Iran launched a series of missile strikes against Israeli cities in the early hours of the day after Israel hit military targets deep inside Iranian territory, with both sides threatening further destruction.

After decades of enmity and a long-running proxy war and covert operations, Israel's surprise attack on Iran last week sparked the most intense fighting yet and raised fears of a prolonged conflict that could engulf the Middle East.

Israel claims its attacks struck military and nuclear facilities and killed many senior commanders and nuclear scientists, but a senior US official said that US President Donald Trump had told Israel to abandon its plan to kill Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Trump called on enemies to “make a deal,” but on June 15 said that “sometimes you have to fight for a period of time.”

The Iranian missile attack was in response to Israeli strikes in central Iran, which the Israeli army said were aimed at “ground-to-ground” missile bases, AFP reported.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had carried out “successful” strikes against Israel and promised “effective, targeted and more devastating operations” in the future.

The Israeli emergency service Magen David Adom reported that five people were killed and 92 wounded in the latest Iranian attack.

Residential areas on both sides have been hit by deadly strikes since the start of the hostilities, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemning Iran for targeting civilians.

“Iran will pay a very high price for the premeditated killing of civilians, women and children,” he said during a visit to a residential building hit by a rocket in the coastal town of Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv.

Iranian strikes have killed more than a dozen people in Israel.

Iran's health ministry said at least 224 people had been killed in Israeli attacks, with more than 1,200 wounded.

Iranian state television said at least five people had been killed in an Israeli strike that hit a residential building in central Tehran.

Colonel Reza Sayad, spokesman for the Iranian armed forces, threatened a “devastating response” to the Israeli attacks.

“Leave the occupied territories (Israel) because in the future they will certainly not be habitable,” he warned in a televised address, adding that shelters “will not guarantee security.”

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshki called on citizens to “oppose this genocidal criminal aggression with unity and consensus.”

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz later warned that Tehran residents would “pay the price” for Iranian attacks on Israeli civilians.

Trump said Washington had “nothing to do” with the Israeli bombings but threatened to unleash the “full force and might” of the US military if Iran attacked US interests.

He called on the two enemies to “make a deal” but expressed skepticism about the prospects for peace.

“But sometimes they have to fight for a period of time,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

A senior US official said Trump had urged Israel to abandon its plan to kill Khamenei.

“We understood that the Israelis had plans to strike Iran's supreme leader. President Trump was against it, and we told the Israelis not to do it,” said the US official, who asked to remain anonymous.

In an interview with Fox News, when asked whether regime change in Iran was one of the goals of the Israeli strikes, Netanyahu replied that “that could certainly be the result because the Iranian regime is very weak.”

Senior Iranian diplomat Abbas Aragchi stressed that Tehran has “solid evidence” that US forces supported Israel in its attacks.

At a meeting with foreign diplomats, he also said that Iran's actions were “a response to aggression.”

“If the aggression stops, naturally our reactions will stop,” he added.

Iran canceled planned nuclear talks with the US, saying it was “meaningless” to negotiate while the country was under attack.

The Iranian judiciary announced that a convicted agent of the Israeli spy service Mossad had been hanged on Monday.

Israel announced that it had detained two people on suspicion of links to Iranian intelligence. | BGNES