Axios news site <\/a>he would talk to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop him retaliating against Iran\u2019s barrage.<\/p>\nHe also told the Financial Times that Netanyahu \u201cwon\u2019t have any choice\u201d but to accept the deal Trump negotiates with Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cI call the shots. I call all the shots. He [Netanyahu] doesn\u2019t call the shots,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
Yet by the early morning on Monday, dozens of Israeli warplanes were striking western and central Iran. They hit a petrochemical complex in Mahshahr in southwestern Iran, and waged extensive strikes on \u201cstrategic defense systems,\u201d according to Israeli military statements, in what observers said was a prelude to a wider offensive. Residents in Tehran, Isfahan, Tabriz and Shiraz reported powerful explosions.<\/p>\n
The Israeli military said in a statement it expected several days of fighting with Iran but was prepared for a prolonged campaign. It said the strikes on Iran were conducted by Israel on its own, but that they had been done in \u201cfull coordination\u201d with U.S. Central Command, which also helped in intercepting Iranian missiles launched at Israel.<\/p>\n
But that distinction appeared to matter little to Iran\u2019s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, who said in a press conference on Monday that the U.S held direct responsibility for recent ceasefire violations and Israel\u2019s action \u201ccannot be looked at in isolation from the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one believes the Israeli regime would take any action without coordination with the United States,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe U.S. bears responsibility for the Israeli regime\u2019s aggression, and it will also be responsible for the consequences of any escalation in tensions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iran launched additional barrages throughout Monday, targeting Israeli airbases in Nevatim and Tel Nof and a petrochemical plant in Haifa, according to a statement from Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard Corps. It added Israel was engaging in \u201ca dangerous game by targeting civilian and oil infrastructure \u2014 a game that will now encompass all regional energy targets, with global economic consequences resting on America.\u201d<\/p>\n
The renewed hostilities also saw Yemen\u2019s Houthis \u2014 who receive support from Iran and Hezbollah, and are part of a regional network of Iran-backed factions \u2014 enter the fray with a pair of ballistic missiles lobbed at Israel. The Israeli military said one of the missiles was intercepted; the second fell short of Israel.<\/p>\n
Houthi spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Sarea confirmed the attack in a televised statement on Monday, and said Israeli maritime navigation in the Red Sea would be targeted.<\/p>\n
During the Gaza war, the Houthis attacked commercial shipping in the Red Sea \u2014 including ships with no link to Israel \u2014 to pressure Israel into lifting its blockade on the enclave.<\/p>\n
But, unlike Hezbollah, which attacked Israel on March 2, three days after the U.S. and Israeli campaign on Iran, the Houthis had refrained from helping their ally, until Monday.<\/p>\n
Their involvement now raises the specter of another squeeze on energy markets already beleaguered by closures on the Strait of Hormuz. Since the U.S.-Israeli assault, the Red Sea has acted as the main alternative conduit for energy supplies, especially for those from Saudi Arabia. If the Houthis closed the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, it would all but paralyze commercial flows.<\/p>\n
Oil prices spiked in the wake of the exchanges, with Brent Crude rising 5% to hit $98 a barrel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BEIRUT\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Israel and Iran traded fire on Monday, all but derailing a brittle two-month ceasefire that had largely stopped…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[48390,3065,100,379,34,48459,37,48458,48460,93,681,1000,23616,392,683],"class_list":["post-150812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran","tag-barrage","tag-ceasefire","tag-hezbollah","tag-houthis","tag-iran","tag-iranian-ballistic-missile","tag-israel","tag-israeli-action","tag-israeli-military-statement","tag-lebanon","tag-monday","tag-red-sea","tag-side","tag-trump","tag-u-s"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116714353607491980","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}