Iran launched multiple waves of missiles at Israel on Tuesday, the Israeli military said, after US President Donald Trump postponed the bombing of the Islamic republic's power plants and other energy infrastructure because of what he described as productive talks with Iranian officials.

Images showed rubble-strewn streets and the side of a building in Israel's commercial hub of Tel Aviv in ruins, as first responders scrambled to assist at least four people lightly injured at four different locations.

Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai said a "direct strike" had targeted a building in the upscale neighbourhood, with the facade of the three-storey block torn open.

Israel's Fire and Rescue Service said they were searching for civilians trapped in one building in Tel Aviv and discovered civilians in a shelter in another damaged building.

According to several Israeli media outlets, police believe the damage was caused by a cluster munition missile equipped with three to four warheads, each carrying around 100kg of explosives.

Iranian media reported US-Israeli warplanes had struck two gas facilities and a pipeline, hours after Trump stepped back from his threat to attack energy sites, citing "very good" talks to end the war.

He said his administration was speaking with an unidentified "top person", warning if talks failed in the next five days "we'll just keep bombing our little hearts out".

"The stop on attacks ‌for five days is only on their energy sites," a ⁠US official told US news website Semafor later.

"It is not on the military sites and the navy, and the ballistic missiles, ‌and the defence industrial base. The initial initiatives of [Operation] Epic Fury will continue," he said.

Israel's military also said on Tuesday its fighter jets had carried out a large wave of strikes in central Tehran, targeting key command centres, including facilities associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ intelligence arm and the Iranian Intelligence Ministry.

It said more than 50 additional targets were hit overnight, including ballistic missile storage and launch sites.

Iran's energy minister said he believed the country was less vulnerable than others in the region to any attacks on its energy infrastructure, in an interview with the state TV broadcaster.

"We produce electricity in a spread-out way in several places, unlike the countries of the Persian Gulf or the Zionist regime, where production is centralised and very vulnerable," Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi said, referring to Iran's Gulf neighbours and Israel.

"We have more than 150 power plants across the country," he added, as the Middle East war dragged into its fourth week. (Reuters & AFP)



Edited by Thomas McAlinden