Airstrikes on Iran kill more than 25 as new ceasefire proposal is shared

Israel and the United States carried out a wave of attacks on Iran on Monday, killing more than 25 people and hitting the South Pars natural gas field, and Iran responded with missile fire on Israel.

US President Donald Trump’s deadline for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz loomed as mediators circulated a new ceasefire proposal.

Explosions rang out in Tehran and low-flying jets could be heard for hours as the capital was pounded. Thick black smoke rose near the city’s Azadi Square after one airstrike hit the grounds of the Sharif University of Technology.

Among those killed in one of the attacks on Tehran was the head of intelligence for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Maj. Gen. Majid Khademi, according to Iranian state media and Israel's defense minister.

Another attack hit South Pars, the world's largest gas field shared by Iran and Qatar, Iran's semiofficial Fars news agency and other Iranian media reported, blaming both Israel and the US.

Neither immediately claimed responsibility for the attack on the offshore field, which Israel hit earlier in the war.

After the earlier attack Trump said Israel would not hit South Pars again, but at the same time warned if Iran continued striking Qatar's energy infrastructure the US would "massively blow up the entirety” of the field.

Iranian missiles hit the northern Israeli city of Haifa, where four people were found dead in the rubble of a residential building.

A drone view of emergency personnel at an impact site in a residential neighbourhood, following a barrage of missiles launched from Iran, in central Israel, on Monday. Reuters

Under pressure at home as consumers are growing increasingly concerned, Trump gave Tehran a deadline that expires on Monday night Washington time, saying if no deal was reached to reopen the strait, the US would hit Iran's power plants and other infrastructure targets and set the country "back to the stone ages.”

"Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran,” he threatened in a social media post, adding that if Iran did not open the strait "you'll be living in Hell.”

45-DAY CEASEFIRE DEAL AND REOPENING OF HORMUZ

In an effort to stop the fighting, Egyptian, Pakistani and Turkish mediators have sent Iran and the US a proposal calling for a 45-day ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to give time to try and find a way to end the war, two Mideast officials have told The Associated Press.

Iran and the US have not responded to the proposal, sent late on Sunday night to both Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, the officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private negotiations.

European Council President António Costa called for diplomacy to be given a chance, writing on X that "any targeting of civilian infrastructure, namely energy facilities, is illegal and unacceptable.”

"Escalation will not achieve a ceasefire and peace,” he said. "Only negotiations will, namely the ongoing efforts led by regional partners.”

One of Monday's morning airstrikes targeted Tehran's Sharif University of Technology, where Iranian media reported damage to the buildings as well as a natural gas distribution site next to the campus.

It wasn’t immediately clear what had been targeted on the grounds of the university, which is empty of students as the war has forced all schools into the country into online classes. However, multiple countries over the years have sanctioned the university for its work with the military, particularly on Iran’s ballistic missile programme, which is controlled by the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

Associated Press