Tehran, Iran - unleashed a brutal wave of strikes across the breadth of Iran on Sunday and Tehran hit back with fresh missile barrages in response to the unprecedented aggression.
Israeli and Iran continued to trade airstrikes on Sunday, with Haifa (l.) and Tehran (r.) among the cities targeted. © Collage: REUTERS
Israeli authorities told citizens to head to shelters in advance of incoming missiles Sunday, while Iran said it would begin opening mosques, subway stations, and schools to serve as makeshift refuges as Israel kept up its strikes.
Iran's health ministry reported at least 224 people killed and more than 1,200 wounded in Israeli attacks since Friday.
Iranian missile fire killed at least 13 people since Tehran Friday, in response to Israel's unprovoked attack.
Colonel Reza Sayyad, a spokesman for Iran's armed forces, threatened a "devastating response."
"Leave the occupied territories (Israel) because they will certainly no longer be habitable in the future," he warned in a televised address, adding shelters will "not guarantee security".
Israeli strikes on Iran killed hundreds of people as civilian areas were targeted repeatedly. © REUTERS
On Sunday, Israel's military said its air force hit Mashhad airport in Iran's far east, making it the longest-range strike of the conflict, with the target "approximately (1,430 miles) from Israel".
An Israeli strike also killed the intelligence chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Mohammed Kazemi, along with two other officers, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported.
A heavy cloud of smoke hung above Tehran after Israeli aircraft struck two fuel depots there. Local media also reported an Israeli strike on the police headquarters in the city center.
"We haven't been able to sleep since Friday because of the terrible noise," said a Tehran resident who gave her name as Farzaneh. "Today they hit a house in our alley, and we were very scared. So we decided to leave Tehran and head to the north of the country."
Some residents, however, were determined to stay put.
"It is natural that war has its own stress, but I will not leave my city," Shokouh Razzazi told AFP.
AFP images from the Israeli city of Haifa, meanwhile, also showed a column of smoke rising on Sunday evening following an Iranian missile barrage.
The military said rescue teams "have been dispatched to several hit sites in Israel", while the fire services reported rescuers heading to a building on the coast that sustained a "direct hit."
US President Donald Trump reportedly intervened to veto an Israeli plan to assassinate Iranian Supreme Leader © REUTERS
Trump said Washington "had nothing to do" with Israel's bombing campaign, that the US had full knowledge of an attack that was conducted with US weapons.
But he also threatened to unleash "the full strength and might" of the US military if Iran attacked American interests, later urging the two foes to "make a deal".
A senior US official told AFP on Sunday that Trump had urged Israel to drop a plan to assassinate Khamenei.
"We found out that the Israelis had plans to hit Iran's supreme leader. President Trump was against it and we told the Israelis not to," said the US official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Iran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi maintained Tehran had "solid proof" that US forces had supported Israel in its attacks.
He also told a meeting of foreign diplomats that Iran's actions were a "response to aggression".
"If the aggression stops, naturally our responses will also stop," he added.
Iran scrapped nuclear talks with the US planned for Sunday, saying it was "meaningless" to negotiate while under fire.
