The Latest: Death toll grows as Israel and Iran trade attacks for third day

The death toll grew Sunday as Israel and Iran exchanged missile attacks for a third consecutive day, with Israel warning that worse is to come.

Israel targeted Iran’s Defense Ministry headquarters in Tehran and sites it alleged were associated with Iran’s nuclear program, while Iranian missiles evaded Israeli air defenses and slammed into buildings deep inside Israel.

In Israel, at least 10 people were killed in Iranian strikes overnight and into Sunday, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service, bringing the country’s total death toll to 13. The country’s main international airport and airspace remained closed for a third day. There was no update to an Iranian death toll released the day before by Iran’s U.N. ambassador, who said 78 people had been killed and more than 320 wounded.

The region braced for a drawn-out conflict after Israel’s strikes hit nuclear and military facilities, killing several senior generals and top nuclear scientists. President Donald Trump said the U.S. had “nothing to do with the attack on Iran” and warned Tehran to expect “the full strength and might of the U.S. Armed Forces” if it retaliates against the United States.

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Here’s the latest:

Smoke is rising over several parts of Tehran

Iran’s Hamshahri Daily, which is affiliated with the Tehran municipality, on its Telegram channel published a video showing a large volume of gray smoke over the Tehran Pars area in the eastern part of the capital.

Iranian state television reported on its Telegram channel that the Tehran Police Command building in the city center sustained minor damage from a drone strike, resulting in minor injuries to several officers.

Images circulating on social media depicted white smoke, with claims that it resulted from an explosion in the Niavaran area of northern Tehran. An Associated Press reporter said that buildings in the vicinity of the explosion were shaken.

UK advises against travel to Israel

Britain has updated its guidance to advise against all travel to Israel as tensions escalate in the Middle East.

Israel went from “amber” to “red.” That puts it on the same level as Iran.

Britain on Friday had advised against all but essential travel to Israel, and the advice Sunday reflects a step further.

2 neighborhoods in Tehran targeted by Israeli airstrikes, media reports say

Iran’s semi-officials Fars and Tasnim news agencies, both close to the Revolutionary Guard, reported that two areas in Tehran were targeted by Israeli attacks Sunday.

Tasnim said that an explosion occurred in the Vali-e Asr Square area in the capital downtown. Fars reported that an explosion hit the Niroo Havaei neighborhood, “Air Force” in Farsi, in the east of Tehran. The extent of these explosions has not yet been reported.

The Niroo Havaei neighborhood is where the headquarters of Iran’s air force is situated.

Earlier, the Israeli military warned personnel to evacuate military weapons production factories in Tehran.

Pakistan denies Iranian media reports that it would send missiles to Iran

A senior Foreign Ministry official from nuclear-armed Pakistan denied Iranian media reports that Pakistan would soon supply Iran with a consignment of some 750 non-nuclear ballistic missiles to aid in the campaign against Israel.

There was no immediate comment about the Iranian media reports from the Pakistani military. The Foreign Ministry official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the issue.

Pakistan does not disclose details about its missile stockpiles, but it regularly test-fires short, medium and long-range missiles in response to rival India, also a nuclear power.

—- By Riazat Butt in Islamabad, Pakistan

Egypt’s currency plunges as Israel-Iran conflict escalates

Egypt’s pound and the stock market plunged on Sunday as the conflict between Iran and Israel escalates.

The pound slumped against the U.S. dollar, trading at over 50.60 in banks, down from about 49.8 last week.

Egypt’s EGX 30 Index plunged with all its stocks reported delicate. The benchmark fell over 7.5% at the beginning of the day, but closed with losses at 4.6%.

Explosions shook Tehran on Sunday afternoon

Just before 3:30 p.m. (1200 GMT) in Tehran, four loud explosions shook the capital, likely from new Israeli strikes.

It wasn’t immediately clear what had been targeted.

Iraqi militia warns the United States

The powerful Iran-linked Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah on Sunday warned it will target U.S. interests and bases in the region if Washington intervenes in the hostilities between Israel and Iran.

The group said in a statement that it is “closely monitoring the movements of the American enemy’s military in the region” and “should the United States intervene in the war (between Israel and Iran), we will directly target its interests and bases spread throughout the region without hesitation.”

The statement was the first explicit and direct threat issued by an Iraqi militia to target U.S. forces and interests in the region since the outbreak of the Iran-Israel conflict.

Iraqi militias have previously targeted U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria, but have largely remained quiet since Israel launched a barrage of strikes on Iran and Tehran retaliated. Three drones launched at the Ain al Assad base housing U.S. troops in western Iraq on Friday were shot down, and no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Iran lists members of its missile program killed in Israeli strike

Iran said an Israeli strike that killed the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s missile program also took out seven of his trusted deputies, seriously disrupting its command.

Iran previously acknowledged the death of Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Guard’s aerospace division in Friday’s strike.

Also killed were Gen. Mahmoud Bagheri, Gen. Davoud Sheikhian, Gen. Mohammad Bagher Taherpour, Gen. Mansour Safarpour, Gen. Masoud Tayyeb, Gen. Khosro Hasani and Gen. Javad Jarsara, the Guard said Sunday.

The Guard did not elaborate on why the men had gathered in one place.

Iran says metro stations and mosques will be bomb shelters

Signaling Iran believed Israel’s strikes would continue, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said metro stations and mosques would be available as bomb shelters for the public beginning Sunday night, Iranian state television reported.

Israeli oil refinery damaged as a result of Iran strike

An Israeli oil refinery firm says an Iranian strike over the weekend caused “localized” damage to its complex in the northern city of Haifa.

Bazan Group said in a report to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange that as a result of the strike, pipelines and transmission lines between facilities were damaged. It said the refinery facilities were functional but that some of the downstream facilities had been shut down.

It said no one was wounded.

Iran says it doesn’t seek weapons but insists on ‘nuclear rights’

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has reiterated that Iran has no intention of developing nuclear weapons and is open to an agreement that would ensure that.

“But if the purpose of an agreement is to deprive Iran of its nuclear rights, then naturally, we are not prepared to accept such an agreement,” he said in a meeting with diplomats.

Araghchi had planned to attend a sixth round of indirect talks with the U.S. over Iran’s disputed nuclear program before they were called off after Israel’s surprise bombardment of Iran’s military and nuclear sites on Friday.

Iran has always said its nuclear program was peaceful, and the U.S. and others have assessed it has not pursued a weapon since 2003. But it has enriched ever larger stockpiles of uranium to near weapons-grade levels in recent years and was believed to have been able to develop multiple weapons within months if it chose to do so.

Israel warns Iranians to evacuate weapons factories

The Israeli military warned Iranians on Sunday to immediately evacuate “military weapons production factories,” likely signaling that new strikes are planned.

Col. Avichay Adraee, a military spokesperson, posted the warning on the social platform X in Iran’s Farsi language.

Adraee in the past has signaled other strikes in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Yemen amid the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

His warning came just after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that if the Israeli strikes on Iran stop, then “our responses will also stop.”

Work crews sift through wreckage after Arab Israel city was hit

A bulldozer dug through debris Sunday near a home in the Arab Israeli city of Tamra. The home’s third floor was pancaked and nearby buildings were also damaged. Four people, including a 13-year-old, were killed in the strike.

Wahid Yassin, a neighbor, told Israeli Army Radio the blast was so powerful it nearly ripped off the door of his bomb shelter.

When he emerged, he said he saw the neighbors’ daughter standing on the roof of her damaged home, shaking.

“Her two sisters and her mother were killed in this incident. And suddenly she’s there on the roof, alone, shaking,” he said.

Israel’s airspace stays closed

The Israel Airports Authority said Israel’s airspace remained closed on Sunday and the country’s Ben Gurion International Airport was still closed to landings and takeoffs for the third day.

The authority said it was working with Israeli airlines toward returning Israelis stranded abroad to the country.

“All air crews and aircraft are ready for action as soon as this becomes possible, but this may take a long time, depending on the security situation,” it said.

Israel’s land border crossings to Jordan and Egypt remain open.

Death toll grows in Israel

At least 10 people in Israel were killed in Iranian strikes overnight and into Sunday, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service, bringing the country’s total death toll to 13.

At least six people, including two children, were killed when a missile hit an apartment building in Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv. Daniel Hadad, a local police commander, said 180 people were wounded and seven are still missing.

An Associated Press reporter saw streets lined with damaged and destroyed buildings, bombed out cars and shards of glass. Responders used a drone at points to look for survivors. Some people could be seen leaving the area with suitcases.

Four people were killed when a missile struck a building in the northern Israeli town of Tamra, and another 24 were wounded. A strike on the central city of Rehovot wounded 42 people.

Explosions in Tehran

New explosions echoed across Tehran and were reported elsewhere in the country early Sunday, but there was no update to a death toll put out the day before by Iran’s U.N. ambassador, who said 78 people had been killed and more than 320 wounded.

Semiofficial Iranian news agencies reported that an Israeli drone strike had caused a “strong explosion” at an Iranian natural-gas processing plant, in what could be the first Israeli attack on Iran’s oil and natural gas industry. Israel’s military did not immediately comment.

World leaders are issuing urgent calls to deescalate.

But Israeli’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel’s strikes so far are “nothing compared to what they will feel under the sway of our forces in the coming days.”

Trump warns Tehran not to target U.S.

President Donald Trump said the U.S. had “nothing to do with the attack on Iran” — something Iran’s foreign minister, Araghchi, said he did not believe. “We do not believe this claim. We have evidence that suggests otherwise,” he said.

Trump also warned Tehran against targeting U.S. interests in retaliation.

“If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the U.S. Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before. However, we can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social late Saturday.

Nuclear talks called off

Planned talks on Iran’s nuclear program, which could provide an off-ramp, have been called off.

The Arab Gulf country of Oman, which has been mediating indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program, said a sixth round planned for Sunday would not take place.

Iran’s top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, said Saturday that the nuclear talks were “unjustifiable” after Israel’s strikes, which he said were the “result of the direct support by Washington.”