Israel says ‘Tehran will burn’ amid dueling missile launches with Iran

Israel’s defense minister issued a stark warning to Iran on Saturday, saying that “Tehran will burn” as the two nations traded missile salvos following Israel’s surprise attack on Iran’s nuclear program earlier this week.

“If [Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei continues to fire missiles at the Israeli home front — Tehran will burn,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said, according to the Associated Press.

Israel on Thursday launched what it has described as a “preemptive” strike on Iran’s nuclear program and military leadership, warning that the nation could develop a nuclear bomb imminently. The Israeli military and Iranian state media have said that several top military leaders and nuclear scientists were killed in the strikes.

Iran has fired waves of missiles back in return Friday and early Saturday, some of which were not intercepted and struck in Israel. And Israel has since launched new waves of attacks, with the Israel Defense Forces writing “Israel Has Established Aerial Superiority from Western Iran to Tehran” on social media Saturday morning.

Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations said 78 people were killed and more than 320 wounded in the attacks. The Iranian counterattacks killed at least three people in Israel and wounded around 70, according to Israeli health authorities.

The escalation between the two longtime regional rivals has thrown into question President Donald Trump’s quest to strike a new nuclear deal with Iran, with talks originally scheduled for Sunday.

Following the attack, Trump repeatedly praised Israel, America’s longtime ally in the region, embracing the nation’s “successful” attack on Iran’s nuclear program and warning that Iran needs to cut a deal now before it is too late.

“Two months ago I gave Iran a 60 day ultimatum to ‘make a deal,’” he posted on Truth Social early Friday. “They should have done it! Today is day 61. I told them what to do, but they just couldn’t get there. Now they have, perhaps, a second chance!”

But Iran’s top diplomat said the strikes may make a deal less likely, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi calling the continuation of talks “unjustifiable” and saying the U.S. was responsible in a phone call with European diplomats reported on by the state-run news agency IRNA.

The U.S. has denied having any direct involvement with the attacks shortly after they began. But Trump said repeatedly that he was aware they would happen, and praised Israel’s use of American military equipment to carry it out.

The U.S. is also “using its air defenses in the region” to assist Israel in engaging Iranian missiles, POLITICO previously reported.

Israeli Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech Friday — directed to the Iranian people — that strikes would continue, calling on the populace to resist the Iranian regime. And Khamenei — Iran’s supreme leader — has already started naming replacements for the military officials killed, vowing retribution on Israel in a televised speech Friday.

International leaders have called for both Israel and Iran to cease hostilities, which neither country seems interested in heeding.

“The situation in Iran and Israel has deteriorated drastically. I renew my appeal to responsibility and reason,” Pope Leo XIV posted on social media on Saturday. “It is the duty of all countries to support the cause of peace, initiating paths of reconciliation and promoting solutions that ensure security and dignity for all!”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.