DONALD Trump has said that Israel has already planned “even more brutal” attacks on Iran after a series of major strikes killed Iranian leaders overnight.
The US president urged Iran to make a deal to stop the attacks, which were launched by Israel on Iranian nuclear sites despite Iran-US talks due to continue this weekend.
The assault on Tehran raised the potential for an all-out war in the Middle East adversaries and was reported to be the most significant attack Iran has faced since its war with Iraq in the 1980s.
Reports from within Iran said the country's government was taking the strikes as a "declaration of war".
In a post on his social media platform, Trump wrote: “I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to ‘just do it', but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done.
“I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come – and they know how to use it.
“Certain Iranian hardliner’s [sic] spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!
“There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end.
“Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire. No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. God Bless You All!”
The US has officially denied involvement in the attacks.
The strikes came amid simmering tensions over Iran’s rapidly advancing nuclear programme and appeared certain to trigger a reprisal, with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warning that “severe punishment” would be directed at Israel.
Hours later, Israel’s military said it had begun intercepting Iranian drones launched in retaliation.
An Israeli official said the interceptions were taking place outside of Israeli territory, but did not elaborate.
Iraq said more than 100 Iranian drones had crossed its airspace, and a short time later neighbouring Jordan said its air force and defence systems had intercepted several missiles and drones that had entered its airspace for fear they would fall in its territory.
Israel’s attack on Iran hit several sites, including the country’s main nuclear enrichment facility, where black smoke could be seen rising into the air.
The leader of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Gen Hossein Salami, was confirmed dead, Iranian state television reported.
This is a significant blow to Tehran’s governing theocracy and an immediate escalation of its long-simmering conflict with Israel.
The chief of staff of Iranian armed forces, Gen Mohammad Bagheri, was also confirmed dead by Iranian state television. Other top military officials and scientists were believed to have been killed.
The executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Melissa Parke, said: “Israel’s bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities is a dangerous escalation from a nuclear-armed state that threatens to thwart negotiations on the Iranian nuclear programme.
"Israel and Iran must join the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons without delay. This would require Israel to dismantle its nuclear weapons programme and Iran to maintain its current nuclear safeguards framework under IAEA oversight.
"It is only through broad-based negotiated solutions that we can truly end the threat from nuclear weapons by agreeing to their total elimination.”
