Israel and Iran trade strikes in third day of war

Israel’s nuclear infrastructure and education facilities were struck by Iranian missiles in Bat Yam, a suburb south of Tel Aviv, and in nearby Rehovot

Israeli missiles struck two energy facilities in southern Iran, according to Iranian state media. Iran responded by firing missiles and drones into Israel, causing many casualties and damage to an oil refinery and a science institute.

On social media, President Trump said the U.S. had “nothing to do with the attack on Iran, tonight,” but warned that if the U.S. was attacked by Iran in any way, that “the full strength of U.S. Armed forces will come down on [Iran] at levels never seen before.”

The night was the hardest for Israelis since the beginning of the fighting with at least 10 casualties, and hundreds injured, according to Israeli emergency services organization.

The deadliest strikes hit a residential building in Bat Yam, a suburb south of Tel Aviv, killing at least six people including a 10-year-old boy and 9-year-old girl. According to the police, 180 people were wounded and seven are still missing.

In Petah Tikvah, near Tel Aviv, four people were killed after an Iranian missile hit a residential building. The dead included two men and two women in their 70s. Israel’s emergency services, Magen David Adom, shared images of babies being rescued from the rubble.

Several campus buildings at the Weizmann Institute of Science were struck in the central city of Rehovot, causing at least 42 people to be injured. The center said no one on campus was hurt, despite the extensive damage.

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Yemen’s Houthi rebels said Sunday that they had assisted Iran by launching more ballistic missiles at Israel. Iran’s direct retaliation for Israeli strikes coincides with the launch of missiles at Israel on Friday, which Israel’s military confirmed.

The head of the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization was among four Iranians killed in an Israeli strike on command centers belonging to Iran’s Quds Force.

The death toll from the latest explosions wasn’t immediately known. On Saturday, Iran’s UN ambassador said 78 people had been killed and more than 320 wounded since the start of Israel’s attack.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on both sides to “show maximum restraint” and Pope Leo XIV called for “sincere dialogue” after stating the situation between Israel and Iran had “deteriorated drastically.”

The more threatened Iran feels, the more likely it is that it will pursue a nuclear weapon. It will likely retain that capability after the Israeli attacks.

The strikes came a day after the U.N. nuclear watchdog declared that Iran wasn’t complying with nuclear nonproliferation agreements aimed at halting the spread of nuclear weapons. Iran reacted saying it would create a new uranium enrichment facility. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

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On Saturday, the foreign minister of Oman announced that there was no meeting. But he said “diplomacy and dialogue remain the only pathway to lasting peace.”

One missile hit the U.S. consulate in Tel Aviv, causing minor damage to its facade, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said in a post on X, adding the consulate would remain closed on Monday. No U.S. personnel were hurt in the strike. Despite continued international calls for de-escalation, neither side showed signs it was prepared to enter talks.

The issue here is not truce, but stopping things that will threaten our survival, and I believe we can achieve it.

On Monday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard warned more rounds of strikes against Israel would be “more forceful, severe, precise and destructive than previous ones.”

In a post on his Truth Social site Sunday, President Trump renewed calls for Iran and Israel to make a deal, but later told reporters “sometimes, they just have to fight it out.”

Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the Air Force had achieved “full aerial superiority” over the skies of Tehran on Monday. He added that the military had destroyed a third of Iran’s missile launchers.

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Mr Ostovar said that Iran were able to emerge from this conflict with a bomb. “Now, unlike the past, there’s a real explicit need for a nuclear weapon, because Iran has no deterrence left whatsoever.”

Many Iranians who already abhorred their theocratic and authoritarian rulers blame them for the sharp escalation of the conflict. As the civilian death toll rises, however, some may come to soften toward their leaders, or at least harden their attitudes toward Israel, Ms. Geranmayeh said. Patriotic posts, though not pro-regime ones, are already proliferating on Iranian social media.

The Strait of Hormuz is controlled by Iran, and it could still use drones, submarines or limpet mines. It would probably have limited effect on the conflict and could even lead to drawing in the United States.

While the U.S. military has said Iran had about 3,000 missiles, it is not clear that all of them have the range to hit Israel. And Iran must shoot off so many at a time to penetrate Israeli air defenses that it will deplete its stockpile more quickly than it can manufacture more, analysts said.

Israel is using freedom of movement to go after Iranian missiles, as well as the facilities that would allow Iran to replenish its missile stocks.

Beyond its Hezbollah-and-missiles deterrence strategy, Iran had also invested heavily in air defenses to protect itself. But Israel ground down those systems in attacks last year, leaving its warplanes dominant over Iranian airspace this time around.

Israeli intelligence managed to penetrate Iran so thoroughly that Israel was able to launch drone attacks on Iranian targets from inside Iran on Friday and to kill some of the most senior figures in the military’s chain of command.

The depiction has come into question since war broke out between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon, drawing in Iran itself. Iran has suffered a lot over the last year and a half.

Hezbollah has an arsenal of rockets on the Israel’s northern border. Iran backed militant groups had a plan to target American military installations in Iraq. The US has bases in the Middle East. And Tehran could launch a barrage of long-range missiles and drones into Israel that would potentially overwhelm Israeli air defenses and shatter the country’s sense of security.

The European Council of Foreign Relations says Iran has shown it was out-gunned and outsmarted by Israel.

The humiliations came to a head on Friday when the start of the Israeli military campaign that targets Iran, destroyed its air defenses, and killed several of its commanders and nuclear scientists. The new round of conflict has killed hundreds of people in Iran and at least 24 in Israel.

Several senior Iranian commanders were killed in an airstrike on an embassy building in Syria last year. The assassination of one of Iran’s top militant partners happened while he was in Tehran. The Israeli strikes on Iran were in April and October of that year. Iran’s strongest allies in the Middle East include Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah and President Assad of Syria.

Iran is often viewed as a rogue state with a growing nuclear program and military capabilities that threaten Israel, the United States and beyond.