<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/israel" rel="" target="" title="Israeli"><span>Israeli</span></a><span> warplanes have pounded </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/israel-iran-conflict" rel="" target="" title="Iran's"><span>Iran's</span></a><span> capital overnight and into today, hitting a facility used to make uranium centrifuges and another that made missile components, the Israeli military says.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It said it intercepted 10 missiles overnight as Iran's retaliatory barrages diminished.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Iran meanwhile warned that any </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/usa" rel="" target="" title="US"><span>US</span></a><span> intervention in the conflict would risk "all-out war in the region".</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/optus-fined-100-million-for-allegedly-pressuring-customers-into-buying-services-they-didnt-want-or-need/360fa3a2-e07f-4a39-84f3-dc2f032c4317" target="_blank"><strong><span>Optus fined $100 million, subject to court approval, over sales tactics to vulnerable customers</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Israel is carrying out blistering attacks on Iran's nuclear program and military sites that began with a surprise bombardment on Friday.</span><strong><span></span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A Washington-based Iranian human rights group said at least 585 people, including 239 civilians, have been killed and more than 1300 wounded.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Shops have been closed across Iran's capital, Tehran, including in its famed Grand Bazaar, as people wait in gas lines and pack roads leading out of the city to escape the onslaught.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/israeli-warplanes-hammer-irans-capital-as-retaliatory-missile-barrages-diminish/cba96841-0c02-494c-988c-458448be636a" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Iran has fired some 400 missiles and hundreds of drones in retaliatory strikes that have killed at least 24 people in Israel and wounded hundreds.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Some have hit apartment buildings in central Israel, causing heavy damage, and air raid sirens have repeatedly forced Israelis to run for shelter.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Iran has fired fewer missiles in each of its barrages, with just a handful launched on Wednesday.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It has not explained the decline, but it comes after Israel targeted many Iranian launchers.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>All eyes are on Washington, where President Donald Trump initially distanced himself from the Israeli attacks but has hinted at greater US involvement, saying he wants something "much bigger" than a ceasefire. The US has also sent more warplanes to the region.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Esmail Baghaei, a spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, said in an interview with Al Jazeera English that "any American intervention would be a recipe for an all-out war in the region".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>Casualties mount in Iran</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Washington-based group Human Rights Activists said it had identified 239 of those killed in Israeli strikes as civilians and 126 as security personnel.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The group, which also provided detailed casualty figures during 2022 protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, crosschecks local reports against a network of sources it has developed in the country.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Iran has not been publishing regular death tolls during the conflict and has minimized casualties in the past. Its last update, issued Monday, put the death toll at 224 people killed and 1277 others wounded.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/israel-iran-conflict-donald-trump-says-real-end-better-than-a-ceasefire/a40cdd4e-26ff-461a-87bf-76fb1f69f45b" target="_blank"><strong><span>Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei an 'easy target' but safe 'for now' from US, Donald Trump says</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A major explosion could be heard around 5am in Tehran Wednesday morning, following other explosions that boomed earlier in the predawn darkness.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Authorities in Iran offered no acknowledgement of the attacks, which has become increasingly common as the Israeli airstrikes have intensified.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>At least one strike appeared to target Tehran's eastern neighborhood of Hakimiyeh, where the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has an academy.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>No signs of backing down</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Israel says it launched the strikes to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon, after talks between the United States and Iran over a diplomatic resolution had made little visible progress over two months but were still ongoing.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump has said Israel's campaign came after a 60-day window he set for the talks.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Iran long has insisted its nuclear program was peaceful, though it is the only non-nuclear-armed state to enrich uranium up to 60 per cent, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>US intelligence agencies have said they did not believe Iran was actively pursuing the bomb.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>As the conflict entered a sixth day, neither side showed signs of backing down.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We will show the Zionists no mercy," Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in a post on his official X account.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"A storm is passing over Tehran," Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz posted. "This is how dictatorships collapse."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>Trump demands Iranian surrender</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump demanded "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER" in a post on social media and warned Khamenei that the US knows where he is hiding but that there were no plans to kill him "at least not for now."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke about the evolving situation over the phone on Tuesday, according to a White House official.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Iran offered no immediate response to the president's posts, but the country's military leaders vowed that Israel would soon see more attacks.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The operations carried out so far have been solely for the purpose of warning and deterrence," Gen. Abdul Rahim Mousavi, the commander in chief of Iran's army, said in a video.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The punishment operation will be carried out soon."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>Israel welcomes first repatriation flights</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Israelis began returning to the country on flights for the first time since the country's international airport shut down at the start of the conflict.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Two flights from Larnaca, Cyprus, landed at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport on Wednesday morning, said Lisa Dvir, an airport spokesperson.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Israel closed its airspace to commercial flights because of the ballistic missile attacks, leaving tens of thousands of Israelis stranded abroad.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The conflict has disrupted flight patterns across the region.</span></div></div>