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JERUSALEM, June 21: Israel's war with Iran rages for a second week, with Israel's military saying on Saturday it killed three Iranian commanders and struck Iran's Isfahan nuclear site for a second time.
Here are the latest developments:
Israel's military said it had killed a top Iranian official in charge of military coordination with Palestinian militant group Hamas, as well as two other Iranian commanders overnight.
Israeli "fighter jets struck and eliminated in the area of Qom the commander of the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force, and the key coordinator between the Iranian regime and the Hamas terrorist organisation, Saeed Izadi," the military said in a statement.
The Quds Force is the foreign operations arm of Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
A military official also told reporters during a briefing Saturday that Israel had killed two other Iranian commanders overnight, Behnam Shahriyari and Aminpour Judaki.
Israel targeted "two centrifuge production sites" at Iran's Isfahan nuclear facility overnight in a second wave of strikes on the location since the start of the war, a military official said.
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"Isfahan we targeted in the first 24 hours of our operation, but we carried out a second wave of strikes there overnight, deepening our achievements and advancing the damage to the facility," the military official told reporters during a briefing on condition of anonymity.
The repeated raids by the Israeli air force have "dealt a severe blow to Iran's centrifuge production capabilities", the official added.
Police in Iran's Qom province said 22 people "linked to Israeli spy services" had been arrested since June 13.
Citing the head of police intelligence in Iran's Qom province, Fars news agency reported that "22 people were identified and arrested on charges of being linked to the Zionist regime's spy services, disturbing public opinion and supporting the criminal regime".
A European national was also arrested for spying, Tasnim reported on Friday, without giving their nationality or the date of the arrest.
Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights said at least 223 people have been arrested nationwide on charges related to collaboration with Israel, cautioning that the actual figure was likely higher.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Istanbul, Tasnim news agency reported, for a meeting with regional diplomats to discuss Tehran's escalating conflict with Israel.
Around 40 diplomats are due to join the weekend gathering of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, as Israel and Iran continue to exchange attacks.
"At this meeting, at the suggestion of Iran, the issue of the Zionist regime's attack on our country will be specifically addressed," Araghchi said, according to the news agency.
Israel's foreign minister said its strikes on Iran have delayed Tehran's potential to develop a nuclear weapon by at least two or three years.
"According to the assessment we hear, we already delayed for at least two or three years the possibility for them to have a nuclear bomb," Gideon Saar said in an interview.
Western powers have repeatedly expressed concerns about the rapid expansion of Iran's nuclear programme, questioning in particular the country's accelerated uranium enrichment.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said that Iran is the only country without nuclear weapons to enrich uranium to 60 percent.
However, it added that there was no evidence it had all the components to make a functioning nuclear warhead.
Israel's armed forces chief Eyal Zamir warned that his country should be "ready for a prolonged campaign" against Iran.
"We have embarked on the most complex campaign in our history to remove a threat of such magnitude, against such an enemy. We must be ready for a prolonged campaign," Zamir said in a video statement to Israelis.
Zamir said Israelis needed to brace for more difficulties, as the country comes under frequent attack from Iranian ballistic missiles.
