Iran-Israel War Continues for Second Week
The second week of the Israel-Iran war began with additional strikes targeting an Iranian nuclear research facility as Iran’s foreign minister issued a warning against the United States joining the conflict.
Early Saturday, smoke could be seen rising from an area near a mountain in Isfahan, where a local official said Israel had attacked the nuclear research facility in two waves.
The target was two centrifuge production sites, and the attacks came on top of strikes on other centrifuge production sites elsewhere in recent days, according to an Israeli military official speaking on condition of anonymity under army guidelines to brief reporters. It was the second attack on Isfahan, which was hit in the first 24 hours of the war as part of Israel’s goal to destroy the Iranian nuclear program.
Akbar Salehi, Isfahan province’s deputy governor for security affairs, confirmed the Israeli strikes had caused damage to the facility but said there had been no human casualties.
On the Israeli side, explosions were heard above Tel Aviv, where buildings were seen on fire.
In central Israel, the emergency services released images showing fire on the roof of a multi-storeyed residential building. Local media reports said the blaze was caused by falling debris from an Iranian missile that was intercepted.
Israel’s defense minister said Saturday that the military had also killed three senior Iranian commanders in targeted attacks – including a commander of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard who he said financed and armed Hamas in preparation for the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the 20-month-long war in Gaza.
Iran launched a new wave of drones and missiles at Israel but there were no immediate reports of significant damage, and the Israeli official called it a small barrage that was largely intercepted by Israel’s defenses.
We’ve been able to take out a large amount of their launchers, creating a bottleneck — we’re making it harder for them to fire toward Israel, he said. Having said all that, I want to say the Iranian regime obviously still has capabilities.
President Trump continues to consider whether the U.S. will militarily intervene in the Israel-Iran war, as he faces pressure from some world leaders to find a diplomatic solution. He said earlier this week that he will decide within two weeks if the U.S. will get involved in the conflict. The timeframe, some American and European officials say, is a last shot at diplomacy.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who met with European officials in Geneva on Friday, said he was open to further dialogue. However, he said, Tehran had no interest in negotiating with the U.S. while Israel continued attacking.
