Sawt Falasteen - Massive US-Israeli strikes hit Iran after Trump threat

Video footage verified by AFP showed at least two massive explosions and columns of smoke in Isfahan, central Iran. State media reported the Grand Husseiniya, a Shia religious centre, was damaged in Zanjan in the northwest.

Iran's Fars news agency reported explosions and power outages in parts of Tehran, where residents painted a picture of a city that is still clinging to some routine despite tight security.

"When I make it to a cafe table, even for a few minutes, I can almost believe the world hasn't ended," said Fatemeh, a 27-year-old dental assistant. "And then I go back home, back to the reality of living through war, with all its darkness and weight."

Oil prices were again climbing steadily as markets weighed Trump's confidence that Tehran would soon buckle to military pressure and accept a deal against fears that a possible US ground operation in the Gulf would further escalate the conflict.

Explosions were heard in Dubai and near Erbil airport in northern Iraq, and sirens sounded in Jerusalem and two people were wounded when air defence intervened to intercept a drone near the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, civil defence said.

Israeli emergency services said eight people received minor injuries from falling munitions fragments in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv. At least 10 blasts were heard in the Jerusalem area after missile launches from Iran were detected.

- 'Direct and malicious' -

Kuwait's state oil company reported that one of its giant crude old tankers was on fire in Dubair Port after a "direct and malicious Iranian attack while in the anchorage area".

Such attacks on oil tankers and export facilities have world markets jumpy, and all eyes were on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow maritime channel out of the Gulf that Iran has effectively closed to all vessels except those it approves as not hailing from "hostile countries".

Two Chinese container ships were able to pass the strait, and Beijing expressed gratitude to "the relevant parties", a foreign ministry spokeswoman told reporters.

World oil prices have surged overall since the US and Israel launched the war more than a month ago with strikes on Tehran that killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but fall back every time Trump promises a rapid conclusion to the conflict, leaving markets jittery.

"The fog of war continues," investment adviser Christopher Dembik of Pictet Asset Management said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump's partner in attacking Iran, said more than half of the operation's military aims had been achieved, but both leaders have refused to put a timeline on the war.

Israel's military also reported Tuesday that four more of its soldiers had been killed in combat in southern Lebanon, where the war has spread and where they are battling Iranian-backed Hezbollah.

Trump warned Monday that if Iran did not strike a war-ending deal -- which included reopening the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane -- US forces would destroy all of Tehran's oil wells, its main Kharg Island export terminal, power systems and possibly desalination plants.

But the Wall Street Journal reported he also told aides he was willing to end the war even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed -- likely strengthening Tehran's control on the waterway.

Refusing to back down, an Iranian parliamentary committee voted to impose tolls on vessels in the strait, the passageway through which one-fifth of global oil passes, and completely ban ships from the United States and Israel.

- Ready for talks? -

Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, whose country is acting as an intermediary between Tehran and Washington, was to travel to Beijing for talks Tuesday on "global issues of mutual interest" with counterpart Wang Yi.

Dar hosted foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey in the Pakistani capital on Sunday, saying Islamabad was ready to host talks between the United States and Iran in the "coming days".

Trump has claimed to be in direct contact with senior Iranian figures, but has not identified the publicly and the Iranian foreign ministry said that Washington had sent only a request to talk via intermediaries, including Pakistan.

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I.Saadi--SF-PST