Israel and Iran exchanged fire again on Tuesday, June 17, the fifth day of strikes in their most intense confrontation in history, fuelling fears of a drawn-out conflict that could engulf the Middle East. Iran has said its targets in Israel included “sensitive” security sites, claiming attacks on the headquarters of the Mossad spy agency and air force bases. Abdolrahim Mousavi, the Iranian armed forces chief of staff, warned of imminent “punitive operations.”
Israel said it intercepted “most” of a barrage of missiles fired from Iran after air raid sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and northern parts of the country. The Israeli military issued seven missile alerts for various parts of the country since midnight. Air raid sirens also sounded in Dimona, a town in southern Israel home to a nuclear facility, with no reports of any hits.
Israel’s military said it launched at least two waves of strikes Tuesday targeting missile and drone sites in western Iran. AFP journalists heard multiple series of loud explosions across Tehran over the course of the day, while Iranian media reported blasts in Isfahan, which hosts nuclear facilities.
As of Sunday, Israeli attacks had killed at least 224 people and wounded more than 1,200 in Iran, the health ministry said. The deaths include top military commanders and nuclear scientists. At least 24 people have been killed and 592 wounded in Iran’s attacks on Israel, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
‘Axis of terrorism’
Israel has carried out repeated strikes on Iran’s key nuclear sites despite warnings from the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, that such military action is in breach of international law. The IAEA said Tuesday that it had detected signs of “direct impacts” to the underground part of Iran’s uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, struck on Friday.
Netanyahu has said Israel’s campaign seeks to eliminate Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, as well as its “axis of terrorism” – a reference to Iranian-backed militant groups in the Middle East. He has also not ruled out killing the supreme leader.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that “regime change is not an objective of this war – it can be a result, but it’s not an objective.”
French President Emmanuel Macron warned that any attempt to change the government in Iran would result in “chaos.”
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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz expressed support for the campaign Tuesday, saying in an interview that “this is the dirty work Israel is doing for all of us” against Iran’s “mullah regime.” In a separate interview, he said Tehran was “considerably” weakened, adding: “I can hardly imagine the mullah regime returning to its old functions.”
‘Unconditional surrender’
US President Donald Trump dramatically stepped up his rhetoric against Iran’s supreme leader Tuesday, saying on social media that the United States knows where Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is located but will not kill him “for now.”
In another post, Trump also appeared to demand Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” as he fuelled questions about whether the United States would join Israel’s attacks on Tehran’s leadership and nuclear facilities. Trump earlier said he wanted a “real end” to the conflict, not just a ceasefire. A White House official said Trump was convening a meeting of his National Security Council to discuss the hostilities.
G7 leaders, including Trump, had issued a call on Monday for “de-escalation,” but it was accompanied by criticism of Iran and support for Israel’s right to defend itself, drawing a rebuke from Tehran.
Beijing accused Trump of “pouring oil” on the intensifying conflict, while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being “the biggest threat to the security of the region.”
