By Zaheena Rasheed, Kevin Doyle and John Power

    Blasts rock Tehran and air raid sirens go off in Tel Aviv as Iran says it is preparing for what it calls the largest and most intense missile attack in history on Israeli soil, after a strike on Iranian state television.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would not escalate hostilities, but would “end the conflict”.

    US President Donald Trump issues a threat on social media, ordering all residents of Tehran to flee and saying that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.

    The death toll from Israel’s attacks on Iran has risen to more than 220, including 70 women and children. More than 20 people have been killed in Iranian attacks on Israel.

    Meanwhile, Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 55,432 people and wounded 128,923, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7 attacks, and more than 200 were taken captive.

    ‘Iran can never have a nuclear weapon,’ G7 joint statement says

    The economic bloc – which is made up of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US – has also called for “de-escalation” in the conflict between Israel and Iran.

    Israeli soldier killed, three seriously wounded in southern Gaza

    Israel’s military has confirmed that one soldier has been killed and three seriously injured in the southern Gaza Strip.

    The military identified the deceased as a 20-year-old sergeant in Israel’s Golani Brigade’s 12th battalion, while the three “seriously injured” soldiers were also from the same unit. All three have been evacuated from the Palestinian territory.

    Earlier on Monday, the Israeli military reported than a 28-year-old captain from the Golani Brigade’s engineering battalion was also killed in southern Gaza.

    What could prompt US involvement in Israel’s attacks on Iran?

    We’ve been speaking to Benjamin Friedman, the policy director at the Defense Priorities Foundation, about possible US involvement in the Iran-Israel war.

    He said that possibility at this point “is sort of a flip of a coin” but that the US should avoid it “at all costs”.

    “I think it would be a disaster for US interests… One way the US could get involved is as a result of Iranian attacks on US personnel, or US bases in the region, or even potentially on oil infrastructure in the region. That wouldn’t necessitate US involvement, but it could bring it. I think the Iranians know that, and thus far been refraining from those sorts of attacks,” he said.

    “But the US might also get involved more as a choice because of this president and some of his top people being enraptured with the Israelis, and being eager to serve them. I could see the US going along with a request from the Israelis to get involved,” he continued.

    “I hope that’s not the case. I think they’re engaged in a war, ultimately, about regime change that’s bound to fail, and I hope the Trump administration recognises that and keeps the US out of it.”

    Smoke rises in Tehran after explosion

    The Iranian Mehr news agency says an explosion has been heard in northeastern Tehran in the past hour.

    It posted footage of smoke rising into the sky.

    Other videos, verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad agency, show a plume of grey smoke rising over buildings in Tehran.

    White House seeks talks with Iran on nuclear deal, ceasefire: Reports

    The Axios news outlet is reporting that the White House is in discussions with Iran on the possibility of a meeting between US envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi this week.

    Citing four sources briefed on the issue, the outlet said the objective of the meeting would be “to discuss a diplomatic initiative involving a nuclear deal and an end to the war between Israel and Iran”.

    The report comes hours after the CNN broadcaster also reported that Trump has directed members of his team to “attempt a meeting with Iranian officials as quickly as possible”.

    CNN quoted a US official as saying that nothing is yet set, but that Israel and Iran were moving in the right direction.

    Trump, meanwhile, has left the G7 summit in Canada early and US media say he is expected to meet his national security staff in Washington, DC, soon after his arrival. Earlier, he also issued a threat on social media, telling residents of Tehran to leave the city immediately.

    Donald Trump’s ‘contradictory narratives’ in dealing with Iran: Analyst

    Middle East analyst Hassan Mneimneh said that the Trump administration has issued two contradictory narratives on its approach to Iran.

    One narrative insists that the US is “just demanding a return to the negotiations” and there is no intent to attack Iran “at the moment”.

    The second narrative, which Trump appears to be promoting personally through “snippets and sound bites”, is that the US is colluding with Israel in its war on Iran. Trump is “applauding what Israel is doing and preparing, it seems, for an action on the part of the US”, Mneimneh told Al Jazeera.

    “Which one is it in reality? Clearly, we are not in a position to know. But only the second narrative seems to be supported by facts,” he said.

    “One cannot conceive of a situation in which the US will accept the type of parity that Iran has succeeded in establishing in terms of causing harm. At least it doesn’t have the ability to destroy any kind of programme in Israel. But the ongoing war does not seem to be able to stop unless there is some sort of US intervention – or a diplomatic one,” he said.