JERUSALEM\/DUBAI
\nIran and Israel traded missiles and airstrikes on Saturday, the day after Israel launched a sweeping air offensive against its old enemy, killing commanders and scientists and bombing nuclear sites in a stated bid to stop it building an atomic weapon.
\nIn Tehran, Iranian state TV reported that around 60 people, including 20 children, had been killed in an attack on a housing complex, with more strikes reported across the country. Israel said it had attacked more than 150 targets.
\nIn Israel, air raid sirens sent residents into shelters as waves of missiles streaked across the sky and interceptors rose to meet them. At least three people were killed overnight. An Israeli official said Iran had fired around 200 ballistic missiles in four waves.
\nU.S. President Donald Trump has lauded Israel\u2019s strikes and warned of much worse to come unless Iran quickly accepts the sharp downgrading of its nuclear programme that the U.S. has demanded in talks that had been due to resume on Sunday.
\nBut with Israel saying its operation could last weeks, and urging Iran\u2019s people to rise up against their Islamic clerical rulers, fears have grown of a regional conflagration dragging in outside powers.
\nThe United States, Israel\u2019s main ally, helped shoot down Iranian missiles, two U.S. officials said.
\n\u201cIf (Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei continues to fire missiles at the Israeli home front, Tehran will burn,\u201d Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said.
\nIran had vowed to avenge Friday\u2019s Israeli onslaught, which gutted Iran\u2019s nuclear and military leadership and damaged atomic plants and military bases.
\nTehran warned Israel\u2019s allies that their regional military bases would come under fire too if they help shoot down Iranian missiles, Iranian state television reported.
\nHowever, 20 months of war in Gaza and a conflict in Lebanon last year have decimated Tehran\u2019s strongest regional proxies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, reducing its options for retaliation.
\nGulf Arab states that have long mistrusted Iran but fear coming under attack in any wider conflict have urged calm as worries about disruption to the Gulf region\u2019s crucial oil exports boosted the price of crude by about 7% on Friday.
\nIranian general and parliament member Esmail Kosari said the country was seriously reviewing whether to close the Strait of Hormuz, the outlet for oil shipped from the Gulf.
\nNight of blasts and fear in Israel and Iran
\nIran\u2019s overnight fusillade included hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones, an Israeli official said. Three people, including a man and a woman, were killed and dozens wounded, the ambulance service said.
\nIn Rishon LeZion, south of Tel Aviv, emergency services rescued a baby girl trapped in a house hit by a missile, police said. Video showed teams searching through the rubble of one home.
\nIn the western suburb of Ramat Gan, near Ben Gurion airport, Linda Grinfeld described her apartment being damaged: \u201cWe were sitting in the shelter, and then we heard such a boom. It was awful.\u201d
\nThe Israeli military said it had intercepted surface-to-surface Iranian missiles as well as drones, and that two rockets had been fired from Gaza.
\nIn Iran, Israel\u2019s two days of strikes destroyed residential apartment buildings, killing families and neighbours as apparent collateral damage in strikes targetting scientists and senior officials in their beds.
\nIran said 78 people were killed on the first day and scores more on the second day, including when a missile brought down a 14-storey apartment block in Tehran.
\nState TV said 60 people were believed to have been killed there, though the figure was not officially confirmed. It broadcast pictures of the aftermath, with the collapsed building flattened into debris and the facade of several upper storeys lying sideways in the street, while slabs of concrete dangled from a neighbouring building.
\n\u201cSmoke and dust were filling all the house and we couldn\u2019t breathe,\u201d 45-year-old Tehran resident Mohsen Salehi told Iranian news agency WANA after an overnight air strike woke his family.
\nFars News agency said two projectiles had hit Mehrabad airport, located inside the capital, which is both civilian and military.
\nWith Iran\u2019s air defences heavily damaged, Israeli Air Force chief Tomer Bar said \u201cthe road to Iran has been paved\u201d.
\nIn preparation for possible further escalation, reservists were being deployed across Israel. Army Radio reported units had been positioned along the Lebanese and Jordanian borders.
\nIranian nuclear sites damaged
\nIsrael sees Iran\u2019s nuclear programme as a threat to its existence, and said the bombardment was designed to avert the last steps to production of a nuclear weapon.
\nA military official on Saturday said Israel had caused significant damage to Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities at Natanz and Isfahan, but had not so far operated in another uranium enrichment site, Fordow.
\nThe official said Israel had \u201celiminated the highest commanders of their military leadership\u201d and had killed nine nuclear scientists who \u201cwere main sources of knowledge, main forces driving forward the (nuclear) programme\u201d.
\nTehran insists the programme is entirely civilian in line with its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and that it does not seek an atomic bomb.
\nHowever, it has repeatedly hidden parts of its programme from international inspectors, and the International Atomic Energy Agency on Thursday reported it in violation of the NPT.
\nIranian talks with the United States to resolve the nuclear dispute have stuttered this year. The next meeting is set for Sunday. Tehran implied it would not attend but stopped short of pulling out.
\n\u201cThe other side (the U.S.) acted in a way that makes dialogue meaningless,\u201d state media quoted foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei as saying. \u201cIt is still unclear what decision we will make on Sunday in this regard.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JERUSALEM\/DUBAI Iran and Israel traded missiles and airstrikes on Saturday, the day after Israel launched a sweeping air offensive against its old enemy, killing commanders and scientists and bombing nuclear sites in a stated bid to stop it building an atomic weapon. In Tehran, Iranian state TV reported that around 60 people, including 20 children, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-484305","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n