Israel hits Iranian nuclear research facility as war continues into second week

Israel’s military said it has struck an Iranian nuclear research facility overnight and killed three senior Iranian commanders in targeted attacks as the war between the two nations continued into a second week.

The prospect of a wider war threatened too as Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they would resume attacks on US vessels and warships in the Red Sea if the Trump administration joins Israel’s military campaign against Iran.

The Houthis had paused such attacks in May as part of a deal with the administration.

Early on Saturday, smoke could be seen rising from an area near a mountain in Isfahan, where a local official said Israel had attacked the nuclear research facility in two waves.

The target was two centrifuge production sites, and the attacks came on top of strikes on other centrifuge production sites elsewhere in recent days, according to an Israeli military official speaking on condition of anonymity under army guidelines to brief reporters.

It was the second attack on Isfahan, which was hit in the first 24 hours of the war as part of Israel’s goal to destroy the Iranian nuclear programme.

Akbar Salehi, Isfahan province’s deputy governor for security affairs, confirmed the Israeli strikes had caused damage to the facility, but said there had been no human casualties.

Iran launched a new wave of drones and missiles at Israel but there were no immediate reports of significant damage, and the Israeli official called it a “small barrage” that was largely intercepted by Israel’s defences.

The official said part of the reason that Iran’s overnight attack had been relatively small was that the military had been targeting its launchers, and estimates it has now taken out more than 50% of them.

“We’ve been able to take out a large amount of their launchers, creating a bottleneck — we’re making it harder for them to fire toward Israel,” he said.

“Having said all that, I want to say the Iranian regime obviously still has capabilities.”

Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said on Saturday an Iranian drone hit a two-storey building in northern Israel, but there were no casualties.

US President Donald Trump is still weighing active US military involvement in the war but, on Saturday, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said “I think that it would be very, very dangerous for everyone”.

He spoke on the sidelines of an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Turkey.

Barring a commando raid or even a nuclear strike, Iran’s underground Fordo uranium enrichment facility is considered out of reach to all but America’s “bunker-buster” bombs. Mr Trump said he would put off his decision on military involvement for up to two weeks.

The war erupted on June 13, with Israeli airstrikes targeting Iran’s nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists.

At least 722 people, including 285 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2,500 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group.

Iran has retaliated by firing more than 450 missiles and 1,000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. Israel’s multi-tiered air defences have shot down most of them, but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and hundreds wounded.

Iran has long maintained its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes, but it is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich uranium up to 60% — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with a nuclear weapons programme but has never acknowledged it.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel’s military operation will continue “for as long as it takes” to eliminate what he called the existential threat of Iran’s nuclear programme and ballistic missile arsenal.