Israel targets Iran's Defense Ministry headquarters as Tehran unleashes deadly missile strike

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel launched an expanded assault on Iran on Sunday, targeting its energy industry and Defense Ministry headquarters, while Tehran unleashed a fresh barrage of deadly strikes.

The simultaneous attacks represented the latest burst of violence since a surprise offensive by Israel two days earlier aimed at decimating Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.

New explosions boomed across Tehran as Iranian missiles entered Israel’s skies in attacks that Israeli emergency officials said caused deaths around the country, including four in an apartment building in the Galilee region. A strike in central Israel killed an 80-year-old woman, a 69-year-old woman and a 10-year-old boy, officials said.

Casualty figures weren’t immediately available in Iran, where Israel targeted its Defense Ministry headquarters in Tehran as well as sites that it alleged were associated with the country's nuclear program. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard claimed that Iranian missiles targeted fuel production facilities for Israeli fighter jets, something not acknowledged by Israel.

Amid the continued conflict, planned negotiations between Iran and the United States over Tehran's nuclear program were cancelled, throwing into question when and how an end to the fighting could come.

“Tehran is burning," Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on social media.

Both Israel’s military and Iran state television announced the latest round of Iranian missiles as explosions were heard near midnight, while the Israeli security cabinet met.

Israel's ongoing strikes across Iran have left the country's surviving leadership with the difficult decision of whether to plunge deeper into conflict with Israel’s more powerful forces or seek a diplomatic route.

World leaders made urgent calls to deescalate and avoid all-out war. The attack on nuclear sites set a “dangerous precedent,” China's foreign minister said. The region is already on edge as Israel makes a new push to eliminate the Iranian-backed militant group Hamas in Gaza after 20 months of fighting.

Israel — widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East — said its hundreds of strikes on Iran over the past two days have killed a number of top generals, nine senior scientists and experts involved in Iran’s nuclear program. Iran’s U.N. ambassador has said 78 people were killed and more than 320 wounded.

U.S. intelligence agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency have repeatedly said Iran was not pursuing a nuclear weapon before Israel unleashed its campaign of airstrikes targeting Iran beginning Friday. But Iran's uranium enrichment has reached near weapons-grade levels, and on Thursday the U.N.’s atomic watchdog censured Iran for not complying with obligations meant to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has made the destruction of Iran’s nuclear program his top priority, said Israel's strikes so far are "nothing compared to what they will feel under the sway of our forces in the coming days.”

In what could be another escalation if confirmed, semiofficial Iranian news agencies reported an Israeli drone struck and caused a “strong explosion” at an Iranian natural-gas processing plant. It would be the first Israeli attack on Iran’s oil and natural gas industry. Israel's military did not immediately comment.

The extent of damage at the South Pars natural gas field was not immediately clear. Such sites have air defense systems around them, which Israel has been targeting.

The sixth round of U.S.-Iran indirect talks on Sunday over Iran ’s nuclear program will not take place, mediator Oman said. “We remain committed to talks and hope the Iranians will come to the table soon,” said a senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomacy.

Iran’s top diplomat said Saturday the nuclear talks were “unjustifiable” after Israel's strikes. Abbas Araghchi's comments came during a call with Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat.

The Israeli airstrikes were the “result of the direct support by Washington,” Araghchi said in a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency. The U.S. has said it isn’t part of the strikes.

On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump urged Iran to reach a deal with the U.S. on its nuclear program, adding that "Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left.”

Iran launched its first waves of missiles at Israel late Friday and early Saturday. The attacks killed at least three people and wounded 174, two of them seriously, Israel said. The military said seven soldiers were lightly wounded when a missile hit central Israel, without specifying where.

U.S. ground-based air defense systems in the region were helping to shoot down Iranian missiles, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the measures.

Israel’s main international airport said it will remain closed until further notice.

First responders were looking for survivors and clearing the remnants of a missile that fell on a neighborhood outside of Tel Aviv early Sunday morning.

An Associated Press reporter saw streets lined with damaged and destroyed buildings, bombed out cars and shards of glass.

Responders used a drone at points to look for survivors in some of the areas that were too hard to access. Some people were fleeing the area with their belongings in suitcases.

Israel attacked Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz. Satellite photos analyzed by AP show extensive damage there. The images shot Saturday by Planet Labs PBC show multiple buildings damaged or destroyed. The structures hit include buildings identified by experts as supplying power to the facility.

U.N. nuclear chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that the above-ground section of the Natanz facility was destroyed. The main centrifuge facility underground did not appear to have been hit, but the loss of power could have damaged infrastructure there, he said.

Israel said it also struck a nuclear research facility in Isfahan, including “infrastructure for enriched uranium conversion,” and said it destroyed dozens of radar installations and surface-to-air missile launchers in western Iran. Iran confirmed the strike at Isfahan.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said four “critical buildings” at the Isfahan site were damaged, including its uranium conversion facility. “As in Natanz, no increase in off-site radiation expected,” it added.

An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with official procedures, said that according to the army's initial assessment “it will take much more than a few weeks” for Iran to repair the damage to the Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites. The official said the army had “concrete intelligence that production in Isfahan was for military purposes.”

Israel denied it had struck the nuclear enrichment facility in Fordo, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Tehran.

Among those killed were three of Iran’s top military leaders: one who oversaw the entire armed forces, Gen. Mohammad Bagheri; one who led the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami; and the head of the Guard’s aerospace division, which oversees its arsenal of ballistic missile program, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh. On Saturday, Khamenei named a new leader for the Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace division: Gen. Majid Mousavi.

Lidman and Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel, and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

Israeli security forces inspect a destroyed building that was hit by a missile fired from Iran, near Tel Aviv, Israel, early Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

A man looks at flames rising from an oil storage facility after it was hit by an Israeli strike in Tehran, Iran, early Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

People take shelter during sirens warning of incoming fire at Israel's Magen David Adom emergency service during a blood drive to prepare for mass casualties in the event of strikes by Iran, in Jerusalem, Saturday, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Traces of projectile illuminates the sky seen from northern Israel, Saturday, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Israeli security forces inspect destroyed residential buildings that were hit by a missile fired from Iran, in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Demonstrators carry posters of top Iranian commanders killed in Friday's Israeli strikes on Tehran, during the Muslim Shiite holiday of Eid al-Ghadir, which commemorates the Prophet Muhammad naming Ali, revered as the first Shiite imam, as his successor, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Destroyed residential buildings that was hit by a missile fired from Iran is seen in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, Israel on Saturday, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A residential building that was struck by a missile fired from Iran, is seen in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

A person looks out at a destroyed residential building that was hit by a missile fired from Iran, in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Israeli security forces inspect the site of homes destroyed by a missile fired from Iran, in Rishon Lezion, Israel, on Saturday, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli security forces inspect destroyed houses that were struck by a missile fired from Iran, in Rishon Lezion, Israel on Saturday, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli security forces inspect destroyed residential buildings that were hit by a missile fired from Iran, in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

The trace of a projectile is seen before hitting Tel Aviv, Israel, early Saturday, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Israeli security forces inspect destroyed houses that were struck by a missile fired from Iran, in Rishon Lezion, Israel on Saturday, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Smoke rises up after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Paramedics evacuate a wounded woman from a building struck by a missile fired from Iran, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Tomer Appelbaum)

In this photo released by the Iranian Red Crescent Society rescuers work at the scene of an explosion after an Israeli strike in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 13, 2025. (Iranian Red Crescent Society via AP)

Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept missiles over Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Tomer Neuberg)

Paramedics evacuate a woman from a site that was struck by a missile fired from Iran, in Rishon Lezion, Israel, on Saturday, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

HOUSTON (AP) — It was a rough major league debut for Houston top prospect Brice Matthews on Friday night.

But the Astros are confident that he'll learn from his first game to be better moving forward.

Batting eighth and playing second base, Matthews went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts in a 7-3 loss to the Texas Rangers. He struck out in his first three at-bats before he was retired on a fly out in the ninth inning.

“I just want him to build from that last at-bat,” manager Joe Espada said. “He hit that ball hard. You could take a lot of positives from today. No. 1 I thought he handled himself really well, had confidence and he was asking the right questions in between at-bats, and also seeing how they're going to attack (him). There was a lot to learn from that first game.”

Matthews said he started to feel better at the plate after a couple of at-bats.

“I feel like as the night went on my at-bats got better, I got more comfortable out there,” he said. “And just seeing the fight and these guys they never quit, so it makes me wanna play even harder for them. So I’ll continue to do that.”

Matthews, an infielder rated as the organization’s top prospect by MLB.com, was hitting .283 with 12 doubles, five triples, 10 home runs and 39 RBIs in 73 games for Sugar Land this season. He has a .400 on-base percentage and a .476 slugging percentage. His team-leading 25 stolen bases rank fourth in the Pacific Coast League.

Matthews, who has primarily played second base this season, was taken 28th overall by the Astros in the 2023 amateur draft. He had a great June where he earned the organization’s minor league player of the month honors after hitting .306 with six doubles, three triples, four home runs and 16 RBIs in 25 games.

The 23-year-old hit for the cycle on May 10 against Sacramento when he went 4 for 6 with two RBIs.

Playing for the team he grew up rooting for was a dream come true for Matthews, who was born in Houston and attended high school in a nearby suburb.

“It was a whirlwind,” he said. “It was a lot of fun, just awesome atmosphere. Coming to these games as a kid, so to be on the other side of it and be able to play, it was a great feeling. We didn't get the job done today, but I'll cherish this moment forever.”

The move comes as the Astros placed outfielder Jake Meyers on the 10-day injured list with a right calf strain retroactive to Thursday. They also transferred INF/OF Zach Dezenzo to the 60-day injured list to make room for Matthews on the 40-man roster.

The injury to Meyers is another setback for the Astros, who were already without shortstop Jeremy Peña and slugger Yordan Alvarez because of injuries. Meyers has had a strong season and is hitting .308 with three homers and 21 RBIs.

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Houston Astros second baseman Brice Matthews (28) throws to first base for a double play after forcing out Texas Rangers' Wyatt Langford at second base during the fifth inning of a baseball game Friday, July 11, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Kevin M. Cox)

Houston Astros second baseman Brice Matthews (28) stands ready during the first inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers, Friday, July 11, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Kevin M. Cox)

Houston Astros second baseman Brice Matthews (28) throws to first base for an out during the first inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers, Friday, July 11, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Kevin M. Cox)

Houston Astros' Brice Matthews takes his first Major League at bat during the second inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers, Friday, July 11, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Kevin M. Cox)