Israel says it will expand attacks on Iran as diplomats push for end to war

Israel’s defence minister said on Friday that the military’s attacks on Iran “will escalate and expand.”

Israel Katz made the comment in a statement noting that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “warned the Iranian terrorist regime to stop firing missiles at the civilian population in Israel.”

“Despite the warnings, the firing continues — and therefore attacks in Iran will escalate and expand to additional targets and areas that assist the regime in building and operating weapons against Israeli citizens,” Katz said.

“They will pay heavy, increasing prices for this war crime.”

Israel’s attack Friday on targets “in the heart of Tehran” targeted sites used by Iran to produce ballistic missiles and other weapons, the Israeli military said. It also hit missile launchers and storage sites in western Iran.

UN Security Council to meet

Smoke also rose over Beirut, although Israel did not immediately report hitting the Lebanese capital. Lebanon’s health ministry said two people were killed on a strike in Beirut’s southern suburb of Tahwitat al-Ghadir, but gave no further details.

The Israeli military said Friday that two of its service members were evacuated to a hospital after being injured during an “operational accident” in southern Lebanon. No other details were immediately available.

Israel has moved thousands of troops across the border into Lebanon, where Israeli officials said they want to take control of the entire area south of the Litani River, some 30 kilometres north of the border.

Meanwhile, air raid sirens sounded in Israel as the military said it was working to intercept Iranian missiles. Iran kept firing missiles and drones at its Gulf Arab neighbours, with sirens warning of attacks in Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Kuwait said its Shuwaikh Port in Kuwait City had sustained “material damage” in attack but that nobody was hurt.

The fighting came ahead of a planned UN Security Council meeting scheduled to begin Friday morning.

Extensive damage in Iran outlined

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also said more than 600 schools have been damaged or demolished and more than 1,000 students and teachers “martyred or wounded” in Iran during the war.

“The aggressors’ targeting pattern accompanied by their rhetoric leave little doubt as to their clear intent to commit genocide,” Araghchi said by video during an urgent debate at the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Friday.

The debate focused on a Feb. 28 strike at an elementary school in the southern city of Minab. More than 165 people were killed, most of them children, according to Iranian state media.

Experts say evidence suggests the blast was likely caused by U.S. airstrikes. U.S. officials have said an investigation is underway.

Separately, the International Organization of Migration said Friday that attacks on Iran have damaged 82,000 civilian buildings, including hospitals, residential units and the homes of 180,000 people across 20 of Iran’s 32 provinces.

Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said the humanitarian organization’s workers in Iran have reported to him that “countless homes, hospitals and schools have been damaged or destroyed,” and that nearly every neighbourhood in Tehran has sustained damage.

“Civilians are paying the highest price for this war — it must end” he said in a statement.

G7 ministers meet with new crisis raging

The U.S. has been pushing Iran to start talks on a 15-point proposal for a ceasefire to end the conflict as it enters a second month, but at the same time has ordered thousands more troops to the region, possibly in preparation for a military attempt to wrest the Strait of Hormuz from Iran’s tight grip.

Iran’s stranglehold on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has caused growing concerns of a global energy crisis, and appears part of a strategy to get the U.S. to back down by roiling the world economy. A Gulf Arab bloc has said that Iran is now exacting tolls from ships to ensure their safe passage through the waterway.

“Frankly, Iran cannot be allowed to hold the global economy hostage as a result of a strait that is vital to international shipping routes and the freedom of navigation,” British Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper said as G7 foreign ministers met on the outskirts of Paris.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand was attending the first gathering of foreign ministers since October in Ontario’s Niagara Region. Most of America’s closest allies have greeted the Iran war with deep skepticism and urged a diplomatic solution to resolve the situation.

As the diplomats gathered, France’s Minister of the Armed Forces Catherine Vautrin said the war in the Middle East “is not ours,” adding that the French position is strictly defensive. The sentiment has been shared by the NATO alliance, which U.S. President Donald Trump has blasted this week for not doing enough to help Washington.

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff said Washington has delivered a 15-point “action list” to Iran for a possible ceasefire, using Pakistan as an intermediary. The list includes restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program and re-opening the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has rejected the U.S. offer and put forth its own five-point proposal, which includes reparations and recognition of its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.

Deaths climb

Since the war began, more than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran, according to the Health Ministry.

Eighteen people have died in Israel, while at least three Israeli soldiers have also been killed in Lebanon. At least 13 American troops have been killed. Four people in the occupied West Bank and 20 in Gulf Arab states have also died.

Authorities said more than 1,100 people have died in Lebanon. In Iraq, where Iranian-supported militia groups have entered the conflict, 80 members of the security forces have been killed.