Israel stepped up its attacks on Iranian strategic sites including a naval base in Bandar Abbas and a centrifuge location as the United States weighs its military options on the conflict.
Israel struck storage facilities located at an Iran‘s naval base in the strategic Bandar Abbas port on the Strait of Hormuz – the waterway for 20 percent of world’s oil trade.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reportedly said the Israel Air Force was targeting Iranian warships docked at the southern port.
Israel’s military struck storage facilities located at the Iranian naval headquarters base in Bandar Abbas, a strategic port on the Persian Gulf, the IDF claimed on Saturday night.
Isreal and Iran expand attacks as conflict enters second week
There were reports of explosions parts of the port in Bandar Abbas.
An Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson said the IAF “continues to systematically target (Iran’s) drone command chain.”
“These strikes have disrupted planned barrages and destroyed approximately 950 explosive drones before they could be launched,” IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin claimed.
Meanwhile, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said, “a centrifuge manufacturing workshop has been hit in Esfahan, the third such facility that has been targeted in Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear-related sites over the past week.”
“We know this facility well. There was no nuclear material at this site and therefore the attack on it will have no radiological consequences,” IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said.
Trump to decide about US involvement in Iran-Israel war in two weeks
The conflict has seen intensified attacks from both sides as U.S. President Donald Trump considers his military options in support of Israel.
The White House said Trump will decide in two weeks whether to join the conflict.
The Washington Post on Saturday reported that Israel is pressing Trump to help deliver a decisive blow to Iran and that as a result of Israeli actions “Iran is weakened but not defeated. Its nuclear enrichment program is damaged but not destroyed.”
Tehran has warned Washington of consequences for any direct military involvement in the conflict that began last Friday, when Israel attacked Iran with a series of strikes, saying it wants to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Over the past week, Iran has also carried out attacks against Israeli cities and towns with its missiles and drones. Videos circulating on the social media show damages to buildings in Tel Aviv and Haifa.
According to unconfirmed reports, in Iran the death toll from Israeli strikes has crossed 600. There are no confirmed reports of exact losses on the Israeli side.
Meanwhile, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has named three successors in the event of his killing in an Israeli attack.
