With the war between Israel and Iran resuming, tensions in the region have flared up once again. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched missiles toward Israeli territory, while the Israeli military carried out a series of airstrikes in various parts of Iran.

This comes amid uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the negotiations being led by Washington with Tehran, despite US President Donald Trump’s assertion that an agreement is close to being reached.

Israel and Iran Exchange Attacks

Israel announced on Monday that it had struck a petrochemical complex in southwestern Iran and carried out attacks on military targets in other areas.

In the first strike on an energy facility inside Iran since the ceasefire that took effect on April 8, Israel stated that it had targeted facilities within the Mahshahr Petrochemical Complex.

A local official told the semiofficial Fars News Agency that parts of the plant sustained damage.

An Israeli military official, for his part, said that "the army struck a petrochemical complex in southwestern Iran that was being used to produce ballistic missiles."

A mural in Tehran. (AFP)

The Israeli military also stated that it had carried out a large scale strike against Iran’s strategic defense systems in an effort to dismantle Tehran’s air defense capabilities.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that its forces had responded to what it described as a “US Israeli strike” on a petrochemical complex by launching a missile attack against a similar facility in Haifa.

The Guard warned that any further attacks on civilian sites and energy facilities in the region would have consequences for the global economy, adding that the United States would bear responsibility.

In a related development, Iranian air defenses intercepted a “hostile drone” over Tehran around midday on Monday, according to the Mehr News Agency, shortly after a powerful explosion was heard in the capital.

The agency reported that “a hostile drone belonging to the Zionist American enemy was destroyed by air defenses in the skies over Tehran,” without providing further details.

The Fars News Agency quoted a military source as saying that Iran used a combination of Emad, Qadr, and Kheibar missiles in the attacks.

The Yemeni Houthi movement also threatened to halt maritime traffic linked to Israel in the Red Sea. In a statement, it said: “We consider all movements by the enemy to have become military targets for our armed forces from the moment this statement is announced.”

Negotiation Track At Risk

With the renewed fighting, the diplomatic track has stalled. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said that the exchange of strikes between Iran and Israel would only deepen the “chaos in the diplomatic process” with the United States and increase Iran’s mistrust of Washington.

He added that the United States bears direct responsibility for the latest violations of the ceasefire and for Israel’s actions, which, he said, cannot be separated from Washington’s policies.

Hours earlier, Trump argued that any new strikes by either Israel or Iran would not affect the peace talks his administration is conducting with Tehran, adding that Benjamin Netanyahu “is not the one making the decisions.”

Trump reportedly pressured Israel to halt its attacks in Lebanon to create room for an agreement aimed at ending the broader war with Iran, including reprimanding Netanyahu in a phone call last week.

Nevertheless, Israel carried out airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday for the first time since the United States announced a ceasefire plan for Lebanon several days earlier.

Iran responded by launching waves of missiles at Israeli targets, a move that threatened the ongoing talks between Washington and Tehran. However, Trump maintained that an agreement to end the wider conflict remains within reach.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Trump said: “It will have no effect on the agreement. I am the one making the decisions. I make all the decisions. He (Netanyahu) does not make the decisions.”