Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened on Monday that the residents of Tehran will “pay the price and soon” after Iranian missiles struck Tel Aviv and the port city of Haifa before dawn, killing at least five people.
The latest military exchange between the arch-rivals began when Israel struck Iran’s nuclear and military sites on Friday, killing top commanders and scientists. Tel Aviv has said it wants to stop Tehran from building an atomic weapon, which the latter has consistently denied, saying its uranium enrichment programme is for civilian purposes.
“The residents of Tehran will pay the price, and soon,” Katz wrote on X, as the missile exchange continued for a fourth day, fuelling concerns among world leaders at this week’s G7 meeting that the battle between the two old enemies could lead to a broader regional conflict.
Israel’s military warned on Monday of a new missile salvo incoming from Iran, as AFP journalists reported loud explosions in Jerusalem and fires outside the coastal city of Haifa.
“A short while ago, the IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel,” the army posted on Telegram, using the acronym for its official name.
It said its air defences were working to intercept the threat but advised people to “enter a protected space and remain there until further notice”.
An AFP journalist heard loud explosions in Jerusalem on early Monday, while footage showed Israeli air defences working over the city.
According to Reuters, British maritime security firm Ambrey said that fires were observed at the power plant in the vicinity of Israel’s Haifa port.
Ambrey said it observed video footage of the Israeli military intercepting the attack, followed by impacts from two hypersonic missiles.
Outside Haifa, an AFP journalist saw fires break out following the latest Iranian barrage.
Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan, reported that at least four areas were hit in the latest Iranian attacks on central Israel.
Twenty-nine people have been wounded and evacuated following Iran’s latest attacks, Al Jazeera reported, citing Israel’s ambulance and blood bank service.
Three of the wounded are in a moderate condition, and 26 have minor injuries, it added.
A senior US official said on Sunday that US President Donald Trump told Israel to back down from a plan to kill Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Reuters reported.
Israel has claimed strikes as far away as Mashhad in Iran’s far east, 2,300 kilometres (1,430 miles) from Israel. Iranian state television reported at least five people were killed on Sunday by an Israeli strike that hit a residential building in downtown Iran.
Colonel Reza Sayyad, a spokesman for Iran’s armed forces, threatened a “devastating response” to Israel’s attacks.
“Leave the occupied territories (Israel) because they will certainly no longer be habitable in the future,” he warned in a televised address, adding shelters will “not guarantee security”.
The death toll in Iran has risen to 224, including 70 women and children. The intelligence chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and two other generals were killed in Israeli attacks on Sunday, Al Jazeera reported.
According to AFP, residential areas in both countries have suffered deadly strikes since the hostilities broke out, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slamming Iran on Sunday for allegedly targeting civilians.
“Iran will pay a very heavy price for the premeditated murder of civilians, women and children,” he 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.
His remarks came hours after Iranian missile fire killed at least 10 people, according to authorities, pushing the death toll in Israel up to 13 since Iran began its retaliatory strikes Friday.
Meanwhile, a likely Iranian drone killed a woman in Syria, a Britain-based war monitor said, in what would be the first death on Syrian soil since the current hostilities between Iran and Israel began, reported AFP.
The drone struck the woman’s home in western Tartus province, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Israeli military said early on Monday that it was striking surface-to-surface missile sites in central Iran, adding it was “operating against this threat in our skies and in Iranian skies”.
‘I will not leave’
A heavy cloud of smoke hung above Tehran after Israeli aircraft struck two fuel depots. Local media also reported an Israeli strike on the police headquarters in the city centre.
“We haven’t been able to sleep since Friday because of the terrible noise,” said a Tehran resident who gave her name as Farzaneh.
“Today, they hit a house in our alley, and we were very scared. So we decided to leave Tehran and head to the north of the country.”
Some, however, were determined to stay.
“It is natural that war has its own stress, but I will not leave my city,” Shokouh Razzazi, 31, told AFP.
AFP images from the Israeli city of Haifa, meanwhile, also showed a column of smoke rising on Sunday evening following an Iranian missile barrage.
The military said rescue teams “have been dispatched to several hit sites in Israel”, while the fire services reported rescuers heading to a building on the coast that sustained a “direct hit”.
Earlier in the day, in Bat Yam, first responders wearing helmets and headlamps picked through a bombed-out building.
“There was an explosion and I thought the whole house had collapsed,” said Bat Yam resident Shahar Ben Zion.
“It was a miracle we survived.”
‘Make a deal’
Trump said Washington “had nothing to do” with Israel’s bombing campaign but threatened to unleash “the full strength and might” of the US military if Iran attacked American interests.
On Sunday, he urged the two foes to “make a deal”, adding, however, that “sometimes they have to fight it out” first.
A senior US official told AFP that Trump had urged Israel to drop a plan to assassinate Khamenei.
“We found out that the Israelis had plans to hit Iran’s supreme leader. President Trump was against it, and we told the Israelis not to,” said the US official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Donald Trump told ABC News on Sunday that he would be “open” to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, being a mediator.
“It’s possible we could get involved” in the ongoing battle in the Middle East, he said.
However, seemingly contradicting his ally, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that American pilots were shooting down drones headed towards Israel. In the same interview, he also said that he and Trump were “fully co-ordinated”.
Asked in an interview with Fox News whether regime change in Iran was one of the objectives of Israel’s strikes, Netanyahu said that “it certainly could be the result, because the Iran regime is very weak”.
Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi maintained Tehran had “solid proof” that US forces had supported Israel in its attacks.
He also told a meeting of foreign diplomats that Iran’s actions were a “response to aggression”.
“If the aggression stops, naturally our responses will also stop,” he added.
Iran scrapped planned nuclear talks with the United States, saying it was “meaningless” to negotiate while under fire.
Iranian media reported on Sunday that police had arrested two suspects over alleged links to Israel’s Mossad spy agency.
Israel, in turn, said it had taken two individuals into custody over alleged links to Iranian intelligence.
