Iran warns Israel and US are ‘playing with fire’ after strikes on nuclear sites

Satellite image shows damage at the Iranian nuclear facility at Arak in central Iran after an Israeli strike (Picture: Maxar Technologies/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran has warned it will exact a ‘heavy price’ for a new wave of Israeli strikes targeting power and nuclear sites.

State media reported strikes on Iran’s decommissioned heavy-water nuclear research reactor and a factory producing yellowcake uranium late on Friday.

The strikes didn’t cause any casualties or risk of contamination, Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation said.

But Tehran quickly threatened to retaliate.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on X: ‘Israel has hit 2 of Iran’s largest steel factories, a power plant and civilian nuclear sites among other infrastructure.

‘Israel claims it acted in coordination with the US.

‘Attack contradicts POTUS extended deadline for diplomacy. Iran will exact HEAVY price for Israeli crimes.’

State media reported strikes on Iran’s decommissioned heavy-water nuclear research reactor and a factory producing yellowcake uranium (Picture: IDF) Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Iran will exact a ‘heavy price’ for the strikes (Picture: Reuters)

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned Iran would retaliate for the attacks.

Seyed Majid Moosavi, IRGC’s Aerospace Force commander, posted on X that employees of companies tied to the US and Israel should abandon their workplaces.

‘You tested us once before; the world has once again seen that you yourselves started playing with fire and attacking infrastructure,’ he said.

‘This time, the equation will no longer be “an eye for an eye”, just wait.’

Yellowcake is a concentrated form of uranium after impurities are removed from the raw ore. Heavy water is used as a moderator in nuclear reactors.

A senior Iranian source told Reuters that Tehran had not decided whether to respond to a 15-point proposal the US sent this week after attacks on industrial and nuclear infrastructure on Friday.

The official said Iran had expected its response to be delivered on Friday or Saturday but said the continuing strikes while the US was seeking talks was ‘intolerable’.

The US proposal, sent via Pakistan two days ago, is reported to include demands ranging from dismantling Iran’s nuclear and missile programs to relinquishing control of the world’s most important trade route for energy supplies.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the press before his departure following a G7 Foreign Ministers’ meeting (Picture: Reuters)

The war has spread across the Middle East, killing thousands of people and causing the biggest disruption ever to energy supplies, hitting the global economy with soaring oil, gas and fertiliser prices that have fuelled inflation fears.

In Iran, more than 1,900 people have been killed and at least 20,000 injured, said Maria Martinez of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Attacks on Israel by Iran’s Lebanese ally Hezbollah have also prompted an Israeli onslaught that has displaced a fifth of Lebanon’s population.

The US said it expects its operation against Iran to conclude within weeks, not months, and Washington can meet all its objectives without using ground troops.

President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Friday that the United States was hopeful that there would be meetings with Iran this week.

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