Israel, Iran Trade Strikes for 3rd Day as Hundreds Reported Dead

Trump Claims He Can Broker Peace Between Israel and Iran, Just Like 'India-Pakistan Ceasefire'

- ASSOCIATED PRESS

DUBAI/WASHINGTON: Israel unleashed airstrikes across Iran for a third day Sunday and threatened even greater force as some Iranian missiles evaded Israeli air defenses to strike buildings in the heart of the country.

Israeli strikes in Iran have killed at least 406 people and wounded another 654, a human rights group said Sunday. The Washington-based group Human Rights Activists said its figures covered the entirety of Iran.

Iran's government has not offered any overall casualty figures from Israeli attacks that have decimated its military leadership and targeted its nuclear sites.

So far, its death toll breakdown included at least 197 civilians, 90 members of the military and 119 others it could not identify. The wounded included 100 civilians, 71 troops and 483 others it could not identify.

As the Israel-Iran war escalates, threatening regional stability in West Asia, in his typical style, US President Donald Trump on Sunday claimed that he could secure a deal between Iran and Israel just as he had done between other arch-rivals, as he repeated his claim that he stopped the war between India and Pakistan last month by "using trade."

In a post on Truth Social, Trump also claimed that "many calls and meetings are now taking place" on the issue.

"Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal, just like I got India and Pakistan to make, in that case by using TRADE with the United States to bring reason, cohesion, and sanity into the talks with two excellent leaders who were able to quickly make a decision and STOP!" Trump claimed.

The Indian government has maintained that India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes without any third-party involvement. Planned talks on Iran's nuclear program, which could provide an off-ramp, were canceled.