Hospital in Israel suffers direct hit as Iranian nuclear site attacked

Donald Trump has told senior aides that he gave a thumbs up to plans for an attack of Iran but has not yet approved it to go forward.

He is still waiting to see if Iran will give up its nuclear program before giving the final go ahead. WSJ reported that Trump hopes that having a plan set will encourage the Iranians to negotiate.

One Trump administration official said there are multiple options for how to proceed and Trump is keeping a watchful eye on the Israeli plan of attack.

Trump said earlier when asked about attacking Iran: ‘I may do it, I may not do it.’

Soroka Medical Centre’s director general Professor Shlomi Kodesh told reporters this morning that the building hit in Iran’s attack today was an old surgical ward ‘that had been evacuated in recent days.’

‘There is widespread damage to other buildings at the hospital. All patients and all staff were in shelters. The several injured we have are lightly hurt, mostly from the blast shockwave,’ he added.

Kodesh said staff are now working to map out damage and assess which departments can operate and which cannot.

Israel Medical Association chairman Professor Zion Hagay said in a statement: ‘It is only because of the hospital’s preparedness that a much greater disaster was averted.’

Some 20 people were injured when missiles struck the Israeli city of Ramat Gan, The Times of Israel reports.

Pictures captured by Reuters show extensive building damage while casualties are treated on the street.

According to Israeli media reports missile strikes have been reported in at least seven locations across central and southern Israel.

Further details on injuries were not immediately available.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz says he has instructed the military to intensify strikes on strategic-related targets in Tehran.

In a statement on X he said:

The cowardly Iranian dictator sits in the depths of the fortified bunker and fires aimed shots at hospitals and residential buildings in Israel.

These are war crimes of the most serious kind – and Khamenei will be held accountable for his crimes.

The Prime Minister and I have instructed the IDF to increase the intensity of attacks against strategic targets in Iran and against government targets in Tehran in order to remove threats to the State of Israel and undermine the ayatollahs’ regime.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has responded to Iran’s attack on Soroka Hospital.

Writing on X, he said:

This morning, Iran’s terrorist tyrants launched missiles at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba and at a civilian population in the center of the country. We will exact the full price from the tyrants in Tehran.

Iran’s atomic energy organisation has said that Israel attacked its research reactor and heavy water complex in the city of Khondab.

The agency described the attack as a ‘renewed violation of international law’, the IRNA news agency reports.

The Israeli military confirmed last night that it was targeting the central Iranian city and warned residents to evacuate.

Israel’s deputy foreign minister Sharren Haskel called Iran’s strike on an Israeli hospital on Thursday ‘deliberate’ and ‘criminal’, after the Islamic republic fired its latest salvo of missiles at the country.

Sharren Haskel wrote on X:

Iran just hit Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva with a ballistic missile. Not a military base. A hospital. This is the main medical center for Israel’s entire Negev region. Deliberate. Criminal. Civilian target. The world must speak out.

Here’s footage of the damage to the hospital:

A hospital in southern Israel has been damaged following a hit from an Iranian missile this morning.

Soroka Hospital in Beersheba was struck in a number of attacks from Iran.

A spokesperson for the hospital reported there had been damage to the hospital and extensive damage in various areas.

We are currently assessing the damage, including injuries. We ask the public not to come to the hospital at this time.

As well as serving populations in southern Israel, Soroka hospital is known to treat soldiers wounded in Gaza.

Sirens sounded across Israel early Thursday as the Israeli military said it detected incoming missiles from Iran and AFP journalists reported hearing loud blasts in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

A military official added that ‘dozens of ballistic missiles’ had been launched at Israel.

Israel has attacked Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor, Iranian state television said Thursday.

The report said there was “no radiation danger whatsoever” and that the facility had already been evacuated before the attack.

Israel had warned earlier Thursday morning it would attack the facility and urged the public to flee the area.

The warning came in a social media post on X. It included a satellite image of the plant in a red circle like other warnings that preceded strikes.

The Israeli military said Thursday’s round of airstrikes targeted Tehran and other areas of Iran, without elaborating. It later said Iran fired a new salvo of missiles at Israel and told the public to take shelter.

Israel has confirmed that Soroka Hospital in Beersheba has suffered ‘a direct hit’ Thursday morning.

The biggest hospital in southern Israel serves approximately a million people with around 1,200 hospital beds.

A spokesperson for the Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheba said the hospital suffered ‘extensive damage’ in different areas and people had been wounded in the attack. The hospital has requested people not come for treatment.

The full extent of the damage is not yet clear. However, firefighters said it appeared the medical building and some apartment buildings had been hit.

The State Department has begun evacuating nonessential diplomats and their families from the U.S. embassy in Israel as hostilities between Israel and Iran intensify and President Donald Trump warns of the possibility of getting directly involved in the conflict.

A government plane evacuated a number of diplomats and family members who had asked to leave the country Wednesday, said two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive diplomatic movements. There was no indication of how many diplomats and family members departed on the flight or how many may have left by land routes to Jordan or Egypt.

It comes as several Israeli embassies – including China and Australia – have started to work to getting nationals out of the country.

National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard has reportedly been sidelined in the Trump administration’s discussions about its options in the ongoing war between Iran and Israel ever since she posted a controversial video.

The former Hawaii representative was notably absent from a meeting with top officials on June 8 at Camp David to discuss the rising tensions in the area.

A White House official has since claimed Gabbard was only absent because she had to take part in scheduled training as a member of the National Guard.

But since she posted a terrifying video from her trip to Hiroshima, Japan last week, showing a simulation of San Francisco getting bombed and warning about imminent ‘nuclear annihilation,’ her standing within the Trump administration took a hit, insiders told NBC News.

The video is said to have irked White House aides, and when Trump saw the video himself he became incensed – complaining to associates that she had spoke out of turn as it came just days after Israeli military hawks met with Trump at the White House to try to get him to support Israel’s attacks on Iran, according to Politico.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham lavished praise on Donald Trump for his handling of the Israel-Iran conflict before encouraging him to finish it off.

The Republican posted to social media on Wednesday: ‘President Trump has handled the Israel-Iran conflict brilliantly thus far.’

‘Israel dominates the skies and has destroyed Iran’s military and scientific leadership.’

‘They have also done great damage to Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. However the one site left standing – the deep underground Fordow site – must be dealt with to achieve the common objective of making sure Iran’s nuclear enrichment program ends.’

Graham then advocated for American intervention to ‘finish’ the conflict.

‘The capabilities possessed by the United States for such a deep underground attack are unique to us and us alone. Overwhelmingly Americans view the Iran nuclear threat as existential to both the U.S. and Israel. Go all in. Finish the job.’

Israel’s military issued evacuation warnings to two cities in western Iran on Thursday morning.

The cities of Arak and Khondab were targeted, with a map graphic showing part of the danger zone being the Arak nuclear facility.

‘The IDF continues to operate in the area, as it has in recent days across Iran, targeting the Iranian regime’s military infrastructure,’ they said.

‘Your presence in this area puts your life at risk.’

The Israeli Defense Force’s airstrikes on Iran in the past week may have caused damage to the latter’s nuclear program ‘by a few months,’ sources told NBC News.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said since the pre-emptive strikes began that they were targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The Israelis have also claimed to have killed Iranian nuclear scientists.

Donald Trump has said all along that the goal of any possible American strikes on Iran is to keep the country from getting a nuclear weapon.

Iran would accept U.S. President Donald Trump’s offer to meet soon, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing a senior Iranian official.

The newspaper, citing the official, added that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi would accept such a meeting to discuss a cease-fire with Israel.

Trump, who has indicated he wants talks to focus on the Iranian nuclear program, said on Monday that he might send U.S. Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff or Vice President JD Vance to meet Iranian officials.

Iran has activated its air defense systems over Tehran in the early hours of Thursday morning as the American military could be set to join the fight ‘in the coming days.’

It came as the IDF announced that they’re conducting a ‘series of strikes’ in Tehran and other parts of the country.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced the defense systems were a go at around 4am local time.

The possibility of an American strike on Iran could become real ‘in the coming days,’ according to senior U.S. officials.

Bloomberg reported that the situation is still in flux but the attack could come as soon as this weekend.

One possible option could be the deployment of B-2 bombers to drop 30,000-pound bunker-busters on Iran’s heavily fortified nuclear sites.

Trump on Wednesday suggested that he had run out of patience with the Iranian regime.

‘It’s already run out,’ he said. ‘They had 60 days … plenty of time, and they made a mistake.’

French President Emmanuel Macron is set to propose alongisde the UK and Germany that would resolve the conflict between Israel and Iran.

Politico reports that in a defense meeting Wednesday, Macron asked his foreign minister to come up with a settlement proposal.

It comes as high-ranking officials from Germany, France and the United Kingdom as well as the European Union’s top diplomat will gather for the meeting with Iran in Switzerland.

That’s according to a European official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

It comes as Trump is weighing approval U.S. military to join Israel in carrying out strikes on Iran’s nuclear program.

Recent polling found that Americans are generally supportive of Israel taking military action against Iran.

But when asked if the U.S. should get involved – support was much lower.

President Donald Trump closed out Wednesday huddling with top advisers in the White House Situation Room as he mulls whether the U.S. should support Israel militarily in a war that has now lasted six nights.

A top issue is whether he’d deploy U.S. forces to take out the Iranian’s Fordow nuclear facility.

A new Reagan Institute survey of 1,257 U.S. adults conducted from late May to early June – prior to Israel’s decision on Thursday to start dropping bombs on Tehran and Iranian nuclear sites – found that 45 percent supported Israel conducting those types of airstrikes.

Another 37 percent were against Israel taking such an action.

Iran’s air defence system has intercepted drones over the outskirts of Tehran, Iranian media reports

Images show people holding banners as they protest the Israeli strikes on Iran and any potential US involvement in the conflict during a ‘No War on Iran’ demonstration outside the White House in Washington, DC.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and the top Democrats on several key committees said in a joint statement Wednesday evening that they are ‘deeply concerned about a lack of preparation, strategy, and clearly defined objectives’ amid uncertainty about whether President Trump will decide to strike Iran.

The Democrats say Trump should seek authorization from Congress if he is ‘considering taking the country to war.’

They urged Trump to ‘prioritize diplomacy and pursue a binding agreement that can prevent a nuclear-armed Iran and reduce the risk to our diplomats, our service members, and the hundreds of thousands of Americans living in the Middle East.’

Images sigital billboards in Tel Aviv displaying a message to US President Donald Trump which reads, ‘Mr. President, Finish the job!’

Donald Trump has been pressing his military advisors about whether the so-called ‘bunker-buster bombs’ will destroy the Iranian enrichment facility Fordow.

An official told Axios that he’s been confidently told by his team that the Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOP) would but Trump may not yet be completely convinced.

The bunker busters have never been used before but a separate official is confident.

‘The bunker buster will work. It’s not a capabilities issue. We have the capability. But there’s an entire plan (for a possible attack). It’s not just drop a bunker buster and declare victory,’ the official said.

The official added that the American endgame remains to keep Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.

The Israeli military said the unmanned aerial vehicle was downed in the north of the country a short time ago.

No details were provided regarding potential damage or casualties.

The foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany plan to hold nuclear talks with their Iranian counterpart in Geneva on Friday, Reuters reports.

A German source told the news agency the ministers will first meet with the European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, before holding a joint meeting with the Iranian foreign minister.

The aim of the talks is to persuade the Iranian side to firmly guarantee it will use its nuclear programme solely for civilian purposes, the source said.

China’s embassy in Israel will assist Chinese citizens who want to evacuate to leave in batches beginning on Friday, the embassy said in a notice on Thursday.

The evacuation operation will bring Chinese nationals to the Taba Border Crossing into Egypt via bus, about 360 km (224 miles) from Tel Aviv.

‘The Israel-Iran conflict continues to intensify, with increasing casualties, the possibility of further deterioration cannot be ruled out,’ the embassy warned

Majid Takht-Ravanchi., Iran’s deputy foreign minister, said that Iran will ‘have no choice but to retaliate wherever we find the targets necessary to be acted upon’ in response to American military strikes.

He also said the initial Israeli pre-emptive strikes were a ‘betrayal’ of the Iranians’ trust because it came ahead of a new round of negotiations with the United States.

‘Although we have always promoted diplomacy, we cannot negotiate under threats,’ he told CNN.

‘We cannot negotiate while our people are under bombardment every day. We are not begging for anything, we are just defending ourselves.’

North Korea denounced Israel’s attack of Iran, state media KCNA said on Thursday citing a Foreign Ministry spokesperson.

In a statement, North Korea’s foreign ministry described Israel’s actions as an illegal violation of Iran’s sovereignty and a crime against humanity.

The ministry further accused the U.S. and Western nations of supporting Israel’s aggression, calling Israel a ‘cancer-like entity’ that threatens regional and global stability.

Rejecting Israeli and US claims that Iran is close to having a nuclear weapon, Iran’s Foreign Minister Araghchi has reiterated that the country has ‘never sought and will never seek’ such arms.

‘If otherwise, what better pretext could we possibly need for developing those inhuman weapons than the current aggression by the region’s only nuclear-armed regime?’ he wrote on X.

Insisting that Tehran is acting ‘solely… in self-defense’ in the face of ‘the most outrageous aggression’ against the country, Araghchi said the world should be ‘highly alarmed’ by Israel’s attempts to broaden the conflict.

‘With the exception of the illegitimate, genocidal and occupying Israeli regime, we remain committed to diplomacy. As before, we are serious and forward-looking in our outlook.’

Russian President Vladimir Putin has addressed the conflict between Israel and Iran during a roundtable with news leaders today in Saint Petersburg.

According to the Associated Press, Putin said that Russia was ‘not imposing anything on anyone, we are simply talking about how we see a possible way out of the situation’.

He said the decision should be left up to the ‘political leadership of all these countries, primarily Iran and Israel’.

Asked by the AFP if Iran had asked for Russia’s help, Putin responded, ‘Our Iranian friends have not asked us about this’.

Israel has agreed to ensure the safety of Russians working at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters Wednesday night.

‘Our experts are in the field, we’re talking about over 200 people,’ Putin said on the sidelines of an economic conference in St. Petersburg, referring to Russian engineers helping Iran construct two new reactors at the Bushehr plant.

‘We agreed with the Israeli leadership that their security will be ensured,’ Putin added.

Sir Keir Starmer has been warned by Lord Hermer that UK involvement in a US attack on Iran could be illegal.

The advice is understood to have said that Britain must limit its involvement to protecting its allies from attack.

‘The AG has concerns about the UK playing any role in this except for defending our allies,’ an official who has seen Lord Hermer’s legal advice told The Spectator.

A British official with knowledge of the situation in the Middle East said there ‘isn’t complete clarity’ about the American plan in the region. The official said they understand the U.S. is still debating what to do but believe that ‘all options’ are on the table.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak freely on the matter, said Trump wants to put pressure on Iran to do a deal and suggested he does not want to go to war.

The British official said the U.S. is mounting a ‘very strong defensive response,’ which allows a lot of choice ‘whichever way this goes,’ but emphasized that the U.S. is framing the current operation as ‘primarily defensive.’ That includes protecting U.S. bases and personnel in the Middle East.

The British official said the U.S. is sending resources including the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and putting refueling tankers in Spain and Greece, adding that the U.S. has fighter jets and B-52 bombers at Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands.

The IDF says it has struck more than 20 military targets in Iran’s capital Tehran.

It said it had hit ‘key nuclear and missile sites’ in the city which ‘fuel Iran’s weapons’

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said his country has remained committed to ‘diplomacy’ but will continue to act in ‘self-defence’ following Israel’s surprise attack nearly a week ago.

Earlier, Donald Trump addressed the media for the first time since he called a Situation Room crisis meeting to decide whether the U.S. will join the strikes on Iran.

He said that Iran ‘wants to negotiate,’ and he has not decided whether to authorize the U.S. military to target Iran’s nuclear sites.

‘I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do,’ he teased on the White House front lawn.

Watch below the moment he blasted a reporter who asked whether he’ll nuke Iran:

Protesters have gathered in Iraq to chant anti-Israel and anti-US slogans amid attacks on multiple cities in Iran.

The group met at the bridge leading to the fortified Green Zone where the US embassy is located in Baghdad, Iraq.

Two U.S. officials said a government plane evacuated a number of diplomats and family members who had asked to leave Israel on Wednesday.

That took place shortly before U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee announced on X that the embassy was making plans for evacuation flights and ships for private American citizens.

There’s no indication of how many diplomats and family members departed on the flight.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive diplomatic movements.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that all sides should look for ways to end the fighting between Israel and Iran, and that Moscow had conveyed its ideas on how to achieve peace to the powers involved.

Asked by Reuters if he agreed with Israel’s statements about possible regime change in Iran, Putin told senior news agency editors that Iranian society was consolidating around the Islamic Republic’s leadership.

The Israeli military claims that it has significantly limited Iran’s ability to fire large barrages of missiles toward Israel, according to an Israeli military official.

Iran is now firing smaller barrages of missiles following six days of Israeli airstrikes, the official told CNN.

The latest Iranian ballistic missile launch at Israel on Wednesday evening consisted of a single missile, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

The Israeli military has now destroyed approximately 40% of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers, the official said.

Missiles have been launched from Iran towards Israel, the Israeli military says.

The IDF says sirens are sounding in several areas across the country.

The military has called on Israelis to go to shelters as defence systems work to intercept the missiles.

Iranians were pictured taking shelter at an underground light rail station in the city of Ramat Gan amid a fresh barrage of Iranian missile attacks.

One image shows a belly dancer performing for people spending the night at the station.

David Lammy is travelling to Washington for talks with his US counterpart Marco Rubio.

The Foreign Secretary will meet with the US secretary of state after President Donald Trump said he was considering whether to join Israeli strikes against Iran.

‘He will be addressing the current situation in the Middle East along with other foreign policy matters,’ a spokesman for the British embassy in Washington said.

It comes after Lammy warned that the outbreak of war between Israel and Iran marks ‘a moment of grave danger for the region’ and cautioned that ‘no military action can put an end to Iran’s capabilities.’

Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, David Lammy told MPs that Israel had launched ‘extensive strikes’ on Iranian ‘targets, including military sites, nuclear sites, key commanders, and nuclear scientists.’

Pictured: Foreign Secretary David Lammy

The United Nations Security Council will convene Friday to discuss the ongoing war between Israel and Iran, council president Guyana said.

Following a first, urgent meeting after Israel attacked last Friday, this second session was requested by Iran, with support from Russia, China and Pakistan, a diplomat told AFP on Wednesday.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Effie Defrin said in a video statement that Israeli Air Force launched new attacks in western Iran on Wednesday evening.

He said that Israeli jets flew over launch and storage sites for surface-to-surface missiles, targeting operatives attempting to access and remove munitions from locations previously struck.

According to the spokesperson, this marked the third major wave of Israeli airstrikes over Iran in the past 24 hours.

The initial overnight operation involved more than 50 fighter jets hitting approximately 40 targets around Tehran.

‘Among the targets struck was a centrifuge production site, a key component in the Iranian regime’s efforts to enrich uranium,’ he said.

The second wave of strikes began Wednesday afternoon, with over 20 additional targets in the Tehran area hit.

The IDF chief said the third wave, which is ongoing, will be targeted at western Iran.

Defrin said Israel Air Force aircraft are flying over ‘launch and storage sites for surface-to-surface missiles.’

‘The jets are targeting operatives attempting to re-access and remove munitions from sites that were previously struck,’ Defrin said.

In a post on its Telegram chanel the Israeli military said it had completed a ‘series of strikes in Tehran’.

‘Over 20 military targets including nuclear weapons development project sites, and missile production sites belonging to the Iranian regime in the area of Tehran were targeted.

‘Over the past hours, 60 IAF fighter jets, with the precise direction of the IDF Intelligence Directorate, struck over 20 military targets in Tehran.’

It added: ‘As part of the broad effort to operate against Iran’s nuclear weapons development project, IAF fighter jets struck weapons production sites, centrifuge production sites, as well as research and development sites of the Iranian regime’s nuclear weapons development project.’

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has spoken to Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamin bin Hamad al-Thani on the phone to discuss ‘the developments in the Middle East in recent days,’ a Downing Street spokesperson says.

‘Both echoed the need for de-escalation and diplomacy,’ the spokesperson added.

Pictured: Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani in 2023

In a short statement, the military says the drone was intercepted in the south of the Israeli-occupied Syrian territory.

The statement did not say where the drone was fired from.

The UN-backed nuclear watchdog does not believe Iran was attempting to build nuclear weapon, its chief told Sky News on Wednesday.

Director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said it ‘could not affirm there is any systematic effort in Iran at the moment to manufacture a nuclear weapon.’

He said the IAEA report, which has been widely cited by Israel, found that Iran is enriching uranium to 60%, the only country in the world to do so, meaning ‘there were elements to be concerned about.’

‘But as to saying they are building and manufacturing a nuclear weapon – no, we didn’t say that,’ he added.

Mr Grossi warned there ‘is always the possibility of a radiological event’ when a nuclear site is hit, such as the ‘dispersion of nuclear material in the atmosphere’.

President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday afternoon in the Oval Office that he’s headed back to the Situation Room shortly amid the ongoing turmoil with Iran.

He said he hasn’t made a decision on whether to use U.S. forces to strike Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility, which would officially pull the United States into Israel’s current war with Iran.

‘I’ve been asked about it by everybody but I haven’t made a decision,’ he said.

He added that he liked to make a final decision ‘one second before it’s due.’

Trump said he would be meeting advisers downstairs in the ‘war room’ in an hour.

During his back-and-forth reporters, he again cracked the door open for a diplomatic solution, though suggested it was less possible now with Israel’s bombing campaign.

‘You know, Iran was very close to signing what would have been a very good agreement for them, and maybe that could still happen. I guess they do want to come and see us, and they want to see me in the White House,’ he said.

‘It’s not that easy for them to come. They can’t get out. You know, they’re in Iran, and in one case, they want to come so badly, but he can’t get out because his bombs dropping all over,’ Trump added.

At least three Iranian planes on Wednesday landed in the capital of Oman, which had been the site of the previous U.S.-Iran nuclear talks, but it’s unclear if U.S. negotiators are prepared to meet them.

Iran hasn’t officially confirmed the travel to Oman.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps says it has fired Sejil super-heavy, long-range, two-stage missiles at Israel.

The missiles are around 18m long and can strike targets as far away as 2,000km.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has chaired an emergency Cobra meeting ‘on the situation in the Middle East’.

A Downing Street spokesperson said in the meeting ministers were ‘updated on efforts to support British nationals in the region and protect regional security” as well as ‘ongoing diplomatic efforts’.

Starmer’s decision to convene the high-level emergency response committee comes after he returned from the G7 summit in Canada.

Pictured: Foreign Secretary David Lammy (left) leaves Downing Street, London after Keir Starmer called an emergency Cobra committee today

An Israeli strike has hit near police headquarters in Tehran, according to state media.

A number of police men were wounded, it added.

‘Some buildings around the headquarters of the National Police were attacked, and a number of our colleagues were injured,’ the official IRNA news agency reported, citing a police statement.

Iran’s foreign ministry summoned Germany’s ambassador to Tehran on Wednesday over remarks by German Chancellor supporting Israel’s attacks on the Islamic republic.

‘Following the shameful statements made by the German Chancellor in support of Tel Aviv’s aggression against our country, the country’s (Germany’s) ambassador was summoned to the foreign ministry,’ state TV reported.

Pictured: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz

Navigational data on Wednesday showed that at least two planes registered with Iran’s government have landed in Oman’s capital, which was the site of the U.S.-Iran nuclear talks.

Another plane, registered with Iran’s privately-owned Meraj Airlines, also landed in Muscat on Wednesday.

Al Jazeera verified the flight data.

The Iranian government has not released details on an official trip to Oman.

President Donald Trump’s former National Security Advisor Gen. Michael Flynn speculated that the Iranian presidential plane may be one of three Iranian aircraft that landed in Muscat.

Earlier as Trump was debuting new flagpoles being erected at the White House he suggested that the time for negotiations had passed – despite previously keeping a diplomatic option publicly open.

‘It’s already run out,’ he said of his patience. ‘They had 60 days … plenty of time, and they made a mistake.’

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres urged a diplomatic solution to the conflict between Israel and Iran.

He pleaded for all parties involved to ‘avoid any further internationalization of the conflict.’

Guterres released a statement Wednesday saying:

I remain profoundly alarmed by the ongoing military escalation in the Middle East between Israel and Iran. I reiterate my call for immediate de-escalation leading to a ceasefire.

In what appeared to be a plea for President Donald Trump not to get involved, the UN leader said:

Any additional military interventions could have enormous consequences, not only for those involved but for the whole region and for international peace and security at large.

Video footage posted online purports to show hackers breaching Iranian television and calling people to take to the streets against the regime.

English subtitles show the message partially reads: ‘The regime has failed to protect Iran’s airspace. It has failed in its offensive efforts. It has failed to provide your basic needs – including water and fuel.’

The Daily Mail has not independently verified the footage.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Journalists in Israel are actively capturing on video successful rocket interceptions on Wednesday.

Even in the light of day, footage shows the Irone Dome and other defense systems exploding over Tel Aviv as it neutralizes incoming rockets from Iran.

The back-and-forth attacks have continued since last week, when Israel targeted nuclear facilities and military infrastructure to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapon capabilities.

An Iranian official told Al Jazeera that terror branch Hezbollah will attack the U.S. if Trump authorizes strikes on nuclear sites:

Direct American entry into the line of confrontation with the Zionist entity means that Hezbollah will take action.

Any direct American involvement in the conflict will be met with an unprecedented threat to enemy ships.

Attacking naval targets and the deployment of enemy forces will become an option – if the U.S. enters the conflict.

As Donald Trump considers options for involvement in Israel’s war with Iran, one particular U.S. general has been in the president’s ear – and he’s getting what he wants.

READ MORE:

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Steve Bannon dramatically predicted that Donald Trump’s supporters will rally behind the president if he decides to blow up Iran’s mountain nuclear base.

It’s a massive flip from Trump’s former chief strategist who has in the past been adamantly opposed to strikes against Iran.

Bannon said that the MAGA movement will stand by Trump – even if they might not be fully on board with the idea of the U.S. backing Israel ‘s attacks on Iran.

‘If President Trump decides there’s not a diplomatic alternative… because he’s been consistent, no nuclear weapon,’ Bannon said during a Christian Science Monitor event on Wednesday.

He continued: ‘The vast majority of the MAGA movement will say, ‘look, we trust your judgment, you walked us through this… Maybe we hate it but, you know, we’ll get on board.”

The Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP), buried deep beneath the mountains near the holy city of Qom, is one of Iran’s most secretive and heavily fortified nuclear facilities.

Built in defiance of international pressure and revealed to the world only after Western intelligence agencies exposed its existence in 2009, the site was deliberately constructed far underground to shield it from aerial bombardment.

Enrichment centrifuges housed within its fortified chambers are capable of producing uranium at near-weapons-grade levels.

Access to the site is tightly controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and inspections by international observers have long been a flashpoint in negotiations.

So far, Israel has targeted multiple Iranian nuclear sites and has damaged the Natanz FEP. But Israeli security officials confirmed on Tuesday that the air force has not targeted Iran’s underground Fordow nuclear facility.

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi has said China is ‘deeply concerned’ that the conflict between Israel and Iran ‘may get out of control’.

According to the Chinese foreign ministry, Wang told his Egyptian counterpart in a phone call:

Israel’s acts of disregarding international law and international rules has caused the situation in the Middle East to suddenly become tense, and China is also deeply concerned that the situation may get out of control.

In a separate phone call with Oman’s foreign minister, Wang said the two countries ‘cannot sit idly by and let the region slide into an unknown abyss’.

Donald Trump claimed he told Vladimir Putin to ‘mediate your own’ as he dismissed his offer to act as a go-between in the Israel-Iran conflict.

Speaking earlier, Trump said he spoke to the Russian President on Tuesday and suggested he should secure peace in his own country before involving himself in the Middle East.

I spoke to Putin yesterday and he actually offered to help mediate. I said, ‘Do me a favor. Mediate your own. Let’s mediate Russia first. I said, Vladimir, let’s mediate Russia first. You can worry about this later.

Putin has pitched himself as a possible mediator between Israel and Iran as an opportunity to thrust himself to the forefront of the international stage, more than three years into his invasion of Ukraine.

CNN is reporting the USS Gerald R Ford is being deployed to Europe next week, meaning a third aircraft carrier will be in close proximity to the Middle East.

It has been reported the scheduled deployment has been planned since late last year.

Ford is likely move into eastern Mediterranean Sea, near Israel.

The US is already moving the USS Carl Vinson from Asia, where it normally patrols the South China Sea, to the Persian Gulf, directly south of Iran, to join its sister carrier USS Harry S. Truman.

The US Embassy in Israel announced that it is organising flights and cruises to evacuate American citizens from Israel.

Iranians have been struggling to log on to internet websites and messaging apps after the government apparently decided to restrict access over fears of Israeli cyberattacks.

Two companies Kentinc and Netblocks, which track internet connectivity, told NBC News that Iran’s connection dramatically fell yesterday.

Iranian spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said the government was forced to limit internet speed to maintain stability ‘given the enemy’s cyber attacks’.

On Tuesday, Iranian state television urged people to remove WhatsApp from their smartphones, alleging without specific evidence that the messaging app gathered user information to send to Israel.

In a statement, WhatsApp said it was ‘concerned these false reports will be an excuse for our services to be blocked at a time when people need them the most.’

President Donald Trump said he was considering whether the United States will join Israeli strikes on Iran Wednesday, as he said that Tehran had reached out to seek negotiations.

Speaking as he watched installation of a new flagpole at the White House, Trump added that his patience ‘had already run out’ with Iran and repeated his call for the Islamic Republic’s ‘unconditional surrender.’

‘I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do,’ Trump told reporters on the South Lawn when asked if he had decided whether to launch US air strikes.

‘I can tell you this, that Iran’s got a lot of trouble, and they want to negotiate.’

Trump said Iran had even suggested sending officials to the White House to negotiate on Tehran’s nuclear program to end Israel’s air assault, but added that it was ‘very late’.

‘I said it’s very late to be talking. We may meet. There’s a big difference between now and a week ago, right? Big difference,’ Trump added.

‘They’ve suggested that they come to the White House. That’s, you know, courageous, but it’s, like, not easy for them to do.’

Asked what he meant when he called in a social media post on Tuesday for Iran’s ‘UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!’, Trump again suggested that his patience had run out with Iran.

‘It’s very simple – unconditional surrender. That means I’ve had it, okay? I’ve had it. I give up, no more, we go and blow up all the nuclear stuff that’s all over the place,’ Trump said.

Three Iranian government planes were headed towards Oman today, according to publicly available flight data and Avi Scharf, the OSINT editor at Haaretz.

The planes took off from the south of Iran this afternoon, landing in Muscat, the capital.

Scharf said one of the planes was a presidential plane.

It was not clear what purpose the flights served. Until recently, Muscat was expected to host the U.S.-Iranian nuclear talks.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations has pushed back on Donald Trump’s claims they proposed coming to the White House for talks.

‘No Iranian official has ever asked to grovel at the gates of the White House,’ it said in a written statement.

‘The only thing more despicable than his lies is his cowardly threat to “take out” Iran’s Supreme Leader.’

‘Iran does NOT negotiate under duress, shall NOT accept peace under duress, and certainly NOT with a has-been warmonger clinging to relevance.

‘Iran shall respond to any threat with a counter-threat, and to any action with reciprocal measures.’

It was the first time the president addressed the media after an 80-minute Situation Room meeting with his top generals, national security and intelligence advisers Tuesday as Iran and Israel traded fire.

Trump also said that Iran’s leadership had reached out asking to come to the White House to strike a deal on their nuclear program.

He said simply that it is ‘too late’ for negotiations after Iran launched a five-day barrage of attacks on U.S. ally Israel.

An Israel strike targeted a building of the Iranian Red Crescent Society in Tehran, Iranian media including the official IRNA news agency reported on Wednesday.

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is the world’s largest humanitarian network.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) has been on the ground in Iran, ‘responding to humanitarian needs’, since the crisis erupted.

Resolute, Donald Trump just reiterated his call for ‘unconditional surrender’ from Iran – hours after the Supreme Leader of Iran said his country would ‘never’ back down.

‘Two words: “Unconditional surrender,”‘ he said on Wednesday afternoon.

He suggested after surrendering, ‘we’ would ‘go and blow up all the nuclear stuff that’s all over the place there’.

‘They had bad intentions, for 40 years they’ve been saying death to Israel, death to America, death to anyone else they didn’t like,’ he said.

‘They were bullies, schoolyard bullies and now they’re not bullies anymore, but we’ll see what happens.’

‘Nothing is finished until it’s finished. War is very complex. A lot of bad things can happen.’

‘The next week is going to be very big. Maybe less than a week.’

Trump added that he had told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ‘keep going’ with strikes, now in their sixth day.

Britain is said to be weighing up whether to provide military support to the United States if it decides to bomb Iran.

Ministers are later today expected to discuss what role the UK should play were the U.S. to decide to join Israel in its kinetic action against Tehran.

British military sources believe the U.S. would wish to use the Diego Garcia military base in the Indian Ocean as a staging post for operations, The Times reports.

In April, the United States moved six B-2 bombers, capable of delivering bunker busters like the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (GBU-57), which could Iran’s remaining nuclear sites in jeopardy.

Sir Keir Starmer will chair a meeting of the emergency Cobra committee on Wednesday to discuss the developing security situation in the Middle East.

FILE PHOTO: A B-2 Stealth Bomber flies over the Washington Monument at the National Mall, during the Independence Day celebrations in Washington DC on July 4, 2020

Donald Trump declined to speak on whether the United States would join with Israel in directly attacking Iran when pressed on Wednesday.

Asked whether the U.S. was moving closer to striking Iranian nuclear facilities, he said: ‘I can’t say that … You don’t seriously think I’m going to answer that question.’

‘You don’t know that I’m going to even do it. You don’t know. I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.

‘I can tell you this – Iran’s got a lot of trouble, and they want to negotiate. And I said, “Why didn’t you negotiate with me before – all this death and destruction. Why didn’t you negotiate?”

‘I said to the people, “Why didn’t you negotiate with me two weeks ago? You could have done fine. You would have had a country.”‘

Trump told reporters that Iran proposed coming to the White House for talks.

Donald Trump is speaking outside the White House as he unveils new flagpoles.

The President is speaking on domestic economics. It is unknown whether he will speak on Iran.

Israel claimed today to have destroyed Iran’s internal security headquarters in an aerial strike.

Israel Katz, the country’s defence minister, said on Wednesday: ‘The tornado continues to hit Tehran.’

‘Air Force jets have now destroyed the Iranian regime’s Internal Security Headquarters – the Iranian dictator’s central repressive arm.’

‘As we promised – we will continue to damage symbols of power and strike at the ayatollahs’ regime everywhere.’

AFP journalists in the region reported hearing blasts in the north and east of the Iranian capital.

Smoke billows above Tehran, Iran, following explosions in the capital on June 18, 2025

Both countries are vehemently opposed to one another and have scaled up their militaries with a view to ensuring their security in the event of an attack.

As such, Israeli and Iranian armed forces are well matched, but a few key discrepancies remain.

Iran enjoys a heavy advantage in terms of sheer manpower, boasting a collective active and reserve military of roughly 1.2 million troops as well as thousands upon thousands of artillery systems.

Israel meanwhile has around 750,000 active and military personnel at its disposal – but hundreds of thousands of these are already engaged in operations in and around Gaza, while others maintain a presence in the north to ward off border attacks from Hezbollah in Lebanon.

See our MailOnline graphic about how they compare on the battlefield:

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was reportedly moved to an underground bunker in Lavizan, a northerastern neighbourhood in Tehran, on Friday just hours after Israel launched its first attacks.

Iran International reported all members of Khamenei’s family including his son Mojtaba were with him at the time he was relocated.

He is believed to be holed up with his family, including his son, Mojtaba – who has been pegged as a potential successor to the ageing supreme leader.

Israel has already taken out top ranking officials including the chief of staff of the Iranian military and the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Chiefs (IRGC) since Friday.

Israeli media outlets are reporting the new airstrikes launched in Tehran this afternoon are close to where Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is hiding in an underground bunker.

Footage circulating on social media shows multiple blasts in Lavizan, a neighborhood in the eastern part of the capital where it is said the supreme leader could be seeking refuge.

Khamenei gave a televised address today to declare Tehran would ‘never surrender’ after U.S. president Donald Trump demanded an ‘unconditional’ exit from the conflict.

The fresh airstrikes have also reportedly struck Tehran’s Nobonyad Square, home to the headquarters of the Iranian Defense Ministry and several factories.

These pictures show Tehran is once again under attack as Israel launches new strikes in the Iranian capital.

The IDF has confirmed the Israeli Air Force is attacking military targets across the city with blasts heard at around 3.30pm local time (1pm UK time).

Israel will ease domestic restrictions imposed on its population due to the ongoing war with Iran and will ‘reopen its economy’, defence minister Israel Katz said today.

Under the changes small gatherings will be permitted and workplaces will be allowed to operate if an adequate shelter can be reached in time.

Schools remain closed nationwide until further notice.

The eased restrictions take effect from 6pm tonight and were ordered following an assessment by the IDF Home Front Command and Mr Katz.

‘While we continue our intense fight against Iran until the threats are removed, we will also reopen the economy, ease restrictions, and restore Israel to paths of creativity, activity, and security,’ Katz was quoted as saying in a statement.

The activity scale in most areas of the country has been adjusted from ‘essential activity’ to ‘limited activity,’ the Home Front Command says.

Sir Keir Starmer will chair a meeting of the emergency Cobra committee on Wednesday to discuss the security situation in the Middle East, the PA news agency is reporting.

The high-level meeting follows the Prime Minister’s return from the G7 summit in Canada at which he and other world leaders reiterated their “commitment to peace and stability” but stopped short of calling for a truce between Israel and Iran.

But reports have also suggested US President Donald Trump is considering joining Israeli action against Iran after he left the G7 summit a day early to meet with military chiefs.

Today’s Cobra meeting comes amid confusion over whether British nationals should remain in Israel after the Foreign Office withdrew family members of embassy staff from the country.

The Foreign Office said the withdrawal was temporary and a ‘precautionary measure’, with staff remaining at both the embassy in Tel Aviv and the consulate in Jerusalem.

A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said:

Our embassy in Tel Aviv and consulate in Jerusalem remain fully staffed and continue to provide consular services to those who require assistance.

But Downing Street would not say whether British nationals should attempt to leave the country.

JD Vance was captured on his phone after he emerged from the West Wing of the White House following a meeting with the National Security Council in the Situation Room.

Vance was pictured on Tuesday after he broke his silence about the military strikes on Iran, bracing supporters of President Donald Trump for possible American military action in the conflict.

The vice president weighed in as supporters of the MAGA movement raged against each other over Israel’s bombing campaign, as some suggested the president had been duped by ‘deep state’ operatives in the intelligence agencies to start a war in the Middle East and betraying his ‘American first’ agenda.

Vance appeared aware of the raging online debate, citing ‘a lot of crazy stuff on social media’ and urged Trump supporters to trust the president.

Relatives of staff working at the UK embassy in Tel Aviv and consulate in Jerusalem were ‘temporarily withdrawn as a precautionary measure’, the Foreign Office said, adding that staff at the mission remain.

The UK Government continues to advise British nationals in Israel to follow the advice of local authorities and remain near shelter, Downing Street has said.

A Number 10 spokesman said:

This is a fast moving situation. We are keeping all our advice under constant review and the FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) continues to plan for a variety of developments as you would expect.

The safety and security of British nationals is our top priority. Our key message to British nationals in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories is to follow the advice of local authorities on staying close to shelter.

The spokesman added that Foreign Office teams were present at the border with Jordan to help Britons with onward travel, but would not say that the Government was advising British nationals to leave Israel.

Multiple explosions were heard in the Iranian capital Tehran on Wednesday, AFP journalists said, with black smoke seen rising in the east.

The series of blasts was heard shortly before 3:30pm local time (1pm UK time), on the sixth day of the most intense exchange of fire between arch-foes Iran and Israel.

The IDF has confirmed the Israeli Air Force is attacking Iranian regime military targets in Tehran.

Reporters on social media say the blasts are taking place in the Lavizan neighbourhood in the eastern part of the capital.

This is a breaking news post and will be updated

Iranian police said on Wednesday they had arrested a suspect in Alborz Province after stopping a truck and seizing ‘several small suicide drones’.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed earlier today to have seized 127kg of explosives in the Navvab area of Tehran.

Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Wednesday called Iran to resume talks over its nuclear programme as the conflict between Israel and the Islamic republic raged.

Wadephul said he had delivered the message to his Iranian counterpart in a phone call on Monday together with the French and British foreign ministers and the European Union’s chief diplomat.

‘We, the E3 states, remain ready to negotiate a solution,’ Wadephul said, with reference to the European grouping of Britain, France and Germany.

‘Iran must now act urgently,’ he said, calling for ‘verifiable and confidence-building measures’, such as a commitment from the government in Tehran not to pursue nuclear weapons capabilities.

‘It is never too late to come to the negotiating table if you come with honest intentions,’ Wadephul said in a press conference alongside the Jordanian foreign minister.

President Donald Trump’s emergency command aircraft was caught making a mysterious flight from Louisiana to a military base in Maryland on Tuesday.

The Boeing E-4 ‘Nightwatch’, also known as the ‘Doomsday plane,’ serves as a flying command post for key officials during times of crisis, particularly designed to survive a nuclear attack and coordinate military actions.

The craft took off from Shreveport at 5:56pm ET, traveled along the coast, looped around the border of Virginia and North Carolina, before landing at Joint Base Andrews at 10:01pm.

The flight lasted over four hours, sparking speculation online about its purpose.

Some observers believe the mission may be linked to increased presidential security amid rising fears of nuclear escalation in the Middle East.

Read more here:

Russia has warned that ‘we are millimetres away from catastrophe’ due to ongoing Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

‘Every day, several times a day, missile strikes are carried out on nuclear facilities of peaceful civilian infrastructure in Iran, which are under the control of IAEA observers who are there,’ Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told reporters today.

‘We must now … understand that we are millimeters away from catastrophe.’

Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva earlier slammed states for not condemning Israeli acts which he said exposed people to the risk of hazardous leaks.

‘The deliberate targeting of Iran’s nuclear facilities not only constitutes a grave violation of international law and U.N. Charter but also risks exposition of all people in our neighbourhood to possible hazardous leak,’ said Ali Bahreini, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva.

This is not an act of war against our country, it is war against humanity.’

Israel’s foreign minister posted a letter on X on Wednesday that he said he has sent to the head of the UN Security Council and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

In the letter, Gideon Sa’ar argues that Israel had no choice but to attack Iran after ‘decades’ of what he called ‘clandestine acts of hostility’.

The letter, dated June 17, claims that Israel’s Operation Rising Lion was launched following ‘a critical development in Iran’s nuclear weapons programme and aimed also at thwarting the imminent threat of additional Iranian missile and proxy attacks’.

Sa’ar claimed that Iran had ‘systematically’ deceived the international community and obstructed IAEA safeguards.

‘Rather than complying with its obligations,’ he wrote, ‘Iran responded with a further escalation by expanding its enrichment and other activities to obtain nuclear weapons.’

‘It is not merely rhetoric. Iran has a strategic plan to eliminate Israel, which includes concrete plans and actions to achieve this goal,’ he insisted.

Shops remain shuttered in Tehran’s historic Grand Bazaar

Tehran’s streets are empty, with businesses closed and communications patchy at best.

With no bona fide bomb shelters open to the public, panicked masses spend restless nights on the floors of metro stations as strikes boom overhead.

No air raid sirens went off as Israeli strikes began pounding Tehran before dawn Friday. For many, it was an early sign civilians would have to go it alone.

On Monday U.S. President Donald Trump told the roughly 10 million people living in Iran’s capital to evacuate ‘immediately’, sparking fears of intensifying attacks.

So what is life like for residents?

The Associated Press interviewed five people in Iran over the phone. All spoke either on the condition of anonymity or only allowed their first names to be used, for fear of retribution from the state against them or their families.

Shirin, 49, who lives in the southern part of Tehran, said every call or text to friends and family in recent days has felt like it could be the last. ‘We don’t know if tomorrow we will be alive,’ she said.

One student, a refugee from another country, said she spent 12 hours in the station with her relatives.

Everyone there was panicking because of the situation. Everyone doesn’t know what will happen next, if there is war in the future and what they should do. People think nowhere is safe for them.

A 29-year-old woman, who left the capital on Monday, has told how Iran’s leaders had failed to keep them safe.

It’s a kind of failing of the past that they didn’t build shelters. Even though we’ve been under the shadow of a war, as long as I can remember.

Israel claimed to have hit 1,100 Iranian targets over five days of conflict on Wednesday.

Military spokesperson Effie Defrin said at a news conference today that Israel was ‘operating systematically to neutralise the nuclear threat’.

‘The Air Force is operating freely in Iran – this is unprecedented,’ he said.

The military shared footage of what appeared to be an air strike in Iran.

The Israeli army, meanwhile, said in a post on X that the Air Force had struck ‘more than 40 missile infrastructures aimed at the State of Israel, missile storage sites, and military operatives of the Iranian regime’ this morning.

Vladimir Putin is eyeing the conflict between Israel and Iran as an opportunity to thrust himself to the forefront of the international stage, more than three years into his invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian president has pitched himself as a possible mediator – though Moscow’s closeness to Iran and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine raise doubts about what kind of role he can play, experts say.

The assault on Ukraine and the war in Gaza have strained Moscow’s traditionally good relations with Israel, home to a large Russian-born community.

At the same time, Russia has deepened military ties with Iran.

But while Moscow was quick to condemn Israel’s strikes on Iran last Friday, Putin also wasted little time phoning both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to offer his role as a peacemaker.

Nicole Grajewski, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said:

By positioning itself as an indispensable intermediary, Moscow aims to reassert diplomatic relevance despite its pariah status in Europe

Russia also wants to protect its ally Tehran, facing a potentially existential military clash.

She added:

Russia does not want to see regime change in Iran, especially if it results in a pro-Western government

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has warned that direct U.S. military assistance to Israel could radically destabilise the situation in the Middle East.

Ryabkov was quoted by the Interfax news agency on Wednesday as saying that Russia cautions the U.S. against supplying such assistance to Israel – or even considering it.

He said Moscow was in contact with both Israel and Iran.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made a televised address to the nation

Iran’s supreme leader told his people on Wednesday that Tehran would ‘never surrender’ after U.S. president Donald Trump demanded an ‘unconditional’ exit from the conflict, now in its sixth day.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised address that Iran would ‘stand firm against an imposed war, just as it will stand firm against an imposed peace’, according to the Tasnim news agency.

‘This nation will not surrender to anyone in the face of imposition,’ he said in his first televised comments since Israel launched its surprise attack on Friday.

Khamenei also alluded to Trump’s recent statements, saying that ‘intelligent people who know Iran, the Iranian nation, and its history will never speak to this nation in threatening language’.

‘The Americans should know that any US military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage,’ he added.

Khamenei said that Israel had made a ‘huge mistake’ with its campaign, promising that they will be ‘punished’.

Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian has urged the country to remain united behind the regime following talks with his cabinet earlier today.

In remarks carried by the Tasnim news agency, Pezeshkian said:

If the people stand with us, no problem will endanger the country, and for this reason, it is essential that all actions aim to preserve national unity. I believe that with national cohesion and unity, we will overcome any crisis.

It comes as Iran’s exiled Crown Prince called on citizens to rise up and ‘reclaim’ their country.

Reza Pahlavi, son of the last Shah of Iran, said in a video statement on Tuesday: ‘The Islamic Republic has reached its end and is in the process of collapsing.’

Israel could look to topple the elusive nuclear facility ‘Fordow’ with a daring commando raid, a former researcher for Israel’s ministry of defence has suggested.

Ehud Eilam told the Wall Street Journal that Israel might turn back to more covert means to cripple the facility, built an estimated 80-90 metres underground.

Israel could otherwise carry out a cyberattack or targeted assassinations to weaken the site, believed to be out of reach for Israel’s bunker busters.

The alternative – without the support of heavy American bombers – would be to send a large number of smaller penetrator bombs to hack away at the reinforcements around the compound, Eilam suggested.

The Iranian Fars news agency reported yesterday that a cyberattack had disrupted Iran’s Bank Sepah. An Israeli-linked group later claimed responsibility.

Earlier this week, Israeli officials cryptically promised a ‘surprise’ on Thursday night similar to its pager attack on Hezbollah leadership, though it remains unclear what that might look like.

The Fordow nuclear facility in Iran

Iran will respond ‘strongly’ to any aggression from either Israel or Washington, Tehran’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva said Wednesday.

‘We will respond strongly and we will stop aggression from any side, be it Israel or the United States,’ Ali Bahreini told a press conference.

‘And we have given a message to the United States that we will respond very firmly and will stop the aggression by anybody – including the United States,’ he said.

Iran said early Wednesday that it fired hypersonic missiles at Israel in the latest round of overnight strikes between the arch foes.

Bahreini also criticised the attitude of Western and European nations.

‘When you look at the positions of different countries, Western countries, European countries, not only they are not condemning the attacks and aggression, they are trying to justify the aggression,’ he said.

Pictured: Israeli strikes on Tehran as hostilities continue to escalate

Israeli gunfire and strikes killed at least 30 people across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, local health authorities said, as some Palestinians there said their plight was being forgotten as attention shifted to the air war between Israel and Iran.

The deaths included the latest in near daily killings of Palestinians seeking aid in the three weeks since Israel partially lifted a total blockade on Gaza that it had imposed for almost three months.

Medics said separate airstrikes on homes in the Maghazi refugee camp and Zeitoun neighbourhood in central and northern Gaza killed at least 14 people, while five others were killed in an airstrike on a tent encampment in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Eleven others were killed in Israeli fire at crowds of displaced Palestinians awaiting aid trucks brought in by the United Nations along the Salahuddin road in central Gaza, medics said.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was looking into the reported deaths of people waiting for food.

Palestinians children mourn their father during his funeral in Gaza City on Wednesday

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has sent out some eerie messages as US President Donald Trump continues to weigh his options on the ongoing war between the Iranian regime and Israel.

In an X post on Tuesday night, Khamenei shared a disturbing image showing balls of fire raining down on an ancient city.

‘In the name of the noble Haidar, the battle begins,’ he wrote in Farsi, referring to Ali – whom Shia Muslims consider the first Imam and the rightful successor to the prophet Mohammed.

Read the full story here:

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will speak in a televised address to be aired shortly, Iran’s state media reported on Wednesday.

Khamenei’s last appearance was on Friday shortly after Israel attacked Iran.

Israel and Iran have exchanged attacks for a sixth consecutive day as President Donald Trump considers whether to join the conflict by lending American support to Israel.

If you’re just joining us this morning, here’s what you need to know:

• U.S. officials have indicated that Iran has 24 to 48 hours to surrender and save itself from an American military onslaught as President Trump weighs up whether to join Israeli strikes
• Despite Trump’s threats, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei supreme leader has vowed to show ‘no mercy’ against Israel
• The Iranian foreign ministry also warned American intervention in the Middle East would be ‘a recipe for all-out war in the region’
• It comes as thousands of people fled Tehran and other major Iranian cities as Iran and Israel launched new missile strikes at each other overnight.
• Israel has reported no-one has died as a result of the latest attacks which includes 10 missiles it intercepted early this morning
• The first aircraft carrying Israelis stranded abroad since the conflict broke out landed at Ben Gurion Airport today as citizens look to return to their homes
• The UN’s nuclear watchdog said two centrifuge production facilities – machines used to enrich uranium – in Iran had been hit in strikes

Stick with us throughout the day as we bring you the latest developments.