Israel has carried out strikes across Iran while Tehran has returned fire with missiles as the foes have traded attacks for a fifth straight day and the region anxiously braces for a potentially wider and ruinous conflict.
The violence on Tuesday came after United States President Donald Trump struck an ominous note, calling for the immediate evacuation of Tehran. He followed that up hours later with comments to reporters on Air Force One after his early departure from the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Canada, saying he is looking for a “real end” and not just a ceasefire in the conflict.
Concerns that the US could spark a wider regional war should it enter direct conflict with Iran continue to build.
The Israeli military reported on Tuesday that it carried out “several extensive strikes” on what it said were missile sites and other military targets in western Iran, striking dozens of missile and drone facilities. Footage verified by Al Jazeera showed large plumes of smoke rising from several areas in Iran’s Isfahan province.
A number of explosions have also been heard in central and western Tehran.
Iranian media reported that loud explosions were heard in the northwestern city of Tabriz, home to an air force base that Israel has repeatedly targeted since it launched a surprise assault on Iran’s military and nuclear facilities on Friday.
Three people were killed and four injured in strikes on the central city of Kashan, Iran’s state-run Nour News reported.
A residential building was struck in Tehran, and three people were rescued from the rubble, the reports added.
The official Iranian news agency IRNA says eight missiles were launched at Israel in the latest salvo. Israel’s military confirmed Iran had fired more missiles, saying “most” of the missiles have been intercepted, without providing more details.
Explosions were heard over Tel Aviv and Jerusalem among other areas. Images showed plumes of dark smoke rising from the site of a strike in Herzliya as emergency services were deployed at the scene.
Israel’s national emergency service said 10 people were injured while running to shelters after air raid sirens sounded in Tel Aviv.
Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Amman, Jordan, because Al Jazeera is banned from Israel, said the Israeli military censor has forbidden the publication of images and information about Herzliya, classifying it as “sensitive”.
“That usually means that it’s either a military, intelligence or strategic asset or site that the Israeli military censor does not want to disclose,” Odeh said.
She added that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a recent statement that it targeted the “intelligence buildings in Herzliya – the Mossad and the Israeli (Aman) military intelligence – so that claim remains unanswered from the Israeli side”.
Israel claims another slain general
Amid the strikes, the Israeli military claimed that it had assassinated another senior Iranian military official.
General Ali Shadmani was killed in a strike by the Israeli air force in central Tehran through the use of precise intelligence, the Israeli military said, describing him as Iran’s wartime chief of staff, “senior-most military official” and the closest military adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Shadmani was reportedly appointed to his new post after Israel assassinated the former commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, Gholam Ali Rashid, on Friday.
Iran did not immediately comment on the claim, which came days after Israel assassinated a number of Iran’s top generals as well as nuclear scientists.
‘Evacuate Tehran’
The attacks unfolded in the face of growing calls internationally for the bitter foes to de-escalate.
However, Trump, who left the Group of Seven summit in Canada on Monday, one day early, due to the situation in the Middle East, appears to be increasingly backing Israel, issuing ominous messages.
In a post on social media overnight, he warned that “everyone should evacuate Tehran immediately,” lamenting the “waste of human life” in the conflict and reiterating that Iran could not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon.
He denied his exit from the G7 was to arrange a ceasefire.
“Publicity seeking President Emmanuel Macron, of France, mistakenly said that I left the G7 Summit, in Canada, to go back to D.C. to work on a ‘cease fire’ between Israel and Iran,” he wrote.
“Wrong! He has no idea why I am now on my way to Washington, but it certainly has nothing to do with a Cease Fire. Much bigger than that.”
Macron had said, in light of Trump’s early departure from the summit, that talks were under way and stated that an offer for a ceasefire had been made, but he did not specify by whom.
In a statement agreed at the summit before Trump’s departure, G7 leaders described Iran as “the principal source of regional instability and terror”, adding that Israel “has a right to defend itself”.
Meanwhile, Jordan’s King Abdullah II warned in an address to the European Parliament on Tuesday that Israel’s “attacks” on Iran posed a “threat to people everywhere”.
Qatar also said it “strongly condemns” Israel’s attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, calling them “an uncalculated measure that will have very dire repercussions”.
The attacks were carried out at a time when Iran was “progressing in a positive diplomatic course” with Washington, negotiations that many regional countries were engaged in, Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Majed al-Ansari said.
Qatar remains involved in mediation with the US and “believes there is an American desire for an agreement”.
Israel said its attacks are necessary to prevent its longtime adversary from getting any closer to building a nuclear weapon. Iran has retaliated by launching hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel.
