Iran launched three retaliatory waves of missiles at targets in Israel on June 13, as Israelis rode out the attacks in bomb shelters and world leaders discussed the deepening conflict. Plumes of smoke rose over central Tel Aviv and at least one building was hit and set ablaze.

Interviews with half a dozen senior Iranian officials show that they were not expecting Israel to strike before another round of talks.

Israeli leaders might hope Friday's strikes start a chain reaction leading to unrest that topples the Islamic Republic, writes Amir Azimi.

In remarks before the UN Security Council, Iranian Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani claimed that 78 people had been killed in Israeli attacks across Iran -- using the term "martyred" -- and that another 320 had been injured.

Israel's surprise attack on Iran had an obvious goal of sharply disrupting Tehran's nuclear programme and lengthening the time it would need to develop an atomic weapon.

Before Israel launched a wave of strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities and top military leaders this week, its spies were already on the ground in enemy territory.

The Israeli military targeted Iranian nuclear facilities, research scientists and senior military commanders in dozens of preemptive airstrikes​.

Israel badly damaged one of Iran’s key nuclear sites and killed a startling array of top military and nuclear officials in the attacks that started on Friday morning. But when the sun rose after that devastating assault, it was also clear how much of Iran’s nuclear program remained, at least for now.

President Trump joked that Iranian officials killed in Israel's airstrike clearly did not die of an illness, warning that Iran should have heeded his warning.

Israeli strikes on Iran and Tehran’s vows of reprisals have brought the two Middle East adversaries closer to an all-out war, which also threatens to draw in the United States, at least to some degree.

The back-and-forth strikes stoked concern among investors about a possible wider conflict across the Middle East, which accounts for a large share of global oil production. The U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures price -- a key measure of U.