Israel has launched more airstrikes against Iran against the wishes of US President Donald Trump who told reporters he asked the Jewish state not to retaliate. Israel’s military, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF), said it targeted truck-based surface-to-air missile launchers and missile production factories in fresh strikes today (Monday).
A statement from the IDF said it had struck “critical components” of Iran’s missile production programme. It said: “The IDF struck infrastructure used to manufacture raw materials for Iran’s missile programme at the petrochemical complex in Mahshahr
“The Israeli Air Force, acting on precise IDF intelligence, struck several infrastructure sites at the petrochemical complex in Mahshahr, in southwestern Iran. These facilities were used by the armed forces of the Iranian terror regime to produce and export raw materials for weapons production.”
The statement continued: “The targeted infrastructure produced unique materials that serve as critical components for the development of ballistic missiles, which pose a threat to the State of Israel and its civilians. These are critical components of the production infrastructure supporting the Iranian terror regime’s missile program.
“The strike joins the series of strikes previously conducted against the complex during Operation Roaring Lion.”
The new strikes by Israel come in response to Iranian missiles fired overnight. Despite the Iranian aggression, Trump had urged Israel not to respond.
In his first comments since Iran and Israel traded fire, Trump wrote online: “Israel and Iran must immediately stop ‘shooting.’”
He later posted again to his Truth Social website, insisting that both Israel and Iran were “looking to do an immediate CEASEFIRE!”
The president claimed negotiations were ongoing, “subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way.”
Speaking to The Financial Times before the outbreak of fighting, Trump insisted he dictated terms to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on how the war should be prosecuted.
“He won’t have any choice,” Trump told the newspaper in a telephone interview. “I call the shots. I call all the shots. He (Netanyahu) doesn’t call the shots.”
