Israel and Iran exchanged more missile attacks on population centers on Sunday, brushing aside international calls to halt what has quickly become the fiercest clash in decades between the two sworn enemies.
The path to diplomacy appeared to narrow after officials called off talks that had been set for Sunday between Tehran and Washington on the future of Iran’s nuclear program.
In unleashing a series of powerful strikes starting on Friday, Israel said its goal was to disable Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. It appeared unlikely that this has been accomplished, experts say, and with each side vowing to pursue attacks, civilians in both countries were seeking shelter where they could.
A semi-official Iranian news agency, ISNA, released photos of what it said was the aftermath of an Israeli strike Sunday that hit a residential neighborhood in central Tehran. The photos showed some people fleeing, carrying young children. Two men could be seen lying on the pavement bleeding as people tried to tend to their injuries. And a woman stood crying as she held an infant whose clothes and feet were covered in blood.
The skies of Tehran, the Iranian capital, were aglow with flames from burning fuel reservoirs overnight after Israeli fighter jets bombarded the country’s vital oil and gas industries.
“I never imagined witnessing such a scene in my city during my lifetime,” said Behzed, a 40-year-old copyright expert who asked to be identified only by his first name.
In Israel, orange-vested emergency workers were clambering over rubble on Sunday morning in the central coastal city of Bat Yam in the wake of an Iranian missile strike that killed at least six people and wounded scores of others. Paramedics were still trying to save three people who were trapped under debris, according to Israel’s military.
In Rehovot, a city south of Tel Aviv, debris from an overnight attack filled the streets. Bloodstained bandages and white surgical gloves lay by a roadside bench. Rescue workers picked through shattered glass, searching for survivors.
“Is there anyone inside?” a police officer shouted, peering into a damaged shop.
Tzachi Hanegbi, Israel’s national security adviser, said Iran had been targeting his nation’s energy infrastructure. “They are trying to plunge Israel into darkness, to sow chaos in Israel,” he told an Israeli broadcaster.
Iran’s health ministry said Israeli strikes had killed at least 128 people. Israel said at least 13 people had been killed by Iranian missiles that eluded Israel’s sophisticated defenses.
President Trump on Sunday urged the warring nations to move toward standing down in the fighting.
“Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal,” he wrote in a post on his social media platform. He said: “Many calls and meetings now taking place.”
But on Sunday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps warned that it would escalate attacks if Israel continued carrying out strikes, according to state news media. Not long after, Israel’s military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, said Israel was not ceasing its attacks on Iran “for a moment.”
“At this hour, too, we continue to strike dozens of additional targets in Tehran,” General Defrin said. “We are deepening the damage to Iran’s nuclear program and its military capabilities.”
The Israeli assaults have targeted not just sites tied to Iran’s nuclear industry but also scientists and military leaders.
“We will not have a second holocaust, a nuclear holocaust,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said on Fox News on Sunday in his first television interview since Israel struck Iran.
Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, told CNN on Sunday that “the goal is not a regime change,” saying that “this is for the Iranian people to decide.”
In Iran, the roads leading out of Tehran were packed with heavy traffic, according to residents, the head of the traffic police and images broadcast on Iranian news media. Residents have described long lines forming at gas stations and neighbors trying to flag down taxis while holding suitcases, as people searched for a way to flee the capital.
Arash, a 42-year-old Iranian psychologist, said this conflict seemed different from earlier clashes with Israel.
“Many people remain in denial, hoping this crisis will end soon, but the atmosphere is gradually shifting,” he said.
Ali, a 43-year-old engineer in Tehran, said that on the first night of Israeli strikes his family thought the conflict would be temporary.
“My hope is fading,” he said.
Reporting was contributed by Adam Rasgon, Johnatan Reiss, Talya Minsberg, Parin Behrooz, Leily Nikounazar, Gabby Sobelman and Adam Entous.
Natan Odenheimer is a Times reporter in Jerusalem, covering Israeli and Palestinian affairs.
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.
Aaron Boxerman is a Times reporter covering Israel and Gaza. He is based in Jerusalem.
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