‘TEHRAN WILL BURN’ IF IRAN CONTINUES FIRING MISSILES: ISRAEL
Iran launched retaliatory missile and drone strikes on Israel into Saturday morning, killing at least three people and wounding dozens, after a series of blistering Israeli attacks on the heart of Iran’s nuclear program and its armed forces.
Israel’s assault used warplanes — as well as drones smuggled into the country in advance, according to officials — to assault key facilities and kill top generals and scientists. Iran’s UN ambassador said 78 people were killed and more than 320 wounded in the attacks.
Israel asserted the barrage was necessary before Iran got any closer to building a nuclear weapon, although experts and the US government have assessed that Tehran was not actively working on such a weapon before the strikes.
Iran retaliated by launching waves of drones and ballistic missiles at Israel, where explosions lit the night skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and shook the buildings below. The Israeli military urged civilians to head to shelter for hours.
Israel’s strikes also put further talks between the United States and Iran over a nuclear accord into doubt before they were set to meet Sunday in Oman. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman called further nuclear talks with the United States “meaningless” after Israeli strikes on the country, state television said.
‘Tehran will burn’ if Iran continues firing missiles: Israel
Defence Minister Israel Katz has warned Iran that “Tehran will burn” if it continues firing missiles at Israel as tensions escalated between the two nations.
His comments came after Iran launched retaliatory strikes on Israel following Israel’s attack on Iran’s nuclear, missile and military complex.
“The Iranian dictator is turning the citizens of Iran into hostages and creating a reality in which they, especially the residents of Tehran, will pay a heavy price for the criminal attack on Israeli civilians,” Katz said during a situation assessment with Israel Defence Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, Mossad director David Barnea, and other top military officials.
“If (Ali) Khamenei continues to fire missiles at the Israeli home front, Tehran will burn,” the Israeli defence minister asserted.
Israel has so far kept its attacks limited to Iranian nuclear and military installations and has targeted key officials attached to them.
Iran has fired some 200 ballistic missiles at Israel in several barrages since last night, the IDF said.
Most of the missiles were intercepted by air defences, it claimed.
Around 25%, less than 50, were not intercepted “according to protocol” allowing them to strike open areas without causing damage to any critical infrastructure.
Iran confirms 2 high-ranking generals killed in Israeli strikes
Two more high-ranking generals in Iran’s armed forces have been confirmed as being killed by Israeli strikes, Iranian state television reported Saturday.
State TV identified the dead as Gen. Gholamreza Mehrabi, the deputy of intelligence for the armed forces’ general staff, and Gen. Mehdi Rabbani, the deputy of operations. It did not say where the men were killed. Israel’s strikes Friday killed multiple high-ranking officials within Iran’s armed forces, including chief of staff of the army and head of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.