June 14 (UPI) -- Smoke and flames filled the sky over Tehran as Israel attacked oil and gas facilities in the Iranian capital and targeted more nuclear sites during strikes that continued into Sunday morning after beginning two days earlier.
Israel attacked the Shahr Rey oil refinery in south Tehran and the Shahran fuel and gas depot in Tehran during attacks late Saturday night and early Sunday morning. The New York Times reported.
Officials with Iran's oil ministry confirmed the attack on the Shahran depot, which has at least 11 storage tanks and is located in an affluent area of Iran's capital.
The attacks came after Iran launched several missiles into Israel on Saturday night.
"If [Iranian Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei continues to fire missiles at the Israeli home front, Tehran will burn," Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said of the strikes.
Israeli warplanes also struck several nuclear program sites in Tehran, including experimental laboratories, The New York Times reported.
Aerial attacks exchanged over the weekend
Although some missiles hit civilian populations, residents of both countries said they support their government's airstrikes. The alternatives are worse, they say: Iran developing an atomic bomb against the Jewish state and Israel toppling the Islamic state's government.
Late Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces stated that its Air Force was attacking military targets in Tehran while intercepting missiles launched from Iran. Air raid sirens were activated in southern Israel, according to reports. IDF , and people were told to go into shelters.
The military chief spokesperson Effie Defrin said there has "been a series of attacks that has not stopped for nearly 40 hours and includes more than 150 targets. The focus of the attacks in the past 24 hours has been Tehran," the BBC reported .
On Saturday Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that "Tehran will burn" if drone and missile attacks continue. In a video address Saturday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "we will strike every site and every target of the Ayatollah's regime."
"We hit the uranium enrichment facility which is vital for the production of bombs. We also hit the leading team of scientists who lead these projects. And this will definitely set them back, and it's possible that it will set them back for many years," said Netanyahu, who conveyed his security cabinet.
On Saturday night, he made an appeal to Americans, saying: "Our enemy is your enemy. And by doing what we're doing, we're dealing with something that will threaten all of us sooner or later."
"This is what Israel is doing with the clear support of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, and the American people, and many others in the world."
On Friday night, he directly addressed the Iranian people, calling on civilians to "stand up and let your voices be heard."
Iran's Maj. Gen. Mohammad Pakpour stated in a letter to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.
"Soon, the gates of hell will be opened upon this child-killing regime. The crime that the terrorist Zionist regime committed today in its aggression against the national security and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic will certainly not go unanswered," Pakpour wrote.
Situation in Iran
Israeli forces are operating freely in Tehran's airspace for the first time, after neutralizing many of Iran's air defense systems, an Israeli Defense Forces official said.
"Our Air Force pilots flew for about two and a half hours over Tehran, alongside UAVs that remain airborne 24/7, surveilling the area and concluding with attacks and intelligence gathering," Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said in a briefing Saturday. "We've established aerial freedom of action from western Iran to Tehran."
More than 70 Israeli fighter jets struck 40 targets in the Tehran area overnight, including surface-to-air missile infrastructure, according to Israel Air Force Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar.
A Israeli drone struck a refinery in Iran's South Pars in the Persian Gulf on Saturday, semi-official Iranian Fars News Agency reported. Gas production has been suspended there, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
Smoke was also seen Saturday at Iran's oil refinery in Abadan, located on the coast of the Persian Gulf. The Jerusalem Post reported .
At least 78 people died in the Israeli strikes, including senior military officials, Iran's UN envoy Amir Saeid Iravani said Friday. More than 320 people were injured, most of them civilians.
Iran's Ministry of Health said a drone struck a children's hospital in Tehran. Hospitals have been caring for more than 800 people injured in the attacks, with the most civilians, Fars reported.
Israel said "over 20 commanders in the Iranian regime's security apparatus" have been killed since the start of the attacks.
Iranian state media reported that 60 people, including 20 children, were killed after an Israeli strike hit a residential building in Tehran's Shahrak-e Shahid Chamran residential compound, while Iranian television showed workers removing debris from the site of a 14-story building.
Israel's military said that nine scientists and experts involved in Iran's nuclear program died. The spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said that nuclear facilities in Fordow and Isfahan were not extensively damaged. According to the spokesperson, there is no concern for contamination.
The Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant is buried deep in the mountains near Qom in northern Iran and is one of the locations that Israel and its allies have feared Iran is developing a nuclear weapon.
The Iran Taekwondo Federation said that three of its members were killed in Israeli attacks on Tehran.
In Tehran, residents were also fearful of more attacks.
"We're hearing that tonight Israel will be hitting more densely populated parts of Tehran in retaliation for the strike that hit Tel Aviv, which is really terrifying," a 24-year-old woman told CNN.
There were also demonstrations in Tehran against Israel, and residents oppose Netanyahu's call to rise up against the regime, the network reported.
"Do I wish the regime wasn't in power? Absolutely. Do I want my city bombed by another dictator? Absolutely not," Neda, a 28-year-old, told CNN.
"The reality of what is happening in Iran as an Iranian who has actually lived in Iran, who has their family in Iran, Israel is in no way helping our people. I don't need fake news and propaganda speeches."
Another 36-year-old man told CNN that "Israel is underestimating our love for our country, the idea that bombing us, our homes, killing our children would send us to the streets is shocking. We want to live peacefully whether we like the regime or not."
Situation in Israel
It was the worst assault on Israel since Hamas attacked the nation on Oct. 7, killing approximately 1,200. The nation also is used to short-range rockets in northern Israel from Lebanon.
Israel's missile defense system, known as the Iron Dome appeared to have intercepted numerous ones.
Iran's retaliatory strikes killed at least three people and injured dozens, according to Israeli authorities. Iran said it had downed Israeli drones that crossed its northwestern border near Salmas, the state-affiliated Nour News reported Saturday.
Explosions could be heard in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, according to reports, as air raid sirens were activated and people took shelter.
Damage was reported in Ramat Gan, a city of about 170,000 people neighboring Tel Aviv.
"I feel like the collateral damage," Rony Armon told ABC News , whose family took cover in a shelter on Friday night. "The walls were shaking. We never imagined that it was so close. I look horrified at what happens in Gaza, but now it's in my back door, which is a totally different story."
Ifat Benjamin told the BBC that she, her husband Zion, and their six younger relatives are moving their possessions out of the home they've lived in for 29 years in Ramat Gan.
"We closed the door, and suddenly there was such a big boom," Benjamin said. "I thought all the house fell on us."
Despite being attacked, residents in Israel support airstrikes on Iran.
"I support it completely," Sveta told The Guardian After her apartment in Ramat Gan was destroyed and her 4-year-old daughter slept outside. "This is nothing compared to what they will be able to do if they get their hands on the A-bomb [nuclear weapons]. We can't afford for the Iranians to get them.
We tell our daughters that as long as we go to the shelter together, everything is okay. The damage in the house is just material things.
Additionally, a missile struck in the vicinity of the Kirya, an area of Tel Aviv that's home to the military headquarters housing the Israel Defense Forces and the Ministry of Defense, according to video obtained by CNN.
Nations on high alert
Airspace in Iran and Israel remains closed, meaning commercial flights can't take off and land there. No damage was reported to Tehran airport's runways and main buildings, although smoke was seen at the airport.
On Saturday morning, Tehran's air defense system was active after Israel continued strikes on the Iranian capital, state media reported. Israel targeted provinces that included East Azerbaijan, Lorestan, and Kermanshah, according to state-affiliated Fars news agency.
Israelis are prepared to go into bomb shelters when strikes are imminent.
Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, said he had to head to bomb shelters five times overnight.
"It's been a rough night in Israel," Huckabee, who is in Israel right now, said. Post on X on Saturday morning after he had to seek cover in bomb shelters five times during the course of the night.
Huckabee added that Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest, which occurs from sundown Friday through sundown Saturday, should be quiet, but "probably won't be."
Most businesses closed one day earlier than the Sabbath in Israel as people stocked up on essentials in preparation for possible retaliatory attacks from Iran.
The Sheba Medical Facility in the Tel Aviv area treated dozens of patients injured in the Iranian strikes, many of whom suffered shrapnel wounds. It is one of several hospitals that have been relocating patients underground for protection.
Nuclear negotiations called off
The sixth round of talks between the United States and Iran in Oman on a nuclear deal scheduled for Sunday have been canceled.
"The United States has supported the Zionist regime's aggression, including the targeting of Iran's peaceful nuclear facilities," Esmaeil Baghaei said Saturday, according to Iranian state media Mehr News. "Participating in talks with a party that is the principal supporter and accomplice of the aggressor is fundamentally meaningless."
On Friday, Trump posted on Truth Social : "Two months ago I gave Iran a 60-day ultimatum to 'make a deal.' They should have done it! Today is day 61. I told them what to do, but they just couldn't get there. Now they have, perhaps, a second chance!
Other nations react
The United States helped Israel intercept Iranian missiles, U.S. officials and a White House official confirmed. CBS News .
During Israel Strikes on Iran, Secretary of State Marco Rubio The U.S. said it wasn't involved.
Iran will target the regional bases of any country that tries to defend it, a senior Iranian official told CNN. The United States has bases in Qatar, where U.S. Central Command is based, as well as in Bahrain, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
"We are robustly postured to ensure that our people -- our bases, our interests -- are safe and we're continuing to monitor any, any forces we would need to do that, capabilities we would need to do that, we will, we will keep Americans safe," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Saturday. "The U.S. is postured to defend our people in the region. We've got significant assets in the region."
"I wouldn't say we were really surprised by any dynamic of the back and forth," Hegseth added. "That's been ongoing, but we're monitoring it closely."
The British government has said its forces had not provided any military assistance to Israel as its prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has emphasized the need for de-escalation.
The prime minister spoke to Netanyahu on Friday afternoon, according to an official readout, he emphasized that "Israel has a right to self-defense" but the conflict needed a diplomatic solution.
"Britain is sending more jets 'for contingency support across the region,' Starmer said," according to the BBC .
The prime minister says military aircraft are being sent "for contingency support across the region".
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Saturday again called for an end to the fighting.
"Enough escalation. Time to stop," he said. wrote on X Peace and diplomacy must prevail.
The White House said that on Saturday morning, Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in the Middle East.
"President Putin called this morning to very nicely wish me a Happy Birthday, but to more importantly, talk about Iran, a country he knows very well. We talked at length," the statement said.
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