The second week of the Israel-Iran war started with a renewed round of strikes on Saturday, prompting Germany to close an embassy and the U.S. to start repatriation flights.
Israel’s military said Saturday it struck an Iranian nuclear research facility overnight and killed three senior Iranian commanders in targeted attacks, while emphasizing it was preparing for the possibility that the war could turn into a lengthy campaign.
Early Saturday, smoke could be seen rising from an area near a mountain in Isfahan, where a local official said Israel had attacked the nuclear research facility in two waves.
The target was two centrifuge production sites, and the attacks came on top of strikes on other centrifuge production sites elsewhere in recent days, according to an Israeli military official speaking on condition of anonymity under army guidelines to brief reporters. It was the second attack on Isfahan, which was hit in the first 24 hours of the war as part of Israel’s goal to destroy the Iranian nuclear program.
Akbar Salehi, Isfahan province’s deputy governor for security affairs, confirmed the Israeli strikes had caused damage to the facility but said there had been no human casualties.
Iran launched a new wave of drones and missiles at Israel, but there were no immediate reports of significant damage, and the Israeli official called it a “small barrage” that was largely intercepted by Israel’s defences.
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said Saturday an Iranian drone hit a two-storey building in northern Israel, but there were no casualties.
Germany closes embassy
The German Embassy in Tehran has been closed until further notice “due to the current crisis situation,” the diplomatic representation wrote on its website.
“Please do not come to the embassy or the consulate building. Appointments that have already been arranged have been cancelled,” the embassy said.
Due to the war between Israel and Iran, the German Foreign Affairs Ministry said Saturday it has withdrawn all of its embassy staff in Tehran and brought them out of the country.
The embassy is still reachable online for Germans remaining in Iran. On its website, the embassy gives advice on the different possibilities to leave by land via Armenia or Turkey. According to the ministry, there are still about 1,000 German citizens in Iran.
U.S. repatriation flights
The U.S. ambassador to Israel says the United States has begun “assisted departure flights” from Israel, the first time such flights have been offered there since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, sparked the ongoing war in Gaza.
Ambassador Mike Huckabee announced the flights in a social media post as the war between Israel and Iran enters its second week. He says U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents can complete an online form for updates.
The U.S. has also told its citizens in Iran who wish to leave to go via Azerbaijan, Armenia or Turkey if they feel it’s safe.
No talks with U.S. during conflict, Iran says
Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi said Israel’s aggression, which he noted had indications of U.S. involvement, should stop so Iran can “come back to diplomacy.”
“It is obvious that I can’t go to negotiations with the U.S. when our people are under bombardments under the support of the U.S,” he told reporters in Istanbul, where he was attending a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Co-operation.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said he would take up to two weeks to decide whether the United States should enter the conflict on Israel’s side, enough time “to see whether or not people come to their senses,” he said.
The White House says U.S. President Donald Trump will decide whether to authorize U.S. strikes on Iran within the next two weeks, and that he believes there is still ‘a substantial chance of negotiations’ on finding a nuclear deal.
Trump said on Friday he thought Iran would be able to have a nuclear weapon “within a matter of weeks, or certainly within a matter of months,” adding: “We can’t let that happen.”
Araghchi said Saturday in Istanbul that the U.S. entering the conflict “would be very, very dangerous for everyone.”
Israel said it attacked Iran because Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons, while Iran says its atomic program is only for peaceful purposes. Israel is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons, which it neither confirms nor denies.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel’s military operation in Iran would continue “for as long as it takes” to eliminate what he called the existential threat of Iran’s nuclear program and arsenal of ballistic missiles.
But Netanyahu’s goal could be out of reach without U.S. help. Barring a commando raid or even a nuclear strike, Iran’s underground Fordow uranium enrichment facility is considered to be out of reach to all but America’s “bunker-buster” bombs.
At least 430 people have been killed and 3,500 injured in Iran since Israel began its attacks on June 13, Iranian state-run Nour News said, citing the Health Ministry.
In Israel, 24 civilians have been killed by retaliatory Iranian missile attacks, according to local authorities, in the worst conflict between the longtime enemies.
