Netanyahu said to agree to delay strikes on Iran after Trump urges against retaliation

The Times of Israel is liveblogging Sunday’s events as they unfold.

IDF says it struck military targets in western and central Iran following missile attacks

The IDF says that the Israeli Air Force struck military targets in western and central Iran, hours after Iran fired a salvo of missiles at northern Israel.

US President Donald Trump had said earlier that he was planning to urge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off on any retaliation to the ballistic missile attacks.

US tells its citizens in Jordan to seek shelter due to missiles in airspace

The US State Department issues a warning to its citizens currently in Jordan to seek shelter due to missiles in the airspace over the country.

“Reports indicate missiles, drones or rockets are in Jordanian airspace,” the State Department says in a statement. “Seek overhead cover and shelter in place immediately. Remain indoors and pay attention to local announcements and alerts. The US Embassy in Jordan will continue to review the situation and provide additional information as needed.”

Earlier Iran fired a wave of ballistic missiles at northern Israel, the first since an April ceasefire took effect.

Iran says it targeted ‘terrorist groups’ in Iraqi Kurdistan

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards targeted the headquarters of “terrorist groups” in Iraqi Kurdistan, state media reports.

The Iranian government accuses the armed Kurdish parties, which have camps in neighboring Iraq’s Kurdistan region, of serving Western or Israeli interests and designates them as terrorist organizations.

Since the start of the Middle East war, and despite a ceasefire announced in April, Iran has repeatedly struck these groups, although their posts and camps had largely been evacuated.

“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has targeted the headquarters of terrorist groups in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq,” Iran’s IRNA news agency posts on Telegram.

Add ToI as a preferred source on Google

Netanyahu said to agree to delay strikes on Iran after Trump urges against retaliation

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly agreed to a request by US President Donald Trump to hold off on retaliating against Iran’s ballistic missile attacks to give Washington several more days to pursue a diplomatic agreement with Tehran.

According to the Axios news site, citing a senior US official and a senior Israeli official, Trump requested during their phone call tonight that Netanyahu hold off on retaliating against the attacks, believing “we are close to doing something good in terms of a deal,” the US official said.

Netanyahu tried to push back and persuade Trump to allow Israel to strike Iran, but ultimately “pseudo-agreed” to the president’s request, according to the US official.

The official describes the conversation as much calmer than the heated exchange between the leaders over Israeli plans to strike Beirut last week – during which Trump publicly acknowledged cursing and yelling at Netanyahu – saying that the president did not raise his voice during tonight’s call.

Following the call, “we think the president bought a little bit of time. He is pretty adamant that we are close to a deal with Iran. I don’t think anything is imminent in terms of an Israeli strike,” the US official adds, saying: “We are in a moment in time — that why jeopardize a potential deal when you are in the fourth quarter. The president thinks that we have been in this thing for three months — now is the time to end this thing.”

No formal decision has been made in Israel, and as of half an hour ago, Netanyahu was still meeting with senior security officials on the issue, Channel 12 news reports.

In a separate report, two US officials tell Channel 12 that the White House never gave a “green light” to the Israeli strikes against Hezbollah targets in Beirut this morning, which prompted the Iranian attacks, with one of them saying, “we had no part in this.”

A Saudi report claimed earlier today that Israel had updated Washington ahead of the strikes.

Trump said to push Netanyahu to give Iran talks a chance; Israeli official vows response to strikes, ‘even if not immediate’

US President Donald Trump reaffirmed in his phone conversation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this evening that he is committed to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and from threatening the region and Israel, while insisting at this stage not to escalate against Tehran so that US-Iran talks on a deal can progress, a senior White House official told Israel Hayom.

An Israeli security official tells the Hebrew outlet that Israel will respond to Iran’s ballistic missile attacks earlier tonight, “even if it does not happen in the immediate term.”

“In Iran, they have forgotten that their skies belonged to the Israeli Air Force for two months. Attempts to link Lebanon to Iran have been rejected even by the Lebanese government. Operations against Hezbollah will continue,” the official says.

The Kan public broadcaster reports that in light of Trump’s opposition, Israel is considering delaying its response and striking in several days’ time, as opposed to this evening, though no final decision has reportedly been made amid ongoing assessments in Israel.

Hospitals instructed to move operations underground amid renewed Iranian attacks

Hospitals across Israel are instructed to relocate operations to their underground shelters and to mobilize personnel for a rapid transition to emergency status, following renewed ballistic missile fire from Iran.

In a statement, the Health Ministry says that following a situational assessment and in accordance with the Home Front Command instructions, hospitals are also being told to prepare to release patients who are able to return home.

In addition, health fund clinics and well-baby clinics which don’t have a nearby bomb shelter will not be operating, the ministry says.