Israel launched renewed attacks on Iran as evening fell on Friday, after its biggest ever attack against its longstanding foe blasted Iran's huge underground nuclear site and wiped out its entire top echelon of military commanders, Reuters reports.
Iran said that in retaliation "the gates of hell will open", while Israel said the strikes were only the start of "Operation Rising Lion". U.S. President Donald Trump said it was not too late for Tehran to halt the bombing campaign by reaching a deal on its nuclear programme.
As evening fell on Friday, Iranian media reported explosions on the northern and southern outskirts of Tehran and at Fordow, near the holy city of Qom, a second major nuclear site which had been spared in the first wave of attacks. Israel's military said it was striking Iranian missile and drone launching sites.
Air defences were activated across Tehran and explosions could be heard in Isfahan.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli campaign was aimed at defeating an existential threat from Iran, invoking the failure to halt the Holocaust in World War Two.
Israel's operation "will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat," he said in a TV address. "Generations from now, history will record our generation stood its ground, acted in time and secured our common future."
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel had "unleashed its wicked and bloody" hand, and would suffer "a bitter fate".
In a phone interview with Reuters, Trump said it was not clear if Iran's nuclear programme had survived. He said nuclear talks between Tehran and the United States, scheduled for Sunday, were still on the agenda though he was not sure if they would take place.
"I tried to save Iran humiliation and death," Trump said.
Earlier, Trump posted on Truth Social: "Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left."
Israel's National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said military action by itself would not destroy Iran's nuclear programme, but could "create the conditions for a long-term deal, led by the United States" to get rid of it.
