Israel faces 2nd round of retaliatory attacks from Iran

Israel launched blistering attacks on the heart of Iran's nuclear and military structure on Friday, deploying warplanes and drones previously smuggled into the country to attack key facilities and kill top generals and scientists — a barrage it said was necessary before its adversary got any closer to building an atomic weapon.

Iran retaliated late Friday by unleashing scores of ballistic missiles on Israel, where explosions flared in the skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and shook the buildings below.

In a second round of attacks early Saturday, sirens and a round of explosions, possibly from Israeli interceptors, could be heard booming in the sky over Jerusalem. The Israeli military urged civilians, already rattled by the earlier wave of missiles, to head to shelter.

The Iranian outlet Nour News, which has close links with the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, said a wave of attacks was being launched. Associated Press journalists in Tel Aviv saw at least two Iranian missiles hit the ground, but there was no immediate word of casualties.

A hospital in Tel Aviv reported treating seven people wounded in the second Iranian barrage; all but one of them had light injuries. Israel's Fire and Rescue Services said they were injured when a projectile hit a building.

Meanwhile, the sound of explosions and Iranian air defence systems firing at targets echoed across central Tehran shortly after midnight on Saturday, and an Associated Press reporter could hear air raid sirens near their home.

Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported a fire at Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport, with a video posted on social media platform X of a column of smoke and orange flames rising from what it said was the airport. Close to key Iranian leadership sites, the airport hosts an air force base with fighter jets and transport aircraft.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had vowed revenge against Israel for its Friday morning attacks.

"We will not allow them to escape safely from this great crime they committed," he said in a recorded message.

Iran's United Nations ambassador said 78 people were killed and more than 320 wounded in Israeli attacks.

Israel's paramedic services said 34 people were wounded in the barrage on the Tel Aviv area, including a woman who was critically injured after being trapped under rubble. In Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv, an Associated Press journalist saw burned cars and at least three damaged houses, including one where the front was nearly entirely torn away.

U.S. ground-based air defence systems in the region are helping to shoot down Iranian missiles, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the measures.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged Israel and Iran to halt their attacks on one another, while calling for diplomacy. "Enough escalation. Time to stop. Peace and diplomacy must prevail," he wrote on X.

Israel's ongoing airstrikes and intelligence operations and Iran's retaliation raised fears of all-out war between the countries and propelled the region, already on edge, into even greater upheaval.