Democracy Dies with Dictatorship
NY Times
Jun 14, 2025
Israel and Iran Defy Calls for De-Escalation With 2nd Day of Attacks
It’s the most intense fighting in decades between the two countries, fueling fears of a wider conflict that could draw in the United States and other major powers.
by Aaron BoxermanFarnaz FassihiNatan OdenheimerFrancesca Regalado and Adam Rasgon
Here’s the latest
Warning of a protracted fight, Israel and Iran carried out waves of deadly attacks on Saturday, with neither side heeding international pleas for an de-escalation of hostilities.
In sweeping attacks that started early Friday, Israel has struck at the regime in Tehran, hitting Iranian nuclear and military assets. The Israeli strikes have killed more than 70 people, including four top security chiefs, and damaged Iran’s main nuclear site at Natanz.
Iran, in turn, has launched barrages of ballistic missiles and drones at Israel, targeting what it says are military assets, but with less apparent success. At least three people have been killed and dozens wounded in the attacks.
It is the most intense fighting in decades between the two heavily armed countries, and has stirred anxiety over the prospect of an increasingly deadly conflict that could draw in the United States and other major powers.
Israel has conducted roughly 150 strikes on Iran over two days, while Iranian forces have fired roughly 200 ballistic missiles at Israeli territory in addition to scores of drones, according to an Israeli military official.
Fars News, an Iranian outlet affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, reported on Saturday that Israel was widening its attack, striking oil refineries and energy infrastructure. Among the targets Israel struck was the South Pars gas field in the Bushehr province, which was on fire, the outlet reported. The Israeli military declined to comment.
Residents of Tehran, Iran’s capital, reported hearing explosions on Saturday morning, and Iranian air defenses were activated. The Israeli military said it had conducted a wave of strikes against the air defenses around Tehran. The Iranian state news media said that the Israeli targets overnight had included a military jet hangar at Tehran’s Mehrabad airport.
Across Israel, people huddled in reinforced bomb shelters as air-raid sirens wailed outside, warning of incoming missile fire. Loud explosions reverberated overhead as Israel’s antimissile defenses intercepted many of the incoming missiles.
Here’s what else to know:
Dozens dead in Iran: Precise casualty figures in Iran could not be confirmed, but Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, told the Security Council that Israel’s strikes had killed 78 people and injured about 300.
Central Israel: On Saturday morning, at least two people were dead and about 19 injured in central Israel in the wake of an Iranian missile attack, according to Israeli health workers. Israel’s emergency service published footage from the scene showing heavily damaged homes that appeared to have been bombed. A third person was killed earlier during an Iranian missile barrage in Ramat Gan, a suburb east of Tel Aviv, the police said.
Washington’s view: The United States’ possible role in the spiraling conflict remains unclear. While Israeli officials had hoped the Trump administration would participate in a joint attack, Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied U.S. involvement in the strikes. But President Trump also did not call for Israel to rein in its assault, and U.S. officials said they were moving warships and other military assets in the Middle East to help protect Israel and American troops in the region.
Top Iranians killed: Two high-ranking military commanders, Mohammad Bagheri and Gen. Hossein Salami, were killed, Iran said, as was Ali Shamkhani, who had been overseeing the nuclear talks with the United States, officials said. Read more ›
Nuclear sites: Rafael Grossi, the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, told the Security Council that Israel’s strike had destroyed the aboveground enrichment plant in Natanz, causing some chemical and radiological contamination. But he said the leak was “manageable.” He said the Iranian authorities had reported strikes on nuclear facilities in Fordo and Isfahan as well.
The latest round of talks between the United States and Iran on curbing or halting Iran’s efforts to get a nuclear weapon have been canceled, Oman’s foreign minister, Badr Albusaidi, said in a social media post on Saturday. Oman had been mediating the talks, and the next session was supposed to take place in Muscat on Sunday. But the Israeli strikes on Iran and Iran’s counterstrikes have scuttled them. In his post, Mr. Albusaida said “diplomacy and dialogue remain the only pathway to a lasting peace.”
There is no sign that Iran and Israel are heeding international calls for restraint. Iran’s President, Masoud Pezeshkian, said on Saturday after new rounds of Israeli strikes that Iran would respond “with more force.”
Reporting from Jerusalem
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said on Saturday that Israeli strikes had “paved a path to Tehran” and that the Israeli air force would soon be seen flying over the Iranian capital. Speaking to the nation in a video statement, just hours after several barrages of Iranian missiles sent millions of Israelis into bomb shelters and killed three people, Netanyahu said, “We will strike every site and every target of the ayatollahs’ regime.”
He added: “What they have felt until now is nothing compared to what they will feel from the might of our forces in the coming days.”
Fars News, an Iranian outlet affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, said Israel was striking oil refineries and energy infrastructure, widening its targets. The new targets include South Pars gas field in the Bushehr province on the Persian Gulf and the Asalouieh refinery. The reports said that a fire was raging at Pars South and fire trucks are en route. The Israeli military declined to comment.