Israel launches biggest ever attack on Iran

• Some 200 Israeli fighter jets hit over 100 targets in Iran
• Trump urges Iran to grab 'second chance' for a deal 
• China, Russia slam strikes; world urges restraint
• Report says US moving military assets to Middle East

Israel launched renewed attacks on Iran as evening fell yesterday, after its biggest ever attack against its longstanding foe blasted Iran's huge underground nuclear site and wiped out its entire top echelon of military commanders.

Iran said that in retaliation, "the gates of hell will open", while Israel said the strikes were only the start of "Operation Rising Lion". US President Donald Trump said it was not too late for Tehran to halt the bombing campaign by reaching a deal on its nuclear programme.

Iran's Nournews said 78 people had been killed and 329 injured in Israeli attacks on residential areas in Tehran.

As evening fell yesterday, Iranian media reported explosions on the northern and southern outskirts of Tehran and at Fordow, near the holy city of Qom, a second major nuclear site which had been spared in the first wave of attacks. Israel's military said it was striking Iranian missile and drone launching sites.

With this crime, the Zionist regime has set itself for a bitter and painful fate.

— Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Air defences were activated across Tehran, and explosions could be heard in Isfahan.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli campaign was aimed at defeating an existential threat from Iran, invoking the failure to halt the Holocaust in World War Two.

Israel's operation "will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat," he said in a TV address. "Generations from now, history will record our generation stood its ground, acted in time and secured our common future."

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel had "unleashed its wicked and bloody" hand, and would suffer "a bitter fate".

In a phone interview with Reuters, Trump said it was not clear if Iran's nuclear programme had survived. He said nuclear talks between Tehran and the United States, scheduled for Sunday, were still on the agenda, though he was not sure if they would take place.

"I tried to save Iran from humiliation and death," Trump said.

Earlier, Trump posted on Truth Social: "Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left."

Israel's National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said military action by itself would not destroy Iran's nuclear programme, but could "create the conditions for a long-term deal, led by the United States" to get rid of it.

Two regional sources said at least 20 Iranian military commanders were killed, a stunning decapitation reminiscent of Israeli attacks that swiftly wiped out the leadership of Lebanon's once-feared Hezbollah militia last year. Iran also said six of its top nuclear scientists had been killed.

This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.

— Benjamin Netanyahu

Among the generals killed were the armed forces chief of staff, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, and the Revolutionary Guards chief, Hossein Salami.

Major General Mohammad Pakpour, swiftly promoted to replace Salami as Guards commander, vowed retaliation in a letter to the Supreme Leader read out on state television: "The gates of hell will open to the child-killing regime."

Iranian media showed images of destroyed apartment blocks, and said nearly 80 civilians were killed in attacks that targeted nuclear scientists in their beds and wounded more than 300 people.

Iran's ability to retaliate with weapons fired by its regional proxies has been degraded over the past year, with the downfall of its ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria and the decimation of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

Air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem yesterday evening, and Israel said it had detected the launch of a missile from Yemen, whose Houthi militia are one of the last remaining Iranian-aligned groups still capable of firing at Israel.

Israel said that Iran had launched around 100 drones towards Israeli territory yesterday, but Iran denied this and there were no reports of drones reaching Israeli targets.

The United Nations Security Council was due to meet yesterday at Tehran's request. Iran said in a letter to the Council that it would respond decisively and proportionally to Israel's "unlawful" and "cowardly" acts.

The price of crude LCOc1 leapt on fears of wider retaliatory attacks across a major oil-producing region, although there were no reports that oil production or storage was damaged. OPEC said the escalation did not justify any immediate changes to oil supply.

An Israeli security source said Mossad commandos had been operating deep inside the Islamic Republic before the attack, and the Israeli spy agency and military had mounted a series of covert operations against Iran's strategic missile array.

Israel also established an attack-drone base near Tehran, the source added. The military said it had bombarded Iran's air defences, destroying "dozens of radars and surface-to-air missile launchers".

Israeli officials said it may be some time before the extent of damage to the underground nuclear site at Natanz is clear, where Iran has refined uranium to levels Western countries have long said are suitable for a bomb rather than civilian use.

Iran has long insisted its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes only. The UN nuclear watchdog concluded this week that it was in violation of its obligations under the global non-proliferation treaty.

Tehran had been engaged in talks with the Trump administration on a deal to curb its nuclear programme to replace one that Trump abandoned in 2018. Tehran had rejected the last US offer.