Vahid Salemi / AP Photo
Israel struck a petrochemical plant in southwestern Iran as well as other military targets. In the first strike on an energy facility inside Iran since the April 8 cease-fire, Israel said it hit targets at the petrochemical complex in Mahshahr, while a provincial spokesman told Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency that part of the plant had been damaged, telegraphindia.com wrote.
A few hours earlier, Trump said the new Israeli and Iranian strikes would not affect his administration’s peace talks with Tehran, adding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “not making a decision.”
“It’s not going to affect the deal in any way,” Trump told the Financial Times. “I make the decisions. I make all the decisions. He (Netanyahu) doesn’t make decisions.”
Iranian state television reported the sounds of explosions heard in Isfahan, Karaj, Tabriz and Tehran, without going into details.
An eyewitness in Tehran said he heard at least one powerful explosion somewhere west of the capital. Iran closed the airspace around Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport, the country’s main airfield, after the Israeli attack.
Sirens sounded across Israel on Monday after the Iranian military said a missile launched from Yemen was aimed at the country, without going into details. Israeli rescue services said there were no reports of casualties or impact from the launch from Yemen.
Hours earlier in the day…
A White House source said (and an Israeli source confirmed) that Trump “asked Netanyahu to wait to retaliate for a few days and give him time to finalize negotiations and not interfere with the Iran deal.”
This was reported by Axios correspondent Barak Ravid from a U.S. source on the content of the phone call between Trump and Netanyahu after the Iranian missile attack.
According to the U.S. source, the Israeli prime minister initially resisted, trying to change Trump’s mind, but eventually “sort of agreed.” Ravid’s source noted that this time the US president did without shouting and boorishness, spoke calmly and, as they believe, got his way.
“We think the president bought some more time, he believes we are close to a deal, and therefore we don’t think an Israeli strike is expected anytime soon. The president believes the war has been going on for over three months and it’s time to move on,” Barak quoted Ravid as saying.
