Israel targets nuclear site, Iran fires hypersonic missile

TEHRAN (AFP) — Israel said it struck a nuclear site near Tehran on Wednesday, while Iran said it fired hypersonic missiles as the arch foes traded fire for a sixth day.

After the Israeli military issued a warning for civilians to leave one district of Tehran for their safety, Israeli warplanes hit the capital early Wednesday.

“More than 50 Israeli Air Force fighter jets... carried out a series of air strikes in the Tehran area over the past few hours,” the Israeli military said, adding that several weapons manufacturing facilities were hit.

“As part of the broad effort to disrupt Iran’s nuclear weapons development program, a centrifuge production facility in Tehran was targeted.”

Centrifuges are vital for uranium enrichment, the sensitive process that can produce fuel for nuclear reactors or, in highly extended form, the core of a nuclear reactor.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had launched hypersonic Fattah-1 missiles at Tel Aviv.

“The 11th wave of the proud Operation Honest Promise 3 using Fattah-1 missiles” was carried out, the Guards said in a statement broadcast on state television.

Hypersonic missiles travel at more than five times the speed of sound and can maneuver mid-flight, making them harder to track and intercept.

No missile struck Tel Aviv overnight, despite Iran’s claims that its attacks were “repeatedly shaking the shelters,” though Agence France-Presse photos showed Israel’s air defense systems activated to intercept missiles over the commercial hub.

Iran also sent a “swarm of drones” towards Israel, while the Israeli military said it had intercepted a total of 10 drones launched from Iran.

It said one of its own drones had been shot down over Iran.

‘Unconditional surrender’

Trump fuelled speculation about US intervention when he made a hasty exit from the G7 summit in Canada, where the leaders of the club of wealthy democracies called for de-escalation but backed Israel’s “right to defend itself.”

Back in Washington on Tuesday, Trump demanded the Islamic republic’s “unconditional surrender.”

He also boasted that the US could easily assassinate Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there — We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Trump met with his National Security Council to discuss the conflict. There was no immediate public statement after the hour and 20-minute meeting.

US officials stressed Trump has not yet made a decision about any intervention.

Hours later, Khamenei responded with a post on X, saying: “We must give a strong response to the terrorist Zionist regime. We will show the Zionists no mercy.”