In response, Benjamin Netanyahu has promised Tehran to ‘pay a high price’; Iranian government stated that it was aimed at Israeli military facilities in Beersheba and hospital was hit by the ‘wave of shock’
He warned on Thursday that the Iranian Supreme Leader, there Khamenei, “will pay for his crimes” after a lue of missiles hit a hospital, while his army bombarded nuclear facilities in . On the seventh day of the unprecedented conflict between the two Middle Eastern archrivals, US President Donald Trump, Israel’s ally, did not rule out military action to interrupt the Iran’s nuclear program, accused of trying to develop atomic weapons, which Tehran denies. After a particularly violent attack involving dozens of Iranian missiles, several regions of Israel were on alert and residents took refuge in shelters. According to emergency services, 47 people were injured.
The Soroka Hospital in Bersheba, in the south of the country, was hit by an Iranian attack and suffered “significant damage,” the center said. The Foreign Ministry of Israel reported a “direct attack” to this medical center, which mainly serves Israeli soldiers injured in the war in Gaza. Israel’s defense minister said shortly after Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, “cannot continue to exist.”
“The Iranian dictator coward… deliberately fired on hospitals and residential buildings in Israel. This is one of the most serious war crimes, and Khamenei will have to pay for his crimes,” said the same minister, Israel Katz. Together with “the Prime Minister (Benjamin Netanyahu), we order the intensification of attacks against strategic targets in Iran and against Tehran’s energy infrastructure to eliminate threats to the state of Israel and undermine the Aiatolas regime,” he added. “Iranian terrorist dictators have fired missiles against Hospital Soroka in Bersheba, and against civilians. We will make the Tehran tyrants pay a high price,” Netanyahu warned on social network X.
Attacks on nuclear structures in Arak and Natanz
During the night, the Israeli army announced that it attacked an “inactive nuclear reactor” in Arak and “bombarded a nuclear weapon development installation in the Natanz area” in downtown Iran. About 40 war airclakes participated in air attacks, which hit dozens of locations, the army said. Israel stated earlier that he destroyed “the main installation” of Natanz’s uranium enrichment plant. The International Atomic Energy Agency (AIEA) reported on Tuesday on “elements that show direct impacts on the plant’s underground chambers”.
Iran accused AIAE on Thursday of acting as the “ally” of Israel’s “war of aggression”. “You have betrayed the regime of non-proliferation; you have made AIEA an ally in this unfair war of aggression,” wrote Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esraeil Baqaei, on network X, in a commentary addressed to the Head of AIEA, Argentine Rafael Grossi. In Iran, Israeli attacks have left at least 224 deaths since the beginning of the war, according to an official balance. In Israel, Iranian shots caused 24 deaths, according to the government. Iran has promised that “it will continue to exercise its right to self-defense (…) and we will make the perpetrator regret and pay for his serious mistake,” wrote the chief of Araqchi Diplomacy on Thursday at X.
“All options are on the table”
On Wednesday, the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, stated that his country would never surrender, responding to Trump’s call to “surrender unconditionally.” Iran reaffirmed on Thursday that “all options are on the table” in the event of an American intervention in the conflict, after the Iranian leader warned the United States that such an intervention would cause “irreparable damage.”
Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he had not yet made a decision on the possible involvement of the United States in Israel’s attacks on Iran and told the press: “It may be yes or not.” “I haven’t made a final decision yet,” he said later. Asked about a possible drop from the current regime in Tehran, he said he could “happen.” Trump earned earlier that the United States, if they wished, could kill Ayatollah Khamenei.
*With information from AFP
