Tel Aviv June 20: Israel and Iran exchanged strikes a week into their war Friday as President Donald Trump weighed US military involvement and new diplomatic efforts appeared to be underway.
Trump has been weighing whether to attack Iran by striking its well-defended Fordo uranium enrichment facility, which is buried under a mountain and widely considered to be out of reach of all but America’s “bunker-buster” bombs.
He said he’ll decide within two weeks whether the US military will get directly involved in the war given the “substantial chance” for renewed negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi appeared headed to Geneva for meetings with the European Union’s top diplomat and counterparts from the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
A plane with his usual call sign took off from the Turkish city of Van, near the Iranian border, flight-tracking data from FlightRadar24 showed. Iran typically acknowledges his departure hours afterward.
Britain’s foreign secretary said he met at the White House with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and envoy Steve Witkoff to discuss the potential for a deal that could cool the conflict.
Israel said it conducted airstrikes into Friday morning in Iran with more than 60 aircraft hitting what it said were industrial sites to manufacture missiles. It did not elaborate on the locations.
It also said it hit the headquarters of Iran’s Organisation of Defensive Innovation and Research, known by its acronym in Farsi, SPND. The US in the past has linked that agency to alleged Iranian research and testing tied to the possible development of nuclear explosive devices.
Israeli airstrikes reached into the city of Rasht on the Caspian Sea early Friday, Iranian media reported. The Israeli military had warned the public to flee the area around Rasht’s Industrial City, southwest of the city’s downtown. But with Iran’s internet shut off to the outside world, it’s unclear just how many people could see the message.
In Israel, the paramedic service Magen David Adom said missiles struck a residential area in southern Israel causing damage to buildings, including one six-story building. They have provided medical treatment to five people with minor injuries such as bruises, smoke inhalation, and anxiety, it said.
This comes a day after at least 80 patients and medical workers were wounded in a strike on the Soroka Medical Centre in the southern city of Beersheba.
On Thursday, Israel’s defence minister threatened Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after the Iranian missile crashed into the hospital. Israel’s military “has been instructed and knows that in order to achieve all of its goals, this man absolutely should not continue to exist”, Defence Minister Israel Katz said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he trusted that Trump would “do what’s best for America.” Speaking from the rubble and shattered glass around the hospital, he added: “I can tell you that they’re already helping a lot.”
The war between Israel and Iran erupted June 13 with Israeli airstrikes targeting nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists. At least 657 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2,000 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group.
Iran has retaliated by firing 450 missiles and 1,000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. Most have been shot down by Israel’s multitiered air defences, but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and hundreds wounded.
Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. But it is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich uranium up to 60 per cent, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent.
Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with a nuclear weapons programme but has never acknowledged it.
The Israeli air campaign has targeted Iran’s enrichment site at Natanz, centrifuge workshops around Tehran, a nuclear site in Isfahan and what the army assesses to be most of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers. The destruction of those launchers has contributed to the steady decline in Iranian attacks since the start of the conflict. (AP)
