Iranian missiles pierce through Israeli air defences

DUBAI/TEL AVIV:

An Israeli strike hit Iran's state broadcaster on Monday while the head of the UN nuclear watchdog indicated extensive damage to Iran's biggest uranium enrichment plant and Iran called on the US to force a ceasefire in the four-day-old aerial war.

Israeli forces have stepped up their bombardment of Iranian cities, while Iran proved capable of piercing Israeli air defences with one of its most successful volleys yet of retaliatory missile strikes.

"If President Trump is genuine about diplomacy and interested in stopping this war, next steps are consequential," Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on X.

"Israel must halt its aggression, and absent a total cessation of military aggression against us, our responses will continue. It takes one phone call from Washington to muzzle someone like Netanyahu."

Sources told Reuters that Tehran had asked Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman to press US President Donald Trump to use his influence on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and push for an immediate ceasefire.

In return, Iran would show flexibility in nuclear negotiations, said the two Iranian and three regional sources.

Netanyahu told troops at an air base that Israel was on its way to achieving its two main aims: wiping out Iran's nuclear programme and destroying its missiles. "We are on the path to victory," he said. "We are telling the citizens of Tehran: 'Evacuate' - and we are taking action."

Late on Monday, Israel said it hit Iran's broadcasting authority, and footage showed a newsreader hurrying from her seat as a blast struck. Iran's State News Agency also reported the strike.

Iranian media said Iran was preparing for the "largest and most intense missile attack" yet against Israel, including against military and intelligence targets.

NATANZ DAMAGE

Israel launched its air war on Friday with a surprise attack that killed nearly the entire top echelon of Iran's military commanders and its leading nuclear scientists. It says it now has control of Iranian airspace and intends to escalate the campaign in coming days.

Israel said it hit Iranian F-14 fighter planes at Tehran airport on Monday, and its airstrikes have also put at least two of Iran's three operating uranium enrichment plants out of action.

Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the BBC on Monday it was very likely all the roughly 15,000 centrifuges operating at Iran's biggest uranium enrichment plant at Natanz were badly damaged or destroyed because of a power cut caused by an Israeli strike. There had been very limited or no damage at the separate Fordow plant, he said.

Tehran's retaliation is the first time in decades of shadow war and proxy conflict that missiles fired from Iran have pierced Israeli defences in significant numbers and killed Israelis in their homes.

Iran says more than 224 Iranians have been killed, most of them civilians. Media published images of wounded children, women, and the elderly from cities across the country.

State TV broadcast scenes of collapsed presidential buildings, burned-out cars, and shattered streets in Tehran. Many residents were trying to flee the capital, describing queues for petrol and bank machines that were out of cash.

"I am desperate. My two children are scared and cannot sleep at night because of the sound of air defence and attacks, explosions. But we have nowhere to go. We hid under our dining table," Gholamreza Mohammadi, 48, a civil servant, told Reuters by phone from Tehran.

In Israel, 24 people have been killed so far in Iran's missile attacks, all of them civilians. Round-the-clock television images showed rescuers working in ruins of flattened homes.

"It's terrifying because it's so unknown," said Guydo Tetelbaum, 31, a chef in Tel Aviv who was in his apartment when the alerts came in shortly after 4am. He went to a public shelter and was inside when the door was blown in.

Trump has consistently said the Israeli assault could end quickly if Iran agrees to US demands that it accept strict curbs to its nuclear programme. "I'd say Iran is not winning this war, and they should talk, and they should talk immediately before it's too late," Trump said at a G7 meeting in Canada.

Talks between the United States and Iran, hosted by Oman, had been scheduled for Sunday but were scrapped, with Tehran saying it could not negotiate while under attack. On Monday, Iranian lawmakers floated the idea of quitting the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, a move bound to be seen as a setback for any negotiations.

'PAYING THE PRICE'

Before dawn on Monday, Iranian missiles struck Tel Aviv and Haifa, killing at least eight people and destroying homes. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said the latest attack employed a new method that caused Israel's multi-layered defence systems to target each other so missiles could get through.

Global oil prices eased on Monday, suggesting traders think exports could be spared despite Israeli attacks on domestic Iranian oil and gas targets.

The sudden killing of so many Iranian military commanders and the apparent loss of control of airspace could prove to be the biggest test of Iran's system of clerical rule since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iran's network of regional allies who could once have been expected to rain rockets on Israel - Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon - have been decimated by Israeli forces since the start of the Gaza war.

Netanyahu has said that, while toppling the Iranian government is not Israel's primary aim, it believes that could be the outcome.