Iran sends waves of missiles into Israel, dismisses Trump’s talk of negotiations as ‘fake news’

(Reuters)

WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM/TEL AVIV, March 24 – Iran launched multiple waves of missiles at Israel on Tuesday, the Israeli military said, after U.S. President Donald Trump postponed the bombing of the Islamic Republic’s ​power plants and other energy infrastructure because of what he described as productive talks with Iranian officials.

The missiles triggered air raid sirens in Israel, including Tel Aviv, where gaping holes ‌were torn through a multi-storey apartment building. It was not immediately clear if the damage was caused by a direct hit or debris from an interception.

Israel’s Fire and Rescue Service said they were searching for civilians trapped in one building in Tel Aviv and discovered civilians in a shelter in another damaged building.

Israel’s military said on Tuesday its fighter jets had carried out a large wave of strikes in central Tehran on Monday, targeting key command centres, including facilities associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ intelligence arm ​and the Iranian Intelligence Ministry. It said more than 50 additional targets were hit overnight, including ballistic missile storage and launch sites.

Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Monday that the U.S. and ​Iran had held “very good and productive” conversations about a “complete and total resolution of hostilities in the Middle East”.

As a result, Trump said he was postponing for five days ⁠a plan to hit Iran’s power plants, which he had threatened if Iran did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz. However, the pause only applies to Iran’s energy sites and U.S. strikes on the country continue, ​U.S. news outlet Semafor reported, citing a U.S. official.

Iran has effectively closed the key strait, a conduit for about 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas, since the U.S. and Israel launched their war on February ​28. More than 2,000 people have been killed in the war.

Iran responded to the threat, saying it would hammer infrastructure of U.S. allies in the Middle East, raising the prospect of an extreme disruption to global energy supplies.