Watch: Iranian TV station abandons broadcast as Israel attacks

The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) building was struck in an Israeli attack on Monday, cutting live coverage immediately.

The blast occurred as the presenter was live on TV lambasting Israel before she was seen leaving the live broadcast, Iranian media reported, sharing a video of the incident.

The TV station resumed broadcasting around half an hour after the attack.

"The Zionist regime, the enemy of the Iranian nation minutes ago conducted a military operation against the Islamic Republic of Iran news network," part of IRIB, said a senior official at the broadcasting service Hassan Abedini.

"The regime (Israel) was unaware of the fact that the voice of the Islamic revolution and the great Iran will not be silenced with a military operation."

Monday's strike follows days of exchanges of fire between the two arch foes, in a rapid escalation of tension in the region.

On Sunday, an Iranian missile struck an oil refinery in Israel's coast city of Haifa, killing three people, an Israeli official said Monday after a gag order was lifted.

The confirmation removed reporting restrictions imposed by Israel's military censorship on the attack, part of the most intense confrontation in history between longtime foes Iran and Israel.

Thick black smoke could be seen rising from the sprawling complex early Monday, according to an AFP journalist.

Iran has been launching nightly barrages targeting Israel, with some missiles evading the country's sophisticated air defence batteries.

The Iranian attacks have hit the central hub of Tel Aviv and other cities and towns including Haifa, destroying buildings, causing fires and leaving residents stunned and picking through the rubble.

Israeli officials said 11 people were killed by Iranian missiles overnight, taking the overall death toll since the attacks began on Friday to 24.

In Iran, the health ministry said at least 224 people had been killed.

Iran's latest missile attacks followed waves of intense Israeli air raids that struck nuclear and military targets across the Islamic republic, but also hitting residential areas and fuel depots.

The Israeli military said that after a wave of strikes on Monday, its forces had destroyed one third of Iran's surface-to-surface missile launchers.

Traffic jams as residents flee Tehran

Meanwhile, residents of Tehran fled the Iranian capital in large numbers in the face of Israeli bombardments, creating immense traffic jams on the main road heading north, according to social media content posted on Monday.

Images verified by AFP, shot by a social media user from an overpass, showed near immobile traffic on a Tehran highway heading north with almost no vehicles in the opposite lane.

Israel on Friday launched a surprise aerial campaign targeting sites across Iran, saying the attacks aimed to prevent its archfoe from acquiring atomic weapons – a charge Tehran denies.

The Israeli strikes have so far killed at least 224 people, including top military commanders, nuclear scientists but also civilians, according to Iranian authorities.

Iran launched strikes on Israel in retaliation which so far have killed 24 people, according to Israeli authorities.

Iranian authorities have closed civilian air space until further notice due to the Israel attacks, leaving land routes the only way out of Tehran which has been the main focus of Israeli attacks.

Israel has warned Iranians to stay away from any military infrastructure in a city where the security forces maintain a heavy presence, both overt and covert.

Videos filmed inside Iran and posted by Persian-language TV channels based abroad, such as Iran International and Manoto, as well as widely followed bloggers including Vahid Online, showed long queues of cars barely moving as they tried to leave Tehran.

The congestion appears to be concentrated on Highway 49 which connects Tehran with Chalus on the Caspian Sea in the Mazandaran province.

The region, about 150 kilometres (90 miles) north of Tehran and typically a three-hour drive even in normal times due to the mountain roads, has so far been largely spared.

It is popular with Tehranis for its mild climate, with many maintaining holiday homes there.

Persian-language outlets meanwhile also posted images of hundreds of cars lining roads outside petrol stations in Tehran and its satellite city of Karaj, saying they were filling up ahead of long journeys outside of the city.

While air travel is impossible, Iranians can still in theory cross borders by land to go abroad.

Footage posted on social media, which has not been verified by AFP, showed hundreds queueing at the Bazargan crossing point in western Iran with Turkey close to the eastern Turkish city of Dogubayazit.

War of words

US President Donald Trump said Monday that Iran was not winning its conflict with Israel and should re-enter negotiations "before it's too late."

"They have to make a deal, and it's painful for both parties, but I'd say Iran is not winning this war, and they should talk, and they should talk immediately, before it's too late," Trump told reporters at a G7 summit in Canada.

Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz, meanwhile, threatened to strike "everywhere" against the government of Iranian "dictator" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a statement issued after Israeli air strikes hit Iran's state broadcaster in Tehran.

"The propaganda and incitement broadcasting authority of the Iranian regime was attacked" by Israeli forces, Katz said, noting that the strike followed the "vast evacuation of residents in the area" and adding: "We will strike the Iranian dictator everywhere."