Live updates: Follow the latest news on the Iran war
Iranians were bracing for Donald Trump's war deadline on Tuesday night after a day of heavy strikes in which bridges, railways and the oil-producing Kharg Island were attacked.
I feel, “terrified, horrified, petrified, and any other ‘fied’ adjectives you can think of,” one resident of Tehran told The National. He was responding to a threat by President Trump that “a whole civilisation will die” if Iran rejects a deal.
Another resident of Tehran, a businessman, said he feared US attacks on Iran’s power stations and bridges would spark a cycle of escalation across the region. The Iranian military has threatened retaliation on similar infrastructure across the Gulf.
“It’s a mess,” the businessman said. “The whole region will be dragged into more chaos. I hope they reach an agreement before the deadline.” All interviewees spoke anonymously or using pseudonyms for their security because of fear of government reprisals.
Other Iranians support the US and Israeli war continuing because they see it as the only way for the Islamic Republic to end. They fear war ending now, with more radical leaders in charge, would lead to killings of regime opponents.
Mr Trump on Sunday threatened to send Iran to “hell” if it did not open the Strait of Hormuz. “We will accept hell on the condition that this country is then saved from these demons [the regime],” Kian, a resident of Isfahan, told The National.
The regime’s rule “has created hell for Iran” anyway, Kian said. “The war continuing will surely make people crazy, but they will accept it because they have hope,” he added. “Hope for the people's freedom is tied to the continuation of the war. And the only way out is for America to strike.”
The Israeli military said it carried out a “large-scale wave of attacks” on transport routes across Iran on Tuesday, as Mr Trump's overnight deadline approached.
Israel said it attacked parts of eight bridges, including in Tehran, Karaj and Qom. It claimed Iran was using them to transport military equipment. Blasts were reported on Iran's oil-producing Kharg Island.
“A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” wrote Mr Trump on Truth Social, before an 8pm deadline he has set for Tehran to make a deal.
“However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalised minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, who knows? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the world,” he continued.
Iranian state media reported attacks on transport infrastructure across the country, after Israel told Iranians to avoid using trains or going near railway lines. “Your presence on trains or in proximity to railway tracks puts your lives at risk,' said the Israeli military.
One US-Israeli attack near the Tabriz-Tehran motorway temporarily blocked traffic on both sides, said Iranian state media. The Yahyaabad railway bridge in Kashan city also came under attack, as well as other bridges in the west of Qom province, state media added.
It is strikes on civilian infrastructure that inspire most fear for many Iranians, even those who might support attacks on their government.
"Most people think that the government must go, otherwise, it will take revenge on the people after the war," said a resident of Tehran who has decamped to northern Iran for most of the past five weeks.
"But the war is getting out of control. People don't want a burnt country after the war, which we waste our lives trying to fix."
He described the war as taking place between "three crazies: the Islamic Republic, Trump and Netanyahu," with the people of Iran caught between them.
"If there is no electricity, the communications here will probably go down. Maybe these are my last messages," he said. "If things get bad, don’t let the people of Iran be forgotten."
In response, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said “restraint is over” and that it would attack infrastructure to deprive the US and its allies of oil and gas “for years”.
Fighting between the US, Israel and Iran is continuing to rage amid last-ditch efforts to end the regional war. Qatar warned on Tuesday that the conflict could soon “spiral out of control” if an agreement is not reached.
“We are close to the point where the situation in the region could spiral out of control,” said Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari in a press briefing. He said Doha supports Pakistan-led mediation efforts, adding that “there are no winners if this war continues”.
Iranian state media said on Tuesday US-Israeli strikes “completely destroyed” a synagogue in central Tehran when an adjacent residential building was attacked. The strikes were among a series of attacks overnight that killed at least 18 people, including two children, across Iran, local media reported.
Israel’s military also said it had carried out wide-scale air strikes on Iran on Monday night, including on a petrochemical compound in the south-western Iranian city of Shiraz. The attack comes after similar previous strikes on major petrochemical sites, including in Mahshahr. Two of the sites, which are responsible for about 85 per cent of Iran's petrochemical exports, were taken out of service, said Israel Katz, the Israeli Defence Minister, on Monday. Iran, in turn, has hit several oil and gas and petrochemical complexes across the Gulf in retaliation.
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Defence said seven ballistic missiles were intercepted and destroyed overnight, with debris falling near energy plants. The projectiles had been heading towards the Saudi's Eastern Province, it added.
Movement across the King Fahd Causeway linking Saudi Arabia and Bahrain was suspended for hours on Tuesday as a precautionary measure, authorities said.
