Explosions rocked Israel’s port city Haifa and capital Tel Aviv in an early morning Iranian missile attack, Reuters reported as both Iran and Israel continue to target each other with devastating missiles and airstrikes.
Fires were observed at the power plant in the vicinity of Israel’s Haifa port today, British maritime security firm Ambrey said after Iranian forces launched a ballistic missile attack on port infrastructure in increasing signs of escalations with Israel.
Rescue teams in Israel combed through rubble of residential buildings destroyed by Iranian missiles, using sniffer dogs and heavy excavators to look for survivors after at least 10 people, including children, were killed, raising the two-day toll to 13.
In Iran, images from the capital 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.
Israeli military international spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told Sky News that Israel “will continue operating until we feel we have removed this existential threat”.
Damage near the US embassy in Tel Aviv from Iranian missile attack
Several residential buildings in a densely populated neighbourhood of Tel Aviv were destroyed in a strike that blew out the windows of hotels and other nearby homes just a few hundred metres from the US embassy branch in the city.
The US ambassador to Israel said the building sustained minor damage, but no personnel were injured.
The embassy in Israel and the consulate will official remain closed today as shelter alert is still in effect, Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel said.
Live: Scene from Petah Tikva as latest Iran attack on Israel leaves at least five dead
Explained: Iran’s ‘new method’ used against Israel’s multi-layered defence
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said its latest attack in the early hours today on Israel employed a new method that caused its neighbour’s multi-layered defence systems to target each other.
“The initiatives and capabilities used in this operation, despite the comprehensive support of the United States and Western powers and the possession of the most up-to-date and newest defence technology, led to the successful and maximum hitting of the missiles on the targets in the occupied territories,” it said.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strikes. Israeli officials have repeatedly said its “Iron Dome” defence system is not 100 per cent and warned of tough days ahead.
Meanwhile, Israel’s military said this morning it had struck again at command centres belonging to the Revolutionary Guard and Iran’s military.
The death toll in Iran had reached at least 224, with 90 per cent of the casualties reported to be civilians, an Iranian health ministry spokesperson said.
Israel warns Tehran residents will ‘pay the price’ for Iran’s attacks
Israel defence minister Israel Katz has warned 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.
At least 5 people were killed in the latest Iranian strikes, national emergency service said, bringing Israel’s death toll to at least 18 since Friday.
At least 100 more were wounded in the overnight strikes, part of a wave of attacks by Tehran in retaliation for Israel’s pre-emptive strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Video footage showed several missiles over Tel Aviv and explosions could be heard there and over Jerusalem.
Iranian president says Tehran does not seek nuclear weapons
Iran does not intend to develop nuclear weapons but will pursue its right to nuclear energy and research, the country’s president Masoud Pezeshkian said today.
“We have no intention to develop nuclear weapons,” the Iranian leader said. “We have a right to nuclear energy and research and we won’t let anyone take that away from us,” Mr Pezeshkian said today as the conflict with Israel heats up.
The preisdent warned and said: “We were not seeking war nor initiated it.”
The Iranian president was reiterating supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s religious edict against weapons of mass destruction.
The latest round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the US, due last Sunday, were scrapped after Tehran said it would not negotiate while under Israeli attack.
Meanwhile, the conflict showed no signs of halting as Iran fired a new wave of missile attacks on Israel early this morning in predawn strikes triggering air raid sirens across the country.
What’s happening between Iran and Israel is a direct result of Trump’s carelessness
Donald Trump claims to be the leader who will end wars. But by effectively killing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear containment deal with Iran in his first term in office and allowing Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu to run roughshod across the Middle East in his second, the Republican president is instead fanning the flames of conflict across the region.
It is Trump’s choices that have led Israel and Iran, the Middle East’s most powerful military actors, to the brink of all-out war, with a risk of escalation and spread, global economic disruption and mass casualties.
Michael Day writes:
Five dead and more than 100 wounded in latest Iranian missile strikes
At least 5 people were killed in the latest Iranian strikes, national emergency service said, bringing Israel’s death toll to at least 18 since Friday.
At least 100 more were wounded in the overnight strikes, part of a wave of attacks by Tehran in retaliation for Israel’s pre-emptive strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
The deaths mounted today after Iranian missiles struck Israel’s Tel Aviv and the port city of Haifa before dawn, destroying homes and creating widespread panic in the region.
Asian shares are mixed and oil prices advance as Israel-Iran crisis escalates
Asian shares were mixed as the week began this morning and oil prices extended gains on worries that escalating Iran-Israel tensions could disrupt the flow of crude around the world.
US benchmark crude oil added 20 cents to $73.18 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 95 cents to $75.18 per barrel.
In share trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 added 1.3 per cent to 38,307.74, while the Kospi in Seoul gained 0.9 per cent to 2,920.57.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.1 per cent to 23,864.20 and the Shanghai Composite Index added less than 0.1 per cent to 3,378.78.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.2 per cent to 8,547.40.
On Friday, oil prices jumped and stocks slumped after Israel’s attack on Iranian nuclear and military targets.
Iranian predawn missile attack ‘blew doors’, locals say in Tel Aviv
At least three people were killed in the Israel’s centre while dozens more were wounded in the overnight strikes, part of a wave of attacks by Tehran, Israel’s national emergency service said this morning.
The attacks are in retaliation for Israel’s pre-emptive strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs that began on Friday.
Guydo Tetelbaun was in his apartment in Tel Aviv when the alerts came in shortly after 4am (0100 GMT).
“As usual, we went into the (shelter) that’s right across the street there. And within minutes, the door of the (shelter) blew in,” the 31-year-old chef said.
“A couple of people came in bloody, all cut up. And then when we came to the apartment, after it quietened down, we saw there wasn’t much of it… Walls are caved in, no more glass,” he added.
“It’s terrifying because it’s so unknown. This could be the beginning of a long time like this, or it could get worse, or hopefully better, but it’s the unknown that’s the scariest.”
The predawn missiles struck near Shuk HaCarmel, a popular market in Tel Aviv that typically draws large crowds of residents and tourists buying fresh fruits and vegetables, and to popular bars and restaurants.
A residential street in nearby Petach Tikva and a school in ultra-Orthodox Jewish city Bnei Brak were also hit.
In photos: Destruction across Tel Aviv and Haifa as Iran hits Israeli cities in overnight strikes
Iranian missiles struck Israel’s Tel Aviv and the port city of Haifa in an early morning raid this morning.
Israel’s national emergency service said three people were killed in the country’s centre while dozens more were wounded in the overnight strikes, part of a wave of attacks by Tehran in retaliation for Israel’s pre-emptive strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs that began on Friday.
