Israel attacks Iran state media, orders evacuations and moots regime change
Israel stepped up its attacks against Iran on Monday with an attack on state media headquarters as the Israeli military ordered an evacuation of a large swath of Tehran and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for regime change.
Iran kept up its salvos of missile fire on Israel which have killed at least 24 people since the start of the conflict, while US President Donald Trump called for an exodus from Tehran.
"Iran should have signed the 'deal' I told them to sign. What a shame, and waste of human life. Simply stated, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again!" Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
"Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!" he added. Still, French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters Trump had proposed an Israel-Iran ceasefire "to get a ceasefire and to then kick-start broader discussions."
Meanwhile Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Iran International that Israel's military campaign against Iran is giving its people a chance to topple the Islamic Republic, adding that the ruling system's days were numbered.
"A light has been lit—carry it to freedom,” Netanyahu said.
“This is the time,” he said. “Your hour of freedom is near—it’s happening now.”
While there have been some chants of "death to the dictator" cursed by residents from apartment blocks in Tehran by night according to videos sent to Iran International, so far no cases of concrete defiance of the Iranian system.
Iran's judiciary warned of harsh punishment for any unrest.
Netanyahu had previously mooted assassinating Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in an interview with ABC News.
Khamenei's death "is not going to escalate the conflict, it's going to end the conflict," Netanyahu said.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran was still interested in diplomacy but focused on confronting Israel, a day after he visited his ministry which was bombed by Israel earlier in the day.
Before Trump's threat, earlier on Monday Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that while Israel does not aim to harm civilians, residents of Tehran must evacuate areas near government and military sites that could be targeted.
An illustrated depiction of the Tehran evacuation zone published by the Israeli military encompassed an area around 30 square kilometers, an area home to several hundred thousand people.
Israeli attacks since Friday had killed 224 people and wounded 1,277, spokesman for Iran’s health ministry Hossein Kermanpour said on social media on Sunday.
More current death tolls from Iran were not immediately forthcoming.
State TV attack
Israel bombed the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) headquarters in Tehran on Monday, briefly knocking its main news channels off the air and igniting a fire that continued burning late into the night.
The strike targeted a facility used by Iran’s armed forces “to advance military operations under civilian activity,” Israel's military said.
A video sent to Iran International showed smoke still pouring from the building after nightfall.
A state media presenter denounced the attacks as they were occurring during a live broadcast, only for a large blast and a plume of smoke to send her fleeing the set as crew members defiantly chanted, "God is great!"
The Israeli military also said it destroyed two Iranian F-14 fighter jets were struck on Monday during airstrikes against an airport in Tehran.
Call for diplomacy
Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told three European counterparts that Tehran is serious about diplomacy and never left negotiating table but that its focus now was to confront Israel's "aggression", state media reported on Monday.
A sixth round of US-Iranian talks set for Sunday was cancelled but Tehran has yet to close the door on their resumption definitively.
Earlier on Monday, Trump said he still hoped for a negotiated solution.
"As I've been saying, I think a deal will be signed, or something will happen, but a deal will be signed, and I think Iran is foolish not to sign," Trump told reporters on Monday while attending the G7 summit in Canada.
Foreign ministers of 22 Arab and Islamic nations called for an immediate halt to Israel’s campaign against Iran on Monday, warning of serious harm to region.
The states including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt - traditional rivals of Tehran - urged respect its neighbor's sovereignty and of international law.
“Diplomacy and dialogue are the only viable path,” the statement said, urging a return to nuclear talks
5,000 Israeli deaths previously forecast
A former senior Israeli military official told Iran International that the Iranian response so far was far more muted than what it would have expected in a full-on clash.
“We had estimated 5,000 deaths - we expected more barrages - and the risk of Hezbollah and the Houthis joining in simultaneously,” said Miri Eisin, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Counter-terrorism and a retired Israeli colonel.
“We do a guesstimate of what they can do based on worst case scenarios and expecting that the system is overwhelmed. You have to have the estimates as the hospital needs to be ready."
Meanwhile eight members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Basij forces were killed in the early hours of Monday in Khondab, in central Iran amid what authorities described as “attacks and insecurity caused by the Zionist regime."