Israel and Iran traded strikes on Friday as President Trump weighs the possibility of U.S. involvement and European officials seek to revive nuclear negotiations with Tehran.
Israel said it hit 60 Iranian aircrafts early Friday morning along with the headquarters of the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, which carries out nuclear weapons research, according to the Associated Press. Iranian media said Israel’s strikes also hit the city of Rasht on the Caspian Sea early Friday.
Reuters reported that at least one Iranian missile struck Beersheba, Israel’s largest southern city, early Friday, ripping off the facade of at least one apartment complex and leaving a crater in a residential area. CNN reported it struck close to a tech park that houses a Microsoft office.
Iran also struck near civilian sites in Haifa, injuring more than a dozen people and sending residents running for cover in a shopping mall, CNN reported.
That followed an Iranian strike on Thursday that struck a hospital in Beersheba, wounding at least 80 patients and medical workers, according to Israeli officials. Israel’s defense chief accused Iran of war crimes and said Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would be held accountable for the attack.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched overnight bombings in the heart of Tehran, along with the cities of Tabriz and Kermanshah, hitting “missile storage and launch infrastructure components,” according to the AP.
“We are strengthening our air control in the region and advancing our air offensive,” Israeli military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin told reporters, according to the AP.
“We have more sites to strike in Tehran, western Iran and other places.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, met with Britain’s foreign secretary on Thursday to discuss diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is slated to meet with European leaders in Geneva to discuss a new nuclear deal. Iran earlier this month rejected U.S. proposals to effectively end its nuclear program, and move enrichment facilities outside the country.
The White House on Thursday released a statement from President Trump saying he would decide within two weeks on whether to join Israel’s war. Israel is pressuring the U.S. to deploy it’s “bunker buster” bombs on Iran’s Fordo uranium enrichment facility, which is key to its nuclear program and buried deep inside a mountain.
While Trump has been publicly non-committal on resuming talks with Tehran, Araghci said Thursday the U.S. is pushing for diplomacy behind the scenes.
“It is the Americans who want talks,” he said, according to AP. “They’ve sent messages several times — very serious ones — but we made it explicitly clear to them that as long as this aggression and invasion continue, there is absolutely no room for talk or diplomacy. We are engaged in legitimate self-defense, and this defense will not stop under any circumstances.”
Earlier this week, Trump urged civilians to evacuate Tehran immediately, as the U.S. ordered a third U.S. Navy destroyer to the eastern portion of the Mediterranean Sea.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking near the damaged Beersheba hospital, said he trusted that Trump would “do what’s best for America.”
“I can tell you that they’re already helping a lot,” he added.
