At least 78 killed, 329 injured in Israeli strikes, say Iranian media

Israeli strikes under ‘Operation Rising Lion’ killed at least 78 people, according to Iranian media.

Nour news agency has reported that Israeli strikes on Friday killed at least 78 and injured 329 people.

Israel in the early hours of Friday conducted widespread attacks across Iran and struck nuclear sites, targeted top military commanders and scientists, and hit scores of military targets.

The news agency did not go into the specifics of the death toll, such as whether they were military personnel or civilians and where they died.

Among high-profile persons killed were IRGC chief Hossein Salami, Iranian military chief Mohammad Bagheri, Iranian military’s deputy chief Gholamali Rashid, Ali Shamkhani, a top politician and a close adviser of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei who was overseeing US-Iran nuclear talks.

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Iran has vowed to respond to the Israeli attack and said that the “end of this story will be written by Iran’s hand”. Khamenei has vowed to impose “severe punishment” on Israel.

On its part, Israel has said that Iran was nearing the point of no return in the pursuit of a nuclear weapon and it had no choice other than attacking the country’s nuclear sites. For a long time, Israel has framed Iran’s nuclear weapon as an existential threat and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long maintained he would go after Iran’s nuclear sites if required — with or without support.

The Israeli attack came ahead of the sixth round of US-Iran talks on Sunday. The talks appeared to have reached a stalemate even before the Israeli strikes, with US President Donald Trump rejecting the Iranian counter-proposal in response to a ‘bridge proposal’ floated by Steve Witkoff, the US Middle East Envoy, to bridge the differences between the US and Iranian positions.

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While Trump has not answered the question about any US involvement in Israeli strikes, he has called the operation “excellent” and has told Iran to reach a deal with the United States regarding its nuclear programme if it does not want to get wiped off the face of the Earth.