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Israel and Iran continued to exchange fire on Saturday as the conflict entered its second week after talks between Europe and Tehran failed to achieve any breakthrough.
While Israel’s military chief has reiterated “prolonged attacks”, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said rule out further nuclear talks until the Israeli army stops its aggression.
Catch all the live updates on Israel-Iran conflict here
Israel began attacking Iran last Friday and has targeted several military and nuclear bases, and killed key leaders in leadership positions. The attacks prompted retaliation from Iran, which quickly snowballed into a conflict that increased the tensions in West Asia.
What has happened since morning?
Iran’s Fars news agency said Israel had targeted the Isfahan nuclear facility, one of the nation’s biggest, but there was no leakage of hazardous materials. Iranian media also said Israel had attacked a building in the city of Qom, with initial reports of a 16-year-old killed and two people injured.
The Israeli military said it had launched a wave of attacks against missile storage and launch infrastructure sites in Iran.
Shortly after 2:30 am in Israel, the Israeli military warned of an incoming missile barrage from Iran, triggering air raid sirens across parts of central Israel, including Tel Aviv, as well as in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has said that strikes in the city of Qom have killed two IRGC commanders, one of whom funded and armed Hamas for the October 7 attacks.
Impact Shorts
View AllIran rejects nuclear talks
Araghchi said that Iran will only agree to diplomacy when Israel’s “aggression is stopped”.
He emphasised that Iran’s nuclear program was entirely peaceful and condemned Israel’s attacks as violations of international law. Iran, he added, would continue to “exercise its legitimate right to self-defence.”
“I make it crystal clear that Iran’s defence capabilities are non-negotiable,” the Iranian FM said.
Meanwhile, Israel’s ambassador to the UN has accused Iran of having a “genocidal agenda”, adding that its army won’t stop targeting its nuclear facilities until they are dismantled.
Trump says Iran wants talks
US President Donald Trump said the Europeans were “not going to be able to help” end the war.
“Iran doesn’t want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us,” he said.
He also said Iran had a “maximum” of two weeks to avoid possible US air strikes, indicating he could make a decision before the fortnight deadline he set a day earlier.
With inputs from agencies