Iran fires hundreds of missiles at Israel as conflict escalates

Israel extended attacks against Iran as fighting escalated between the two sides, raising international concerns of a protracted conflict that threatens to engulf the oil-rich Middle East.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his military would “strike at every site and every target of the Ayatollah regime,” after Iran fired waves of ballistic missiles at Israeli cities in retaliation for unprecedented airstrikes on its nuclear facilities and multiple other targets.

A sixth round of talks between the U.S. and Iran to find a diplomatic solution to the future of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program was canceled, Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said. Continuing with the negotiations, which were to be held in Oman, is “unjustifiable” following Israel’s attacks, Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said earlier.

The International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Israeli strikes against Iran’s uranium-conversion facility at Isfahan, some 400 kilometers (249 miles) south of Tehran, resulted in serious damage. Successfully knocking out Isfahan would be significant because it’s the only location for converting uranium into the feedstock used by centrifuges, which in turn separate the uranium isotopes needed for nuclear power or bombs.

Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency said Israel targeted a facility at Iran’s South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf on Saturday. Although production from one offshore platform was temporarily halted, there was no damage to core facilities, other Iranian media reported. Israel has yet to comment.

Israeli officials have indicated the campaign to derail Iran’s nuclear ambitions could last for weeks, while Tehran has signaled no letup in its response. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned the country will deliver “an even harsher and more powerful response” if Israeli strikes continue, Tasnim news agency reported.

The scale of the conflict represents a turning point for both nations, testing new limits in terms of their aggression and willingness to escalate.

The tensions have sent shock waves through financial markets, with the S&P 500 losing more than 1% on Friday and West Texas Intermediate crude-oil futures surging more than 7%, the most in three years.

Israel’s military said Iran fired 200 missiles and about 200 drones into its territory in four barrages starting Friday evening. While U.S. forces helped shoot down the projectiles, some breached the country’s air defenses.

Three people were killed in the Tel Aviv area and at least 40 were injured in multiple attacks, according to police and emergency services. There was video footage of at least one large explosion in Tel Aviv and reports of blasts over Jerusalem.

Several top Iranian generals were killed and key military infrastructure badly damaged in Israel’s initial strikes, which also targeted Iran’s defense systems. The Israeli military said it had hit 150 targets so far.

Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, said 78 people have been killed and more than 320 injured so far across the country.

Four sites in the East Azerbaijan province were struck on Saturday, as was Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport — where Iran’s air force has a base and the national carrier is headquartered — and several residential buildings in the capital’s suburbs, according to Iranian media.

Iran’s Intelligence Ministry urged the public to use hotlines to report suspicious activity, including filming near military or industrial sites, and warned that pickups and small cargo vehicles may be used to launch drones or guide enemy missiles.

Further escalation — particularly any targeting of American military or diplomatic facilities in the region — could help Iran’s rulers rally political support domestically but would dramatically intensify the conflict. It’s unclear if Tehran is entertaining last-resort options — such as blocking the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s vital oil arteries, a scenario that would ratchet up concern among investors.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to “act forcefully” in a prerecorded video message carried by state TV. Israel “should not think that it is over. We won’t allow them to escape unscathed from this great crime they have committed,” he said in a statement released after Iran started its retaliation.

So far, Iran has chosen to keep the U.S. out of the conflict — a decision that an analysis by Bloomberg Economics suggested was the most likely since Tehran can’t afford to go to war against the world’s most powerful military, which is backed by its largest economy. Iran’s network of allied militias in the Middle East has also been severely weakened following Israeli conflicts with Hamas in Gaza and Lebanon-based Hezbollah.

Iran lost a key regional ally in Syria’s ex-President Bashar al-Assad late last year after his administration fell to a rebel uprising.

The damage to Iran’s military command structure is considerable. The head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami, and the military’s chief of staff, Mohammad Bagheri, were both killed in Israeli strikes. At least two other senior IRGC members also died and several nuclear facilities and scientists were targeted.

Officials in the region are still pushing for a deescalation. In a phone call with Iran’s Araghchi, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan called for “the highest degrees of self-restraint.” Oman said its foreign minister is in contact with relevant countries to contain the “tensions and the dangerous military escalation in the region.”

Meanwhile, with the Group of Seven leaders gathering in the Canadian Rockies, the attention will focus on U.S. President Donald Trump’s reaction. Going into the summit, there was a common desire to keep fraught geopolitical issues off the table, but that will be difficult given the knock-on effects of a spike in oil prices on inflation and energy exports.

Trump warned Iran on social media to make a deal “before it is too late.” He hasn’t criticized Israel’s strikes — even though he had previously said negotiations should be allowed to take their course.

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(With assistance from Eltaf Najafizada, Galit Altstein, Jonathan Tirone, Dan Williams, Ethan Bronner and Arsalan Shahla.)