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Iran and its ally, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, stepped up their attacks on Israel on Sunday, launching strikes across the country after\u00a0the United States and Iran threatened\u00a0to widen their targets in the\u00a0war in the Middle East, now in its fourth week.<\/p>\n
As Israel came under renewed fire, top Israeli leaders traveled to the southern town of Arad, one of two communities near a secretive nuclear research site struck by Iranian missiles late Saturday, wounding scores of people.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister\u00a0Benjamin Netanyahu\u00a0toured the destruction in Arad and said it was a \u201cmiracle\u201d no one was killed there. He claimed Israel and the U.S. were well on their way to achieving the war\u2019s goals and implored the international community for more support.<\/p>\n
Earlier, President\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0warned the United States will destroy Iran\u2019s power plants if Tehran fails to fully open the\u00a0Strait of Hormuz, setting a 48-hour deadline on Saturday. Iran\u2019s parliament speaker said if the U.S. follows through on its threat, Tehran will retaliate against American and Israeli energy and wider infrastructure in the region.<\/p>\n
The developments signaled the Iran war, which the U.S. and Israel launched Feb. 28, was moving in a dangerous new direction, despite Trump\u2019s mention last week he was considering \u201cwinding down\u201d operations. It has killed hundreds of people, rattled the global economy and sent oil prices surging.<\/p>\n
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an airstrike Sunday that killed a man in northern Israel while Gulf Arab states \u2014 including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates \u2014 said they were intercepting fresh barrages of new Iranian strikes.<\/p>\n
Iran responds to Trump threat on its Strait of Hormuz closure<\/p>\n
Iran has practically closed the\u00a0Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint connecting the Persian Gulf to the rest of the world through which\u00a0roughly one-fifth of global supply\u00a0passes. Attacks\u00a0on ships\u00a0and threats of further strikes have stopped nearly all tankers from navigating the strait, compelling some of the largest oil producers to make cuts because their crude has nowhere to go.<\/p>\n
The blockade is a liability for both the U.S. and its allies in Europe and Asia, who rely heavily on the Persian Gulf supply to meet energy demand and power factories, vehicles and homes. The U.S. lifted some sanctions on Iranian oil at sea to relieve pressure on energy prices.<\/p>\n
Trump said if Iran didn\u2019t open the strait, the U.S. would destroy its \u201cvarious POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!\u201d<\/p>\n
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf responded Sunday on X that if Iran\u2019s power plants and infrastructure are targeted, then vital infrastructure across the region \u2014 including energy and desalination facilities \u2014 would be considered legitimate targets and \u201cirreversibly destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Separately, Iranian officials said they would keep providing safe passage through the strait to vessels from countries other than its enemies.<\/p>\n
Nuclear concerns as the war rages<\/p>\n
Iran said its strikes in the Negev Desert were in retaliation to an earlier attack on Iran\u2019s\u00a0main nuclear enrichment site\u00a0in Natanz, according to state-run media.<\/p>\n
Tehran praised the attack as show of strength, even as Israel\u2019s military asserts that Iranian missile launches have gradually decreased in frequency since the war began.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the Israeli regime is unable to intercept missiles in the heavily protected Dimona area, it is, operationally, a sign of entering a new phase of the battle,\u201d said Qalibaf, the Iranian parliament speaker.<\/p>\n
Dimona is about 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of the nuclear research center, and Arad about 35 kilometers (22 miles) to the north.<\/p>\n
Soroka Medical Center, southern Israel\u2019s main hospital, received at least 175 wounded from Arad and Dimona, the hospital\u2019s deputy director Roy Kessous told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n
Israel is\u00a0widely believed to possess\u00a0nuclear weapons, though it doesn\u2019t confirm or deny their existence. The U.N. nuclear watchdog said on X it had not received reports of damage to the Israeli center or abnormal radiation levels.<\/p>\n
Israel denied responsibility for hitting Natanz on Saturday while the Iranian judiciary\u2019s official news agency, Mizan, said there was no leakage. The Pentagon declined to comment on the strike at Natanz, which was also hit in the first week of the ongoing war and in the\u00a012-day war\u00a0last June.<\/p>\n
The U.N. watchdog \u2014 the International Atomic Energy Agency \u2014 has said the bulk of Iran\u2019s estimated 972 pounds (441 kilograms) of enriched uranium is elsewhere, beneath the rubble at its Isfahan facility.<\/p>\n
Iran says strikes also hit hospital<\/p>\n
Iran said that, in addition to Natanz, strikes also hit a hospital in Andimeshk. The Health Ministry reported patients and doctors were evacuated to another city.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s death toll in the war surpassed 1,500 on Saturday, state media reported, citing the ministry. In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian strikes. More than a dozen civilians in the occupied West Bank and Gulf Arab states have been killed in strikes.<\/p>\n
The war has also seen noncombat-related accidents, including a U.S. refueling plane crash in Iraq that killed six U.S. service members and a Qatari military helicopter crash on Saturday blamed on a technical malfunction. All seven aboard were killed, Qatari authorities said Sunday.<\/p>\n
Hezbollah strike on northern Israel claims first fatality there<\/p>\n
The Israeli civilian was killed in the northern town of Misgav Am in what Israel\u2019s military said \u201cseemed to be\u201d a rocket attack. Israeli medics said they found the man in his car and released a video showing two vehicles ablaze.<\/p>\n
Hezbollah, an ally of Iran, launched strikes on Israel soon after the war began, saying it was in retaliation for the killing of Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah\u00a0Ali Khamenei. Israel struck back, bombarding Lebanon and targeting Hezbollah in deadly airstrikes, expanding its presence in southern Lebanon and amassing more troops near the border.<\/p>\n
Fighting in southern Lebanese towns have intensified recently as Israel continues its ground operations. Israel on Sunday expanded its list of targets to include all bridges over the Litani River, which Defense Minister Israel Katz said Hezbollah is using to move fighters and weapons into southern Lebanon. It later struck the Qasmiyeh bridge near Tyre.<\/p>\n
Katz also ordered the military to accelerate its destruction of Lebanese homes near Israel\u2019s northern border as part of a strategy he described as aligned with Israel\u2019s campaign against Hamas in Gaza.<\/p>\n
After Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel on March 2, the Israeli military launched an offensive that Lebanese authorities say killed over 1,000 people and displaced over 1 million. Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel.<\/p>\n
Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued a warning an hour before the Qasmiyeh bridge near the coastal city of Tyre was struck.<\/p>\n
Lebanese authorities say Israel\u2019s strikes have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced more than 1 million.<\/p>\n
#Trump #threatens #destroy #Iranian #power #plants #Tehran #warns #desalination #targeted<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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