ISTANBUL

Israel’s national security advisor on Tuesday said that his country’s attacks on Iran “will not end without damaging the Fordo nuclear facility,” an Israeli broadcaster reported Tuesday evening.

The Fordo nuclear facility is an underground uranium enrichment site near Qom, Iran – the country’s deepest and most fortified nuclear installation designed to withstand conventional airstrikes.

“I don’t know if the US will join,” said Tzachi Hanegbi in an interview with Channel 12, adding that Israel is talking to the US continuously, but is not trying to convince them.

Regional tensions have escalated since Friday, when Israel launched coordinated airstrikes on multiple sites across Iran, including military and nuclear facilities, prompting Tehran to launch retaliatory strikes.

Israeli authorities said that at least 24 people have been killed and hundreds injured in Iranian missile attacks since Friday.

Iran, for its part, said that at least 224 people have been killed and over 1,000 others wounded in the Israeli assault.