Missile war grows fiercer

Iranian missiles struck Israel's Tel Aviv and the port city of Haifa before dawn yesterday, killing at least eight people and destroying homes, prompting Israel's defence minister to warn that Tehran residents would "pay the price and soon".

Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRG) said the latest attack employed a new method that caused Israel's multi-layered defence systems to target each other and allowed Tehran to successfully hit many targets, without providing further details.

Israel's military, which has gutted Iran's nuclear and military leadership with airstrikes, said it had killed four senior intelligence officials, including the head of the Revolutionary Guards' intelligence organisation. Later yesterday, Israel struck a military base in western Tehran, causing the air defence system to activate, Iran's Fars news agency reported.

IRG called on the residents of Tel Aviv to evacuate as soon as possible, Iranian state media reported, shortly after Israel issued an evacuation warning for a designated area in Tehran.

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog said there was "no indication of a physical attack" on the underground section of Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment site following Israeli strikes that destroyed the plant's above-ground section.

In Tehran, the live feed of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) was abruptly cut when an Israeli strike hit its building.

A presenter in the midst of lambasting Israel was forced to flee mid-broadcast when a powerful explosion rocked the building, knocking out the monitors behind her and sending debris and dust falling from the ceiling, footage showed.

IRIB resumed its broadcast shortly after the strike, with a senior official at the service saying "the voice of the Islamic revolution... will not be silenced with a military operation".

Meanwhile, Tehran has asked Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman to press US President Donald Trump to use his influence on Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire with Iran in return for Tehran's flexibility in nuclear negotiations, two Iranian and three regional sources told Reuters yesterday.

Israeli authorities said a total of seven missiles of the fewer than 100 fired by Iran overnight had landed in Israel. A military spokesman also said Israel had destroyed more than a third of Iran's surface-to-surface missile launchers.

At least 100 people were wounded in Israel in the overnight blitz, part of a wave of attacks by Tehran in retaliation for Israel's strikes targeting the nuclear and ballistic missile programmes of sworn enemy Iran.

The dangers of further escalation loomed over a meeting of G7 leaders in Canada, with Trump expressing hope on Sunday that a deal could be done but no sign of the fighting abating on a fourth day of war.

In total, 24 people in Israel have been killed so far in the Iranian missile attacks, all of them civilians. The death toll in Iran was already at least 224, with 90 percent of the casualties reported to be civilians, an Iranian health ministry spokesperson said.

The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz was leaving Southeast Asia after cancelling plans to dock in Vietnam, amid reports it is headed to the Middle East to boost the US presence.

Group of Seven leaders gathered in the Canadian Rockies on Sunday with the Israel-Iran conflict expected to be a top priority.

Before leaving for the summit on Sunday, Trump was asked what he was doing to de-escalate the situation. "I hope there's going to be a deal. I think it's time for a deal," he told reporters. "Sometimes they have to fight it out."

In Washington, two US officials told Reuters that Trump had vetoed an Israeli plan in recent days to kill Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

When asked about the Reuters report, Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News on Sunday: "There's so many false reports of conversations that never happened, and I'm not going to get into that."

China urged Iran and Israel to "immediately" take steps to reduce tensions.

Pakistani authorities have closed all major border crossings with Iran for pedestrian traffic amid escalating cross-border strikes between Iran and Israel.

The Kremlin said Russia remains ready to act as a mediator in the conflict, and Moscow's previous proposal to store Iranian uranium in Russia remains on the table.

Oil prices edged down yesterday, after surging 7 percent on Friday, as the military strikes by Israel and Iran over the weekend avoided oil production and export facilities. While investors remain on edge, stock and currency markets in Asia were little moved.