Iran and Israel trade missiles and airstrikes as conflict develops

Iran and Israel targeted each other with missiles and airstrikes overnight Friday into Saturday, with Tehran striking back after Israel launched its biggest-ever air offensive against its longtime foe.

Strikes on Israel 

Tehran launched waves of airstrikes on Saturday after two salvos on Friday night, Fars reported. One of the waves targeted Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial hub, before dawn on Saturday, with explosions heard as far as Jerusalem, witnesses said.

Air raid sirens sounded across Israel, sending residents rushing into shelters as successive waves of Iranian missiles streaked across the skies and Israeli interceptors rose up to meet them.

A man and a woman were killed in Israel and dozens wounded by a missile that landed near their homes, Israel's ambulance service said.

Rescue teams were searching the rubble of apartment buildings that were destroyed in Rishon Lezion, a city outside of Tel Aviv.

Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday the Iranian leadership had crossed a red line by firing at civilians and will "pay a heavy price for it".

In a video address, Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed to the Iranian people directly, saying "I believe that the day of your liberation is near. And when that happens, the great friendship between our two ancient peoples will flourish once again."

A missile fired from Yemen by the Iran-backed Houthi militia killed five Palestinians including three children in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Strikes on Iran 

In Iran, several explosions were heard overnight in the capital Tehran, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

The Fars news agency said two projectiles hit Tehran's Mehrabad airport, and Iranian media said flames were reported there. Close to key Iranian leadership sites, the airport hosts an air force base with fighter jets and transport aircraft.

Iran's UN envoy Amir Saeid Iravani said 78 people, including senior military officials, have been killed in Israel's strikes on Iran and more than 320 wounded, most of them civilians.

Two deputy commanders at the Iranian armed forces' general staff were killed in Israeli attacks, Iranian state media reported.

Iranian news sites said two people were killed in an attack on a missile site in Assadabad in western Iran, while state TV reported that around 60 people, including 20 children, were killed in an Israeli attack on a housing complex in Tehran.

Iran confirmed that its Fordow nuclear facility sustained limited damage, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported on Saturday, citing a spokesperson for the country's atomic energy organization.

Iran vows to continue 

Iran's strikes against Israel will continue, with targets set to expand to include U.S. bases in the region in the coming days, the Fars news agency reported.

"This confrontation will not end with last night's limited actions and Iran's strikes will continue, and this action will be very painful and regrettable for the aggressors," Fars reported, citing senior military officials.

They were quoted saying that the war would "spread in the coming days to all areas occupied by this (Israeli) regime and American bases in the region".

Iran warned the United States, United Kingdom and France that their bases and ships in the region will be targeted if they help stop Tehran's strikes on Israel, state media reported on Saturday.

Background to the conflict 

Tehran's airstrikes were in response to Israel's attacks on Iran early on Friday against commanders, nuclear scientists, military targets and nuclear sites. Iran denies that its uranium enrichment activities are part of a secret weapons programme.

The U.S. military helped shoot down Iranian missiles headed to Israel on Friday, two U.S. officials said. Israel's military said Iran fired fewer than 100 missiles on Friday and that most were intercepted or fell short.

The Israeli strikes on Iran throughout the day and the Iranian retaliation raised fears of a broader regional conflagration, although Iran's allies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon have been decimated by Israel.

Iran's state news agency IRNA said Tehran launched hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel after Israel blasted Iran's huge Natanz underground nuclear site and killed its top military commanders.

Israeli officials said Natantz was significantly hurt but that it may be some time before the extent of damage was clear. Western countries have long accused Iran of refining uranium there to levels suitable for a bomb rather than civilian use.

The above-ground pilot enrichment plant at Natanz has been destroyed, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council on Friday. He said the UN was still gathering information about Israeli attacks on two other facilities, the Fordow fuel enrichment plant and at Isfahan.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Israel of starting a war. A senior Iranian official said nowhere in Israel would be safe and revenge would be painful.

Iran has accused the U.S. of being complicit in the attacks and said it shared full responsibility for the consequences.

Israel's UN envoy Danny Danon said intelligence had confirmed that within days Iran would have produced enough fissile material for multiple bombs. He called Israel's operation "an act of national preservation."

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.

Iran says U.S. talks 'meaningless'

Iran said the dialogue with the U.S. over Tehran's nuclear programme is "meaningless" after Israel's military strikes, but said it is yet to decide on whether to attend planned talks on Sunday.

"The other side (the U.S.) acted in a way that makes dialogue meaningless. You cannot claim to negotiate and at the same time divide work by allowing the Zionist regime (Israel) to target Iran's territory," state media on Saturday quoted foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei as saying.

"It is still unclear what decision we will make on Sunday in this regard," Baghaei was quoted as saying.

He said Israel "succeeded in influencing" the diplomatic process and the Israeli attack would not have happened without Washington's permission, accusing Washington of supporting the attack.

Iran earlier accused the U.S. of being complicit in Israel's attacks, but Washington denied the allegation and told Tehran at the United Nations Security Council that it would be "wise" to negotiate over its nuclear programme.

The sixth round of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks was set to be held on Sunday in Muscat, but it was unclear whether it would go ahead after the Israeli strikes.

Iran denies that its uranium enrichment programme is for anything other than civilian purposes, rejecting Israeli allegations that it is secretly developing nuclear weapons.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he and his team had known the Israeli attacks were coming but they still saw room for an accord.