attack on Israel continues through the night – one dead, dozens injured

Tel Aviv/Tehran. The war between arch-enemies Israel and Iran continues. According to the Israeli military, Iran again fired dozens of rockets at the Jewish state during the night and at dawn. The population was instructed to seek shelter.

According to local media, several people were injured. There were further explosions in the densely populated area of ​​the coastal metropolis of Tel Aviv. According to consistent reports, air defenses were also activated again in the Iranian capital Tehran. Eyewitnesses and local media reported explosions in the center and northeast of the city, which has a population of one million.

Two waves of Iranian attacks had already occurred late in the evening, injuring dozens of people in Israel, according to media reports. One woman succumbed to her injuries. Although the US was assisting its ally with missile defense, according to unconfirmed media reports, several rockets struck civilian buildings in the greater Tel Aviv area. According to local media, nine buildings were destroyed in the suburb of Ramat Gan.

Explosion during a rocket attack in Tel Aviv.

Source: Tomer Neuberg/AP/dpa

Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened that Iran had crossed a red line with its attacks on civilian targets and would pay a "very high price." A senior Israeli security official was quoted in domestic media as saying that Israel would target Iranian oil facilities if Iran attacked population centers in Israel.

Iran responded immediately to the threats: important economic and energy centers in Israel would then be attacked “immediately and in a far more destructive and devastating manner,” wrote the Iranian news agency Fars.

The RND newsletter from the government district. Every Thursday.

By subscribing to the newsletter I agree to the advertising agreement .

According to state media, Iran fired hundreds of rockets at its arch-enemy in several waves of attacks. According to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, these targeted dozens of military targets and air bases in Israel. "The armed forces of the Islamic Republic will surely deliver devastating blows to this wicked Zionist enemy," Iranian head of state Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wrote on the X platform.

The attacks were a response to the major Israeli offensive launched on Friday night. According to official Iranian sources, dozens of people were killed and hundreds more injured. Most of the victims were civilians, including women and children, Iranian UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani told the UN Security Council in New York.

Israel is the region's only nuclear power, and its major attack primarily targeted Iran's nuclear program. According to Israeli sources, more than 100 targets were hit, including in the megacities of Tehran, Tabriz, and Shiraz, as well as the Natanz uranium enrichment facility. The above-ground section of the facility, where uranium is enriched to up to 60 percent, was destroyed, said Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in the UN Security Council. A purity of at least 90 percent is required for nuclear weapons.

Iran has also reported that the nuclear facilities in Isfahan and Fordow have also been attacked, Grossi said. However, so far, the IAEA only has information that there has been military activity around these facilities. There is no information yet on possible damage.

According to Iranian sources, leading military figures were also killed, including the commander of the powerful Revolutionary Guards, Hussein Salami, Chief of General Staff Mohammed Bagheri, and the commander of the Revolutionary Guards' Air Force, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh. Iranian reports also say that at least six leading scientists and professors in the fields of nuclear research and physics were killed in attacks on their homes in Tehran.

Israel and other states, such as the United States, want to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb – Tehran denies even pursuing this goal. Israeli Chief of Staff Ejal Zamir explained the major attack with reference to Iran's nuclear program: "We launched this operation because the time has come" – there is no turning back. "We cannot afford to wait for another time; we have no other choice."

RND/dpa