By Alexander Cornwell and Parisa Hafezi
TEL AVIV/DUBAI (Reuters) -Iran called on U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday to force Israel to cease fire as the only way to end the four-day-old aerial war, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country was on the “path to victory”.
Israeli forces stepped up their bombardment of Iranian cities, while Iran proved capable of piercing Israeli air defences with one of its most successful volleys yet of retaliatory missile strikes.
“If President Trump is genuine about diplomacy and interested in stopping this war, next steps are consequential,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on X.
“Israel must halt its aggression, and absent a total cessation of military aggression against us, our responses will continue. It takes one phone call from Washington to muzzle someone like Netanyahu. That may pave the way for a return to diplomacy.”
Sources told Reuters that Tehran had asked Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman to press Trump to use his influence on Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire. In return, Iran would show flexibility in nuclear negotiations, said the two Iranian and three regional sources.
Netanyahu told Israeli troops at an air base that Israel was on its way to achieving its two main aims: wiping out Iran’s nuclear programme and destroying its missiles.
“We are on the path to victory,” he said. “We are telling the citizens of Tehran: ‘Evacuate’ — and we are taking action.”
‘DESPERATE’
Israel launched its air war on Friday with a surprise attack that killed nearly the entire top echelon of Iran’s military commanders and its leading nuclear scientists. It has said it now has control of Iranian airspace and intends to escalate its campaign in coming days.
Tehran’s retaliation is the first time in decades of shadow war and proxy conflict that missiles fired from Iran have pierced Israeli defences in significant numbers and killed Israelis in their homes.
Iran says more than 224 Iranians have been killed, most of them civilians. Media published images of wounded children, women, and the elderly from cities across the country.
State TV broadcast scenes of collapsed presidential buildings, burned-out cars, and shattered streets in Tehran. Many residents were trying to flee the capital, describing queues for petrol and bank machines that were out of cash.
“I am desperate. My two children are scared and cannot sleep at night because of the sound of air defence and attacks, explosions. But we have nowhere to go. We hid under our dining table,” Gholamreza Mohammadi, 48, a civil servant, told Reuters by phone from Tehran.
In Israel, 24 people have been killed so far in Iran’s missile attacks, all of them civilians. Round the clock television images showed rescuers working in ruins of flattened homes.
“It’s terrifying because it’s so unknown,” said Guydo Tetelbaum, 31, a chef in Tel Aviv who was in his apartment when the alerts came in shortly after 4 a.m. (0100 GMT). He had tried to reach a shelter but his door was blown in.
“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.”
Trump has consistently said that the Israeli assault could end quickly if Iran agrees to U.S. demands that it accept strict curbs to its nuclear programme.
Talks between the United States and Iran, hosted by Oman, had been scheduled for Sunday but were scrapped, with Tehran saying it could not negotiate while under attack.
On Monday, Iranian lawmakers floated the idea of quitting the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, a move bound to be seen as a setback for any negotiations.
‘TEHRAN WILL PAY THE PRICE’
Before dawn on Monday, Iranian missiles struck Tel Aviv and Haifa, killing at least eight people and destroying homes. Israeli authorities said a total of seven missiles fired overnight had landed in Israel. At least 100 people were wounded.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the latest attack employed a new method that caused Israel’s multi-layered defence systems to target each other so missiles could get through.
“The arrogant dictator of Tehran has become a cowardly murderer who targets the civilian home front in Israel to deter the IDF,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said.
“The residents of Tehran will pay the price, and soon.”
Global oil prices had shot up on Friday at the prospect of conflict disrupting supplies from the Gulf. Prices eased somewhat on Monday, suggesting traders think exports could be spared despite Israeli attacks that hit domestic Iranian oil and gas targets.
Still, the sudden killing of so many Iranian military commanders and the apparent loss of control of airspace could prove to the biggest test of the stability of Iran’s system of clerical rule since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iran’s network of regional allies who could once have been expected to rain rockets on Israel – Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon – have been decimated by Israeli forces since the start of the Gaza war.
Netanyahu has said that, while toppling the Iranian government is not Israel’s primary aim, it believes that could be the outcome.
Iran’s currency has lost at least 10% of its value against the U.S. dollar since the start of Israel’s attack.
Art teacher Arshia, 29, told Reuters that his family was leaving Tehran for the town of Damavand, around 50 km (30 miles) to the east, until the conflict was over.
“My parents are scared. Every night there are attacks. No air raid sirens, and no shelters to go to. Why are we paying the price for the Islamic Republic’s hostile policies?” said Arshia, who withheld his surname for fear of reprisal from authorities.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Howard Goller, Lincoln Feast, Tom Perry and Michael Georgy; Editing by Saad Sayeed, Gareth Jones and Aidan Lewis)
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