DUBAI/JERUSALEM, June 8 (Reuters) – Israel said on Monday it had struck a petrochemical plant in southwestern Iran, in addition to attacks on military targets elsewhere, after U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to refrain from further attacks.
The escalation complicates U.S.-led efforts to broker a broader deal with Iran, sending oil prices up nearly 5%, with Brent futures back above $97 per barrel.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) blamed the US for the most recent exchange of attacks with Israel and stated that the new offensive on non-military and energy sector targets would have consequences for the global economy.
The IRGC claimed that in retaliation it had launched a missile attack against a similar facility in the Israeli city of Haifa.
In the first attack on an energy facility inside Iran since the April 8 ceasefire, Israel said it hit targets at the Mahshahr petrochemical complex, while a provincial official told Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency that parts of the facility were damaged.
The Israeli military later stated that it had also carried out a large-scale attack against Iranian defense systems, with the aim of neutralizing the air defense capabilities that Tehran had been deploying.
Continues after advertising
Iranian media reported the sound of explosions in Tehran on Monday, and the semi-official Mehr news agency said air defenses had shot down a drone over the capital. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis promised in a statement to prevent Israel’s maritime navigation in the Red Sea and claimed to be responsible for the first missile attack on Israel since the ceasefire, which prompted Israel to activate its air defense systems.
TRUMP: ‘I GIVE THE ORDERS’
Trump said on Sunday that new attacks by Israel and Iran would not affect US peace talks with Tehran.
Trump has been pressuring Israel to halt its attacks on Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed group in Lebanon, to clear space for a deal to end the wider war with Iran, even berating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with profanity during a phone call last week.
However, early Sunday, Israel launched attacks on Hezbollah fortifications in the Beirut area for the first time since the US announced a truce plan for Lebanon last week.
Iran fired missile salvos at Israeli targets in retaliation, but Trump insisted that a deal to end the wider war remained within reach.
Continues after advertising
“It will have no impact on the deal,” Trump told the Financial Times. ‘I give the orders. I give all the orders. He (Netanyahu) does not give the orders.’
A few hours later, Israel’s defense forces said they had struck Iranian military targets.
Iran had fired 11 ballistic missiles at Israel, Israeli ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter said on X, adding: ‘Everyone is fed up with this maniacal Iranian regime.’
Continues after advertising
Israel targeted Iran’s surface-to-surface missile launch sites and infrastructure facilities, he added.
In a brief statement, the Israel Defense Forces said they had struck several targets in Mahshahr.
Local authorities ordered the evacuation of all employees, but there were no injuries and damage was being assessed, Iranian state media reported, adding that five production lines at the complex had been hit since the start of the war with Iran on February 28.
Continues after advertising
The IRGC said it attacked the Ramat David air base near Nazareth. The Israeli military said it had identified missiles launched from Iran and that its defense systems had intercepted them.
TRUMP ASKED NETANYAHU TO AVOID NEW ATTACKS
Trump spoke with Netanyahu by phone from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, for just under half an hour on Sunday,an Israeli official said, without elaborating.
The White House and the Israeli prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Continues after advertising
Trump told Netanyahu during the call to refrain from further attacks because “we are close to doing something good in terms of a deal,” according to a US official cited by Axios.
Since the negotiations began, Israel has maintained attacks on Lebanon in a conflict with Hezbollah that Israeli officials insist must be handled separately from any ceasefire with Iran.
Tehran has long maintained that any peace deal with the US would depend on maintaining a ceasefire also in Lebanon, a country that Israel invaded in March in search of Hezbollah fighters who fired across the border in solidarity with Tehran.
Iran’s chief peace negotiator, Parliament Speaker Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf, has stated that American bases and Israeli targets are legitimate targets due to hostile acts, including the “violation of agreements regarding Lebanon.”
TRUMP DOES NOT WANT ATTACKS IN LEBANON
Israel never stopped its campaign in Lebanon, which killed thousands of people and drove hundreds of thousands more from their homes.
Hezbollah, which did not participate in the truce negotiations, has also continued its attacks and says it will not hand over its weapons unless Israel stops its attacks and withdraws from Lebanon.
The broader war has been at a standstill since the US and Israel halted full-scale war with Iran in early April. Tehran has blocked most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which carried a fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas before the war.
Washington has imposed its own blockade on Iranian ports.
Although Washington and Tehran have said they are close to a preliminary agreement to reopen the strait, they still trade attacks, with escalations in recent days that have included strikes on nearby Arab states that host US bases.
Trump said any deal to end the war must prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Tehran’s demands include the lifting of U.S. and international sanctions, the release of billions of dollars in frozen assets and recognition of its dominance over the strait.
