Israel and Iran traded fire on Monday, seriously testing a fragile truce and threatening hopes for a deal to end the Middle East war. The new attacks, including a strike on an Iranian petrochemical complex, came hours after US President Donald Trump called on Israel to refrain from retaliating against Tehran’s missiles.
The retaliation followed Israel saying it fired on western and central Iran in tit-for-tat action against Tehran’s assault on Sunday of 11 missiles, all of which were intercepted with no casualties. Israel’s military and Iranian local media said Monday that Israel struck a petrochemical company in Mahshahr in southwestern Iran, a major industrial complex that had been hit before in April.
The escalation came after Israel carried out an air raid on southern Beirut, killing at least two people and wounding 20, which Iran said “crossed all red lines” and prompted its missile barrage against northern Israel. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said its strikes targeted Israel’s Nevatim and Tel Nof air bases in retaliation for the Zionist regime’s missile strike on Lebanon.
Early Monday morning, explosions were reported in Tehran, Isfahan, Tabriz and Karaj following Israeli strikes on military targets across central and western Iran. Iranian state television reported the sound of explosions in these cities without immediately elaborating, and Iran closed the airspace around Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport after the attack.
This exchange of fire was the first since the ceasefire was agreed in April, marking the largest flare-up in fighting two months after the truce took effect. The violence involved an attack on an Iranian petrochemical facility and a missile strike on Israel carried out by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, which also targeted Israel.
As tensions rose, Trump publicly called for restraint, arguing that Iran had already delivered its response and should now return to negotiations. He also urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to refrain from further military action, but despite Trump’s appeal, Israel moved ahead with retaliation.
The developments highlight how closely the Lebanese front has become tied to wider US-Iran diplomacy, with Hezbollah missiles ending in Israeli strikes deep inside Iran despite direct intervention by US President Trump. To date, there have been no reports of casualties from Sunday and Monday’s exchanges.
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