Israel says ‘war is not close to ending’ as its nuclear research center is targeted for first time, hours after Iranian enrichment site was hit

Iran struck two communities near Israel’s main nuclear research center late Saturday, leaving buildings shattered and at least seven people seriously injured, hours after Tehran’s main nuclear enrichment site was hit as the war spun into a dangerous new direction at the start of its fourth week.

It was the first time Israel’s nuclear research center has been targeted in the fighting. Israel’s military said it was not able to intercept missiles that hit the southern cities of Dimona and Arad, the largest near the center in Israel’s sparsely populated Negev desert.

“This is a very difficult evening,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, adding that more emergency resources were being sent to the scene.

“The war is not close to ending,” Israel’s army chief, Gen. Eyal Zamir, said earlier in the day.

Iran also targeted the joint U.K.-U.S. Diego Garcia military base in the Indian Ocean about 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers) away, suggesting that Tehran has missiles that can go farther than previously acknowledged — or that it had used its space program for an improvised launch.

The U.S. and Israel have offered shifting rationales for the war, from