'Residents of Tehran will pay the price, and soon...'

Iran launched a volley of missiles at Israel in the early hours of Monday, striking Tel Aviv and the northern port city of Haifa. The attack killed at least eight people and levelled several residential buildings, prompting a stern warning from Israel’s defence minister that residents of Tehran would “pay the price, and soon”.

In response to the latest escalation, as per a Reuters report, Iranian officials revealed that parliament was drafting legislation to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), though they maintained that Iran remained opposed to developing weapons of mass destruction. The bill is expected to take several weeks to pass.

While Israel is widely believed to possess a considerable nuclear arsenal, it maintains a policy of ambiguity and has not signed the NPT, making it the only country in West Asia (the Middle East to the Western world) to have abstained.

The Israeli military, which has been targeting Iranian military and nuclear infrastructure in recent days, announced it had eliminated four high-ranking Iranian intelligence officers, including the head of the Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence division.

Of the nearly 100 missiles launched by Iran overnight, Israeli authorities confirmed that seven reached Israeli territory. A military spokesperson reported that Israel had achieved air superiority over Iran and had destroyed over a third of the country’s surface-to-surface missile launch platforms.

Approximately 100 Israelis sustained injuries in the overnight assault, which Iran said was retaliation for previous Israeli strikes on its nuclear and ballistic missile facilities.

Tehran, now grappling with what many are calling its most serious internal security crisis since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, claimed to have detained dozens of individuals accused of spying for Israel or engaging in sabotage.

Since the onset of Israel’s large-scale offensive last Friday, the Iranian rial has depreciated by more than 10 per cent against the US dollar.

Fears of further escalation hung over the G7 summit in Canada, where US President Donald Trump on Sunday expressed hope that a resolution could be reached, though hostilities showed no signs of abating on the fourth consecutive day of conflict.

Regional stability had already been severely undermined by the ongoing war in Gaza between Israel and the militant Palestinian group Hamas, and the conflict with Iran threatens to expand the chaos further.

So far, Iranian missile attacks have killed 24 people in Israel, all of them civilians. In Iran, the death toll has climbed to at least 224, with a spokesperson for the health ministry stating that civilians accounted for 90 per cent of the casualties.

Iran’s state-run media reported that a missile had struck the Farabi Hospital and surrounding areas in Kermanshah province, inflicting heavy material damage.

In Haifa, Israeli emergency services were conducting search and rescue operations after about 30 people were injured. Fires erupted at a power station near the port as emergency responders rushed to the impacted areas.

Video clips captured missiles streaking over Tel Aviv, accompanied by loud explosions in both the capital and Jerusalem. In a densely populated Tel Aviv district, a strike destroyed multiple residential blocks, shattering windows of nearby homes and hotels, including those near the US embassy branch. The US ambassador confirmed minor structural damage to the building but no injuries to staff.

Guydo Tetelbaun, a 31-year-old chef, was in his Tel Aviv flat when the sirens went off shortly after 4.00 am local time (6.30 am IST). “As usual, we went into the [shelter] that’s right across the street there. And within minutes, the door of the [shelter] blew in,” Reuters quoted him as saying.

“It’s terrifying because it’s so unknown. This could be the beginning of a long time like this, or it could get worse, or hopefully better, but it’s the unknown that’s the scariest.”

Missiles also landed near Shuk HaCarmel, Tel Aviv’s popular open-air market known for its fresh produce and vibrant crowds.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed they had deployed a new tactic in the assault, one that caused Israel’s layered missile defence systems to misfire against each other, allowing Iranian missiles to reach their targets. No further technical details were provided.

The Israel Defence Forces declined immediate comment on the Iranian claims.

Defence minister Israel Katz, however, issued a scathing statement: “The arrogant dictator of Tehran has become a cowardly murderer who targets the civilian home front in Israel to deter the IDF from continuing the attack that is collapsing his capabilities. The residents of Tehran will pay the price, and soon.”

Later, Katz clarified that Israel did not intend to deliberately harm civilians in Tehran, though in an earlier X post on Sunday, he wrote: 'I instructed the IDF to issue evacuation notices to residents in Tehran living near weapons production complexes. The Iranian dictator is turning Tehran into Beirut and the residents of Tehran into hostages for the survival of his regime. The IDF continues to peel the skin of the Iranian snake with great force, from nuclear weapons to Tehran and everywhere else.'

Global leaders confer

The ongoing Israel-Iran conflict was high on the agenda as leaders from the Group of Seven (G7) gathered in the Canadian Rockies on Sunday.

Before leaving for the summit, President Trump told reporters, “I hope there’s going to be a deal. I think it’s time for a deal. Sometimes they have to fight it out.”

Oil prices, which surged by 7 per cent on Friday as news of Israel's initial attacks and Iran's retaliation spread, eased slightly on Monday as weekend strikes by both nations steered clear of oil production and export sites. Asian stock and currency markets remained largely steady, though investors remained cautious.

Israel has signalled that its military operations are set to intensify in the coming days.

While Trump has praised Israel’s campaign, he has denied Iran’s claims that the United States is involved and warned Tehran not to expand its retaliation to American assets.

The US president has repeatedly insisted that Iran can end the war by agreeing to stringent limits on its nuclear activities. Tehran maintains that its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes, though Western nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency have long suspected it could serve as a cover for weapons development.

With agency inputs