2 Iranian attacks against cities near Israel

The Iranian strikes hit two communities near Israel’s main nuclear research center, wounding more than 100 people in the southern part of the country. It was the first time that Israel’s nuclear research center was attacked. in the war which started three weeks ago.

The attacks came hours after Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment facility was hit in an airstrike, for which Israel’s military has denied responsibility.

Israel’s military said it was unable to intercept Iranian missiles that hit the cities of Dimona and Arad, the largest near the center of Israel’s sparsely populated Negev Desert.

Israel’s emergency rescue agency, Magen David Adom, said early Sunday morning that at least 64 people were wounded in the attack on Arad. A spokesperson for Magen David Adom said seven were hospitalized in serious condition, 15 in moderate condition and 42 in mild condition.

Magen David Adom teams continue to search through the rubble for more victims, the agency said.

In another Iranian attack hours earlier in the nearby town of Dimona, at least 40 people were injured, Magen David Adom previously reported.

After the two attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that the Israeli military would continue its war efforts in the Middle East.

“This is a very difficult night in the campaign for our future,” Netanyahu said in a statement posted on social media, adding that he had spoken with the mayor of Arad, one of the two affected cities, and conveyed “our prayers for the peace of the wounded.”

“We are determined to continue attacking our enemies on all fronts,” Netanyahu wrote.

“It is increasingly clear that the Iranian regime is resorting to reckless attacks that only further expose its instability and disregard for human life while strategically targeting civilians,” Lt. Col. Nadav Shosh, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, said on social media.

Footage from Israel’s emergency service showed a large crater next to what appeared to be apartment buildings with exterior walls torn off. The missile appeared to have hit an open area.

Rescuers said the direct hit in Arad caused widespread damage to at least 10 apartment buildings, three of them severely damaged and in danger of collapsing.

Israel is believed to be the only Middle Eastern nation with nuclear weapons, although its leaders refuse to confirm or deny their existence. He International Atomic Energy Agencythe United Nations nuclear watchdog, said in X that it had received no reports of damage to the Israeli center or abnormal radiation levels.

On Saturday, Israel denied responsibility for the attack on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility, located about 135 miles southeast of Tehran. The official news agency of Iran’s judiciary, Mizan, said there was no leak. The IAEA said in X that it was investigating the attack, but that “no increase in radiation levels outside the site had been reported.”

The nuclear facility had already been attacked by Israeli airstrikes during the 12-day Iran-Israel war in June 2025, and later that month by the US.

The IAEA has said that most of Iran’s estimated 970 pounds of enriched uranium are located elsewhere, under the rubble of its Isfahan facility, which was also bombed by the United States last June.

The Pentagon declined to comment on the attack on Natanz, which was also hit in the first week of the war and in the 12-day war last June.

“If the Israeli regime is unable to intercept missiles in the heavily protected area of ​​Dimona, it is, operationally, a sign that it is entering a new phase of the battle,” Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on X before news of the attack on Arad spread.

On Friday, several people reported on the discussions. told News themezone that the Trump administration has been developing strategies, methods and options to secure or extract nuclear materials from Iran. The timing of such an operation, if President Trump ordered it, was unclear. A source said no decision has been made yet.