Iran and Israel launched new missile strikes at each
other on Wednesday as the air war between the two longtime enemies entered a
sixth day despite a call from U.S. President Donald Trump for Tehran's
unconditional surrender.
The Israeli military said two barrages of Iranian missiles
were launched toward Israel in the first two hours of Wednesday morning.
Explosions were heard over Tel Aviv.
Israel told residents in a southwestern area of Tehran to
evacuate so its air force could strike Iranian military installations. Iranian
news websites said Israel was attacking a university linked to Iran's
Revolutionary Guards in the east of the capital.
Iranian news websites said Israel was also attacking a
university linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the country's east, and the
Khojir ballistic missile facility near Tehran, which was also targeted by
Israeli airstrikes last
October.
The U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence
says Iran is armed with the largest number of ballistic missiles in the Middle
East. Iran has said its ballistic missiles are an important deterrent and
retaliatory force against the U.S., Israel and other potential regional
targets.
Trump warned on social media on Tuesday that U.S. patience
was wearing thin. While he said there was no intention to kill Iran's leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei "for now," his comments suggested a more
aggressive stance toward Iran as he weighs whether to deepen U.S. involvement.
"We know exactly where the so-called 'Supreme Leader'
is hiding," he wrote on Truth Social. "We are not going to take him
out (kill!), at least not for now ... Our patience is wearing thin."
Three minutes later Trump posted, "UNCONDITIONAL
SURRENDER!"
Trump's sometimes contradictory and cryptic messaging about
the conflict between close U.S. ally Israel and longtime foe Iran has deepened
the uncertainty surrounding the crisis. His public comments have ranged from
military threats to diplomatic overtures, not uncommon for a president known
for an often erratic approach to foreign policy.
A source familiar with internal discussions said Trump and
his team are considering a number of options, including joining Israel on
strikes against Iranian nuclear sites.
A White House official said Trump spoke to Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone on Tuesday.
Trump also met for 90 minutes with his National Security
Council on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the conflict, a White House official
said. Details were not immediately available.
The U.S. is deploying more
fighter aircraft to the Middle East and extending the deployment of other
warplanes, three U.S. officials told Reuters. The U.S. has so far only taken
indirect actions in the current conflict with Iran, including helping to shoot
down missiles fired toward Israel.
A source with access to U.S. intelligence reports said Iran
has moved some ballistic missile launchers, but it is difficult to determine if
they were targeting U.S. forces or Israel.
However, Britain's leader Keir Starmer, speaking at the
Group of Seven nations summit in Canada that Trump
left early, said there was no indication the U.S. was about to enter the
conflict.
REGIONAL INFLUENCE WEAKENS
Khamenei's main military and security advisers have been
killed by Israeli strikes, hollowing out his inner
circle and raising the risk of strategic errors, according to five
people familiar with his decision-making process.
With Iranian leaders suffering their most dangerous security
breach since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the country's cybersecurity command
banned officials from using communications devices and mobile phones, Fars news
agency reported.
Israel launched a "massive cyber war" against
Iran's digital infrastructure, Iranian media reported.
Ever since Iran-backed Hamas attacked Israel on October 7,
2023, and triggered the Gaza war, Khamenei's
regional influence has waned as Israel has pounded Iran's proxies - from Hamas
in Gaza to Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and militias in Iraq.
Iran's close ally, Syria's autocratic president Bashar al-Assad, has been
ousted.
Israel launched its air war, its largest ever on Iran, on
Friday after saying it had concluded the Islamic Republic was on the verge of
developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and has pointed to its
right to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, including enrichment, as a
party to the international Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Israel, which is not a party to the NPT, is the only country
in the Middle East believed to have nuclear weapons. Israel does not deny or
confirm that.
Netanyahu has stressed that he will not back down until
Iran's nuclear development is disabled, while Trump says the Israeli assault
could end if Iran agrees to strict curbs on enrichment.
Before Israel's attack began, the 35-nation board of
governors of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency,
declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time
in almost 20 years.
The IAEA said
on Tuesday an Israeli strike directly hit the underground enrichment
halls at the Natanz facility.
Israel says it now has control of Iranian airspace and
intends to escalate the campaign in coming days.
But Israel will struggle to deal a knock-out blow to deeply
buried nuclear sites like Fordow, which is dug beneath a mountain,
without the U.S. joining the attack.
Iranian officials have reported 224 deaths, mostly
civilians, while Israel said 24 civilians had been killed. Residents of both
countries have been
evacuated or fled.
Global oil markets are on high alert following strikes on sites including the world's biggest gas field, South Pars, shared by Iran and Qatar.