How did newest battle begin and the place might it lead?

[ad_1] Lana Lam, Sofia Ferreira Santos, Jaroslav Lukiv & Nathan Williams BBC Information

Footage captures trade of assaults between Iran and Israel in a single day into Sunday

Israel and Iran have continued to trade strikes of their newest battle, which started on Friday.

There was offended rhetoric from either side, and US President Donald Trump is now contemplating whether or not to affix Israel's strikes on Iran's nuclear websites.

It began when Israel attacked nuclear and navy websites in Iran, after which Iran retaliated with aerial assaults concentrating on Israel.

Greater than 220 individuals have been killed in Israeli strikes thus far, in accordance with Iran's well being ministry, whereas Israel says Iranian assaults have killed 24 individuals.

Israel launches Operation Rising Lion, and Iran retaliates

On Thursday 12 June, the Israel Protection Forces (IDF) instructed individuals in Tehran's District 18, which incorporates navy buildings and residential neighbourhoods, to evacuate.

Hours later, the primary volley of strikes was reported in Tehran at about 03:30 native time (01:00 BST) on Friday, with residential areas within the capital hit, Iranian state tv reported.

BBC journalists are unable to report from inside Iran as a result of restrictions by the nation's authorities, making it troublesome to evaluate the injury attributable to Israel's offensive.

Israel focused the Natanz nuclear facility - about 225km (140 miles) south of Tehran, inflicting important injury, the IDF stated.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated the assault - referred to as Operation Rising Lion - focused "the guts" of Iran's nuclear programme.

"If not stopped, Iran might produce a nuclear weapon in a really quick time," Netanyahu claimed. Iran insists its nuclear programme is peaceable.

Iran's Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stated Israel "ought to anticipate a extreme punishment", whereas its overseas minister referred to as the strikes a "declaration of warfare".

Iran's retaliation started hours later, when ballistic missile assaults had been launched on "dozens of targets, navy centres and air bases" in Israel, in an operation it referred to as True Promise 3.

The IDF stated about 100 missiles had been launched in direction of Israel, and most had been intercepted by its Iron Dome system.

These exchanges have continued for days.

On Thursday 19 June, an Iranian missile instantly hit Soroka hospital in Beersheba, southern Israel, injuring a minimum of 32 individuals in accordance with Israel's emergency service Magen David Adom.

Iran stated it aimed to focus on an IDF command centre and intelligence camp adjoining to the constructing, in accordance with state media - however Sharren Haskel, the Israeli deputy overseas affairs minister, accused Iran of intentionally concentrating on a hospital.

On the identical day Israel stated it had carried out an assault on the nuclear reactor in Arak, north-western Iran, which it stated was "inactive".

The reactor is designed to supply high-yield plutonium, the IDF stated, which is a fabric used to make nuclear weapons. It added the strike was supposed to "forestall the reactor from being restored".

It justified its assaults by saying Iran was reaching the "level of no return" in its nuclear programme.

After days of very restricted affect with its strikes, the size of Iranian assaults had appeared to decrease just lately, probably indicating the affect that Israeli strikes has had on Iran's navy, reviews the BBC's Hugo Bachega.

Thursday's assaults show Iran nonetheless has the flexibility to fireplace missiles and trigger hurt.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/dbc3/live/a4a79210-4c2d-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.png.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/dbc3/live/a4a79210-4c2d-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.png.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/dbc3/live/a4a79210-4c2d-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.png.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/dbc3/live/a4a79210-4c2d-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.png.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/dbc3/live/a4a79210-4c2d-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.png.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/dbc3/live/a4a79210-4c2d-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.png.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/dbc3/live/a4a79210-4c2d-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.png.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/dbc3/live/a4a79210-4c2d-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.png.webp" loading="eager" alt="Graphic shows sites hit in strikes on Iran and Israel" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> In its first wave of strikes, Israel killed a number of high Iranian navy figures, together with Hossein Salami, commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and several other nuclear scientists, together with Fereydoon Abbasi, former head of Iran's Atomic Vitality Group.

Iran stated civilians, together with kids, had been additionally amongst these killed.

The Israeli navy declared on Tuesday that it had achieved "full air superiority" over Tehran, and had destroyed a 3rd of Iran's missile launchers.

It got here after Iranian missiles struck 4 totally different areas within the northern and central Israel, killing a minimum of eight civilians, in accordance with the navy.

Iran's well being ministry stated a minimum of 224 individuals had been killed since Friday.

Israel has reported 24 deaths in the identical interval. They had been in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Tamra, Rishon LeZion and Bat Yam, the place a 10-storey block of flats was hit.

Hugo Bachega reviews from Israel's Bat Yam, the place an Iranian strike killed six individuals on Sunday

The US considers its subsequent transfer

These newest assaults come at a essential time, as President Trump considers the opportunity of direct American involvement in Israel's marketing campaign.

In line with the BBC's US associate, CBS Information, Trump is contemplating becoming a member of Israel's marketing campaign to focus on Iranian nuclear websites.

The American arsenal incorporates a bomb able to considerably damaging Iran's secretive Fordo nuclear enrichment plant, situated in a mountainous area near town of Qom deep underground.

Washington's 13,000kg (30,000lb) GBU-57 Large Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) - generally known as a "bunker buster" bomb, is designed to assault deeply-buried bunkers and tunnels, in accordance with the US Air Power.

Whereas the US has already helped shoot down Iranian missiles which have been despatched in direction of Israel, it has not been instantly concerned in any of the assaults on Iran thus far.

The newest assaults on the Israeli hospital will most likely be utilized by Israeli officers and people in favour of navy motion to place stress on Trump to behave.

Trump and Netanyahu spoke on the telephone on Tuesday following a gathering of the US Nationwide Safety Council.

The US president had earlier taken to social media to name for Iran's "unconditional give up" and stated the US knew the place Iran's Supreme Chief Khamenei was situated, however wouldn't kill him, "for now". This adopted reviews on Sunday that Trump had rejected a plan by Israel to kill Iran's chief.

For his half, Khamenei warned Trump of "irreparable hurt" if the US navy intervened within the battle.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/715a/live/e87b3920-4c36-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/715a/live/e87b3920-4c36-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/715a/live/e87b3920-4c36-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/715a/live/e87b3920-4c36-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/715a/live/e87b3920-4c36-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/715a/live/e87b3920-4c36-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/715a/live/e87b3920-4c36-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/715a/live/e87b3920-4c36-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Reuters Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One after departing early from the the G7 summit in Canada " class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Reuters Donald Trump spoke to reporters aboard Air Power One after departing early from the G7 summit in Canada

How did we get so far?

Netanyahu stated on Friday that the strikes had been "a focused navy operation to roll again the Iranian menace to Israel's very survival".

He stated the operation would "proceed for as many days because it takes to take away the unfold".

An Israeli navy official instructed the BBC Iran had sufficient nuclear materials to create nuclear bombs "inside days". Iran has stated it has by no means sought to develop a nuclear weapon and that its nuclear actions are peaceable.

The strikes started as US talks over Iran's nuclear programme, which began in April, appeared to have stalled. Trump had hoped to strike a deal to cease Tehran growing a nuclear weapon, however the newest spherical of talks was cancelled in mild of the latest escalation in hostilities.

Final 12 months, Iran and Israel launched numerous air strikes towards one another in April and October - although Israel's strikes final 12 months weren't believed to have been as wide-ranging as its present operation.

What's Iran's nuclear programme?

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/5504/live/5c5c32c0-4838-11f0-84b6-6bf0f66205f1.png.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/5504/live/5c5c32c0-4838-11f0-84b6-6bf0f66205f1.png.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/5504/live/5c5c32c0-4838-11f0-84b6-6bf0f66205f1.png.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/5504/live/5c5c32c0-4838-11f0-84b6-6bf0f66205f1.png.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/5504/live/5c5c32c0-4838-11f0-84b6-6bf0f66205f1.png.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/5504/live/5c5c32c0-4838-11f0-84b6-6bf0f66205f1.png.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/5504/live/5c5c32c0-4838-11f0-84b6-6bf0f66205f1.png.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/5504/live/5c5c32c0-4838-11f0-84b6-6bf0f66205f1.png.webp" loading="lazy" alt="A map showing the location of the main nuclear facilities in Iran broken down by their function including the research facilities in Tehran and Bonab, uranium conversion facility in Isfahan, uranium enrichment plants in Fordow and Natanz. Most of the sites are in the top half of the country except the Bushehr power plant and Bandar Abbas mine in the south on the Persian Gulf." class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Iran has lengthy maintained its nuclear programme is for peaceable, civilian functions solely. It has a number of services round Iran, a minimum of a few of which have been focused within the Israeli strikes.

However many international locations - in addition to the worldwide nuclear watchdog, IAEA - will not be satisfied the programme is for civilian functions alone.

Earlier in June, the watchdog's board of governors formally declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the primary time in 20 years.