Iran and Israel have continued to exchange air and missile strikes as the world on Monday braces for Tehran’s response to the United States (U.S.) attack on its nuclear sites, and U.S. President Donald Trump has floated the idea of regime change in the Islamic Republic.
Iran launches new salvo of missiles at Israel
Iran on Monday launched a new wave of missiles at Israel as the conflict between the two countries escalates, the Israeli military announced.
The army claims that after the missiles were launched, air raid sirens sounded in central and northern Israel.
They stated that air defense is working to intercept the Iranian missiles.
Tehran threatens Washington with “sleepers”
U.S. President Donald Trump received a message from Iran at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in which Tehran threatens to activate so-called sleeper cells in the U.S., U.S. media reported, citing unnamed sources.
Sources claim that during the summit in Canada, Trump was given Iran’s warning through an intermediary.
According to journalist Peter Alexander, the message states that Tehran will activate “sleepers” to carry out terrorist attacks in the U.S. if Trump orders strikes on Iran.
Israel: Six Iranian military airfields hit
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that strikes were carried out on six military airfields in eastern, western, and central Iran.
The statement says that 15 fighter jets and helicopters were destroyed in the attacks.
In addition, runways were damaged, as well as underground bunkers.
Iran on Sunday vowed to continue defending itself, a day after the U.S. joined Israel in the largest Western military operation against the country since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, despite global calls for restraint and a return to diplomacy.
Commercial satellite images showed that the U.S. strike on Saturday on Iran’s underground nuclear facility at Fordow severely damaged or destroyed the deeply buried site and uranium enrichment centrifuges located there, but experts said the exact extent of the damage at that location is still unclear.
In his latest comments on social media regarding the U.S. strikes, Trump said that “monumental damage” was inflicted on all nuclear sites in Iran.
“The biggest damage took place far below ground level. Bullseye!!!” he wrote on his platform Truth Social.
Trump had earlier called on Iran to abandon any retaliation and said that “peace must now be made” or “future strikes will be far larger and much easier.”
The U.S. launched 75 precision-guided missiles, including bunker-buster bombs and more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles, at three Iranian nuclear facilities, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine told reporters.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations (UN) nuclear watchdog, stated that after the U.S. strikes, no increase in radiation levels was recorded outside the sites. Rafael Grossi, the agency’s director general, stated that it is still not possible to assess the damage caused underground.
A senior Iranian source said that most of the highly enriched uranium at Fordow had been moved elsewhere before the attack. This claim could not be confirmed.
Tehran, which denies that its nuclear program has any purpose other than peaceful, sent a volley of missiles at Israel following the U.S.attack, injuring numerous people and destroying buildings in Tel Aviv.
However, it has so far not fulfilled its main threats of retaliation, such as targeting U.S. bases or halting oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
An attempt to disrupt oil supplies in the Persian Gulf by closing the strait could cause a skyrocketing rise in global oil prices, disrupt the world economy, and provoke a conflict with the massive U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet based in the Gulf.
Oil prices jumped on Monday to their highest level since January.
The Iranian parliament approved the closure of the strait, which Iran shares with Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Iranian media stated that such a move would require approval from the Supreme National Security Council, a body led by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Caine said that the U.S. military has increased the protection of troops in the region, including in Iraq and Syria. The U.S. State Department has issued a security warning for all U.S. citizens abroad, urging “increased caution.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday called on China to urge Iran not to close the strait, saying that such a move would be a “terrible mistake.”
“For them, it would be economic suicide if they did it. And we retain options to address it, but other countries should also consider that. It would hurt other countries’ economies far more than ours,” he said.
The Israeli military reported a missile launch from Iran in the early hours of Monday, saying that Israeli defense forces had intercepted it.
Air raid sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and other parts of central Israel. Iran has repeatedly targeted Greater Tel Aviv – a metropolitan area with around 4 million people – the business and economic hub of Israel, where critical military assets are also located.
Iranian news agencies reported that air defense was activated in central districts of Tehran to counter “hostile targets” and that Israeli airstrikes hit Parchin, the location of a military complex southeast of the capital.
Israeli officials, who initiated hostilities with a surprise attack on Iran on June 13th, are increasingly speaking of their ambition to overthrow the hardline Shia Muslim clerical establishment.
While Tehran was weighing its options, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday. The Kremlin has a strategic partnership with Iran, but also close ties with Israel.
Speaking Sunday in Istanbul, Araghchi said that his country would consider all possible responses and that there would be no return to diplomacy until retaliation occurs.
The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned the U.S. strikes, saying they undermined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and warned of the conflict expanding in the Middle East.
The UN Security Council met on Sunday to discuss the U.S. attacks, while Russia, China, and Pakistan proposed that the 15-member body adopt a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Middle East.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council that the U.S. bombings in Iran mark a dangerous turning point in the region and called for a return to negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program.
