Iran, Israel trade air attacks as conflict enters second week

Iranian nuclear scientist killed, third hospital damaged in Tehran as Israeli defence chief vows more intensified raids.

Israel has launched strikes on dozens of targets in Iran, including missile production sites, and Iran fired a barrage of missiles that hit near industrial facilities in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba and the northern city of Haifa, as the conflict between the two sides entered its second week.

An Iranian nuclear scientist was killed on Friday morning following an Israeli strike in Tehran, according to the Israeli public broadcaster Kan. The news followed reports from the Iranian media saying that a residential building in the capital’s central Gisha district was hit by a drone strike.

The identity of the scientist was not immediately clear. Israel has killed several nuclear scientists since it started attacking Iran on June 13.

A hospital in Tehran was hit in a separate Israeli missile strike, the third such medical facility damaged in the past eight days, Iran’s health ministry was quoted by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) as saying. There were no immediate reports of casualties from the hospital strike, but six ambulances were damaged, the ministry said.

Despite the attacks, thousands of Iranians took to the streets of Tehran following Friday prayers to denounce Israel and the US for the deadly attacks in the country.

In the northwestern province of Kermanshah, a medical clinic was also hit, leaving it completely damaged, according to Press TV.

Both Iran and Israel have been exchanging allegations of targeting medical facilities, which is prohibited by international humanitarian law.

In a statement, Israel’s Defence Minister Israeli Katz said he has instructed the military to intensify attacks on “symbols of the regime” in Tehran, aiming to destabilise it.

The attack temporarily shut the city’s central rail station and damaged several buildings including the Microsoft office located inside a technology park, which is also near an Israeli army military telecommunications branch.

After air raid sirens sounded later on Friday, Israeli media reported there were potential impacts in Tel Aviv, Beersheba and Haifa. At least 23 people were injured in Haifa, according to Israeli emergency service, Magen David Adom.

“The south of Israel is more sparsely populated, and the one missile that we could see landed before the beginning of business hours, so there were no people in the offices, presumably,” media’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Amman, Jordan said.

Iran-Europe meeting

Against the backdrop of deadly exchanges, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in the Swiss capital, Geneva, for meeting with his French, German, British and European Union counterparts.

Before Israel launched its assault on Iran on last week, Tehran was engaged in diplomatic talks with the United States in an attempt to end the long-running dispute over its nuclear programme.

“Iran is ready to consider diplomacy once again – once the aggression is stopped and the aggressor is held accountable for the crimes committed,” he said.

In an appearance at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva earlier in the day, Araghchi said the Israeli attacks were a “betrayal” of diplomatic efforts.

“We were supposed to meet with the Americans on 15 June to craft a very promising agreement for peaceful resolution of the issues fabricated over our peaceful nuclear programme,” said Araghchi.

“It was a betrayal of diplomacy and unprecedented blow to the foundations of international law,” he said.

Ahead of the Iran-Europe talks, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the only way to end the conflict is for Israel to stop its air attacks.

“We have always pursued peace and stability,” he said in a statement cited in Iranian media on Friday.

Foad Izadi, professor of international relations at the University of Tehran, told media that it was clear that Araghchi was not prepared to hold any negotiations while Israeli strikes were continuing.

“When you negotiate, it’s give and take,” he said. “Iran cannot engage in that style of give and take when we have bombs falling” on Tehran and other parts of the country.

Still, Araghchi’s presence in Geneva also sends out a message “that they’re not closing the door to the possibility of diplomacy,” said media’s Tohid Asadi, who is reporting from Tehran.

Meanwhile, Rafael Grossi, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), warned the UN Security Council in New York on Friday that an Israeli strike on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant could trigger a regional catastrophe.