Israel says it killed veteran Iran commander as either side assault

[ad_1] By Alexander Cornwell and James Oliphant

JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Israel stated on Saturday it had killed a veteran Iranian commander because the international locations traded assaults, a day after Tehran stated it could not negotiate over its nuclear programme whereas underneath menace and Europe tried to maintain peace talks alive.

Saeed Izadi, who led the Palestine Corps of the Quds Pressure, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' abroad arm, was killed in a strike in an condo within the Iranian metropolis of Qom, stated Israeli Protection Minister Israel Katz.

Calling his killing a "main achievement for Israeli intelligence and the Air Pressure", Katz stated in an announcement that Izadi had financed and armed the Palestinian militant group Hamas forward of its October 7, 2023, assault on Israel, which triggered the battle in Gaza.

The Revolutionary Guards stated 5 of its members had been killed in assaults on Khorramabad, in line with Iranian media stories that didn't point out Izadi, who was on U.S. and British sanctions lists.

Iranian media had stated earlier on Saturday that Israel had attacked a constructing in Qom, with preliminary stories of a 16-year-old killed and two individuals injured.

Iran's Fars information company stated Israel had focused the Isfahan nuclear facility, one of many nation's largest, however there was no leakage of hazardous supplies.

The Israeli army stated it had launched a wave of assaults towards missile storage and launch infrastructure websites in Iran.

Ali Shamkhani, an in depth ally of Iran's supreme chief, stated he had survived an Israeli assault. "It was my destiny to stick with a wounded physique, so I keep to proceed to be the rationale for the enemy's hostility," he stated in a message carried by state media.

Early on Saturday, the Israeli army warned of an incoming missile barrage from Iran, triggering air raid sirens throughout components of central Israel, together with Tel Aviv, in addition to within the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution.

Interceptions had been seen within the sky over Tel Aviv, with explosions echoing throughout the metropolitan space as Israel’s air defence techniques responded. There have been no stories of casualties.

IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAMME

Israel started attacking Iran on June 13, saying its longtime enemy was on the verge of creating nuclear weapons. Iran, which says its nuclear programme is just for peaceable functions, retaliated with missile and drone strikes on Israel.

Israel is broadly assumed to own nuclear weapons. It neither confirms nor denies this.

Its air assaults have killed 639 individuals in Iran, in line with the Human Rights Activists Information Company, a U.S.-based human rights organisation that tracks Iran. The lifeless embody the army's prime echelon and nuclear scientists.

Iran's well being minister, Mohammadreza Zafarqandi, stated on Saturday that Israel has attacked three hospitals through the battle, killing two well being staff and a toddler, and has focused six ambulances, in line with Fars.

The Israeli army didn't instantly reply to a request for remark. An Iranian missile hit a hospital within the southern Israeli metropolis of Beersheba on Thursday.

Iran's NOURNEWS on Saturday named 15 air defence officers and troopers it stated had been killed within the battle with Israel.

In Israel, 24 civilians have been killed in Iranian missile assaults, in line with Israeli authorities.

U.S. President Donald Trump stated on Friday he thought Iran would have the ability to have a nuclear weapon "inside a matter of weeks, or actually inside a matter of months". He informed reporters on the airport in Morristown, New Jersey: "We won't let that occur."

He stated his director of nationwide intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was mistaken in suggesting there was no proof Iran is constructing a nuclear weapon.

SCANT PROGRESS IN GENEVA

Iranian International Minister Abbas Araqchi stated there was no room for negotiations with the U.S. "till Israeli aggression stops". However he arrived in Geneva on Friday for talks with European international ministers at which Europe hopes to ascertain a path again to diplomacy.

Trump reiterated that he would take as much as two weeks to determine whether or not the US ought to enter the battle on Israel's facet, sufficient time "to see whether or not or not individuals come to their senses", he stated.

Trump stated he was unlikely to press Israel to cut back its airstrikes to permit negotiations to proceed.

"I feel it's totally onerous to make that request proper now. If anyone is profitable, it is a little bit bit tougher to do than if anyone is dropping, however we're prepared, prepared and in a position, and we have been talking to Iran, and we'll see what occurs," he stated.

The Geneva talks produced little indicators of progress, and Trump stated he doubted negotiators would have the ability to safe a ceasefire.

"Iran does not wish to communicate to Europe. They wish to communicate to us. Europe will not be going to have the ability to assist on this one," Trump stated.

A whole lot of U.S. residents have fled Iran because the air battle started, in line with a U.S. State Division cable seen by Reuters.

Israel's envoy to the United Nations, Danny Danon, informed the Safety Council on Friday his nation wouldn't cease its assaults "till Iran's nuclear menace is dismantled". Iran's U.N. envoy Amir Saeid Iravani known as for Safety Council motion and stated Tehran was alarmed by stories that the U.S. may be a part of the battle.

Russia and China demanded instant de-escalation.

A senior Iranian official informed Reuters that Iran was prepared to debate limitations on uranium enrichment however that it could reject any proposal that barred it from enriching uranium utterly, "particularly now underneath Israel's strikes".