Iran and Israel exchange strikes while Trump calls for calm

TEHRAN,— Israel launched strikes on targets in western and central Iran on Monday, prompting reports of explosions in Tehran and two other cities, Iranian state television said.

The action came despite calls from U.S. President Donald Trump for Israel to avoid a response to Tehran’s latest missile attack. The exchanges took place as the conflict reached its 100th day.

The Israeli operation came in direct retaliation after Tehran struck Israel with missiles on Sunday.

Israel said Iran fired 11 missiles, all of which were intercepted, and reported no casualties. Israeli officials described the response as retaliation and said Tehran had made a grave mistake.

Trump publicly urged restraint. Axios journalist Barak Ravid quoted Trump as saying he intended to call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and tell him not to retaliate.

Trump was also quoted as saying both sides had already carried out strikes and that another exchange was unnecessary.

Ravid later reported that a U.S. official said Trump and Netanyahu had spoken, although neither the White House nor Trump had commented.

Iran has maintained that any agreement ending the war must also stop the parallel conflict in Lebanon. Tehran previously warned that any new Israeli attacks on Beirut would lead to a full-scale return to hostilities.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ali Safari told Al-Mayadeen television that Tehran’s missile attack followed weeks of restraint, according to local media reports.

The Revolutionary Guards characterized the strike on Israel as a warning after Israel targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs earlier Monday.

Another Iranian strike on Monday targeted what Tehran described as the headquarters of “terrorist groups” in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Netanyahu’s office said Sunday that Israeli forces struck a militant command center in Beirut’s Dahiyeh district after Hezbollah fired toward Israeli territory. Lebanon’s health ministry said the attack killed two people and wounded 20 others.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker and chief negotiator in discussions with Washington, said the United States had given a green light to the Beirut strike.

He added that U.S. and Israeli assets were now considered legitimate targets.

The head of Iran’s military central command said Israel had crossed all red lines with the Beirut operation and demanded an end to Israeli operations in Lebanon.

The Revolutionary Guards repeated that the attack on Israel was a warning and said any future response would be broader and include all U.S.-Zionist targets in the region.

Iran announced the closure of airspace in the western part of the country. Iraq and Syria adopted similar measures. Local media reported that incoming flights to Tehran’s international airport were also suspended on Sunday.

The escalation pushed crude oil prices higher as prospects faded for a near-term reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for oil and gas shipments that Iran has effectively closed.

Elaheh, a 32-year-old fitness trainer from Ahvaz, told AFP that she had become numb to events and was focused on survival, citing worsening prices and difficult daily conditions.

Mohsin Naqvi visited Tehran over the weekend. Iranian state television reported that Naqvi said he would deliver a special letter from Pakistan’s army chief to Iran’s supreme leader and a message from the prime minister.

Pakistani military leader Syed Asim Munir has been involved in mediation efforts between Iran and the United States after an initial round of direct negotiations in Islamabad.

Mohsen Rezaei, a military adviser to Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, told CNN that negotiations with the United States had reached a deadlock and said Trump needed to break it. He also called for the release of about $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets.

Trump, however, told NBC on Sunday that Iranian assets would not be unfrozen before an initial agreement was reached, adding that talks could begin if Tehran behaved and did a good job.

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper joined calls for restraint on X, saying the resumption of conflict between Iran and Israel was in no one’s interest, and called for diplomacy emphasizing that diplomatic efforts should be prioritized amid rising tensions in the region.

She wrote on X urging continued international engagement to prevent further escalation in the conflict.

(With files from AFP)