Israel and Iran Bitterly Persist in Missile Engagements Amid Calls for Peace
On Sunday, in the midst of calls to cease hostilities, Iran and Israel sustained their missile engagement, with neither nation yielding as their dispute escalated into the third day. Iran accused Israel of destroying its oil processing facilities and assassinating the intelligence head of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. It also claimed that relentless air raids caused civilian casualties, elevating the death count to 224 since Israel commenced a significant offensive on Friday.
In addition to the fatalities, Iranian health authorities reported 1,277 injuries, yet they didn’t differentiate between military personnel and civilians. Israel’s offensive targets Iran’s swiftly progressing nuclear program and its military command. It reported that Iran launched in excess of 270 missiles since Friday. Despite their advanced multi-layered defense system, 22 missiles penetrated the defenses, wreaking havoc in residential areas by causing 14 deaths and wounding 390 individuals.
According to U.S. official sources, Israel seems willing to push the boundaries. The American president, Donald Trump, reportedly rejected an Israeli plan to assassinate Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who acts as a spiritual guide besides being the armed forces’ commander-in-chief. Israel, the surviving yet unproclaimed nuclear-armed power in the Middle East, clarified that the attack, their most potent against Iran thus far, aimed to impede Iran’s nuclear weapon development.
Intended discussions on Tehran’s nuclear program future between the U.S. and Iran scheduled on Sunday in Oman were disallowed after Israel’s aggressive actions. Israel alleged that their warfare on Sunday effectively reached Iran’s Defense Ministry, missile launch areas, and the plants producing components for air defense. Israel’s claims also included the elimination of three more of Iran’s influential generals, including Gen. Mohammad Kazemi, the Revolutionary Guard intelligence lead.
However, Israeli attacks have been extending beyond military targets, assaulting government buildings such as the Foreign Ministry and several energy institutions according to Iranian authorities. Recent assaults ignited enormous fires at the Shahran oil storage site in North Tehran and in a fuel container in the city’s southern region. After attacking Iran’s South Pars, the largest natural gas field globally, Israel’s current targets indicate the likelihood of a wider assault on Iran’s energy sector, which, despite heavy sanctions, remains economically significant to the world.
Hossein Kermanpour, spokesperson for Iran’s Health Ministry, claimed that 90% of the 224 casualties were non-combatants. However, a rights advocacy organization based in Washington reported a much higher death tally due to Israeli raids, estimating at least 406 deaths and an additional 654 injuries. In recent times, Iran notoriously underestimated casualties during emergencies, recalling the 2022 mass protests triggered by compulsory hijab orders following Mahsa Amini’s demise.
It’s further confirmed that an Iranian refueling airplane was attacked, causing explosions and fires in Mashhad, deep within the country’s northeast. Israel categorizes the Mashhad strike as its most extended incursion into Iranian territory. The alarming chorus of air raid warnings echoed in Jerusalem and significant Israeli cities, prompting Israelis to rush to bomb shelters, particularly in the coastal city of Tel Aviv and the northern seaport city of Haifa.
Almost two dozen Iranian missiles dodged Israel’s celebrated Iron Dome aerial defense mechanism, impacting residential regions, according to Israeli military reports. On Sunday morning, Israel’s emergency assistance, Magen David Adom, revealed that a missile collided with a high-rise residential building in Bat Yam (a city south of Tel Aviv), resulting in the death of six people, including a 9-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy.
The aftermath saw traumatized residents clumsily navigating through their destroyed homes’ debris to retrieve their belongings. Meanwhile, the rescue team was dutifully combing through the wreckage of twisted metal and broken glass, searching for possible victims. In another episode, a missile hit in the Arab city of Tamra in northern Israel killed four individuals, including a 13-year-old, and injured 24 others, while another attack in central city Rehovot injured 42 citizens.
The esteemed Weizmann Institute of Science, a hub for both civilian and military research located in Rehovot, reported hits on a few campus buildings, though no injuries were reported. Further, the managing company of an oil processing facility in the northern Israeli city of Haifa confirmed damage to the area. The escalating conflict resulted in the closure of Israel’s main international airport and the suspension of air space for three consecutive days.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that Iran’s defensive strikes would discontinue once Israeli offensives cease. Regardless, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed concerted international pleas for de-escalation. In an interview, he speculated that the conflict could potentially culminate in a regime change in Iran. Furthermore, he insinuated without substantial evidence that Israeli intelligence identified plans by Iran to supply nuclear weapons to Houthi rebels in Yemen, a group with allegiance to Iran.
For years, Iran has maintained that its nuclear program serves peaceful purposes. Despite this, the U.S. and other international players have evaluated that Iran ceased pursuing nuclear armament after 2003. But recent evidences suggest Iran has been enriching a growing inventory of uranium close to weapons-grade levels, and it is suspected to have the ability to build multiple weapons within a few months if it were to make that decision.
A high-ranking U.S. official announced that Washington continues to support negotiations and urges the Iranians to return to discussions. The current volatile situation has placed the region on high alert, particularly as Israel plans to neutralize the Palestinian militant group Hamas (an Iranian ally) in the Gaza Strip while a war continues following Hamas’ recent offensive in southern Israel.
Satellite imagery analysis revealed substantial damage at Iran’s primary nuclear enrichment hub located in Natanz. The captured photos depict multiple ravaged or razed buildings identified by experts as power suppliers to the complex. Rafael Grossi, the U.N. nuclear department head, informed the Security Council that the above-ground division of Natanz was obliterated. The primary centrifuge infrastructure underground seemed undisturbed, but he speculated the power interruption could damage the infrastructure.
Israel also targeted a nuclear research location in Isfahan where the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA, the U.N. nuclear watchdog) confirmed that four ‘critical buildings’, which included a uranium conversion facility, suffered damage. The IAEA reported no sign of heightened radiation levels at either Natanz or Isfahan. An anonymous Israeli military figure estimated that the remediating measures for the two sites could span ‘several months, if not more’.