Tel Aviv/Tehran: Israel and Iran exchanged heavy missile strikes for the third consecutive day on Sunday, despite international calls for restraint. The ongoing conflict, which erupted on Friday, has killed more than 230 people and left hundreds wounded, with both sides vowing further retaliation.
Among the Iranian officials killed in the strikes was General Mohammad Kazemi, the chief of intelligence for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), along with two other generals. Israeli strikes reportedly hit missile sites, Iran’s Defence Ministry, and facilities linked to its air-defence programme.
Iranian authorities also confirmed attacks on key government buildings, including the Foreign Ministry, and energy installations such as the Shahran oil depot in north Tehran and a fuel tank facility in the south. Fires and explosions were reported from several sites, including an Iranian refuelling aircraft in Mashhad — Israel’s deepest strike into Iranian territory yet.
Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh shared images of the heavily damaged Foreign Ministry, while state television showed distressing visuals of civilians, including children, being pulled from rubble.
With airstrikes increasingly hitting residential areas, Iran’s Health Ministry claimed that 90 per cent of the casualties were civilians. In anticipation of further attacks, metro stations and mosques in Tehran were opened as emergency bomb shelters from Sunday night. Officials denied fuel shortages, but long queues were seen at gas stations as residents fled the capital.
Traffic police closed roads leading out of Tehran to control panic-induced congestion, while air defence systems continued to fire through the night.
In Israel, air-raid sirens echoed through Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa, pushing residents into bomb shelters. A missile hit a high-rise in Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv, killing six people, including a 10-year-old boy and a nine-year-old girl. Police said 180 were injured in the city, and seven people remained unaccounted for.
In Tamra, a northern Arab-majority town, four people, including a 13-year-old, were killed in another strike. A separate attack on Rehovot injured 42 people, and the Weizmann Institute of Science reported minor damage to its campus. An oil refinery in Haifa was also hit.
Israel’s main international airport and airspace remained shut for a third day due to the ongoing threat.
Amid the violence, a report by the Associated Press quoted a US official stating that US President Donald Trump had blocked an Israeli plan to assassinate Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who oversees military strategy and the Revolutionary Guard.
Israel has said its current offensive is aimed at halting Iran’s nuclear ambitions. However, scheduled atomic talks between Iran and the US, which were to take place in Oman on Sunday, were cancelled following the latest escalation.
With both sides hardening their positions and civilian casualties mounting, concerns are growing over a wider regional fallout.
