LIVE: Iran’s leader ‘cannot continue to exist’

An Israeli military official has said it was a ‘mistake’ for a spokesperson to say Israel had struck the Bushehr nuclear site in Iran.

The official would only confirm that Israel had hit the Natanz, Isfahan and Arak nuclear sites in Iran.

Pressed further on Bushehr, the official said he could neither confirm or deny that Israel had struck the location, where Iran has a reactor.

The potential consequences of an attack on the plant — contaminating the air and water — have long been a concern in the Gulf states.

Qatar’s prime minister, in March, warned that an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities would ‘entirely contaminate’ the waters of the Gulf and threaten life in Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait.

David inspected the damage caused by missiles in Ramat Gan earlier today

David Patrikarakos, the Daily Mail’s Special Correspondent, is reporting on the Israel-Iran conflict from Tel Aviv.

Here’s what he had to say following the Iranian missile strikes this morning:

I was awoken this morning by an air raid siren plus an automated Hebrew voice informing me I needed to get to an air raid shelter immediatelty. Shortly after I felt thuds and my room shook very slightly so I knew the missiles had got through.

An hour later I was at the crash site, the Ramat Gan neighbourhood in central Tel Aviv. I saw a tangle of residential buildings, one totally destroyed more or less and another skyscraper seems to be badly damaged.The ground was littered with glass. Emergency services cordoned off the area and were pushing people back.

What remains clear to me today is that Isarel ahs master of he Iranian skies, Israel is deploying its air defences highly effectively but Iranian missiles are still getting through and still striking in the very heart of Israel’s premier city.

This war has a long way to go.

The US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack has warned Lebanese group Hezbollah against getting involved in the war between its main backer Iran and Israel.

Barrack, who is also the US ambassador to Turkey, is on his first visit to Beirut, where he met top Lebanese officials including parliament speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah.

‘I can say on behalf of President (Donald) Trump… that would be a very, very, very bad decision,’ Barrack said after his meeting with Berri, responding to a question on what the US position would be on any involvement by Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in the war.

The group condemned Israel’s strikes on Iran when the conflict erupted on Friday, but did not announce its intention to intervene in support of Tehran.

Hezbollah suffered devastating losses in its war against Israel last year, which ended with a ceasefire agreement in November.

A seven-year-old Ukrainian girl who came to Israel to receive cancer treatment was among those killed in an Iranian missile strike in Bat Yam this week.

Nastia Borik and three of her family members; her grandmother, Lena Peshkurova, 60; and her two cousins, Konstantin Totvich, 9, and Ilya Peshkurov, 13, all died in the explosion at an apartment building.

The Times of Israel reported Nastia came to Israel in 2022 to receive life-saving treatment for leukemia.

According to the Ynet news site, her father, Artem, is in Ukraine fighting in the war against Russia, and is unable to leave the country to be with his family amid the conflict.

Israel has declared it has struck Iran’s only functioning nuclear power plant on the Gulf coast, potentially a major escalation in its air war against Iran.

Israel has struck a number of Iranian nuclear targets since launching its attacks last week.

But a strike on the Bushehr plant, which is located near Iran’s Arab Gulf neighbours and employs technicians from Russia, would be widely be seen as a big step.

An Israeli military spokesperson said its forces have struck nuclear sites in Bushehr, Isfahan, and Natanz, and continued to target additional facilities.

Bushehr is Iran’s only operating nuclear power plant. It uses Russian fuel that Russia then takes back when it is spent to reduce proliferation risk.

This is the moment Israel blew up an Iranian water reactor used for nuclear development.

Footage shared by the IDF shows a strike being carried out at the facility in the Iranian city of Arak.

According to the IDF, the reactor is designed to produce plutonium, a material used to make nuclear weapons.

Iranian state media said the site was evacuated before the attack was carried out and poses no radiation danger.

Watch the footage below:

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have made fresh calls for a ‘diplomatic solution’ to resolve the conflict between Israel and Iran.

The leaders strongly condemned Israeli attacks following a phone call, according to the Kremlin.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters:

‘Both sides adhere to identical approaches, strongly condemn Israel’s actions,’ adding that Moscow and Beijing believed the end to the hostilities ‘should be achieved exclusively by political and diplomatic means’.

The Kremlin also confirmed Putin will visit China later this year for a regional summit and commemorations marking 80 years since the end of World War II in Asia.

Israel began pounding Iran on June 13, in a conflict that has the world holding its breath because of fears it could rapidly escalate and drag Britain and the US in.

The IDF’s blistering aerial assault – codenamed ‘Operation Rising Lion’ – has targeted dozens of key nuclear sites, military bases and surface-to-air missile launchers. Oil and gas infrastructure have also been hit, as well as Iran’s state news broadcaster, which was struck while live on air.

Among the eliminated are nuclear scientists and senior Iranian commanders, including the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – an elite wing of Tehran’s military.

See MailOnline’s maps and graphics showing EVERY strike so far:

Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz has said Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ‘can no longer be allowed to exist’.

Speaking in Holon, one of the Israeli cities bombarded with Iranian missiles earlier today, Katz is said to have described Khamenei as a ‘modern Hitler’.

Katz said:

Khamenei openly declares that he wants Israel destroyed – he personally gives the order to fire on hospitals. He considers the destruction of the state of Israel to be a goal. Such a man can no longer be allowed to exist.

Katz previously said Khamenei could face a similar fate to former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein who was executed after his government was ovethrown in 2003.

Israel could attempt to damage or destroy Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility by deploying a team of special forces if the US is unwilling to deploy its ‘bunker-busting’ bombs, an official has claimed.

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.

Enrichment centrifuges housed within its secured chambers are capable of producing uranium at near-weapons-grade levels, and access to the site is tightly controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

MailOnline’s Chief Foreign Reporter David Averre has the full story here:

Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian has insisted the country ‘will get through these difficult days’ as he made an address on social media,

Pezeshkian also reiterated his earlier calls for solidarity after previously asking Iranians to remain united during the conflict.

In a post on X, he said:

Dear people of Iran! All ministries and government agencies are tasked with providing all their capabilities and resources, with your patience and support. By the grace of God and with the help of empathy and solidarity, we will get through these difficult and difficult days.

Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) rescue agency has updated the number of people injured to 129 following the Iranian missile salvo this morning.

Israeli media outlets report 89 people were hurt after strikes in Ramat Gan and Holon, while 40 have been injured in Beersheba where Soroka Hospital was struck.

Three people have sustained serious injuries.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said there are no ‘radiological effects’ after Iran’s Khondab heavy water research reactor was struck by Israel.

Iranian state media had previously reported the site was evacuated before the attack and there was no danger from radiation.

Evacuees from Israel disembark from a plane in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia

Governments around the world are evacuating thousands of their nationals caught up in the rapidly spiralling Israel-Iran conflict, organising buses and planes and in some cases assisting people crossing borders on foot.

Foreigners have rushed to leave both countries after Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign last Friday targeting Iran’s nuclear and military facilities, sparking retaliation from Tehran.

With Israel’s air space closed and the two countries exchanging heavy missile fire, many people are being evacuated via neighbouring countries.

European countries have already repatriated hundreds of their citizens from Israel.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia said Tuesday they had taken 181 people home on government planes.

The German government said flights were scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday via Jordan, while Poland said the first of its citizens were due to arrive back on Wednesday.

Greece said it had repatriated 105 of its citizens plus a number of foreign nationals via Egypt, while a private plane with 148 people landed in the Bulgarian capital Sofia on Tuesday.

• United States

The US ambassador to Israel on Wednesday announced plans for evacuating Americans by air and sea. The embassy is ‘working on evacuation flights & cruise ship departures’ for ‘American citizens wanting to leave Israel,’ Ambassador Mike Huckabee posted on social media.

China has evacuated more than 1,600 citizens from Iran and several hundred more from Israel. The Chinese foreign ministry said Thursday its ’embassies and consulates will continue to make every effort to assist in the safe transfer and evacuation of Chinese citizens’.

Australia has started evacuating around 1,500 citizens from Iran and more than 1,200 from Israel – but missile barrages have made it too risky for civilian aircraft to land in either country, its foreign minister said.

Pakistan has shut its border crossings with neighbouring Iran, except to Pakistanis wanting to return home. Around 1,000 Pakistanis have fled so far, including at least 200 students. The foreign ministry said the families of diplomats and some non-essential staff from Iran had been evacuated.

Around 110 students who fled Iran over the land border with Armenia have landed in New Delhi, a foreign ministry spokesperson said Thursday. There are around 10,000 Indian citizens in Iran. In Israel there are around 30,000 Indians, according to the country’s embassy in New Delhi.

Japan has ordered military planes to be on standby for around 1,000 Japanese nationals believed to live in Israel, and around 280 in Iran, according to government ministers. The Japanese embassies in Iran and Israel are preparing to use buses to evacuate citizens to neighbouring countries, a government spokesman said, as the war entered its seventh day.

Indonesia is preparing to evacuate around 380 of its citizens currently in Iran by land, Jakarta’s foreign minister said Thursday.

Vietnam, which has more than 700 citizens in Israel and dozens in Iran, said it was working to ensure their safety. The foreign ministry said Thursday that 18 Vietnamese from Iran were evacuated, 16 of whom returned to Vietnam. It did not provide further information on evacuations from Israel.

• Philippines

The Philippines is preparing to repatriate 28 Israel-based Filipino workers out of 178 who asked for help, the Department of Migrant Workers secretary Hans Cacdac said Thursday. At least 21 Philippine government officials have also crossed into Jordan by land from Israel since the conflict began, the foreign ministry said.

Iran has accused the UN’s nuclear watchdog of acting as a ‘partner’ in what it described as Israel’s ‘war of aggression’.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) accused Iran in a report prior to the start of the Iran-Israel war of non-compliance with its obligations in its nuclear programme.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei wrote on X, in a post addressed to the head of the agency, Rafael Grossi:

You betrayed the non-proliferation regime; You’ve made IAEA a partner to this unjust war of aggression.

If you’re just joining us this morning, Israel and Iran have again traded missile attacks while Donald Trump has reportedly approved plans to join the conflict but is yet to give the go ahead.

Here’s what you need to know this morning

• An Iranian missile has struck a hospital in southern Israel and caused ‘extensive’ damage after a number of Israeli cities were attacked this morning
• Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran will ‘pay a heavy price’ following the strike at the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba
• Israel has reported 65 people have been injured following missile strikes in a number of cities including Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Holon with some buildings destroyed as a result
• Meanwhile Israel has attacked Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor and a nuclear weapons development site in the area of Natanz
• Iranian state media there was ‘no radiation danger whatsoever’ and that the Arak facility had already been evacuated before the attack
• Iran’s deputy foreign minister has warned the US should not intervene in conflict or it will ‘teach aggressors a lesson’ while Hezbollah said any plot to assassinate supreme leader Ali Khamenei would have ‘disastrous consequences’
• It comes as Donald Trump 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
• The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump looked over the plans to go after the Fordow enrichment facility

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

Iran’s state news agency (IRNA) is reporting the main target of a missile attack which struck an Israeli hospital was a nearby IDF base used for military intelligence.

According to the IRNA, the strike was intended for Gav-Yam Negev technology park, which is less than a mile from Soroka Medical Center in Bersheeba.

It reported:

The principal target of the attack was the vast command and intelligence base of Israel’s army (IDF C4i) and the campus of their military intelligence, located in the Gav-Yam technology park, next to Soroka hospital in Be’er Sheva.

The technology park’s website describes itself as ‘Israel’s most advanced center of research and development… adjacent to the Ben Gurion University campus and the IDF C4i Branch campus.’ C4i directorate is the IDF’s elite technological unit.

According to its website, the park connects ‘veterans of the IDF’s elite technological units, graduates of Ben Gurion University, the high-tech industry’.

Hezbollah has declared any plot to assassinate Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would have ‘disastrous consequences’ in a new statement released today.

The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group and political party has not joined the fighting against Israel since it started striking Iran on Friday but has condemned its actions.

It released a new statement after Israel launched strikes in the Tehran neighbourhood where Khamenei is thought to be hiding in an underground bunker.

Threats to assassinate [Khamenei] are foolish and reckless, and will have disastrous consequences… Merely uttering them is an offense to hundreds of millions of believers and those connected to Islam, and it is utterly reprehensible. Today, we are more determined and united around him.

It’s name – Ḥizb Allah – means ‘Party of God’, and since the 2000s it has become one of the foremost political forces in Lebanon and by far the strongest military force. It is designated a terrorist group by the US, UK and Israel.

Russia has issued another warning to the United States over a possible intervention in the Iran-Israel conflict.

Assisting Israel in the war would mark a ‘terrible spiral of escalation’, Interfax news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Thursday.

It comes after Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned that the world was ‘millimetres from catastrophe’.

President Vladimir Putin said today that a deal to guarantee both Israel’s security and Iran’s desire for a civilian nuclear programme was possible.

‘I believe it would be good for all of us together to look for ways to stop the fighting and seek ways for the participants in the conflict to find an agreement,’ he told foreign journalists at a televised event.

He said Iran had not asked Russia for military help.

Only the United States has the clout to engage Israel and Iran in negotiations as the two countries continue to trade air attacks, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said today.

Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of an energy conference in Athens, Mitsotakis said:

Europe alone does not have the necessary influence to bring the parties concerned to the (negotiation) table. Only the United States can do that. So I think it is up to the President of the United States to decide which path to take.

Tomorrow, the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain plan to hold nuclear talks with their Iranian counterpart in Geneva, it has been reported.

French President Emmanuel Macron is said to be spearheading a European proposal to help resolve the conflict.

The US Embassy in Israel, which is based in Jerusalem, has continued to warn its staff and their families to shelter in place following the Iranian missile barrage today.]

In a statement it said:

As a result of the current security situation and ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran, the US Embassy directed all U.S. government employees and their family members to continue to shelter in place until further notice.

It added that the Department of State is planning for contingencies to assist with private US citizens’ departure from Israel, and will alert US citizens to potential departure options.

The Israeli Air Force assassinated senior Hezbollah commander Muhammad Ahmed Kharis in an overnight strike on Lebanon, the military said in a statement.

It earlier reported that Yassin Izz a-Din, a rocket artillery unit commander, was also killed.

He had launched numerous rocket attacks on northern Israel and was involved in ‘attempts to restore Hezbollah’s artillery forces,’ the IDF said.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister warned against any direct US involvement in the conflict between Israel and Iran, saying Iran had ‘all the necessary options on the table’, in comments reported by Iranian state media.

‘If the US wants to actively intervene in support of Israel, Iran will have no other option but to use its tools to teach aggressors a lesson and defend itself… our military decision-makers have all necessary options on the table,’ Kazem Gharibabadi said, according to state media.

‘Our recommendation to the US is to at least stand by if they do not wish to stop Israel’s aggression,’ he said.

Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) rescue agency has said 65 people have been injured in Iranian missile attack on central Israel.

Three people are in serious condition, and two are in moderate condition, an MDA spokesperson said in as statement, adding that ‘an additional 42 people sustained minor injuries from shrapnel and blast trauma, and 18 civilians were injured while running to shelter’.

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

Strikes have taken place in Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Holon and Bersheeba where Soroka Hospital was struck.

Medical staff work at Soroka Medical Center following a missile strike from Iran

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.’

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.

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.

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.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has responded to Iran’s attack on Soroka Hospital in the south of the country.

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.

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.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump looked over the plans to go after the Fordow enrichment facility.

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.

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

Here’s what you need to know this morning:

• An Iranian missile has struck a hospital in southern Israel and caused ‘extensive’ damage after a number of Israeli cities were attacked this morning
• Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran will ‘pay a heavy price’ following the strike at the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba
• Israel has reported 65 people have been injured following missile strikes in a number of cities including Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Holon with some buildings destroyed as a result
• Meanwhile Israel has attacked Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor and a nuclear weapons development site in the area of Natanz
• Iranian state media there was ‘no radiation danger whatsoever’ and that the Arak facility had already been evacuated before the attack
• Iran’s deputy foreign minister has warned the US should not intervene in conflict or it will ‘teach aggressors a lesson’ while Hezbollah said any plot to assassinate supreme leader Ali Khamenei would have ‘disastrous consequences’

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.

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.

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.

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.

Iran activated its air defense systems over Tehran in the early hours of Thursday morning

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

The Israeli forces issued an urgent warning for residents near the Arak nuclear complex in central Iran to evacuate ahead of an imminent strike.

Israel’s air strikes have already targeted Iran’s nuclear site at Natanz, centrifuge workshops around Tehran and a nuclear site in Isfahan.

Meanwhile several explosions have been heard over Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as air alerts were activated from central to northern Israel as a new wave of Iranian missiles targeted the country.

Israeli media are reporting at least four missile impact sites in Israel.

Hello and welcome to MailOnline’s live coverage of the Iran-Israel conflict as it enters its seventh day.

Iran and Israel have traded more attacks overnight.

Israeli forces issued an urgent warning for residents near the Arak nuclear complex in central Iran to evacuate ahead of an imminent strike, while explosions have been heard over Tel Aviv and Jerusalem following a wave of Iranian missiles.

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

Meanwhile Donald Trump has reportedly approved plans for a U.S. attack with the American military poised to join the fight ‘in the coming days’.

Stick with us throughout the day as we bring you the latest developments across the Middle East including the most eye-catching pictures and videos.