Arch foes vow escalation

Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on each other yesterday, killing scores, as US President Donald Trump said the conflict could be ended easily while warning Tehran not to strike any US targets.

Israeli rescue teams combed through the rubble of residential buildings destroyed in strikes, using flashlights and sniffer dogs to look for survivors after at least 10 people, including children, were killed, authorities said.

Iran has said at least 138 people have been killed in Israel's onslaught since Friday, including 60 on Saturday, half of them children, when a missile brought down a 14-storey apartment block in Tehran.

The Israeli military warned Iranians living near weapons facilities to evacuate after both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump said Israel's attacks would intensify, not abate.

Netanyahu yesterday said that Iran would pay "a very heavy price" for killing Israeli civilians.

In an interview with Fox News, he also strongly suggested that Israel had killed Iran's intelligence chief, Mohammad Kazemi, and his deputy in an aerial attack.

He also claimed Israel 'destroyed' the main facility of Iran's Natanz nuclear site.

With no let-up in sight, Iran said it would begin opening mosques, metro stations and schools to serve as makeshift bomb shelters for civilians.

After decades of enmity and war by proxy, the latest conflict marked the first time the arch-enemies have traded fire with such intensity, triggering fears of a prolonged conflict that could engulf the entire Middle East.

An official said Israel still had a long list of targets in Iran and declined to say how long the offensive would continue.

The Israeli military said its air force had targeted "more than 80" positions in Tehran overnight.

Late yesterday, Israel's military said it began striking dozens of surface-to-surface missile targets in Iran, hitting targets from the west to Tehran and as far east as Mashhad.

Iran said at least five people were killed when an Israeli strike hit a residential building in downtown Tehran. It added that the death toll may rise as the strike hit a densely populated area in central Tehran.

Trump has lauded Israel's offensive while denying Iranian allegations that the US has taken part in it. He warned Tehran not to widen its retaliation to include US facilities or interests.

"If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the US Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before," he said in a message on Truth Social. "However, we can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict."

Later, in an interview with ABC, the US president said that US might get involved in the Iran-Israel conflict.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Israel's attacks had been aimed at sabotaging nuclear talks, which were due to resume in Oman yesterday before being cancelled. He said the offensive had the support of the US and that Iran was acting only in self-defence.

Israel, which has not signed the global nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, says it aims to stop Iran from developing atomic weapons, and eliminate its ballistic missile capability.

The International Atomic Energy Agency on Thursday declared Iran in breach of its obligations under the NPT.

Israeli officials have acknowledged that the strikes are unlikely to halt the programme altogether but voiced hopes that they can bring about a comprehensive US-Iran deal.

Iran said Israel had attacked the Shahran oil depot in the capital, but that the situation was under control. The semi-official Tasnim news agency said Israel had attacked an oil refinery near the capital yesterday, causing a fire, and Iran's defence ministry, causing minor damage.

It also reported the arrest of two people in Alborz province accused of belonging to Israel's Mossad intelligence agency.

Israel's military said several sites were hit by the latest Iranian missile barrage yesterday, with firefighters reporting a residential building struck on the country's Mediterranean coast.

Early yesterday, air raid sirens blared in Jerusalem and Haifa, sending around a million people into bomb shelters.

Explosions echoed through Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as missiles streaked across the skies, and interceptor rockets were deployed.

The Iran-aligned Houthis, who control most of Yemen, said they had launched ballistic missiles towards Jaffa near Tel Aviv, the first time an ally of Iran has reportedly joined the fray.

At one time, Iran could have expected military support from proxy forces in Gaza, Lebanon and Iraq.

However, 20 months of war against Hamas in Gaza and last year's conflict with Lebanon's Hezbollah have decimated Tehran's strongest regional proxies, reducing its options for retaliation.

The Israeli military official said Israel had targeted the Houthis' chief of staff overnight.

Israeli authorities said at least 10 people had been killed overnight, including three children, and more than 140 injured, by missiles that had hit homes in northern and central Israel.

In the Arab town of Tamra in northern Israel, four women were killed, including a mother and her two daughters.

At least six people were killed by an Iranian missile that hit a cluster of residential buildings, including multi-storey apartments in the town of Bat Yam.

In all, at least 13 people in Israel have been killed and more than 350 others injured since Iran launched its retaliatory attacks.

In the first apparent attack on Iran's energy infrastructure, Tasnim said Iran had partially suspended production at South Pars, the world's biggest gas field, after an Israeli strike caused a fire there on Saturday.

South Pars, off Iran's southern Bushehr province, is the source of most of the gas produced in Iran.

With Israel saying its operation could last weeks, and Netanyahu urging Iran's people to rise up against their Islamic clerical rulers, fears have grown of a regional conflagration dragging in outside powers.

UK is sending more RAF jets to the Middle East amid intense fighting between Israel and Iran, the prime minister said.

Sir Keir Starmer said the military aircraft, including Typhoons and air-to-air refuelers, were being sent "for contingency support across the region".

Iran has warned the UK, France and America that were they to support Israel, their ships and bases in the region would be regarded as legitimate targets.