Israel’s protection minister warned Saturday that “Tehran will burn” if Iran continues firing missiles at Israel. Iran’s retaliatory strikes come after Israel unleashed a sequence of blistering assaults on Iran’s nuclear program and armed forces on Thursday. In the meantime, talks between the U.S. and Iran had been known as off on Sunday, sources advised CBS Information.
Talking after an evaluation assembly with the military’s chief of employees, Protection Minister Israel Katz stated Iran can pay a heavy value for harming Israeli residents. A minimum of three folks have died in Israel, and dozens wounded, Israel Protection Forces officers stated Saturday morning.
Iran’s U.N. ambassador stated no less than 78 folks have died and tons of have been wounded in Iran from Israel’s strikes.
“If (Iranian Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei continues to fireside missiles on the Israeli dwelling entrance — Tehran will burn,” Katz stated.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the three civilian deaths in an handle Saturday, saying he shares the grief with the households however the nation is thwarting “a double menace” from Iran — nuclear and ballistics missiles — to destroy the State of Israel. He stated Israel’s strikes had “inflicted very extreme harm on Iran’s central enrichment web site.”
Iranian state tv reported on-line that air defenses had been firing within the cities of Khorramabad, Kermanshah and Tabriz, signaling the beginning of what may very well be a brand new Israeli assault on Saturday. Footage from Tabriz confirmed black smoke rising from the town.
An Israeli navy official stated Saturday that the navy was poised to hold out extra strikes in Iran, saying, “This isn’t over.” He spoke on situation of anonymity, in step with official procedures.
Israel’s preliminary assault used warplanes — in addition to drones smuggled into the nation prematurely, in keeping with officers — to hit key services and kill high generals and scientists. Israel’s military stated Saturday it killed 9 senior scientists and specialists concerned in Iran’s nuclear undertaking.
“The people who had been eradicated performed a central a part of the progress towards nuclear weapons,” the IDF stated in a information launch. “Their elimination represents a major blow to the Iranian regime’s capability to accumulate weapons of mass destruction.”
Iran retaliated by launching waves of drones and ballistic missiles at Israel, the place explosions lit the evening skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and shook the buildings beneath. The Israeli navy urged civilians, already rattled by 20 months of battle in Gaza sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault, to move to shelter for hours. U.S. officers confirmed to CBS Information that U.S. forces helped Israel intercept Iranian missiles on Friday.
Leo Correa / AP
Each Israel and Iran stated their assaults would proceed, elevating the prospect of one other protracted Mideast battle. Netanyahu stated Friday that his goal was to remove any Iranian menace to Israel, however he additionally urged Iranians to stand up in opposition to their leaders. Israel would welcome the federal government’s overthrow even when it’s not actively in search of it.
“The time has come so that you can unite round your flag and your historic legacy, by standing up on your freedom from an evil and oppressive regime,” Netanyahu stated Friday. “It has by no means been weaker. That is your alternative to face up and let your voices be heard.”
Strikes might derail U.S.-Iran nuclear talks
Israel’s ongoing strikes have halted — for now — diplomacy between the U.S. and Iran. Oman’s overseas minister, Badr al-Busaidi, stated on social media that talks on Sunday “is not going to now happen,” however he added that “diplomacy and dialogue stay the one pathway to lasting peace.”
A senior administration officers advised CBS Information, “Whereas there can be no assembly Sunday, we stay dedicated to talks and hope the Iranians will come to the desk quickly.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has stated the U.S. was not concerned in Israel’s preliminary strike, and that his high precedence is defending American property within the Center East. The State Division on Thursday knowledgeable a number of U.S.-allied governments within the Center East prematurely of Israel’s strikes on Iran, 4 sources advised CBS Information.
Vahid Salemi / AP 
President Trump urged Iran on Friday to succeed in a cope with the U.S. on its nuclear program, warning on his Fact Social platform that Israel’s assaults “will solely worsen.”
“Iran should make a deal, earlier than there’s nothing left,” he wrote.
Will Todman, the chief of employees of the Geopolitics and International Coverage Division and a senior fellow within the Center East Program on the Middle for Strategic and Worldwide Research, advised CBS Information that Mr. Trump has “put a whole lot of effort into the nuclear negotiations with Iran,” however “appears to have grown annoyed with the shortage of success in these talks.”
“The Iranians have a tendency to barter very slowly. And be very sluggish to make concessions,” Todman stated. “And so I feel he is now viewing these navy actions by Israel as a manner of accelerating stress on Iran to make these concessions and in the end come to a deal.”
Iranian missiles strike Israel
Khamenei stated in a recorded message Friday: “We is not going to permit them to flee safely from this nice crime they dedicated.”
Iran launched waves of missiles at Israel late Friday and early Saturday. Iranians awoke Saturday to state tv airing repeated clips of strikes on Israel, in addition to movies of individuals cheering and handing out sweets. Israel’s navy stated extra drones had been intercepted close to the Useless Sea early Saturday.
A hospital in Tel Aviv handled seven folks wounded within the second Iranian barrage; all however one among them had gentle accidents. Israel’s Fireplace and Rescue Companies stated they had been wounded when a projectile hit a constructing within the metropolis. A spokesperson for Beilinson Hospital stated one girl was killed.
Tomer Neuberg / AP 
Hours later, an Iranian missile struck close to houses within the central Israeli metropolis of Rishon Lezion, killing two extra folks and wounding 19, in keeping with Israel’s paramedic service Magen David Adom. Israel’s Fireplace and Rescue service stated 4 houses had been severely broken.
Israel’s foremost worldwide airport stated Saturday it should stay closed till additional discover.
In the meantime, the sound of explosions and Iranian air protection techniques firing at targets echoed throughout central Tehran shortly after midnight. Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim information company reported a fireplace at Tehran’s Mehrabad Worldwide Airport. A video posted on X confirmed a column of smoke and flames rising from what the outlet stated was the airport.
The Israeli navy stated it carried out in a single day strikes on dozens of targets, together with air defenses, “within the space of Tehran.”
Israel’s paramedic providers stated 34 folks had been wounded within the barrage on the Tel Aviv space, together with a girl who was critically injured after being trapped underneath rubble. In Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv, an AP journalist noticed burned-out vehicles and no less than three broken homes, together with one the place the entrance was almost fully torn away.
Residents of a central Israeli metropolis that was hit Friday evening advised the AP the explosion was so highly effective it shook their shelter door open. “We thought, that is it, the home is gone, and actually half of the home was gone, it fell aside,” stated Moshe Shani.
AHMAD GHARABLI 
U.S. ground-based air protection techniques within the area had been serving to to shoot down Iranian missiles, stated a U.S. official who spoke on situation of anonymity to debate the measures.
Israel’s ongoing airstrikes and Iran’s retaliation raised considerations about all-out battle between the international locations and propelled the area, already on edge, into even higher upheaval. Israel’s 20-month-long battle with Gaza exhibits no indicators of ending. A minimum of 27 folks had been killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza in a single day Friday, in keeping with native hospitals.
Strikes increase fears of all-out battle
Nations within the area condemned Israel’s assault, whereas leaders across the globe known as for quick de-escalation from either side.
Israel had lengthy threatened such a strike, and successive American administrations sought to stop it, fearing it could ignite a wider battle throughout the Center East and presumably be ineffective at destroying Iran’s dispersed and hardened nuclear program.
However a confluence of developments triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, assault — plus the reelection of Mr. Trump — created the circumstances that allowed Israel to lastly observe by way of on its threats. Netanyahu stated the U.S. was knowledgeable prematurely of the assault.
On Thursday, Iran was censured by the U.N.’s atomic watchdog for not complying with obligations meant to stop it from creating a nuclear weapon.
Above-ground part of Natanz facility destroyed
Among the many key websites Israel attacked was Iran’s foremost nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz, the place black smoke may very well be seen rising into the air. It additionally appeared to strike a second, smaller nuclear enrichment facility in Fordo, about 60 miles southeast of Tehran, in keeping with an Iranian information outlet near the federal government that reported listening to explosions close by.
Israel stated it additionally struck a nuclear analysis facility in Isfahan, and stated it destroyed dozens of radar installations and surface-to-air missile launchers in western Iran. Iran confirmed the strike at Isfahan.
Maxar Applied sciences through AP 
U.N. nuclear chief Rafael Grossi advised the Safety Council that the above-ground part of the Natanz facility was destroyed. The primary centrifuge facility underground didn’t seem to have been hit, however the lack of energy might have broken the infrastructure there, he stated.
Netanyahu stated the assault had been months within the making and was deliberate for April earlier than being postponed.
Israel’s Mossad spy company positioned explosive drones and precision weapons inside Iran forward of time, and used them to focus on Iranian air defenses and missile launchers close to Tehran, in keeping with two safety officers who spoke on situation of anonymity.
It was not attainable to independently corroborate these claims.
Over the previous 12 months, Israel has been focusing on Iran’s air defenses, hitting a radar system for a Russian-made air protection battery in April 2024, and surface-to-air missile websites and missile manufacturing services in October.
The primary wave of strikes gave Israel “vital freedom of motion” in Iran’s skies, clearing the best way for additional assaults, in keeping with an Israeli navy official who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of he was not licensed to debate particulars of the assault with the media.
The official stated Israel is ready for an operation that might last as long as two weeks, however that there was no agency timeline.
Amongst these killed had been three of Iran’s high navy leaders: one who oversaw your entire armed forces, Gen. Mohammad Bagheri; one who led the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami; and the pinnacle of the Guard’s ballistic missile program, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
Two of Bagheri’s deputies had been additionally killed, Iran confirmed Saturday: Gen. Gholamreza Mehrabi, the deputy of intelligence for the armed forces’ basic employees, and Gen. Mehdi Rabbani, the deputy of operations.
On Saturday, Khamenei named a brand new chief for the Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace division. Gen. Majid Mousavi will substitute Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who was killed in Friday’s airstrike. The Guard’s aerospace division oversees Iran’s arsenal of ballistic missiles.
