TOP IRANIAN COMMANDERS KILLED
Israel launched its air war with a surprise attack that has 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 the coming days.
Iran has so far fired 400 ballistic missiles and hundreds of drones towards Israel, said an Israeli military official.
Trump has consistently said the Israeli assault could end quickly if Iran agreed to US demands that it accept strict curbs on its nuclear programme.
Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and has pointed to its right to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, including enrichment, as a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Israel, which is not a party to the NPT, is the only country in the Middle East widely believed to have nuclear weapons. Israel does not deny or confirm that.
Three people were killed and four injured in Iran’s central city of Kashan in an Israeli attack, Iran’s Nournews reported.
Iranian officials have reported 224 deaths, mostly civilians, while Israel said 24 civilians had been killed.
Israel’s military said more than 647 were injured in Iranian attacks, with 35 missiles penetrating the defence shield and making direct hits. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said nearly 3,000 Israelis had been evacuated due to damage from Iranian strikes.
World oil markets are on high alert for any strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure or elsewhere in the region that could hit global supply.
Two oil tankers collided and caught fire on Tuesday near the Strait of Hormuz, where electronic interference has surged during conflict between Iran and Israel, but there were no injuries to the crew or spillage reported. About a fifth of the world’s total oil consumption passes through the waterway.
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman said Israel’s “uncalculated” attack on Iran’s South Pars gas field, where production was temporarily suspended on Saturday after a fire erupted in a strike, is worrying “everyone” about supplies.
Iran shares the field, the world’s biggest, with Qatar. The spokesman said production was steady.
