Israel widened its targets in Iran on Saturday to strike at oil and gas installations, as leaders of both countries vowed to intensify their attacks despite international pleas for de-escalation.
In a sweeping assault on Iranian nuclear and military assets that began early Friday, Israel initially focused on Iranian nuclear sites, air defenses and military targets. But the strikes on Saturday went a step further, targeting an energy industry that is vital to Iran’s economy. So far, Israel has killed more than 70 people, including four top security chiefs and several nuclear scientists, damaged Iran’s main nuclear site at Natanz and systematically degraded air defenses, particularly around the capital, Tehran.
Iran, in turn, has launched barrages of ballistic missiles and drones at Israel targeting what it says are military assets, but with less apparent success. At least three people have been killed and dozens more wounded.
The fighting, the most intense in decades between the two heavily armed countries, has stirred anxiety over the prospect of an increasingly deadly conflict that could draw in the United States and other major powers.
The salvos of missiles scuttled talks between the United States and Iran aimed at curbing the Islamic Republic’s progress toward obtaining a nuclear weapon. The talks had been scheduled to resume in Oman on Sunday, but American and Omani officials said they were canceled.
A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Esmail Baghaei, said on Saturday that the negotiations would remain suspended until Israel ends its attacks, and he accused Washington of supporting the Israelis.
“It is obvious that in such circumstances and until the Zionist regime’s aggression against the Iranian nation stops, it will be meaningless to participate in dialogue with the party that is the biggest supporter and accomplice of the aggressor,” Mr. Baghaei said.
Fars News, an Iranian outlet affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, reported on Saturday that Israel was widening its attack, striking oil refineries and energy infrastructure. Among the targets Israel struck was the South Pars gas field in the Bushehr province, which was on fire, the outlet reported. The Israeli military declined to comment.
Residents of Tehran reported hearing explosions on Saturday morning, as the Iranian military activated what air defenses remained after raids on sites in Tehran overnight by dozens of Israeli warplanes, the Israeli military said.
Israeli strikes collapsed a section of a 14-story residential building near Nobonyad Square in northeastern Tehran on Friday, according to videos of the aftermath and rescue efforts verified by The Times. Footage taken soon after the strike showed part of the building shorn away, with dozens of apartments ripped open and people searching for survivors inside. Iranian state television reported that 60 people were killed in the strike, including 20 children.
Iranian state news media reported that the Israeli targets included a military jet hangar at Tehran’s Mehrabad airport. Video filmed by a witness in Tehran and verified by The New York Times showed thick, black smoke billowing from part of the airport, which serves both military and civilian purposes.
Across Israel, people huddled in reinforced bomb shelters as air-raid sirens wailed outside, warning of incoming missile fire. Loud explosions reverberated overhead as Israel’s antimissile defenses intercepted many of the incoming missiles. Video from the Israeli city of Rishon LeZion showed extensive damage to homes as security forces combed through the rubble.
Israel has conducted roughly 150 strikes on Iran over two days, while Iranian forces have fired roughly 200 ballistic missiles at Israeli territory, in addition to scores of drones, an Israeli military official said.
Israel’s assault and Iran’s apparent inability to defend itself, have highlighted Iran’s weakened state, putting its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a difficult spot. While he has vowed to punish Israel, he has to choose his targets carefully, to avoid drawing in other countries, particularly the United States. At the same time, experts said, simply abandoning the country’s nuclear program, as Israel has demanded, could destabilize the government.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the powerful Iranian state security body, said that Iran was targeting only Israeli military sites used in the assault.
Iran’s President, Masoud Pezeshkian, said on Saturday, after new rounds of Israeli strikes, that Iran would respond “with more force.”
Israel and Iran closed their airspace after they began exchanging fire, and it remained largely empty on Saturday morning, flight data from the tracking service FlightRadar24 showed, though neighboring countries began cautiously reopening their airspace.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has vowed that the air campaign will last for “as many days as it takes,” and told the Israeli public to prepare for a difficult struggle. He said on Saturday that Israeli strikes had “paved a path to Tehran” and that the Israeli air force would soon be seen flying over the Iranian capital.
Speaking to the nation in a video statement, just hours after several barrages of Iranian missiles sent millions of Israelis into bomb shelters and killed three people, Mr. Netanyahu said, “We will strike every site and every target of the ayatollahs’ regime.”
He added: “What they have felt until now is nothing compared to what they will feel from the might of our forces in the coming days.”
Precise casualty figures in Iran could not be confirmed, but Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, told the Security Council that Israel’s strikes had killed 78 people and injured about 300.
On Saturday morning, at least two people were dead and about 19 injured in central Israel in the wake of an Iranian missile attack, according to Israeli health workers. Israel’s emergency services published footage from the scene showing heavily damaged houses. A third person was killed earlier during an Iranian missile barrage in Ramat Gan, a suburb east of Tel Aviv, the police said.
The United States’ role in the spiraling conflict, if any, remains unclear. While Israeli officials had hoped the Trump administration would participate in a joint attack, Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied American involvement in the strikes.
But President Trump did not try to block Israel from attacking Iran, and in a social media post on Friday he embraced the assault, suggesting it would give him more leverage in any future negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program. “Iran must make a deal,” the president wrote, “before there is nothing left.”
Mr. Trump had a 50-minute telephone call with Russia’s President Vladimir V. Putin on Saturday, in which Mr. Putin briefed Mr. Trump on his conversations with the heads of Israel and Iran and the two agreed to the possibility of restarting negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program, a top Kremlin foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, said.
American officials said they were moving warships and other military assets in the Middle East to help protect Israel and American troops in the region.
Two high-ranking Iranian military commanders, Mohammad Bagheri and Gen. Hossein Salami, were killed, Iranian state media said, as was Ali Shamkhani, who had been overseeing the nuclear talks with the United States.
Rafael Grossi, the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, told the Security Council that Israel’s strike had destroyed the above ground enrichment plant in Natanz, causing some chemical and radiological contamination. But he said the leak was “manageable.” He said the Iranian authorities had reported strikes on nuclear facilities in Fordo and Isfahan as well.
Israel’s strikes on Friday were a multipronged operation that included deploying drones and other weapons smuggled into Iran by Israeli operatives, according to Israeli and Iranian officials. Israel also identified and tracked the movements of the key scientists and military officials who were assassinated, including at least four senior commanders.
Lynsey Chutel, Isabel Kershner, Neil MacFarquhar, Qasim Nauman, Leily Nikounazar, Adam Rasgon, Francesca Regalado, Paul Sonne and Rawan Sheikh Ahmad contributed reporting.
Aaron Boxerman is a Times reporter covering Israel and Gaza. He is based in Jerusalem.
Farnaz Fassihi is the United Nations bureau chief for The Times, leading coverage of the organization, and also covers Iran and the shadow war between Iran and Israel. She is based in New York.
Natan Odenheimer is a Times reporter in Jerusalem, covering Israeli and Palestinian affairs.
Javier C. Hernández is a Times reporter who covers classical music, opera and dance in New York City and beyond.
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