Iranian state TV is bombed during live broadcast as Tehran’s leaders show first signs of crumbling in wake of Israeli strikes amid radiation warning at targeted nuclear plants – live updates

If you’re just joining us, the conflict between Israel and Iran shows no signs of abating after Iranian missiles rained down on Israeli cities in a heavy overnight onslaught four days after strikes were launched on Tehran.

Here are the main updates you need to know:

• Iran’s state broadcaster has been bombed live on air in an attack by Israel aimed at wiping out what it described as a ‘propaganda megaphone’
• The attack happened as Israel urged all civilians in an area of northern Tehran to evacuate as it carries out further attacks on military infrastructure
• Israel’s defence minister warned television and radio are ‘about to disappear’ shortly before the blast
• Iran’s Revolutionary Guards responded by urging all residents of Tel Aviv to evacuate as soon as possible
• It comes as Iran’s leadership is reportedly showing the first signs of backing down after apparently signalling it is open to negotiations to end the hostilities with the US and Israel
• Further reports claim Tehran has asked Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman to press Donald Trump to use his influence on Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire
• Earlier on Monday, Israeli authorities said 24 people have been killed as a result of Iranian missiles including 11 since midnight after attacks in the cities of Tel Aviv, Haifa, Bnei Brak and Petah Tikva. Iran says Israeli strikes have killed 224 people
• US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee revealed the US Embassy suffered ‘minor damage’ amid the barrage of missiles which rained down on Israel Monday morning
• The Israeli Air Force has claimed it has established full control of the skies above Tehran and has destroyed a third of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers
• Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has vowed ‘we will hold our ground’ as he urged people in the country to unite against Israel
• Videos circulating online appear to show some Iranians in Tehran and Karaj chanting slogans against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Islamic Republic
• Iran is preparing to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), an international pact aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons
• US aircraft carrier USS Nimitz is heading west towards the Middle East after leaving the South China Sea this morning

The IDF posted footage which they claim shows a strike on two F-14 fighter jets that were located at an airport in Tehran.

These jets were intended to intercept Israeli aircraft, according to the IDF.

Iranian state media is reporting that a new wave of missile attacks on Israel has just begun.

The reports say Iran has launched combined drone and missile operations targeting Tel Aviv and Haifa.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy has called on Israel to ‘show restraint’ and warned military action will not end Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

Addressing MPs in the House of Commons, Lammy said: ‘We agree with President Trump when he says negotiations are necessary and must lead to a deal.

‘Fundamentally, no military action can put an end to Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

‘Our message to both Israel and Iran is clear. Step back, show restraint, don’t get pulled ever deeper into a catastrophic conflict whose consequences nobody can control.

‘Further escalation in the Middle East is not in Britain’s interests, nor the interests of Israel, Iran or the region.

‘There are hundreds of thousands of British nationals living in the region and with Iran a major oil producer and one fifth of the total world’s oil consumption flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, escalating conflict poses real risks for the global economy.’

These images show thick smoke rising into the sky following what Iran says was an Israeli attack on Sharan Oil depot in Tehran, Iran, June 16, 2025

Iranian Air Defences thwarted an attack on Monday on the Iranian South Pars gas field, the world’s biggest gas field, according to the Iranian Fararu news website.

South Pars was struck by Israel on Saturday, leading Iran to partially suspend gas production.

Several drones that were launched at Israel have been shot down by the Israeli Air Force over the Golan Heights a short while ago, the Israeli Air Force says.

Sirens had sounded in Ramat Magshimim and Hispin

Iran has issued an evacuation warning for Israeli news channels after an air strike on Tehran’s state broadcaster on Monday afternoon.

‘Iran has issued an evacuation warning for the N12 and N14 channels of Israel. This order comes in response to the hostile attack of Zionist enemy against the Islamic republic of Iran’s broadcasting service,’ Iranian state TV said.

Pictured: Smoke billows from Iran’s state-run television station following an Israeli strike on Monday afternooon.

Israel is ‘striking surface-to-surface missile infrastructure in western Iran’

, according to an X post by the Israeli Air Force (IAF).

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel was ‘changing the face of the Middle East’

with its military campaign against Iran.

‘We are changing the face of the Middle East,’ he told a press conference in which he outlined Israel’s strikes against Iranian nuclear and military targets.

‘We are eliminating them, one after the other,’ he said of Iran’s military leadership.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Monday that Iranian forces will ‘pummel’ Israel until the attacks against the Islamic republic stop.

‘Our powerful Armed Forces are making clear to the world that the war criminals hiding in shelters in Tel Aviv will not go unpunished for their crimes,’ he said in a post on X.

‘We will continue to pummel the cowards for as long as needed to make sure that they are no longer firing at our people,’ he added.

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said on Monday he has postponed his planned June 22 trip to Israel to address its parliament, as an escalating battle between Israel and Iran has raised fears of a broader conflict.

‘Due to the complex situation currently unfolding in Iran and Israel, (Knesset) Speaker (Amir) Ohana and I have made the decision to postpone the special session of the Knesset. We look forward to rescheduling the address in the near future and send our prayers to the people of Israel and the Middle East,’ Johnson said in a statement.

The trip by Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, had been set to take place on June 22.

Iran and Israel both say they have downed fighter jets today.

Iranian air defences shot down an F-35 fighter jet, Iranian state news reports.

The plane was downed in Tabriz, Nour News said.

Meanwhile, the Israeli air force says it attacked a pair of F14 jets at an airport in Tehran.

On Monday Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas on X that Israel has not finished its opertation in Iran.

Key Israeli military and intelligence centres including the Ramat David air base near Haifa are on Iran’s list of targets for airstrikes, Iran’s semi-official Student News Network reported on Monday.

‘In the coming hours, a crushing and proportionate response will be given within the framework of legitimate defence,’ the news agency said.

Iran condemned Israel’s attack on a state TV building on Monday as a ‘war crime’, and called on the UN Security Council to take action.

The strike on the offices of IRIB during a live broadcast was a ‘wicked act’ and a ‘war crime’, said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei.

‘The UNSC must act now to stop the genocidal aggressor from committing further atrocities against our people,” he added.

An Israeli attack on Monday hit the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) building, cutting off 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.

Live coverage resumed shortly after.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also condemned the attack, calling it ‘inhuman, criminal and a terrorist act.’

After decades of enmity and a prolonged shadow war, Israel on Friday launched a surprise attack, saying it was targeting Iran’s nuclear and military facilities.

So far it has killed at least 224 people in the Islamic republic, including top military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians.

Iran has retaliated with barrages of drone and missiles that have killed at least 24 people in Israel, according to the latest figures from the prime minister’s office.

Iran does not recognise Israel and has long accused it of carrying out sabotage operations against its nuclear facilities, as well as assassinating its scientists.

This image shows smoke and fire rising at an impacted facility site in Haifa following a missile attack from Iran on Israel on June 15.

Iran’s strikes on Israel are self-defense and are ‘proportionate defensive operations directed exclusively at military objectives and associated infrastructure,’ Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani told the U.N. Nations Security Council on Monday.

He wrote in a letter that any cooperation by third countries with Israel’s strikes on Iran ‘makes them complicit in the legal responsibility and consequences of this crisis.’

Under Article 51 of the founding United Nations Charter, the 15-member Security Council must immediately be informed of any action that states take in self-defense against armed attack.

Iran state TV has reported a ‘number’ of casulaties after an Israeli airstrike hit their headquarters earlier today.

One reporter said that staff were ‘working until the very last moment before the attack’.

The IDF claimed that the centre was being used for military purposes ‘under the guise of civilian activity’,

Germany will start evacuating its citizens from Israel via Jordan’s capital Amman with a charter flight planned for Wednesday, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday.

‘Germans in Israel who are registered on the Elefand crisis preparedness list have been informed about this option and the details,’ the spokesperson said.

US citizens should leave Iran immediately, the state department has warned.

Those who are unable to leave should be prepared to shelter in place for extended periods of time, it added.

The department said Americans should not travel to Iran for any reason.

Israel has reduced Iran’s ballistic missile threat by half, a senior Israeli official has said, The Telegraph reported.

Capt Masha Michelson, head of the IDF international desk said: ‘We strike a terror target and then we eliminate launchers and trucks carrying ballistic missiles.’

‘We have been able to narrow the Iranian regime’s ability to fire ballistic missiles at Israel by 50 percent.’

She added Israel has also ‘eliminated approximately 30% of Iran’s ballistic missile stockpiles’.

Germany will start evacuating its citizens from Israel via Jordan, a foreign ministry spokesperson has said.

A charter flight will travel from the capital, Amman.

Germans in Israel who are registered on the Elefand crisis preparedness list have been informed about this option and the details.

It joins Portugal, Slovakia and Poland who have already announced plans to try and remove their citizens.

This image shows Slovaks, along with Czechs, Austrians and Slovenians disembarking from a flight from Amman, after they left the region following a missile attack from Iran on Israel.

A senior security official has reportedly told an Iranian news agency that ‘Iran is preparing for a very big blow after the first evil of the Zionist regime.’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said targeting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei would end, not escalate, the ongoing fight between the two countries.

Speaking to ABC News about reports that President Trump rejected an Israeli plan to assassinate Iran’s Supreme Leader over concerns that it would escalate the conflict, Netanyahu said:

It’s not going to escalate the conflict, it’s going to end the conflict.

We’ve had half a century of conflict spread by this regime that terrorizes everyone in the Middle East; has bombed the Aramco oil fields in Saudi Arabia; is spreading terrorism and subversion and sabotage everywhere.

The ‘forever war’ is what Iran wants, and they’re bringing us to the brink of nuclear war.

The ‘forever war’ is what Iran wants, and they’re bringing us to the brink of nuclear war. In fact, what Israel is doing is preventing this, bringing an end to this aggression, and we can only do so by standing up to the forces of evil.’

Asked if Israel would indeed target the supreme leader, Netanyahu said that Israel was:

Doing what we need to do. I’m not going to get into the details, but we’ve targeted their top nuclear scientists.

Iran has launched missiles toward Israel, the Israel Defence Forces have claimed.

Alerts have been activated in several areas in the north of the country, it added.

The air force is working to intercept and attack wherever necessary to eliminate the threat.

The defense is not hermetic, and therefore the instructions of the Home Front Command must continue to be obeyed.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz has 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”

He added: “We will strike the Iranian dictator everywhere.”

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.

Elham Abedini has revealed the extent of damage caused following an attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting offices in Tehran.

The blast saw programming temporarily interrupted before live coverage resumed a few minutes later.

This is the shocking moment Iran’s state broadcaster was bombed live on air during an Israeli attack.

The blast occurred at the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) building in Tehran.

Moments before the blast the female presenter was lambasting Israel before she was forced to leave the broadcast.

Several employees were killed in the attack, Iranian media have reported.

Iran’s state broadcaster returned to live coverage after going off air for a few minutes following Israel’s 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.

In text displayed on screen, the broadcaster says all its programmes ‘are resuming live without any interruptions’.

Iranian media outlets have reported a number of Iranian Broadcasting Corporation employees were killed following the Israeli attack.

Israel targeted the live news program studio of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) in an attack on the country’s state-run broadcaster.

The news program host was reportedly reading a threatening statement from the National Security Council to citizens seconds before the attack

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he believes G7 leaders meeting in Canada were united in wanting de-escalation between Israel and Iran.

‘I do think there’s a consensus for de-escalation,’ Starmer told reporters at the summit in the Canadian Rockies.

Obviously, what we need to do today is to bring that together and to be clear about how it is to be brought about. But the risk of the conflict escalating is obvious, I think, and the implications – not just for the region but globally – are really immense, so the focus has to be on de-escalation.

Starmer said he spoke with most G7 leaders after they arrived Sunday and had spoken by telephone to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The AFP news agency is reporting the Iranian state broadcaster has been hit following an Israeli attack on Tehran.

Multiple explosions have been heard across the capital following an evacuation request issued by the IDF.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz previously warned Iran’s state television and radio were ‘about to disappear’.

This is a breaking news post. We will bring you more as we get it.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has said Iran’s state television and radio were ‘about to disappear’ following an evacuation warning.

The alert issued for District 3 in Tehran where the state broadcaster IRIB is based.

The Iranian propaganda and incitement megaphone is about to disappear. Evacuation of nearby residents has begun.

Israel’s military urged residents in the capital’s northern District 3 to evacuate ‘immediately’, saying it intended to carry out air strikes there.

The area marked for evacuation is an upmarket part of the Iranian capital home to at least four hospitals and medical centres, a major police building and the state broadcaster.

Tehran has asked Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman to press Donald Trump to use his influence on Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire with Iran in return for Tehran’s flexibility in nuclear negotiations, two Iranian and three regional sources told Reuters.

Gulf leaders and their top diplomats worked the phones all weekend, speaking to each other, to Tehran, Washington and beyond in an effort to avoid a widening of the conflict as longstanding enemies Israel and Iran intensified their attacks in their biggest ever confrontation.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards called on the residents of Tel Aviv to evacuate as soon as possible, Iranian state media reported on Monday, shortly after Israel issued an evacuation warning for a designated area in Tehran.

Iran has urgently signalled it is open to negotiations so long as the US does not join Israel’s attack on it, officials have reportedly told the Wall Street Journal.

The Islamic Republic has suggested it is seeking to end hostilities amid Israel’s devastating aerial campaign, which has taken out top military leaders, the report states.

Officials also sent messages to Israel saying it is in the interest of both sides to keep the violence contained, it is reported.

Iran has also reportedly told officials it could accelerate its nuclear program and expand the scope of the war if there are no prospects of resuming talks with the US.

However, even if Tehran is seeking de-escalation, Israel is unlikely to relent in its attacks, boasting today that it has ‘full aerial superiority’ over Tehran.

Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Israel will continue its air attacks until Iran’s nuclear program and ballistic missiles are destroyed.

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency said there is a possibility of both radiological and chemical contamination within Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz following Israeli strikes.

The radiation poses a significant danger if uranium is inhaled or ingested, International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said.

The risk can be effectively managed with appropriate protective measures, such as using respiratory protection devices while inside the facilities, Grossi said.

He added that radiation levels outside the complex are presently normal.

‘The level of radioactivity outside the Natanz site has remained unchanged and at normal levels, indicating no external radiological impact to the population or the environment from this event,’ he said.

Grossi was addressing an urgent session of the IAEA’s board in Vienna that was convened at the request of Russia to discuss Israeli attacks against Iranian nuclear facilities.

He said that there apparently was no additional damage at Natanz and the Isfahan nuclear research site since Saturday.

The IDF has for the first ime issued an evacuation warning for Tehran, telling residents in a large area of the city to leave ahead of planned strikes.

‘Dear citizens, for your safety, we ask you to immediately leave the mentioned area in District 3 of Tehran,’ the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee said in a statement.

‘In the coming hours, the Israeli army will operate in this area, as it has in recent days throughout Tehran, to strike the Iranian regime’s military infrastructure,’ the warning added.

The order was made as blasts were reported in both eastern and western parts of the city.

Iran’s Fars news agency reports that an Israeli attack targeted a military base in western Tehran, causing its air defence system to activate.

Iranian media is also reporting explosions in eastern parts of the capital, which is home to just under 10 million people.

Footage shows huge plumes of smoke rising from several parts of the city.

It comes after videos from last night and today have shown huge queues of traffic as people desperately try to flee the city.

Israel’s campaign against Iran could last between two and three weeks, an Israeli officials has reportedly said.

‘There’s a bank of military targets that we can complete pretty quickly,’ the official told The Times of Israel.

‘If they decide to expand it to more like government symbols, economical targets, all that, then it will take longer.’

The anonymous official reportedly said that a tighter nuclear agreement between Iran and Western powers is the goal.

Israeli carrier El Al has extended a suspension to commercial flights due to ‘recent security developments’.

Its flight schedule was cancelled until at least June 19 over the weekend, with flights to a number of locations now cancelled until June 23.

All bookings with the airline are blocked until June 30, and it is not clear when normal operations will resume.

However, El Al also announced this afternoon that it is opening registration for repatriation flights for customers stranded outside of Israel.

‘The rescue flights will be operated in a phased manner, and therefore patience will be required from El Al customers staying abroad,’ the airline said in a statement.

‘We recommend that passengers prepare and make accommodation and lodging arrangements.’

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has shared videos of trucks being destroyed by the Israeli Air Force as part of apparent efforts to smuggle weapons to Tehran.

Grainy footage appears to show a series of explosions on the roads amid claims surface-to-air missile launchers were being transported towards the capital.

In a post on X, the IDF wrote:

Starting this morning, the Air Force identified several trucks containing weapons, including trucks carrying surface-to-air missile launchers, moving from western Iran toward Tehran in an attempt to escape IDF attacks. In a quick round-robin attack, the Air Force attacked the trucks and destroyed the weapons and launchers.

Earlier today, the The Israeli Air Force claimed it has established full control of the skies above Tehran and destroyed a third of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers.

The world is facing a new nuclear arms race with the likelihood that a nuclear weapon will be used increasing as the global security situation becomes more unstable, a new report has warned.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI) Yearbook, published on Monday, highlights what it says is a dawning news arms race between the nine nuclear-armed states – the US, Russia, UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel.

‘We are at a step change, which has been going on since just before the pandemic,’ SIPRI director Dan Smith told Al Jazeera.

‘It’s not just little bits and pieces here and there. It’s everybody moving in that direction of upgrading, including the new nuclear weapon state of North Korea and the relatively new ones of Pakistan and India, who went nuclear in the 90s.’

Iran could target British overseas military bases and embassies if the UK offers direct support to Israel in its war with the rogue state, a military expert said today.

The Islamic Republic has threatened to attack US, UK and French military forces if they help Israel block missile and drone retaliation for Friday’s attack on its nuclear programme.

The number of Typhoon fighter jets stationed at RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus, which is just over 250 miles from Israel, has been bolstered in recent days.

Professor Justin Bronk, a senior research fellow at RUSI, said an Iranian attack on Akrotiri was highly unlikely at present, but the risk could grow if the UK launched Typhoons from the base to defend Israel from Iranian drones

‘In theory, Iran might interpret that as direct intervention, but I still think it’s unlikely they’d be a direct response as that could provoke the Americans,’ he told MailOnline.

Read the full story by Rory Tingle and Mark Nicol here:

The family of Bella Ashkenazi attend her funeral after she was killed when an Iranian missile hit her home in Holon, Israel

Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel’s aims in targeting Iran are twofold – ‘Eliminating the nuclear threat and eliminating the missile threat.’

Speaking from the Tel Nof Air Force base, the Israeli prime minister warned the people of Tehran to ‘get out’ of the city, echoing evacuation orders in Gaza, where the UN says almost two million people have been displaced.

Meanwhile, Israeli president Isaac Herzog stated that there should be a regime change in Iran.

During a visit to the site of a missile attack, he said: ‘I think the Iranian people are fed up, and they want change. And so, of course, do the entire region, we deserve change.’

Netanyahu said on Sunday that regime change in Iran ‘could certainly be the result’ of Israel’s ongoing military campaign.

However he stopped short of saying that this was the goal of Israel’s offensive, while foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar denied outright that it was Israel’s objective.

Herzog pictured yesterday in the Israeli city of Bat Yam following a missile strike,

Revellers at a Lebanese pool party have been seen cheering and dancing as Iranian missiles flew over to hit Israeli targets.

Bizarre footage shared over the weekend showed partygoers in a large swimming pool dancing, clapping and cheering as long-range missiles soar off to Israel in the distance.

Read the full story and watch the video here:

The Israeli Air Force has begun a new wave of airstrikes in central Iran, a military official has told Israeli media.

The IDF is expected to provide details on the strikes later today.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan condemned Israel’s ‘act of force’ against Iran.

The two leaders called for an immediate cessation of hostilities when they spoke by phone on Monday, the Kremlin said.

‘Both sides expressed the most serious concern about the ongoing escalation of the Iran-Israel conflict, which has already led to a large number of casualties and is fraught with serious long-term consequences for the entire region,’ a statement from Moscow said.

‘The leaders spoke in favor of an immediate cessation of hostilities and the settlement of contentious issues, including those related to the Iranian nuclear programme, exclusively by political and diplomatic means.’

The two sides agreed to remain in close cooperation, the statement said.

Israel’s strikes on Iran have targeted several of its nuclear facilities, as it claims the Islamic republic is seeking to develop nuclear weapons – an accusation Tehran denies.

Experts told the AFP news agency that while the attacks have caused some damage to Iran’s nuclear programme, they are unlikely to have delivered a fatal blow.

Here is an update on Iran’s nuclear sites as of today:

• What is the extent of the damage?

Israel’s operation included strikes on Iran’s underground uranium enrichment sites at Natanz and Fordow, and on its Isfahan nuclear site, the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said, citing Iranian officials.

A key, above-ground component of Iran’s Natanz nuclear site has been destroyed, including its power infrastructure.

Agency chief Rafael Grossi said Monday that there has been no indication of a ‘physical attack’ on the underground cascade hall containing part of the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant and the main Fuel Enrichment Plant. However, power loss at the cascade hall ‘may have damaged the centrifuges’, the machines used to enrich uranium.

• Can the programme be destroyed?

While Israel can damage Iran’s nuclear programme it is ‘unlikely to be able to destroy it,’ Ali Vaez, International Crisis Group’s Iran project director, said, arguing that Israel does not have the massively powerful bombs needed to destroy the fortified, bunkered facilities in Natanz and Fordow.

Destroying those would require US military assistance, added Kelsey Davenport, an expert with the Arms Control Association. She also stressed that Israel’s unprecedented attack cannot erase the expertise Iran had built up on nuclear weapons, despite killing nine Iranian nuclear scientists.

• What are the risks to the Iranian population?

The IAEA has not detected any increase in radiation levels at the affected sites.

‘There is very little risk that attacks on Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities would result in a harmful radiation release,’ said Davenport.

But an attack on the Bushehr plant could ‘have a serious impact on health and the environment’, she added.

• Is Iran close to developing a nuclear bomb?

After the United States unilaterally withdrew in 2018 from a landmark deal that sought to curb Tehran’s nuclear activities, Iran has gradually retreated from some of its obligations, particularly on uranium enrichment.

As of mid-May, the country had an estimated 408.6 kilogrammes enriched to up to 60 percent – just a short step from the 90 percent needed for a nuclear warhead.

Iran theoretically has enough near-weapons-grade material, if further refined, for about 10 nuclear bombs, according to the definition by the Vienna-based IAEA.

Tehran has consistently denied ambitions to develop nuclear warheads. But Davenport warned the strikes could strengthen factions in Iran advocating for an atomic arsenal.

Donald Trump is said to have already vetoed an Israeli opportunity to kill Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei since the conflict erupted on Friday.

But Tehran’s 86-year-old supreme leader will still be fearing assassination, hiding out in ‘as secure a location as they can manage’ as Israel continues to target high ranking officials with deadly precision strikes across the country, onlookers believe.

Speaking on the BBC’s Newscast over the weekend, The Economist’s defence editor, Shashank Joshi, assessed that Khamenei would likely avoid any public appearances as his remaining loyalists work desperately to keep him out of Israel’s crosshairs.

‘I think they’ll be concerned that Israel has clearly penetrated them inside out, so they will be looking to all possible corners from how to keep him safe, perhaps moving him from place to place,’ he said.

Read the full story by James Reynolds here:

Israel’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant has told how the country had started preparing attacks on Tehran eight months ago.

Mr Gallant made the remark while sharing an image of himself visiting Bat Yam, an Israeli city hit by Iranian missiles in recent days.

In a post on X, Mr Gallant said:

Iran did not understand that as early as October 24, we began paving the air corridor for an attack on Tehran – now we are able to respond to any enemy missile with dozens of heavy and precise bombs in the heart of Tehran; this is what we will do. Thanks and appreciation to the IDF and the security forces for their determined action in the operation to remove the existential threat.

We can now show you video from Farabi Hospital in Kermanshah where an Israeli missile attack earlier today caused severe damage.

Iran has condemned the attack on a hospital as a ‘war crime’.

G7 leaders will gather in the Canadian Rockies on Sunday with the Israel-Iran conflict expected to be a top priority.

Before leaving for the summit on Sunday, US President Donald Trump was asked what he was doing to de-escalate the situation.

I hope there’s going to be a deal. I think it’s time for a deal. Sometimes they have to fight it out.

Trump has lauded Israel’s offensive while denying Iranian allegations that the US has taken part and warning Tehran not to widen its retaliation to include US targets.

The President has repeatedly said Iran could end the war by agreeing to tough restrictions on its nuclear programme, which Iran says is for peaceful purposes but which Western countries and the IAEA nuclear watchdog say could be used to make an atomic bomb.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Israel of threatening security in the Middle East in a phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin earlier today.

Erdogan was quoted saying: “The spiral of violence that began with Israel’s attacks on Iran has put the security of the entire region at risk, (and) that the lawless attitude of the (Israeli premier Benjamin) Netanyahu government poses a clear threat to the international system, and that the region cannot tolerate a new war.”

Speaking to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier today, Erdogan said Turkey is ready to play a ‘facilitating role’ to end the conflict between Israel and Iran.

The EU has said Russia has ‘zero credibility’ as a potential mediator between Iran and Israel, after US President Donald Trump suggested Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin could play a role.

‘There has been a recent Russia-Iran partnership agreement, which signals deepening cooperation across multiple areas, including foreign policy and defence. In light of such, Russia cannot be an objective mediator,’ EU spokesman Anouar El Anouni said.

It comes after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier today that Russia remains ready to act as a go-between for the Israel and Iran.

Moscow has previously proposed to store Iranian uranium in Russia in an attempt toi ease tensions and said its offer remained on the table.

Iran has accused Israel of carrying out a ‘war crime’ by targeting a hospital in one of its western cities.

Earlier we reported Iranian media claimed Farabi Hospital suffered ‘serious damage’ after an attack in Kermanshah, more than 500km west of Tehran.

In new remarks, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said:

‘Farabi Hospital in the city of Kermanshah in western Iran was targeted by the Israeli regime’s aggressive attacks,’ adding that ‘attacking hospitals alongside attacks on residential areas is a gross violation of international law and a war crime’.

A previous media report stated a workshop near the hospital was the target of the Israeli attack.

Pakistan has closed all its border crossings with neighbouring Iran for an indefinite period, provincial officials said on Monday, as Israel and Iran trade intense strikes and threaten further attacks.

‘Border facilities in all five districts – Chaghi, Washuk, Panjgur, Kech and Gwadar – have been suspended,’ Qadir Bakhsh Pirkani, a senior official in Balochistan province, which borders Iran, told AFP.

Pakistan has threatened to drop a nuclear warhead on Israel if Benjamin Netanyahu uses nuclear weapons against Iran, according to a top Iranian officer.

The head of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) has warned that the humanitarian disaster is continuing to worsen in Gaza as the world’s attention is diverted elsewhere.

Philippe Lazzarini said ‘scores of people’ have been killed and injured in recent days in the enclave, which has been relentlessly bombarded by Israeli strikes and a ground offensive for more than 600 days.

The death toll in Gaza has surpassed 55,000 and more than 60 percent of the territory’s buildings have been destroyed in Israel’s campaign, according to the Hamas-run government in Gaza.

Read Lazzarini’s full post here:

British nationals stranded in Israel amid the conflict with Iran have called on the UK government to repatriate them.

Flights in and out of the country have been cancelled since Israel and Iran began launching strikes against each other on Friday.

Max Radford, 52, from London, said on social media that he feared his stay in Israel would be ‘indefinite’.

He urged the government to send planes to Cyprus in preparation for a window to fly into Israel.

‘There is absolutely no question that the British government should be putting on repatriation flights,’ he said.

‘They should know that there are thousands of Brits here that are stranded. They need to do something. There is no airline that can do it.’

The British government advised against all travel to Israel over the weekend.

‘My message to British nationals there is clear: your safety remains our top priority. Follow our travel advice for the latest updates,’ David Lammy said.

It comes as Poland has announced that it is preparing to evacuate 200 of its citizens from Israel via Jordan’s capital Amman.

Cancelled flights and an empty departures hall at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.

Poland is ready to start evacuating around 200 of its citizens who were on visits to Israel via Jordan’s capital Amman, a deputy foreign minister said earlier today.

‘We assume we will be ready in the next few dozen hours, (the evacuation) will concern those who are stuck as tourists and those staying for a short stay,’ Henryka Moscicka-Dendys told reporters.

Israel has updated its death toll on the fourth day of attacks from Iran in retaliation against Israeli attacks first launched on Friday.

The Israeli military’s Home Front Command said 24 people have been killed. Most of those who have died were not in bomb shelters, it added.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is hiding in an underground bunker with his family as Israel continues to strike leading officials and other targets, according to reports.

Khamenei was evacuated to an underground safehouse in Lavizan, northeast Tehran, hours after Israel began its strikes on Friday, Iran International reports.

He also sought shelter in the bunker when Iran launched attacks on Israel in April and October last year, sources said.

Another source told the outlet that Israel did not assassinate Khamenei on Friday as it wanted to give him a final chance to scrap his uranium enrichment programme.

It comes after reports yesterday that US President Donald Trump vetoed Israeli plans to assassinate Khamenei.

Russia remains ready to act as a mediator in the conflict between Israel and Iran, the Kremlin has said.

Moscow’s previous proposals to store Iranian uranium in Russia remain on the table, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Mr Peskov said while the offer to resolve the conflict was still on the table, the outbreak of hostilities has complicated the situation.

Iranian media said that a hospital in the country’s west suffered serious damage after an Israeli strike in the area on Monday.

‘Following the Zionist criminal regime’s attack on a nearby workshop in Kermanshah city, Farabi Hospital also suffered serious damage,’ the Tasnim news agency reported.

Fars news agency carried a video of the hospital showing shattered glass, collapsed ceilings, and extensive damage in patient rooms.

Israel’s defence minister has rowed back on an earlier statement in which he said the residents of Tehran ‘will pay the price’ following Iranian missile attacks on Tel Aviv.

‘There is no intention to physically harm the residents of Tehran as the murderous dictator does to the residents of Israel,’ Israel Katz wrote on X.

His earlier statement had drawn condemnation from many inside Israel, including prominent TV journalist Emily Schrader.

‘The residents of Tehran are not the target and you know it! This is an irresponsible statement,’ she wrote on X.

‘The residents of Tehran are with us, but they won’t be if you do stupid things like this. At least the IDF knows better and focuses on military objectives and also on protecting civilian lives, not on tweets like this on X.’

Below is the latest post from Katz:

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has said the military escalation between Israel and Iran is ‘deeply worrying’ and has called for restraint and a return to diplomacy.

Speaking as he presented his annual report to the 59th Human Rights Council in Geneva, Turk urged all parties to engage in ‘urgent diplomatic negotiations to end these attacks and find a way forward.’

He emphasised the need for both sides to respect international law, particularly in relation to the protection of civilians caught in the middle of the conflict.

‘I call for full respect of international law by both sides, in particular the protection of civilians in densely populated areas,’ he said.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has called on the nation to be united as it comes under attack from Israel.

Speaking in a televised address, Pezeshkian said Iran was not the ‘aggressor’ and urged people to ‘stand together hand in hand’ .

He also insisted that while Iran does not ‘seek to possess nuclear weapons’, it does have the right to ‘benefit from nuclear energy and research’.

The enemy cannot destroy Iran and its people through murder and terrorism. There are hundreds of other heroes who will carry the banner and continue the path after every targeted attack.

We must be united in the face of this belligerence. It’s our people’s right to seek justice. We will hold our ground.

Masoud Pezeshkian at an Iranian government meeting on Sunday

Videos shared by Iran International appear to show residents in Tehran and Karaj chanting slogans against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Islamic Republic amid Israeli air strikes on Sunday night.

Residents in high-rise blocks could reportedly be heard shouting ‘death to the Islamic Republic,’ ‘death to the dictator’ and ‘death to Khamenei’ as well as other anti-regime chants.

The Israeli Air Force has established ‘full aerial superiority’ over the Iranian capital, Tehran, IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin has said in a press conference.

He also said that the air force has destroyed a third of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers and is managing to disrupt ‘extensive parts’ of its attacks on Israel.

‘We are striking Iranian cells that are launching missiles at Israel and our aircraft in real-time,’ he said.

Iran is preparing a bill to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), according to foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei.

He made the statement while stressing that Iran remains opposed to the development of weapons of mass destruction.

Israel is not a signatory to the treaty, despite facing international pressure to do so.

The only country to sign and then withdraw from the treaty until now is North Korea.

The treaty, signed by the United Kingdom, United States and almost 200 other countries, aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament.

U.S. aircraft carrier USS Nimitz left the South China Sea on Monday morning heading west, according to data from ship tracking website Marine Traffic, after a reception for its planned port call in central Vietnam was cancelled.

The carrier had planned to visit Danang City later this week, but two sources, including one diplomat, said a formal reception slated for June 20 had been called off.

One of the sources said the US Embassy in Hanoi had informed him about the cancellation, due to ‘an emergent operational requirement’.

Data from Marine Traffic showed the carrier on Monday morning was moving west in the direction of the Middle East, where the battle between Israel and Iran is escalating.

The US has repeatedly said it is not considering joining Israel’s war with Iran.

Iranian missiles have killed at least 24 people in Israel since Friday, the Israeli prime minister’s office said in an updated toll following the latest attacks.

The toll issued on Monday includes 11 deaths recorded since midnight, the office said, including four in Petakh Tikva near Tel Aviv, three in Haifa and one in the Bnei Brak suburb of Tel Aviv.

It also includes two bodies retrieved following a previous strike on Bat Yam and one more killed in an unspecified location.

China has urged Iran and Israel to ‘immediately’ take steps to reduce tensions.

‘We urge all parties to immediately take measures to cool down the tensions, prevent the region from falling into greater turmoil, and create conditions for returning to the right track of resolving issues through dialogue and negotiations,’ Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.

Mousavi meeting King Charles at Buckingham Palace last week

The Iranian ambassador to the UK, Seyed Ali Mousavi, Iranian ambassador to the UK, has said his country’s response to Israel is a ‘matter of principle’.

Speaking to Sky News, Mousavi said Iran was acting in self-defence after Israeli attacks on its nuclear facilities. Israel claims it has attacked Iran to halt its nuclear program.

Describing the Israeli regime as ‘barbaric’, Mousavi was questioned over how long Iran could fight Israel with the countries exchanging attacks for four days.

This is about self-defence, there is no doubt about it. We are a responsible member state of the UN and we do all activities according to our international obligations. Any activities are only in the framework of self-defence.

He added Iran’s nuclear activities are ‘monitored’ and dismissed recent remarks by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which found Iran had enough uranium to create nuclear weapons, as ‘politically motivated’.

Israel spent months smuggling parts for hundreds of explosive-laden drones into Iran, insiders have revealed.

Mossad agents took the equipment over the border in suitcases, trucks and shipping containers, sources told the Wall Street Journal.

They also brought munitions capable of being fired from unmanned platforms into the country ahead of the coordinated attack on Friday, the sources said.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has claimed eight Iranian drones were intercepted by Navy missile ships using a new shield for the first time.

A spokesman said the unmanned aerial vehicles were stopped by the Barak Magen, a newly installed air defence system on the country’s Sa’ar warships.

The IDF says Barak Magen is capable of carrying out long-range interceptions of a variety of threats including drones and cruise missiles.

It was used for the first time on Sunday, the military said.

In total, Israel has intercepted 25 drones from Iran since attacks were launched on Friday, the IDF said

Israeli Army Radio is reporting the number of people killed in Israel as a result of the latest Iranian missiles strikes has risen to eight.

Earlier today, Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said five people were killed and 92 wounded following the attacks.

But in a further update, the outlet said three people missing people in the city of Haifa were confirmed dead – meaning the toll now stands at eight.

It means more than 20 people have been killed in Israel since the country’s military launched the attacks on Iran four days ago. More than 300 others have also been wounded.

Israel is expected to issue evacuation orders to residents in various neighbourhoods of Tehran, an official has reportedly claimed.

Strikes are expected on infrastructure and government buildings, the official told The Jerusalem Post.

They said this was referred to as the ‘Beirut model’ after Israel carried out strikes on the Lebanese capital.

It comes after Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said ‘the residents of Tehran will pay the price’ following Iranian missile attacks on Tel Aviv.

Videos from last night and this morning show long queues of cars heading out of Tehran as people fled the city amid the rising threat.

Israeli national security advisor Tzachi Hanegbi has said that Iran still has ‘thousands of ballistic missiles’ in its arsenal, indicating a higher figure than previously estimated.

‘This is not a battle that over the long term will be able to bring an end to the Iranian threat,’ Hanegbi told Israel’s Army Radio.

Military analysts have reported that Iran is thought to have some 1,500 to 2,000 missiles, though it has already fired hundreds of those, and Israel is thought to have struck and destroyed some as well.

Hanegbi also said that Israel’s current war was planned independently and does not rely on the US.

‘For the goals we have defined for ourselves, we do not need the United States,’ he said.

Pakistan will launch a nuclear attack on Israel if it drops a nuclear bomb on Iran, a top security official in Tehran has claimed.

General Mohsen Rezaee, a senior officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and a member of Iran’s National Security Council, said: ‘Pakistan has assured us that if Israel uses a nuclear bomb on Iran, they will attack Israel with a nuclear bomb.’ He added that Pakistan has promised to ‘stand behind Iran’.

Pakistan’s defence minister has since denied the claim.

Iran has executed a man who was found guilty of spying for Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Monday, identifying the man as Esmail Fekri.

The execution is the third in recent weeks related to the conducting of espionage on behalf of Israel.

Meanwhile Israel has said it has taken two individuals into custody over alleged links to Iranian intelligence.

Israeli defence minister Israel Katz has threatened that Tehran’s residents ‘ill pay the price, and soon’ in retaliation for Iranian missile strikes on Israel.

‘The arrogant dictator of Tehran has become a scared murderer who fires at Israel’s civilian home front in order to deter the IDF from continuing to carry out attacks that are destroying his capabilities,’ Katz said in a statement.

His comments were in apparent reference to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Iranian missiles have repeatedly targeted the densely populated Tel Aviv metro area as well as other cities in the country since fighting began on Friday.

The US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee revealed the Embassy suffered ‘minor damage’ amid the barrage of missiles which rained down on Israel Monday morning.

In a series of updates shared to X, he revealed the embassy would remain closed on Monday ‘as a shelter in place still in effect.’

‘Some minor damage from concussions of Iranian missile hits near Embassy Branch… but no injuries to US personnel,’ he added.

Moments later, he urged ‘the 700,000 Americans living is Israel, check Embassy website for updates re: travel advisories, airport re-opening or official [embassy] operations.’

US President Trump had earlier warned Iran US forces would not hold back if any American interests were targeted or damaged in the fighting.

‘If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the U.S. Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before,’ he said.

The death toll of Iran’s latest strikes on Israel has risen to four, according to emergency service Magen David Adom.

Two women and two men, all aged in their 70s, have died since the barrage of missiles struck civilian targets in the early hours of Monday.

Tens of thousands of British citizens were trapped in a war zone tonight as officials admitted an evacuation from Israel is currently impossible.

Officials have dusted off previous contingency plans for an airborne evacuation of British nationals from Israel. But insiders tonight admitted it was impossible to put in place while Israel’s airspace remains closed to all civilian flights.

The government does not hold up to date information on the number of Brits living in Israel, but reports suggest it could be as many as 60,000.

In a statement to X early Monday morning, the IDF revealed fighter jets had struck the Quds Force headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards and the Iranian army.

These strikes were ‘guided by precise intelligence from the Intelligence Directorate. In these headquarters, Quds operatives planned terrorist operations against Israel through proxies of the Iranian regime in the Middle East,’ the IDF said.

‘In these command centers, Quds operatives advanced terrorist attacks against the State of Israel using the proxies of the Iranian Regime in the Middle East.’

Guydo Tetelbaun was in his apartment in Tel Aviv when the alerts came in shortly after 4am that an attack was imminent.

‘As usual, we went into the (shelter) that’s right across the street there. And within minutes, the door of the (shelter) blew in,’ the 31-year-old chef said.

‘A couple of people came in bloody, all cut up. And then when we came to the apartment, after it quietened down, we saw there wasn’t much of it… Walls are caved in, no more glass,’ he added.

‘It’s terrifying because it’s so unknown. This could be the beginning of a long time like this, or it could get worse, or hopefully better, but it’s the unknown that’s the scariest.’

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the latest attack employed a new method that caused Israel’s multi-layered defence systems to target each other.

‘The initiatives and capabilities used in this operation, despite the comprehensive support of the United States and Western powers and the possession of the most up-to-date and newest defence technology, led to the successful and maximum hitting of the missiles on the targets in the occupied territories,’ it said.

New pictures have emerged of babies being pulled from the wreckage of buildings which were hit in Iran’s strikes on Israel.

A spokesperson for Magen David Adom emergency service has updated the tally of people injured to 74.

A spokesperson confirmed on X emergency service personnel had ‘evacuated 67 victims from 4 different scenes to hospitals.’

Among the victims is a 30-year-old woman in serious condition, and six more who are in moderate condition.

There are ’60 are in mild and anxious condition who were evacuated to hospitals throughout the central region,’ the emergency service wrote on X.

At least three people in Israel have been killed in Monday’s early morning strikes from Iran, a spokesperson for emergency service Magen David Adom claimed.

The victims were identified as two women and a man in his 70s, the spokesperson said.

This takes the total number of casualties in Israel since the violence escalated earlier this week to 17.

Israel’s national emergency service Magen David Adom said 29 people were injured in the latest missile strike on the region amid ongoing conflict with Iran.

‘Following the latest barrage, from all rocket strike sites, MDA teams have so far evacuated 29 people with physical injuries, including 3 in moderate condition and 26 in mild condition,’ a spokesperson said.

‘Search and rescue efforts are still actively ongoing at all sites.’

Missiles rained down on Israel early on Monday morning as Iran launched a new retaliatory attack on Tel Aviv.

Multiple buildings across four separate sites were reportedly damaged in the barrage, as locals were urged to hunker down in bunkers and wait out the violence.

Israel’s air defence system was working to shoot the missiles out of the sky.

According to local authorities at least three people were killed, one person was seriously wounded with as many as 74 others suffering varying injuries.

‘Rescue forces are operating in several areas across the country where reports of falls have been received,’ the Israeli military wrote on X.

The Israel Electric Corporation confirmed Israel’s power grid was damaged by the strikes.

‘Teams are working on the ground to neutralize safety hazards, in particular the risk of electrocution due to torn electrical wires,’ a spokesperson said.

‘At the same time, work is being carried out to repair the infrastructure and restore the electricity supply.’

An hour after the strikes began, Israelis were told the threat had passed and it was safe to leave their bunkers.

Gen. Mike Flynn, who served as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser during his first term, has called on the president to back Israel in the war.

‘Stopping Israel from finishing the job – whether by cutting off the supply of weapons it requires to prosecute the war or by otherwise interfering with its pursuit – will mean that some residual nuclear program remains in the hands of Sharia-supremacists who remain and are determined to destroy both Israel and the United States,’ he writes on his Substack.

‘The U.S. military will inevitably be required to contend with the calamity that will follow.’

‘All we are saying is give peace a real chance by making Donald Trump’s legacy in the Middle East the only one worthy of the name: ensuring that Israel and America are decisively victorious over the Sharia-supremacist regime that has for far too long enslaved the Iranian people and threatened and actually killed ours and those of the Jewish state,’ Flynn concludes.

Magen David Adom says its medics are heading to several scenes.

The IDF has told civilians to stay in close proximity to bomb shelters until further notice, amid fears Iran may strike the country again.

Mohammed Kazemi, the head of intelligence for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was eliminated by the IDF during an attack on the capital.

Kazemi was killed alongside Hassan Mohaqiq, his deputy, and Mohsen Bagheri, a third intelligence officer, during an attack on the capital.

He is pictured below, with one image showing him speaking to his predecessor Hossein Taeb.

Iran’s security forces have discovered a secret Israeli drone manufacturing site, south of the Iranian capital of Tehran, it is being reported.

Tasnim, Iran’s semi-official news agency, has claimed the three-floor building has been discovered in the Iranian city of Shahr-e Ray.

It said on X that homemade bombs and more than 200kg of explosives had reportedly been discovered there.

The agency also claimed Israeli agents had allegedly used the space to put together and store drones.

The Iranian foreign ministry has claimed Israeli strikes have killed many women and children.

In a post to X, its spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei challenged how Israel has characterised its strikes on the Iranian capital of Tehran.

Leaders of some of the world’s biggest economies have arrived in the Canadian Rockies for a Group of Seven summit.

But it is partly overshadowed by an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran.

Israel’s strikes on Iran and Tehran’s retaliation, which appeared to catch many world leaders unawares, is the latest sign of a more volatile world.

Trump in recent days vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a US official said – showing how far Israel was prepared to go.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he had discussed efforts to de-escalate the crisis with Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as other world leaders.

He said he expected ‘intense discussions’ would continue at the summit.

Sir Keir Starmer arrives in Canada yesterday for the G7 summit

Global oil prices have risen as the conflict between Israel and Iran intensifies.

During early trading in Asia, US crude oil was up by around $2 to come in at $75.01 per barrel.

Brent crude futures was similarly marked up by more than $2, then standing at $76.37 a barrel.

It came after a seven per cent rise on Friday, when the conflict began.

With the attacks taking place in a very energy-rich part of the world, traders have expressed concerns they could see supply disrupted.

The cost of crude oil has massive impacts on the everyday lives of British people – affecting aspects of life as diverse as the price of petrol to keep your card on the road, to how expensive food is.

A top Middle East expert has said Iran lacks the resources to sustain a protracted conflict with Israel.

Sina Azodi, a lecturer at George Washington University in the US, said: ‘Israel receives the most advanced US weapons system and European weapons systems and has access to far more financial resources.’

Iran has been able to stage successful attacks in the short term, he explained.

But with multiple economic sanctions and an arms embargo, even nations friendly to it like Russia and China are likely to support it with military aid.

Mr Azodi explained: ‘Iran has to rely on its domestic capacity to build missiles and launch them in large barrages that can overwhelm Israeli air defences and I don’t believe Iran can sustain this for a prolonged time.’

President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he hopes Israel and Iran can broker a ceasefire but said sometimes countries ‘have to fight it out’ first.

Talking to reporters as he left for the G7 summit in Canada, Trump said the US will continue to support Israel but declined to say if he asked the US ally to pause strikes on Iran.

Of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he said: ‘We get along very well and I think we have great respect for each other.’

The American premier said he thinks there is a good chance of a ceasefire deal at some point – but ‘we’ll see what happens’.

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he leaves for the G7 summit

Iran told mediators Qatar and Oman that it would not be open to ceasefire negotiations while strikes were ongoing.

An official, who spoke anonymously to Reuters, said: ‘The Iranians informed Qatari and Omani mediators that they will only pursue serious negotiations once Iran has completed its response to the Israeli pre-emptive strikes.’

In a video released by the IDF of surface-to-surface strikes on missile sites in Iran, Israel claims to have struck Iran’s nuclear HQ.

The IDF has said Israel is currently striking surface-to-surface missile sites in the centre of Iran.

In his interview earlier today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Isreal had destroyed Iran’s main nuclear facility in Natanz.

He told Fox News: ‘Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, the Israeli prime minister said: “We’ve destroyed the main facility in Natanz. That’s the main enrichment facility.’

Natanz is a complex at the heart of Iran’s enrichment programme on a plain abutting mountains outside the Shi’ite Muslim holy city of Qom, south of Tehran.

It houses facilities including two enrichment plants: the vast, underground Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) and the above-ground Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP).

Top Iranian official Mohsen Rezaee has claimed Tehran is looking to form an ‘Islamic Army’ with several other countries in the Middle East.

He told Iran state media: ‘We want to form an Islamic army with Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and several other countries.’

A civilian woman was killed Sunday in Syria’s western Tartus province when a drone struck her home, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

It marked the first reported casualty on Syrian soil since the latest escalation between Iran and Israel began.

The Britain-based war monitor reported the death of ‘a woman after a drone fell on her house’ in a village in rural Tartus, suggesting the drone was likely Iranian.

Since the start of the Iran-Israel escalation, people across Syria have observed dozens of missiles flying overhead, several of them intercepted.

They have exploded in various regions, fuelling concerns over a broader regional conflict.

Iran’s health ministry said Sunday that three days of Israeli strikes on the country had killed 224 people and injured more than 1,200.

‘After 65 hours of aggression by the Zionist regime, 1,277 people have been injured. 224 women, men and children have been martyred,’ the ministry’s spokesman Hossein Kermanpour wrote on X,

He added that 90 percent of those killed had been civilians.

Earlier we reported that the Washington-based Human Rights Activists claimed the strikes had killed at least 406 people and wounded another 654 in Iran.

Israeli strikes earlier today attacked a number of ‘weapons production sites’ across Iran, the IDF has said.

It said in a post on X that today’s ‘widespread wave of attacks’ had hit infrastructure of the Quds Force, the Revolutionary Guards, and the Iranian army in Tehran.

Moments ago we reported that the intelligence chief Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Mohammed Kazemi, and his deputy, Hassan Mohaghegh, had been killed in an Isreali air strike on Sunday.

Iran’s official IRNA news agency has now reported that commander Mohsen Bagheri,was also killed.

‘Three intelligence generals, Mohammad Kazemi, Hassan Mohaghegh and Mohsen Bagheri were assassinated and fell as martyrs,’ the agency said, citing a Revolutionary Guards statement.

French President Emmanuel Macron has dismissed the suggestion that Russian President Vladimir Putin could mediate in the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, citing Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

‘I do not think that Russia, which is today engaged in a high-intensity conflict and has decided not to respect the United Nations charter for several years now, could be in any way a mediator,’ Macron told reporters on a trip to Greenland.

US President Donald Trump said earlier that he was ‘open’ to the possibility after discussing it with Putin.

The intelligence chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Kazemi, and his deputy were killed in Israel’s attacks on Tehran on Sunday, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said.

A senior Iranian military official has warned of a ‘devastating response’ to Israel’s attacks, which will leave the country ‘uninhabitable’.

‘The scale of the devastating response by Iran’s brave fighters will certainly encompass all parts of the occupied territories (Israel),’ said Colonel Reza Sayyad, a spokesman for the armed forces.

‘Leave the occupied territories because they will certainly no longer be habitable in the future,’ and shelters will ‘not guarantee security’, he added in an address broadcast on state television.

The IDF has cliamed that Israel’s Air Force and Navy has intercepted ‘more than 100 unmanned aerial vehicles launched from Iran’ since Friday.

‘Air defense systems and missile ships are constantly working to intercept and eliminate threats’, it added in a post on X.

Footage shared on the social media sites also shows what appear to be two Navy missile boats shooting down missiles launched from Iran.

Isreal’s fire services have sent rescuers to a building on the coast that sustained a ‘direct hit’ following Iran’s latest missile strike.

Magen David Adom published footage of its teams deployed in the coastal city of Haifa, showing several cars on fire and a residential building whose facade was torn off by a blast.

An AFP journalist reported a large plume of black smoke visible on the city skyline from a distance.

MDA said its teams transported seven people injured in the attacks, including a 72-year-old woman.

Paramedic Shira Gur said she was dispatched to a city in north Israel where ‘a building and vehicles were reported to be on fire due to a rocket impact.’

EU foreign ministers will meet Tuesday for an emergency meeting on the Iran-Israel conflict, and ‘possible next steps’ to bring about de-escalation, an official for the Bloc’s foreign policy chief said.

‘In light of the gravity of the situation in the Middle East, EU High Representative Kaja Kallas has convened a meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers via video link for Tuesday,’ she said on Sunday.

President of the EU commission Ursula von der Leyen has said she has spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to dicuss the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

In a post on X, she said there is an ‘urgent need for a negotiated solution’ between Isreal and Iran, adding that the EU is committed to ‘peace, stability, and diplomatic efforts leading to de-escalation’.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said several civilians have been injured after a missile strike on its Foreign Ministry in Tehran.

The IDF has released footage of an Isreali air strike in ‘the hear of Tehran’ following an attack on Sunday.

It said earlier that it had launched a wave of strikes on dozens of surface-to-surface ballistic missile targets in the country.

Israel’s ambulance service, Magen David Adom, said two people have been taken to hospital with shrapnel injuries following strikes in northern Isreal.

The IDF has confirmed that ‘several areas across the country’ have been hit by strikes from Iran.

It added that Isrealis could now leave their bomb shelters following the latest attack.

The IDF said in a post on X: ‘Rescue forces are operating in several areas across the country where reports of falls have been received.’

Pictures from AFP have also shown smoke billowing from the city of Haifa, after seemingly been hit by missile.

A missile has hit the city of Haifa in Isreal, after Iran launched a new wave on strikes on the country on Sunday.

Iran’s armed forces told residents of Israel to leave the vicinity of ‘vital areas’ for their safety, in a video statement broadcast by state TV on Sunday evening.

It came around the time taht Iran sent a new barrage of missiles towards Israel.

An armed forces spokesperson said: ‘We have a data bank of vital and critical areas in occupied territories (Israel) and call upon you not to let the brutal regime use you as human shields.

‘Do not stay or travel near these critical areas.’

Air raid sirens and booms rang out in Jerusalem while missiles flew across the sky on Sunday evening, AFP journalists said.

Just moments ago, the IDF said the Isreali Air Force ‘is working to intercept’ the attack.

‘Sirens sounded in several areas across Israel following the identification of missiles launched from Iran toward the State of Israel,’ the military said in a statement.

Iran activated its air defences in Tehran and western parts of the country on Sunday, media reports in the Islamic republic said, as Israel intensified its attacks.

‘A few minutes ago, the Kermanshah air defence system was activated,’ the Mehr news agency said.

The official IRNA news agency said air defences were also activated in the Iranian capital.

By Jason Groves, Political Editor

Tens of thousands of British citizens are currently trapped in a war zone as officials admitted an evacuation from Israel is currently impossible.

The Foreign Office issued an urgent warning against all travel to Israel following two nights of bombardment by deadly Iranian missiles and drones.

Officials have dusted off previous contingency plans for an airborne evacuation of British nationals from Israel.

But insiders have admitted it was impossible to put in place while Israel’s airspace remains closed to all civilian flights.

New Foreign Office guidance has advised against all travel to Israel and urged those stranded there to follow local advice and stay away from missile debris.

‘We recognise this is a fast-moving situation that poses significant risks,’ it said. ‘The situation has the potential to deteriorate further, quickly and without warning.’

The Foreign Office warned anyone looking to flee the country that Israeli airspace ‘remains closed’ and that the conflict with Iran ‘may disrupt road links’.

Iran has reportedly launched missiles towards Isreal in its latest attack on the country since Friday.

The IDF said the Isreali Air Force ‘is working to intercept’ the attack and has ‘activated alerts in several areas of the country’.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has spoken to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in a call earlier today.

The pair discussed the ‘grave situation’ in the Iran-Israel conflict, according to a Downing Street statement.

‘The Prime Minister reiterated that his priority is diplomacy and dialogue, in order to de-escalate as quickly as possible,’ it said.

Fox News have shared the full interview with Israeli Prime Minister on its official X account. You can watch it below.

The Israeli Air Force has launched a wave of strikes on dozens of surface-to-surface ballistic missile targets in western Iran, the IDF said in a post on X.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said ‘urgent action’ was needed to prevent the Iran-Israel conflict engulfing the Middle East, in a call with US counterpart Donald Trump on Sunday.

‘President Erdogan hailed the recent comments by US President Trump concerning a resolution of the conflict between Israel and Iran… and stressed that urgent action is needed to prevent a catastrophe that could enflame the whole region,’ the Turkish presidency said in a statement.

During the call, Erdogan said the ‘spiral of violence unleashed by Israel’s attacks on Iran have caused irreparable economic and civil damage to both sides’ and called for moves to ‘halt this dangerous escalation’, it said.

The official account of the IDF said in a post on X that Isreal would continue its ‘defense policy’ until at least 8pm on Tuesday.

Here’s a bit more detail on the earlier post stating that Donald Trump vetoed an Israeli plan in recent days to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

A senior U.S. administration official told the press agency on Sunday: ‘Have the Iranians killed an American yet? No. Until they do we’re not even talking about going after the political leadership.’

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said top U.S. officials have been in constant communications with Israeli officials in the days since Israel launched a massive attack on Iran in a bid to halt its nuclear program.

They said the Israelis reported that they had an opportunity to kill the top Iranian leader, but Trump waved them off of the plan.

The officials would not say whether Trump himself delivered the message. But Trump has been in frequent communications with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

When asked about Reuters report, Netanyahu, in an interview on Sunday with Fox News Channel’s Special Report With Bret Baier. said: ‘There’s so many false reports of conversations that never happened, and I’m not going to get into that.

‘But I can tell you, I think that we do what we need to do, we’ll do what we need to do. And I think the United States knows what is good for the United States.’

Netanyahu believes Israel’s airstikes have set Iran back ‘quite a bit’, adding ‘I think they were completely surprised’.

He also told interviewer Bret Baier that Isreal has secured a ‘free highway to Tehran’ after securing air superiority agianst Iran’s forces.

‘We can now pick off the targets we need in Tehran and in other places,’ he added.

Israeli strikes have killed at least 406 people and wounded another 654 in Iran, according to Washington-based Human Rights Activists.

Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

In Israel, at least 10 people were killed in Iranian strikes overnight and into Sunday, according to the Magen David Adom rescue service, bringing the country’s total death toll to 13.

Here’s another exerpt from Netanyahu’s interview with Fox News earlier today, in which he told Bret Baier that Iran sees Trump as ‘enemy number one’.

Iran’s retaliatory attacks on Israel have killed five Ukrainian nationals, including three children, in the Israeli city of Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv, Kyiv said on Sunday.

The five were killed Saturday in the ‘massive’ Iranian strikes when a missile hit a residential building in the city, the Ukrainian foreign ministry said.

Tayyip Erdogan told Donald Trump in a phone call on Sunday that Ankara was ready to play a facilitator role to resolve the conflict between Israel and Iran, the Turkey President’s office said.

Erdogan welcomed Trump’s latest statement on a possible peace between Iran and Israel, his office said.

He also urged his US counterpart to take action immediately to prevent a disaster ‘that could set the region on fire’.

Reuters is reporting that Donald Trump recently vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Iran Supreme Leader, according to two US officials.

When asked about the claims in an interview, Netanyahu said: ‘I’m not going to get into that.’

Netanyahu has said that Israel’s military attacks could result in a regime change in Iran.

He is currently speaking to Fox New’s Bret Baier on his ‘Special Report’ program in one of his first interviews since Israel’s attacks on Iran began on Friday.

Israel president Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed he informed the US and President Donald Trump about the country’s attacks on Iran on Friday ahead of time.

Israel’s government has confirmed that the death toll of Iranian strikes has risen to 14, after another body was recovered in the city of Bat Yam.

Speaking during a visit to Greenland, French president Emmanuel Macron has said he hopes the ‘coming hours will bring calm and a road forward for discussion, to avoid any escalation of nuclear capabilities, acquisition of nuclear capacities in Iran, and to prevent any unrest in the region.’

He added: ‘We will have the opportunity, in a few hours, to revisit this matter with G7 leaders.’

Amir Baram, a director in Israel’s defence ministry, has reportedly held a top-level meeting with the heads of Israel’s biggest defence contractors.

He reportedly called for the pace of weapons production to be accelerated, and for enhanced levels of protection of critical infrastructure.

Baram said: ‘Our defense is not hermetic.’

Shin Bet, Israel’s security service, arrested two Jewish Israelis suspected of carrying out missions on Iran’s behalf.

They were arrested in an overnight raid, and are currently being held and interrogated.

Israeli officials have denied partaking in the detonations of car bombs in Tehran.

Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar says that while his government expected civilian casualties from its attack on Iran, it ‘didn’t have any other choice.’

He said: ‘When we took this historic decision, tough decision, we knew we will have difficult times and we will face casualties, but saying that, we didn’t have any other choice.’

The IDF has denied claims that it is carrying out strikes on Iran to force the current regime out.

Israel’s cabinet has approved extending the nationwide state of emergency until at least June 30.

President Donald Trump told a news network Sunday it remains possible the United States will become involved in the Iran-Israel conflict and that he would be ‘open’ to Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin being a mediator.

‘It’s possible we could get involved’ in the ongoing battle between the Middle East arch-foes, Trump said in an interview, according to ABC News.

The network added that Trump stressed that the United States is ‘not at this moment’ involved in the military action.

As for Putin being a potential mediator in the conflict, ‘he is ready. He called me about it. We had a long talk about it,’ Trump said.

Russia’s investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev said in a post on X on Sunday that Russia can play ‘a key role’ in mediating the conflict between Israel and Iran.

Dmitriev was responding to a post by U.S. President Donald Trump in which he said he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the conflict.

Iran has claimed that Israel has detonated five car bombs in Tehran.

Iran’s IRNA news agency reported that they were set off by Israel-linked groups.

These claims have not yet been verified.

Reuters is reporting that at least 14 Iranian nuclear scientists were killed in Israeli attacks.

Etihad Airways has cancelled flights between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv until at least June 22.

It said in a statement: ‘This remains a developing situation, and some disruption and delays may be expected in the coming days.’

Israel has reportedly struck Iran’s Justice and Intelligence ministries, in the heart of Tehran.

The IDF has now said that civilians in central and northern Israel don’t need to seek shelter in bunkers anymore.

US president Donald Trump has urged Iran and Israel to make a deal with each other.

Writing on his social media platform Truth Social, he said: ‘Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal, just like I got India and Pakistan to make, in that case by using TRADE with the United States to bring reason, cohesion, and sanity into the talks with two excellent leaders who were able to quickly make a decision and STOP!

‘Also, during my first term, Serbia and Kosovo were going at it hot and heavy, as they have for many decades, and this long time conflict was ready to break out into WAR.

‘I stopped it (Biden has hurt the longer term prospects with some very stupid decisions, but I will fix it, again!). Another case is Egypt and Ethiopia, and their fight over a massive dam that is having an effect on the magnificent Nile River.

‘There is peace, at least for now, because of my intervention, and it will stay that way! Likewise, we will have PEACE, soon, between Israel and Iran! Many calls and meetings now taking place.

‘I do a lot, and never get credit for anything, but that’s OK, the PEOPLE understand. MAKE THE MIDDLE EAST GREAT AGAIN!’

Russia’s embassy in Tehran said on Sunday that it was working on the option of evacuating Russian citizens from Iran by a land route.

Explosions have been heard in the Tel Aviv area. It is not currently known what has been hit in the Israeli city, nor how many missiles Iran has fired.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian urged Iraq on Sunday to block Israel from using its airspace and territory to launch attacks on the Islamic republic.

‘We emphasise that the Iraqi government must exercise greater vigilance and protection of its borders and airspace so that Iraqi territory is not misused against the Islamic Republic of Iran,’ said Pezeshkian in a call with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Iran would pay ‘a very heavy price’ for killing Israeli civilians.

Speaking at the site of a missile strike in Bet Yam, he said: ‘Iran will pay a very heavy price for the premeditated murder of civilians, women and children.’

Iran says the death toll from Israel’s strikes is now 128.

Sirens are being sounded across central Israel and Jerusalem, as Iran launches another missile barrage.

The IDF says it is workring to shoot down the missiles.

Officials in the city of Bat Yam have issued a new warning telling people to stay near a protected space.

It comes as the IDF told Israelis across the country to avoid gatherings and public spaces.

The military said: ‘Movement in public areas should be minimised, and public gatherings must be avoided. Upon receiving an alert, enter a protected space and remain there until an official update is issued.’

Israel bombed Yemen overnight in an attempt to kill a top military official in the Houthi group, the New York Times has reported.

An airstrike on the country saw Israel attempt to take out Mohamed Al-Ghamari, the Houthi military’s chief of staff.

It is not currently known if Al-Ghamari was killed or injured in the attack, and the Houthis have not publicly commented on it yet.

Iran has warned of ‘more decisive and severe’ attacks as local media reported 128 had been killed in Israel strikes on Friday and Saturday.

President Masoud Pezeshkian said that Iran’s military has so far responded ‘strongly and appropriately’.

Pictured below is a partially collapsed block of flats in Bat Yam after it was struck by an Iranian ballistic missile.

Britons have been warned not to travel to Israel as the conflict with Iran ramps up today.

The Foreign Office is now advising ‘against all travel to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories’.

Planning is also believed to be under way to evacuate UK nationals if the situation deteriorates further.

The stark message came as Israel and Iran continued to bombard each other overnight.

Read the full story below.

Two drones launched from Iran towards Israel were shot down over Iraq by the US-led international coalition to defeat the Islamic State group, two Iraqi military officials told news agency AFP.

‘The international coalition at Ain al-Asad (military base) shot down two Iranian drones that were en route to Israel,’ one official said, referring to an Iraqi airbase housing foreign troops in western Iraq.

The drones were shot down overnight Saturday to Sunday, he added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The other official said the drones were targeted because they entered the defensive perimeter of the anti-jihadist coalition, where troops are instructed to engage any potential threat.

Two explosions have been heard in central Tehran.

Unverified footage posted on X shows three pillars of smoke rising in the city.

According to the Tasnim news agency, missile-like projectiles hit two locations today.

The news agency shared footage of the explosion site, saying it occurred near the central Valiasr Square.

The video showed columns of smoke rising from the area, with debris and shattered glass scattered across the scene. Other media carried similar reports.

Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed Iran ‘will pay a heavy price for the murder of civilians, women, and children’.

The Israeli Prime Minister warned ‘it will happen soon’ after he said Tehran had targeted the civilians deliberately in a barrage of missile attacks that were launched overnight.

Netanyahu made the comments on X alongside photos of the PM visiting the city of Bat Yam where flats were destroyed in the strikes.

Iran will pay a very heavy price for the murder of women, children, and innocent civilians – and it will happen soon. I am here at the scene together with the rescue forces and the Home Front Command. On behalf of the people of Israel – we send a hug to the families and once again call on every citizen: obey the instructions – it saves lives.

We are in an existential battle, facing a cruel enemy who is planning destruction. Our soldiers and pilots are operating bravely – above the skies of Iran. This is a war of salvation. We will strike them with one blow – and we will win.

El Al, Israel’s national airline, has cancelled flights going to and from major European cities, as well as Tokyo and Moscow.

It said today that all flights have been cancelled up to and including June 17.

The carrier said: ‘Once approvals are received from the relevant security and aviation authorities, we will do everything possible to allow as many Israelis as possible to return home, gradually resume our regular flight schedule and operate rescue flights from destinations near Israel.’

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has released a list of seven further air force commanders who were killed in Israel’s strikes.

The list includes its head, Amir Ali Hajizadeh.

The BBC has reported that explosions have been heard in Tehran’s Shahrak-e Gharb and Saadat Abad neighbourhoods.

Iranian officials have told local media that the capital’s air defence systems have been activated.

Iran’s health minister Mohammad-Reza Zafarghand has today said that the majority of those killed by Israeli airstrikes since Friday are women and children.

While no official tally has been given for the entire weekend’s violence, Iran’s UN agency said on Friday that at least 78 had been killed, while 320 were wounded.