Israeli The military command announced that it targeted the "infrastructure of Iran's nuclear program" in the night of Sunday Tehran, oil storage facilities, the Ministry of Defense of the Islamic Republic and the headquarters of a state organization for atomic energy research.
"Tehran is burning," Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz posted on the social network X on Saturday, along with a video showing a large fire in the Iranian capital.
Iran claims that about a hundred people were killed in the Israeli attacks that began on Friday, June 13.
Tehran responded to the attacks, and on the night between Saturday and Sunday at least eight people were killed in an Iranian airstrike on targets across Israel.
Iran will step up attacks if Israel continued hostilities, the public relations office of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced after a new round of attacks between the two countries.
"Offensive operations of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic will continue with greater strength and a wider scope of military actions if these hostilities and aggressions continue," the statement said.
Photo: AP Photo/Ariel SchalitIran's response: Rockets dot the Israeli sky
Not everything is as it seems at first glance
God knows how delighted everyone is with the accuracy of the Israeli airstrikes on Iran so far.
Dani Citronovic from the think tank Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) believes, however, that the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu does not have an exit strategy from this conflict and that it is very irresponsible.
"It is true that Israel caused great damage to Iran with the initial strikes. But that is not a reason for euphoria," Citronovic believes.
Because Iran is huge, has 90 million inhabitants, is 2000 kilometers from Israel, and showed in the nine-year war with Iraq how durable it is.
The Mark of the "Black Sabbath": The Jewish State's Fiery Sword Over Iran
The notion that Israel can control Iran's airspace is wrong, because Israeli fighter jets cannot be active non-stop. And Iranian missile silos are scattered all over the country, partly in tunnels and in the hills. The Israeli Air Force cannot prevent rockets from being fired from there.
Meanwhile, the airspace over Israel is closed and the economy is paralyzed.
"This war is costing us billions of dollars a day," says Citronovitz. And there is also the psychological damage to the population. Israel cannot afford a long war of attrition.
Israel, without the direct military assistance of America, does not have the capacity to bring Iran to its knees with bombs. And the direct involvement of the USA in this armed conflict is "wet dreams" for now.
Photo: AP Photo/Ohad ZwigenbergA destroyed building in Tel Aviv after the Iranian attack
What does Netanyahu think?
For Netanyahu (75), the attack on Iran's nuclear facilities and military infrastructure is perhaps the most important decision in his entire, long political career. And at the same time, the biggest risk he ever took, writes the German "Spiegel".
And for the world, this is the most dangerous war in a long time. On one side is the fundamentalist regime in Tehran that is fighting for survival, on the other is the government in Jerusalem that is increasingly taking on messianic features. And in between is the insane president in Washington.
According to "Spiegel" sources close to the Prime Minister of Israel, Netanyahu is convinced that the fight against the "Iranian bomb" is his historical and even divine mission. He believes that the fate of Israel depends on him personally, that he is called to remove the existential threat to the Jewish state - an Iranian atomic attack.
"The most difficult decision of a head of state is to remove the danger, before it fully materializes," Netanyahu said on Friday after Israel's initial airstrikes on Iran.
His role model is, of course, Winston Churchill, who also had to break down internal resistance in order for Britain to stand up to Hitler's Nazi Germany and eventually win. That's how he sees his role and that's why he makes allusions to the Holocaust in the conflict with Iran.
Negotiations with Iran are out of the question for Netanyahu, they can only feed evil, not defeat it.
He has always been convinced that there is no compromise with the regime in Tehran, that Iran must either completely suspend its nuclear program, or disintegrate militarily. There is nothing in between.
Its guiding principle has always been strength: Israel must dominate the Middle East militarily in order to survive. Whoever negotiates loses. With such an attitude, he finds the approval of a large number of Israelis.
"They are targeting us. They can kill us. Israel is vulnerable. And my task is to save this nation." This is how Israeli journalist Ari Shaviti once sketched Netanyahu's way of thinking for PBS television.
Netanyahu seems to be atoning for "Black Shabbat" on October 7, 2023, when Hamas invaded Israel, carried out carnage and shook the foundations of Israel. That's when major intelligence and defense failures came to light.
The ultimate goal is certainly the replacement of the fundamentalist regime in Tehran. The Prime Minister of Israel decided to take advantage of the opportunity at a time when Iran is weakened from the inside and pressured from the outside, when it has no real allies. Hamas in the Gaza Strip has been almost destroyed, and the Shia militia Hezbollah in Lebanon has been fairly bombed by the Israeli army in the past year and a half. Israel's attacks on Iran are likely to last for days, perhaps weeks, and Netanyahu's plan does not appear to go beyond that.
Photo: AP Photo/Richard DrewSeptember 2012: Netanyahu warns about Iran's nuclear program at the UN Assembly session
Trump: We have nothing to do with attacking Iran
After another stormy night in the conflict between Israel and Iran, US President Donald tramp wrote on Sunday morning on the Truth Social social network that the United States "had nothing to do with last night's attack on Iran."
He warned Tehran not to draw the US into the conflict.
"If we are attacked in any way, in any form by Iran, the full force and power of the American armed forces will come down on you on a scale the world has never seen," Trump said.
"However, we can easily reach an agreement between Iran and Israel and end this bloody conflict," he added.
This spring, Trump gave Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei 60 days to reach an agreement on the nuclear program, warning that otherwise there would be consequences. Meanwhile, Trump called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to delay attacks on Iran to allow room for negotiations.
Photo: AP Photo/Evan VucciDonald Trump: Warning for Iran
Previously, Trump had on Saturday a one-hour phone conversation with the President of Russia Vladimir Putin, the American president announced on social networks. According to Trump, the two leaders had a long discussion about the Iranian and Israeli attacks and called for an end to the conflict.
"President Putin called me this morning to wish me a very nice birthday, but more importantly to talk about Iran, a country he knows very well," Trump wrote on the Truth Social network.
They agreed that the conflict between Israel and Iran should end.
"He believes, as I do, that the war between Israel and Iran should end, to which I replied that his war should also end," Trump said, alluding to Russia's war against Ukraine.
"We talked for a long time. Much less time was spent on Russia-Ukraine, but we will talk about that next week. He is carrying out planned prisoner exchanges - a large number are currently being exchanged on both sides," said Trump's announcement.
Sources: CNN/Spiegel/Al Jazeera
