TEL AVIV —Israel says it will “escalate” its strikes on Iran in response to waves of Iranian missile fire.Fresh strikes have been carried out across the region, with Iran reporting overnight attacks in multiple cities. Iran’s Red Crescent says the death toll in Iran is now nearly 2,000.Citing ongoing peace talks, President Donald Trump said the US will hold off on targeting Iranian energy sites another 10 days. The pause on strikes had been set to expire Friday.Trump has for a second time extended his deadline for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face its power plants being “obliterated.”The status of the talks remains unclear, with both sides giving mixed signals. Iran has expressed deep distrust toward Washington, while Trump is growing frustrated with the pace of progress.Israel’s attacks on Iran “will escalate and expand” in response to Iranian missile fire, Israel’s defense minister said on Friday.“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I warned the Iranian terror regime to stop firing missiles at the civilian population in Israel. Despite the warnings, the fire has continued and therefore, IDF strikes in Iran will escalate and expand to additional targets and areas that assist the regime in building and operating weapons against Israeli civilians,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a recorded video statement.Katz’s statement gave no specifics about what the expanded operations would entail.“We will continue to hunt down the leaders and commanders of the terror regime and destroy its strategic capabilities,” Katz added.Israel has already carried out daily strikes on targets inside Iran for nearly four weeks after launching the war alongside the United States.Operations by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have continued to target senior Iranian commanders, and on Thursday, the Israeli military said it killed the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy.Iran has already closed the Strait of Hormuz – the main conduit for about 20% of the world’s oil and natural gas – for almost four weeks, throwing global oil markets into chaos.Three ships were turned away from the Strait of Hormuz by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the semi-official news agency Fars reported Friday.At least 1,900 people have been killed and 20,000 injured in Iran since the joint US-Israeli military assault on the country began almost four weeks ago, the Iranian Red Crescent said.“The humanitarian situation is rapidly deteriorating,” Maria Martinez, the organization’s head of delegation for Iran, told a UN Press Briefing. “Tehran, a city of roughly 9 million people, feels completely empty.”Much civilian infrastructure has been damaged by US-Israeli airstrikes, including about 289 medical facilities as well as 600 schools and educational institutions, Martinez said. Seventeen of the humanitarian organization’s own centers have been struck and almost 100 ambulances damaged or destroyed.
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