Janjivan Bureau / New Delhi : Israel struck a key Iranian nuclear site on Thursday and Iranian missiles hit an Israeli hospital, as President Donald Trump kept the world guessing about whether the U.S. would join Israel in airstrikes seeking to destroy Tehran’s nuclear facilities.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to press on with Israel’s biggest ever attack on Iran until his arch enemy’s nuclear programme is destroyed, said Tehran’s “tyrants” would pay the “full price”.
His Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military had been instructed to intensify strikes on strategic-related targets in Tehran in order to eliminate the threat to Israel and destabilise the “Ayatollah regime”.
Netanyahu has said that Israel’s military attacks could topple the regime in Iran, and Israel would do whatever is necessary to remove the “existential threat” posed by Tehran.
A week of Israeli air and missile strikes against its major rival has wiped out the top echelon of Iran’s military command, damaged its nuclear capabilities and killed hundreds of people, while Iranian retaliatory strikes have killed at least two dozen civilians in Israel.
The Israeli military said it targeted the Khondab nuclear reactor in Iran’s central city Arak overnight, including a partially-built heavy-water research reactor. Heavy-water reactors produce plutonium, which, like enriched uranium, can be used to make the core of an atom bomb.
Iranian media reported two projectiles hitting an area near the facility. There were no reports of radiation threats.
Israel’s military said it also struck a site in the area of Natanz, which it said contains components and specialised equipment used to advance nuclear weapons development.
Iran has always denied planning to build an atomic weapon and says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.
Its Atomic Energy Organisation said Israel had attacked its nuclear sites “in renewed violation of international law” and that there were no casualties because the areas had been evacuated.
Missiles damage hospital in Israel
On Thursday morning, several Iranian missiles struck populated areas in Israel, including a hospital in the southern part of the country, according to an Israeli military official.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it was targeting Israeli military and intelligence headquarters near Soroka medical centre in the city of Beersheba in the south of the country.
The week of Iranian missile salvoes mark the first time in decades of shadow war and proxy conflict that a significant number of projectiles fired from Iran have penetrated defences, killing Israelis in their homes.
Trails of missiles and interception efforts were visible in the skies over Tel Aviv, with explosions heard as incoming projectiles were intercepted. Israeli media also reported direct hits in central Israel.
Emergency services said five people had been seriously injured in the attacks and dozens of others hurt in three separate locations. People were still trapped in a building in a south Tel Aviv neighbourhood, they added.
Around a dozen mostly European and African embassies and diplomatic missions are located just a few hundred metres from the strike on Tel Aviv.
Buildings were extensively damaged in Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv, a key commercial hub home to high-rise towers, and emergency workers helping residents, including children.
The blast caused significant damage to nearby residential buildings and shattered windows across the area.
“It’s very scary,” said Yaniv, 34, who lives just a few hundred meters away. He said he heard a deafening explosion when the missile hit, shaking his apartment tower.
The worst-ever conflict between the two regional powers has raised fears that it will draw in world powers and further destabilize the Middle East.
Oil prices surged after Israel said it attacked Iranian nuclear sites overnight, as investors grapple with fears of a broader conflict in the Middle East that could disrupt crude supplies.
Israel, which has the most advanced military in the Middle East, has been fighting on several fronts since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack triggered the Gaza war, which has spilled over across the region.
It has pounded Iran’s regional allies, the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, with fierce military campaigns and assassinations of their top leaders, and bombed Yemen’s Houthis.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Wednesday, Trump declined to say if he had made any decision on whether to join Israel’s air campaign.
“I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do,” he said.
Trump also said Iranian officials wanted to come to Washington for a meeting: “We may do that,” he said, adding “it’s a little late” for such talks.
Trump has said the war could end if Iran quickly agrees to sharp curbs on its nuclear programme. Tehran has said it will not negotiate while under attack. Nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran, due last Sunday, were cancelled.
In an effort to restart negotiations, the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain plan to hold nuclear talks with Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi on Friday in Geneva, a German diplomatic source told journalists.
Trump has veered from proposing a swift diplomatic end to the war to suggesting the United States might join it. On Tuesday he mused on social media about killing Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, then demanded Iran’s unconditional surrender.
A source familiar with internal discussions said Trump and his team were considering options that included joining Israel in strikes against Iranian nuclear installations.
But the prospect of a US strike against Iran has exposed divisions in the coalition of supporters that brought Trump to power, with some of his base urging him not to get the country involved in a new Middle East war.
