Israel struck a petrochemical plant in southwest Iran and military targets elsewhere on Monday, defying a direct appeal from US President Donald Trump to hold off on further attacks as Washington pursues a peace deal with Tehran.
The strike on the Mahshahr petrochemical complex is the first hit on an energy site inside Iran since the 8 April ceasefire. Israel’s defence forces said the air force had “struck several targets at the petrochemical complex in Mahshahr.” A provincial official told Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency that parts of the plant had been damaged.
Iranian state media said enemy projectiles had hit five production lines at the facility since the war began on 28 February. The Mahshahr Special Petrochemical Economic Zone was evacuated, state media reported.
Trump had spoken with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by telephone for less than half an hour on Sunday from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, urging him to refrain from strikes because “we are close to doing something good in terms of a deal,” according to a US official cited by Axios. Hours later, Israel struck anyway.
Trump was unequivocal about where authority rested. “It’s not going to have any impact on the deal,” he told the Financial Times. “I call the shots. I call all the shots. He doesn’t call the shots.”
Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, said Iran had fired 11 ballistic missiles at Israel. “Everyone has had enough of this maniacal Iranian regime. No self-respecting country in the world would tolerate such an attack, and neither will Israel,” he wrote on X, adding that Israel was targeting Iran’s surface-to-surface missile launch sites and non-energy infrastructure.
US Ambassador Mike Huckabee said on X: “The missile alerts sounded at 6 a.m. in Jerusalem. The mothership of Satan is in Tehran.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted Ramat David air base near Nazareth in retaliation. The Israeli military said its defence systems had intercepted the incoming missiles. The Israeli military also said it had activated air defences to intercept a missile launched from Yemen — the first such attack from Yemen since the ceasefire.
Oil prices rose more than 3% in early Monday trading, with benchmark Brent futures climbing back above $96 a barrel.
BEIRUT STRIKES TRIGGERED EXCHANGE
The escalation began on Sunday when Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs — the Dahiyeh district, a longstanding Hezbollah stronghold — for the first time since Washington announced a truce plan for Lebanon the previous week. Netanyahu said the strikes were ordered in response to Hezbollah firing toward Israel. Iran responded with missile salvos at Israeli targets, its first direct attack on Israel since the wider war’s ceasefire began in April.
Iran’s chief peace negotiator, parliamentary speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, said US bases and Israeli assets were legitimate targets due to what he called the “violation of agreements over Lebanon.”
Trump insisted the exchanges would not derail negotiations. “We’re very close to a deal, or I’m going to blow the hell out of them,” he told NBC News’ Meet the Press in a recorded interview marking 100 days of the conflict.
HORMUZ TOLLS AND FROZEN ASSETS
Iran’s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, told the newspaper Izvestia in an interview published Monday that the Strait of Hormuz would reopen but under new conditions set by Iranian and Omani authorities. “We understand that Iran and Oman provide certain services related to this strait. And fees will be charged for those services,” he said, without elaborating. Washington has said any Iranian toll regime on the waterway would be unacceptable.
A source familiar with US plans told Reuters on Saturday that Washington was considering making Iranian assets available to Gulf neighbours to compensate for damage caused by Iranian strikes. Iran’s deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on Sunday any such diversion would be illegal and Tehran would respond accordingly.
Israel has never halted its Lebanon campaign, which has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands. Hezbollah says it will not disarm unless Israel halts operations and withdraws. Tehran has consistently said any peace deal with Washington must include a ceasefire in Lebanon — a condition Israel rejects, insisting the two conflicts be treated separately.
(Reuters)
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