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ISRAEL’S DEFENCE MINISTER has warned that “Tehran will burn” and its residents will pay dearly if Iran continues its missile strikes, after both sides exchanged heavy fire overnight.
“The Iranian dictator is turning the citizens of Iran into hostages and bringing about a reality in which they – especially the residents of Tehran – will pay a heavy price because of the criminal harm to Israeli civilians,” said Israel Katz.
“If (Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei continues to fire missiles toward the Israeli home front – Tehran will burn,” he added.
The threat came a day after Israel unleashed strikes that Iran said hit its nuclear facilities, “martyred” top commanders and killed dozens of civilians.
Iran has hit back with waves of drone and missile strikes, with a barrage of dozens lighting up the skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv overnight, killing three people and wounding dozens.
Following decades of enmity and conflict by proxy, it is the first time that Israel and Iran have traded fire with such intensity, with fears of a prolonged conflict engulfing the region.
Israel launched its surprise attack on Iran early Friday, only days before Iran and the United States had been due to hold a sixth round of talks on the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme.
This morning, Israel’s military said that its fighter jets will resume striking targets in Tehran, after announcing it had hit air defences in the area of the Iranian capital overnight.
“The way to Iran has been paved,” the military’s chief of staff and air force chief were quoted as saying in an army statement.
The military “is proceeding according to its operational plans, and (Israeli air force) fighters jets are set to resume striking targets in Tehran,” it added.
It said its air strikes had killed more than 20 Iranian army and Revolutionary Guards commanders, including armed forces chief Mohammad Bagheri.
Two senior Iranian generals have been killed in Israeli strikes, Iranian state television reported today.
It also reported that a police chief and another officer were killed in a drone strike about 300 kilometres west of Tehran.
“This morning police chief Major Habibollah Akbarian, along with second lieutenant Amir Hossein Seifi, were martyred by a drone strike in Asadabad city in the western province of Hamedan,” the ISNA press agency reported.
Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations said Friday that 78 people had been killed and 320 wounded in the first wave of strikes by Israel.
After a day of back-and-forth bombardments, UN chief Antonio Guterres called for the two nations to cease fire.
“Enough escalation. Time to stop. Peace and diplomacy must prevail,” he wrote on X late Friday.
Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Harris spoke to Ireland’s Ambassadors to Israel, Iran and Egypt over the escalating tensions in the Middle East this morning.
Harris said he was briefed on the developments overnight and confirmed that all Irish Embassy staff are safe and well, and that the embassies were in close contact with members of the Irish community to offer assistance.
“This is a dangerous moment for the Middle East. I am deeply concerned about the continuing exchange of air attacks between Israel and Iran.”
“I reiterate my call for both sides to urgently de-escalate, to open channels for communication and allow a return to diplomacy. Continuing military action will not bring security for any of the people of the region.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs is advising Irish citizens against all travel to Iran and Israel, with Irish citizens in the region advised to be vigilant and to follow the advice of local authorities, including any orders to shelter in place.
Israel said dozens of missiles – some intercepted – had been fired in the latest salvos from Iran, with AFP images of the city of Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv showing blown-out buildings, destroyed vehicles and streets strewn with debris.
Israeli rescuers said two people were killed and 19 wounded by rocket fire on a residential area in the coastal plain today.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had attacked dozens of targets in Israel.
Israeli firefighters had worked for hours to free people trapped in a high-rise building in Tel Aviv on Friday.
Resident Chen Gabizon told AFP he ran to an underground shelter after receiving an alert.
“After a few minutes, we just heard a very big explosion, everything was shaking, smoke, dust, everything was all over the place,” he said.
Rescuers said 34 people were wounded in the Gush Dan area, including a woman who later died of her injuries, according to Israeli media reports.
In Tehran, fire and heavy smoke billowed over Mehrabad airport early this morning, an AFP journalist said, as Iranian media reported an explosion.
Blasts were heard across the capital as Iran activated its air defences against the incoming fire.
Dozens of Iranians took to the streets to cheer their country’s military response, with some waving national flags and chanting anti-Israel slogans.
The attacks prompted several countries in the region to temporarily ground air traffic, . Jordan reopened its airspace this morning.
Iran’s airspace was closed until further notice, state media reported.
US officials said they were helping Israel defend against the missile attacks, even as Washington insisted it had nothing to do with Israel’s strikes on Iran.
US President Donald Trump agreed on a call with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer that “dialogue and diplomacy” were needed to calm the crisis, Starmer’s office said.
US officials said Trump also spoke with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, without elaborating.
In a televised address, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to bring Israel “to ruin”.
The conflict has thrown into doubt plans for a fresh round of nuclear talks between the United States and Iran in Oman on Sunday.
After the first wave of strikes on Friday, Trump urged Iran to “make a deal”, adding that Washington was “hoping to get back to the negotiating table”.
The United States and other Western governments have repeatedly accused Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon, an ambition it has consistently denied.
Iran said today its participation in the Oman talks remained “unclear”.
“It is still unclear what decision we will make for Sunday,” the official IRNA news agency reported, citing foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei.
Baqaei had called the talks “meaningless” in view of the Israeli strikes, which he alleged were carried out with “US permission”.
With reporting from © AFP 2025
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