Israel attacks Tehran as Iran fires another missile salvo

Israel and Iran’s conflict escalated on Saturday evening, with the Islamic Republic firing another wave of missiles and the Israeli air force striking Tehran.

The unfolding crisis also extended to Iran’s energy infrastructure as Israeli attacks caused an explosion at a natural gas processing facility linked to the giant South Pars field, according to Iranian state-backed media.

Later on Saturday, Iran said it launched a missile and drone attack on cities including Tel Aviv and Haifa. Israel said it identified the missile launches and its air defenses were working to intercept the projectiles.

Israeli emergency services said 14 people were injured in one incident in Western Galilee, in the north of the country.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his military would “strike at every site and every target of the Ayatollah regime,” after Iran fired waves of ballistic missiles at Israeli cities on Friday evening and Saturday morning. At least three people were killed.

Iran was responding to unprecedented Israeli airstrikes on its nuclear facilities, air defenses and other targets on Friday — some of which killed top military commanders and atomic scientists. Israel said it’s trying to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program, which it views as an existential threat.

With the fighting worsening, Iran canceled the next round of nuclear talks it was meant to have with the U.S. in Oman on Sunday. It would be “unjustifiable” to hold negotiations following Israel’s attacks, Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who want to reach a diplomatic accord that would curb Iran’s nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief, said on social media that “this war in Israel-Iran should end.”

Gulf Arab states, wary that they could be attacked if the war spreads, are stepping up diplomatic efforts to calm the situation. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke to Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, urging restraint.

Earlier, Pezeshkian said Iran will deliver “an even harsher and more powerful response” if Israeli strikes continue.

For now, the signals from Israel — which appears to have destroyed Iranian defenses enough to have air superiority over Iran — are that it will continue its strikes for several days at least.

Meanwhile, the United Nations’ atomic watchdog reported that Israeli strikes against Iran’s uranium-conversion facility at Isfahan resulted in serious damage. Successfully knocking out the site would be significant because it’s the only location for converting uranium into the feedstock used by centrifuges, which in turn separate the uranium isotopes needed for nuclear power or bombs.

The scale of the conflict represents a turning point for both nations, testing new limits in terms of their aggression and willingness to escalate.

The tensions have sent shock waves through financial markets, with oil surging 7% on Friday and investors rushing to buy haven assets such as gold and U.S. Treasuries. The MSCI World Index of developed-country stocks dropped the most since April.

Israel’s military said Iran fired 200 missiles and about 200 drones into its territory in four barrages starting Friday evening. While U.S. forces helped shoot down the projectiles, some breached the country’s air defenses.

Three people were killed in areas near Tel Aviv and at least 40 were injured, according to police and emergency services. There was video footage of at least one large explosion in Tel Aviv and reports of blasts over Jerusalem.

Several top Iranian generals were killed and key military infrastructure was badly damaged in Israel’s opening strikes.

Iranian officials said almost 80 people have been killed and more than 320 injured so far across the country.

Four sites in the East Azerbaijan province were struck on Saturday, as was Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport — where Iran’s air force has a base and the national carrier is headquartered, according to Iranian media. Israel also hit several residential buildings in the capital’s suburbs and an oil depot to the west of the city, according to those reports.

Further escalation — particularly any targeting of American military or diplomatic facilities in the region — could help Iran’s rulers rally political support domestically but would dramatically intensify the conflict. It’s unclear if Tehran is entertaining last-resort options — such as attacking tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s vital oil arteries, a scenario that would ratchet up concern among global investors.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to “act forcefully” and said Israel “should not think that it is over.”

“We won’t allow them to escape unscathed from this great crime they have committed,” he said.

So far, Iran has chosen to keep the U.S. out of the conflict — a decision Bloomberg Economics analysts said was likely down to Tehran calculating it can’t afford to go to war against the world’s most powerful military.

Iran’s economy is already weak and public frustration is high with inflation expected to be around 43% at the end of this year, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Adding to Iran’s problems, its network of allied militias in the Middle East has also been severely weakened following Israel’s conflicts with Hamas in Gaza and Lebanon-based Hezbollah. Iran also lost a key regional ally in Syria’s ex-President Bashar al-Assad late last year after his administration fell to a rebel uprising.

The damage to Iran’s military command structure is considerable. The head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami, and the military’s chief of staff, Mohammad Bagheri, were both killed in Israeli strikes. At least two other senior IRGC members also died and several nuclear facilities and scientists were targeted.

Meanwhile, leaders of the Group of Seven major economies are gathering in Canada and much of their attention will be on Trump’s reaction. Going into the summit, there was a common desire to keep fraught geopolitical issues off the table, but that will be difficult given the knock-on effects of a spike in oil prices on inflation.

Trump has warned Iran to agree on a nuclear deal “before it is too late” and it suffers even worse attacks. He has not indicated if the U.S. would join Israel in striking Iran.