LIVE: Huge Iranian missile strike hits Israeli city

The Israeli military in its latest war update says it has attacked Hezbollah military sites and rocket launchers in southern Lebanon.

In the update, it claimed Hezbollah had been ‘trying to restore its activity at these sites’, which was a ‘violation’ of the ceasefire agreement.

It comes after Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem offered ‘all forms of support’ to Iran in its fight against Israel and the US, in a speech delivered on Thursday night.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir says Israelis must prepare for a ‘prolonged campaign’ against Iran in order to ‘eliminate a threat of this magnitude.’

In a video statement, Zamir said that Iran has been ‘building for years a clear plan to destroy the State of Israel’ and that in recent months, ‘the plan reached the point of no return, where the capabilities reached operational capability.’

‘We launched the campaign when Iran possessed around 2,500 ground-to-ground missiles, with a high production rate, such that within approximately two years, they were expected to possess around 8,000 missiles,’ he said.

Zamir added that Iran’s ballistic missile efforts, proxies in the Middle East, and nuclear advancements, ‘compelled us to strike and deliver a preemptive blow.’

‘The IDF will not stand by and watch as threats develop. As part of an emerging doctrine, we will act proactively and in advance to prevent an existential threat and to face any challenge,’ he said.

In its latest update, the Israeli air force says it attacked three surface-to-surface missile launchers in western Iran that were ‘ready to fire’ overnight.

It added that a remotely piloted aircraft attacked and killed a squad of Iranian soldiers on the move during the operation, including a commander of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) base in western Iran.

Israeli’s military chief Eyal Zamir said Friday that his country should be ‘ready for a prolonged campaign’ against Iran, as the longtime foes exchanged fire for the eighth day.

‘We have embarked on the most complex campaign in our history to remove a threat of such magnitude, against such an enemy. We must be ready for a prolonged campaign,’ Zamir said in a video statement to Israelis, adding that ‘the campaign is not over. Although we have made significant achievements, difficult days still lie ahead.’

The United States has issued new Iran-related sanctions today as it takes aim at the procurement of machinery for the country’s defence industry.

The U.S. Treasury Department said it was targeting an individual and eight entities over their roles in the sourcing and transshipment of ‘sensitive machinery for Iran’s defense industry.’

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement:

The United States remains resolved to disrupt any effort by Iran to procure the sensitive, dual-use technology, components, and machinery that underpin the regime’s ballistic missile, unmanned aerial vehicle, and asymmetric weapons programs.

He added that Treasury would continue to target Iran’s ability to make and proliferate such weapons, ‘which threaten regional stability and global security.’

Iranian authorities have arrested a European man suspected of espionage, it has been reported.

According to Iran’s Tasnim news agency, the tourist was detained in southwestern Iran, though his nationality and the date of arrest has not been disclosed.

The news agency said:

A European citizen who sought to spy on sensitive areas of the country. He had been visiting the country as a tourist at the time of the brutal attack by the Zionist regime.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has declared Haifa’s Al-Jarina mosque was struck by an Iranian missile, causing injuries to Muslim clerics and worshippers at prayer.

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar later shared a similar message on social media, adding that ‘the Iranian regime is targeting Muslim, Christian and Jewish civilians, as well as civilian sites. These are war crimes.’

A military official said that 20 missiles were launched towards Israel in the latest Iranian salvo.

In Haifa, at least 19 people were injured by missiles, one of whom was said to be seriously wounded.

Satellite image shows the Bushehr plant in southern Iran

Countries across the Middle East have expressed fears in the event Israel strikes the Bushehr nuclear plant in Iran.

Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), warned the region could face nuclear catastrophe if Bushehr is attacked.

Mr Grossi told the UN Security Council that he has not yet detected radiation resulting from Israel’s week-long military campaign against Iran, including attacks on nuclear sites.

But he said that a strike on Bushehr – the Middle East’s first civilian nuclear reactor, which so far appears to have been spared – would spell the most serious consequences as it contains thousands of kilograms of nuclear material.

Countries of the region have reached out directly to me over the past few hours to express their concerns, and I want to make it absolutely and completely clear – in case of an attack on the Bushehr nuclear power plant, a direct hit would result in a very high release of radioactivity.

Thousands of people rallied in Tehran, Baghdad and Beirut after weekly prayers to protest Israel’s strikes on Iran, chanting slogans against Israel and its main backer, the United States.

Images on Iran’s state television showed protesters in Tehran holding up photographs of commanders killed since the start of the war, while others waved the flags of Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

‘This is the Friday of the Iranian nation’s solidarity and resistance across the country,’ the news anchor said.

‘I will sacrifice my life for my leader,’ read a protester’s banner, referring to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

According to state television, protests took place in other cities around the country, including in Tabriz in northwestern Iran and Shiraz in the south.

Israeli military said it carried out a fresh wave of attacks across Iran today, targeting missile launchers in the southwest of the country.

‘A short while ago, the Israeli Air Force struck surface-to-air missile batteries in southwestern Iran,’ it said in a statement.

Other attacks on Friday targeted the capital Tehran, the central city of Isfahan and western areas of the country.

The head of the UN atomic watchdog warned Friday that an Israeli strike on Iran’s southern nuclear plant of Bushehr could trigger a regional disaster, adding that radiation had not yet been detected in the conflict.

‘Countries of the region have reached out directly to me over the past few hours to express their concerns, and I want to make it absolutely and completely clear – in case of an attack on the Bushehr nuclear power plant, a direct hit would result in a very high release of radioactivity,’ Rafael Grossi told the UN Security Council.

The Israeli military says it has struck ‘military infrastructure’ in southwestern Iran.

The UN’s nuclear watchdog has guaranteed it would be able to perform ‘watertight’ nuclear inspections in any Iran deal as foreign representatives meet in the hope of getting talks back on course.

IAEA Director General Grossi warned of possible chemical and radioactive contamination at Natanz nuclear facility and urged maximum restraint on attacking nuclear sites.

A strike on Iran’s Bushehr plant would create a nuclear disaster, he said.

The comments came as Iranian air defences activated in Bushehr, in southern Iran, according to the semi-official news channel YCJ news, run by state broadcaster Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.

The UK has withdrawn its embassy staff from Iran, following in the footsteps of other European nations as well as Australia and New Zealand amid the conflict with Israel.

In a statement, the Foreign Office said:

Due to the current security situation, we have taken the precautionary measure to temporarily withdraw our UK staff from Iran. Our embassy continues to operate remotely.

On the eighth day of the war between Iran and Israel, the UK Government said it continues to call for de-escalation between the two sides.

But the statement added:

We take the protection of our staff and British nationals extremely seriously and we have long advised against all travel to Iran.

Earlier today, Australia also shuttered its Tehran embassy and ordered officials to leave the country, Sydney said, citing a ‘deteriorating security situation’.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Reports claim Iran has launched approximately 520 missiles at Israel since the start of the conflict on June 12.

Only 5 per cent have directly hit the Jewish state.

The number of rockets represents a massive chunk of Iran’s estimated 2,000 ballistic missile stockpile.

Pictured: A weapon fragment falls to the ground after Israel’s Irone Dome intercepted a missile launched from Iran on Friday, June 20, 2025

British nationals in the region can register their presence here.

As talks get underway in Geneva, members of the UN Security Council have also convened in New York to discuss the crisis in the Middle East.

Anticipated nuclear talks between European foreign ministers and their Iranian counterpart in Geneva have begun, according to the Afp news agency.

The talks are hoped to offer a way back to diplomacy in the face of a crisis in the Middle East rapidly spiralling out of control.

Pictured below: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived for a meeting with his European counterparts.

Here are some pictures from the Israeli port city of Haifa where an Iranian ballistic missile struck this afternoon.

Photographs shows substantial damage with windows blown out while some structures have been partially demolished.

Israeli security forces have been pictured working at the impact site.

Israel has confirmed 17 people have been taken to hospital, three with serious injuries, following the latest Iranian missile barrage.

In a statement on X, Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said:

MDA teams are providing medical treatment and taking 17 injured people to the hospital, including: 3 in serious condition, a 16-year-old boy with a shrapnel wound to his upper body, a 54-year-old and a 40-year-old with shrapnel wounds to their lower limbs, and 14 injured people in minor condition, from shrapnel and shrapnel. MDA teams are scanning additional scenes.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Gen. Stanley McChrystal warned Americans that if the U.S. gets involved in the Israel-Iran conflict it will have long-term consequences.

The retired Army General told Squawk Box Friday morning that a single strike won’t be enough to end the conflict trying to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapon capabilities.

‘We get enamoured with the idea of strike and awe, bunker busting bombs with the idea that a single strike is going to decide something and it is not,’ McChrystal said on the CNBC morning show.

This is a long term decision

Two people have been injured, one seriously, following an Iranian ballistic missile strike in Haifa.

Huge plumes of smoke have been seen rising from the Israeli port city while strikes have also been reported in Tel Aviv and Negev.

Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service reported two people injured by shrapnel on Friday, including a 16-year-old in serious condition, after the latest barrage of missiles fired from Iran.

In a statement, the MDA said:

MDA medics and paramedics are providing medical treatment and are taking a 16-year-old boy to the hospital in serious condition, with shrapnel in his upper body, and a 54-year-old man in moderate condition with a shrapnel injury to his lower limbs.

A cratered road in Beersheba following an Iranian missile strike this morning

If you’re just joining us, we have been reporting live updates from the eighth day of the Israel-Iran conflict.

Here’s what you need to know this afternoon:

• The Kremlin has warned American use of tactical nuclear weapons in the Middle East would lead to ‘catastrophic’ consequences in the region
• Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi declared Tehran has refused talks with Washington after the White House said Donald Trump will decide whether to join Israel in the conflict within two weeks.
• Araqchi made the remarks on Iranian state television ahead of a meeting with European foreign ministers in Geneva where he will be told the U.S. remains open for direct negotiations
• Meanwhile, an Iran launched another missile attack in Beersheba – the location of the bombed Soroka Hospital – causing substantial damage to homes and causing seven injuries
• Israel has claimed it has assassinated an Iranian nuclear scientist following targeted attacks in Tehran overnight
• Mass demonstrations are taking place across Iranian cities as the country shows solidarity with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Stick with us throughout the afternoon as we continue to bring you live updates from the Middle East.

Here are the first pictures from Geneva where European foreign ministers are meeting their Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi.

The ministers of Britain, France and Germany – known as the E3 – are expected to tell Araqchi that the U.S. is open to direct talks even as it considers joining Israeli strikes.

Araqchi has today declared Tehran has refused to speak to Washington because of its close ties to Israel – which it described as a ‘partner’.

The Israeli military has said that citizens can now leave protected areas, signalling the end of the Iranian military threat.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Retired Four Star General Jack Keane isn’t optimistic about Ayatollah Ali Khamenei coming to the table to make a deal with the U.S.

‘The Ayatollah going into this and the reason why he has never made a deal is because he built an enterprise to survive an attack,’ Keane told Fox News on Friday morning. ‘And he belives they can absorb the attack, survive it, recover it and then rebuild. That is where this guy is.’

I don’t see him in the near term making a deal here whatsoever.

President Donald Trump is giving himself two weeks to make a decision on if the U.S. will join Israel and get involved with stiking Iranian nuclear facilities.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in her Thursday briefing that Trump’s preference is always diplomacy and suggested he believes there is still a chance for negotiation with Iran.

Reuters is reporting that explosions have been heard above Jerusalem.

Air raid sirens are sounding ‘almost nationwide,’ Times of Israel reporter Emanuel Fabian wrote on X.

Israeli media indicated initial impacts at Tel Aviv, Haifa and the Negev.

Iran has launched fresh strikes against Israel, according to Iranian media.

The Israeli military said that it has identified missiles launched from Iran towards Israel and is working on intercepting the threat.

Israel earlier today said it was striking targets in western and central Iran.

Huge demonstrations are taking place across Iranian cities today as hundreds of thousands of Iranians show solidarity in response to Israeli attacks.

In Tehran, people were chanting and waving Iranian flags with many bringing pictures of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

It comes as Iranian politicians pleaded for the country to remain united in response to the Israeli conflict.

As the war between Israel and Iran escalates, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he plans to strengthen the country’s deterrence capabilities so that no country would dare attack it.

Erdogan announced plans this week to step up Turkey’s production of medium- and long-range missiles.

Erdogan discussed the Iran-Israel war with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in a telephone call today. He told Merz that the Iranian nuclear issue can only be resolved through negotiations, according to Erdogan’s office.

Despite Turkey’s tense relations with Israel, analysts and officials don’t see an immediate threat of the conflict spreading into NATO-member Turkey. Still, some see the move by Erdogan as a sign that the Israel-Iran war could trigger a new arms race in the region, with countries not directly involved in the fray ramping up their military efforts to preempt future conflicts.

A poll by the survey group YouGov for The Economist magazine has found half of Americans viewed Iran as an ‘enemy’ and another quarter said it was ‘unfriendly.’

But it found that only 16 percent of Americans ‘think the US military should get involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran’.

It found that majorities of Democrats (65 percent), independents (61 percent) and Republicans (53 percent) opposed military intervention.

Speaking on his War Room podcast Wednesday, former Trump strategist Steve Bannon seethed that Netanyahu had ‘lectured’ America and started a war he couldn’t end on his own.

The survey was carried out last weekend.

A former Iranian negotiator on nuclear talks has claimed Israel’s military offensive will likely push Iran to develop an atomic bomb.

Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a former Iranian ambassador to West Germany who served on Iran’s nuclear diplomacy team, told CNN Iran had been transparent about its programme and was open to scrutiny from the UN.

This narrative is telling Iranians, you know what? Even if there is transparency, even (if) all nuclear ambiguities are resolved, the US and Israel would attack to bring regime change.

That’s why you Iranians, you need nuclear deterrence, which is nuclear bomb. I think this is what Americans and Israelis are practically telling Iranians: get the bomb as the best deterrence. And I believe if this policy continues, Iran would go for a nuclear bomb.

European foreign ministers will tell their Iranian counterpart in Geneva that the U.S. is open to direct talks even as it considers joining Israeli strikes intended to smash Tehran’s nuclear capacity, diplomats said before a meeting in Geneva.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi will be told that Iran must send a ‘clear signal,’ two diplomats told Reuters, with pressure mounting on Tehran to agree tough curbs on its nuclear programme to prevent the potential development of an atomic weapon.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to several Western counterparts prior to the Geneva meeting, the diplomats said, indicating readiness to engage directly with Tehran.

Washington did not confirm that though broadcaster CNN quoted a U.S. official saying President Donald Trump supported diplomacy from allies that could bring Iran closer to a deal.

Tehran, however, has repeatedly said it will not talk to the Trump government until Israeli attacks end.

The Israeli military just announced that it is attacking ‘military infrastructure’ in western and central Iran.

Britain’s foreign secretary said on Friday that the government is working with the Israeli authorities to provide charter flights from Tel Aviv as soon as airspace reopens.

Brits in Israel have been urged to register their presence with the authorities and told they would be contacted with further guidance.

Those who have crossed into neighbouring countries from Israel will also receive help to reach airports, Lammy said.

Police have arrested six men after two pro-Israel protesters were attacked in a major incident outside the Iranian Embassy this morning.

Detectives have launched an urgent probe after the two men were set upon outside the embassy, which is opposite Hyde Park in west London.

Officers and paramedics swooped on Princes Gate, scrambling to detain suspects and treat the casualties.

World Medical Association President Dr. Ashok Philip condemned what he called the ‘deliberate’ Iranian ballistic missile attack on Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.

Thursday’s attack caused structural damage to the building and led to the suspension of most hospital services, the Times of Israel reports.

Under international humanitarian law, healthcare facilities are protected spaces that must never be targeted; such attacks constitute grave breaches of the Geneva Convention,’ Dr Philip said.

‘Any strike on a hospital violates international law.’

Tehran has also accused Israel of striking medical facilities in Iran.

White smoke billows from the Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, southern Israel’s biggest hospital, after being directly hit by Iran’s ballistic missile on Thursday

A worker inspects the damage at the Soroka hospital complex on Friday

Thousands of people joined a protest against Israel in the Iranian capital on Friday after weekly prayers, chanting slogans in support of their leaders, images on state television showed.

‘This is the Friday of the Iranian nation’s solidarity and resistance across the country,’ the news anchor said.

Footage showed protesters holding up photographs of commanders killed since the start of the war with Israel, while others waved the flags of Iran and the Lebanese militant movement Hezbollah.

Support for the Iranian regime itself remains divisive. A major poll of 158,000 people in Iran in 2023 found more than 80 per cent of people reject the Islamic Republic and prefer a democratic government.

Iranian worshippers wave Iranian flags as one holds up a poster of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a protest against Israeli attacks, in downtown Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 20, 2025

Australia has shuttered its Tehran embassy and ordered officials to leave Iran, the government said Friday, citing a ‘deteriorating security situation’.

It joins a string of countries closing diplomatic missions in Iran since Israel launched air strikes a week ago, claiming its arch enemy was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon.

Australia has directed all its officials and their dependents to leave Iran, and suspended its Tehran embassy operations, Foreign Minister Penny Wong told a news conference in Adelaide.

‘This is not a decision taken lightly. It is a decision based on the deteriorating security environment in Iran,’ she said.

The government advised all Australians to leave Iran if they can do safely.

Wong said there were about 2,000 Australians and family members registered in Iran who wanted to depart, and another 1,200 in Israel.

Other nations that have suspended Tehran embassy operations include Bulgaria, Czech Republic, New Zealand, Portugal, and Switzerland.

Saudi Arabia’s Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Commission said on Friday that any military attacks on civilian nuclear facilities violate international law, following Israel’s strikes on Iranian nuclear sites amid an air war between the two countries.

Israeli action in Iran is said to be significantly advancing an agreement for the establishment of relations between long-time rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia, an Arab source told i24NEWS on Tuesday.

The rulers of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the biggest economies in the region, have already spoken with Iran’s president to express solidarity, and have repeatedly condemned Israel’s attacks.

Saudi Arabia and Iran formally restored ties in March 2023 thanks to Chinese-Iraqi brokered talks, but relations have been strained since the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

Iran has allegedly arrested a ‘Mossad Agent’ alleged to have been sending information on Iranian air defence installations back to handlers in Israel via WhatsApp.

The claims were aired by Iran’s state broadcaster on Friday.

Israel began pounding Iran last Friday, in a conflict that has the world holding its breath amid 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.

As the conflict enters its eighth day, see our graphics below of every strike in Iran and Israel plus more here:

The war between Israel and Iran could see migration to Europe surge, Turkey’s President has warned.

‘The spiral of violence triggered by Israel’s attacks could harm the region and Europe in terms of migration and the possibility of nuclear leakage,’ President Recep Erdoğan’s office quoted him as saying in a phone conversation with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said that Iran will give a ‘more forceful’ response if Israeli strikes continue.

‘We have always pursued peace and stability,’ Pezeshkian said in a statement.

‘Under the current circumstances, lasting peace will only be possible if the Zionist enemy ceases its hostilities and provides firm guarantees to end its terrorist provocations.’

But ‘failure to do so would result in a far more forceful and regrettable response from Iran’, he said.

Israel this morning said that it would intensify strikes on the capital, aiming to destabilise it with attacks on regime symbols.

The head of Iran’s health ministry said that another hospital in Tehran was targeted by Israeli bombs today.

‘In seven days of cowardly aggression, there were more than six cases of violation of international conventions by [Israel],’ the ministry’s head of PR said in a statement.

Iran has said that it will not negotiate until Israeli strikes stop. But dissidents opposing the regime within Iran have also said it remains too unsafe to go out into the streets in protest while Israeli jets are striking targets overhead.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Friday that he had instructed the military to intensify attacks on ‘symbols of the regime’ in the Iranian capital Tehran, aiming to destabilise it.

‘We must strike at all the symbols of the regime and the mechanisms of oppression of the population, such as the Basij (militia), and the regime’s power base, such as the Revolutionary Guard,’ Katz said in a statement.

Tehran has been hit more than 100 times in the last 24 hours, according to data from the ISW and AEI’s critical threats project.

Iran has said that it will not negotiate with any party while sustaining fire from Israel.

Imagery from Iran purports to show a drone strike in the capital on Friday

Danish shipping giant Maersk has announced Friday that it is temporarily suspending vessel calls in Israel’s Haifa port due to the country’s conflict with Iran.

Maersk said in a statement that it made the decision ‘after carefully analysing threat risk reports regarding the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran – particularly the potential risks of calling Israeli ports and their implications for the safety of our crews’.

French President Emmanuel Macron said it is ‘essential to prioritise a return to negotiations’ on Iran as Donald Trump dwells on potential U.S. involvement in the conflict.

Macron said that European powers will try to offer a ‘diplomatic solution’ to the conflict on Friday as foreign ministers from Britain, France and Germany met with their Iranian counterpart in Geneva.

Macron, who was arriving at the Paris airshow on Friday, added that there was ‘no justification’ for strikes against either energy infrastructure or civilian populations.

European leaders have urged de-escalation in Iran’s war with Israel, while Trump has said he would decide ‘within the next two weeks’ whether to involve the United States in the fighting.

Israeli media is reporting an Iranian nuclear scientist was today assassinated following a strike on Tehran.

Reports from Israeli Army Radio, which is operated by the IDF, said the scientist was killed along with two assistants during the night.

Israel military said it struck dozens of targets in Tehran overnight, including what it called a centre for the ‘research and development of Iran’s nuclear weapons project’.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy said ‘a window now exists within the next two weeks to achieve a diplomatic solution’ over the Iran crisis as European foreign ministers met for nuclear talks with their Iranian counterpart in Geneva.

European officials are set to hold nuclear talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi today, as President Donald Trump mulls the prospect of US involvement in the Iran-Israel war.

Speaking on the sidelines of the summit, Lammy agreed with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s comments that Iran ‘can never develop or acquire a nuclear weapon’.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said the United States was both aware and supportive of the meeting taking place in Geneva.

France’s foreign ministry spokesperson Christophe Lemoine said the diplomatic route would be the only way to ensure Iran respects its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Iran’s Araghchi, however, rejected any prospect of talks with the United States so long as Israel continues its attacks.

Tripods are set up outside the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Nations in Geneva ahead of a meeting for the Iran-EU nuclear meeting

Donald Trump has received extensive briefings on Iran’s underground uranium enrichment plant at Fordow – including the risks and benefits of launching a U.S. attack.

According to insiders, Trump has told his defence officials it would only make sense to join Israel in striking Iran if American ‘bunker buster’ bombs are guaranteed to be able to destroy Fordow.

In order to do that, officials have been told the U.S. would have to soften the ground with conventional bombs before dropping a tactical nuclear weapon from a B2 Bomber to destroy the site 90-metres underground.

It has since been reported Trump has ruled out the use of a nuclear weapon in Iran.

Here is the facility at the centre of the conflict:

Some 8,190 people have been evacuated from their homes in Israel as the conflict with Iran enters its eighth day, Israeli media is reporting.

The Property Tax Compensation Fund said that since the crisis erupted, thousands have been displaced and some 30,000 claims for compensation filed for damage to buildings, vehicles or contents and equipment, Ynet News reports.

Iran’s foreign minister will address the UN Human Rights Council on Friday on the sidelines of talks with European counterparts aiming for a diplomatic solution to the Iran-Israel war.

Abbas Araghchi ‘will intervene in person… at the beginning of the council’s afternoon meeting’ at 1300 GMT, after which the council will resume its normal programme, Pascal Sim, spokesman for the UN’s top rights body, told a press briefing.

UN spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci added that Daniel Meron, Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, would be outside the council chamber at 1230 GMT to deliver a ‘press statement on Iran’.

Araghchi is meeting his French, German, British and EU counterparts in Geneva on Friday to discuss Iran’s nuclear programme.

Israel no longer participates in the Human Rights Council, boycotting its meetings over ‘anti-Semitism’.

Diplomats are meeting in Geneva today to begin talks around the Iran crisis and Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Initial talks are not expected to yield major progress towards peace. But they could carve out a space for dialogue between Iran and the U.S., mediated by Britain and Europe.

Russia, too, has been eyeing a mediating role in the growing crisis.

France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, is said to have already spoken to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines.

A French diplomatic source told The Guardian that Rubio emphasised that the U.S. is ‘ready for direct contact with the Iranians at any moment’.

Johann Wadephul, the German foreign minister, said ahead of meeting with Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, that if today goes well, it could pave the way for more talks.

‘This requires Iran’s serious willingness to renounce any enrichment of nuclear material, which could lead to nuclear weaponisation,’ he said, according to Reuters news agency.

Donald Trump told defence officials it would only make sense for the U.S. to join Israel in striking Iran if its ‘bunker buster’ bombs are guaranteed to be able to destroy the key enrichment site at Fordow, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Officials were said to have been told that the U.S. would have to soften the ground with conventional bombs before dropping a tactical nuclear weapon from a B2 Bomber to completely destroy the site, believed to be some 90 metres underground.

But Trump is said to have ruled out nuking Iran, insiders told the Guardian. The possibility was said not to have been raised by defence secretary Pete Hegseth or chairman of the joint chiefs of staff General Dan Caine during recent meetings in the Situation Room.

Fox News reported subsequently that the White House had refuted the entire Guardian report, indicating that the use of a tactical nuclear weapon had not yet been ruled out.

Trump said late on Thursday that he will now decide in the next two weeks whether to join in military action against Iran, before British and European diplomats were to meet with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Geneva on Friday.

Russia warned today that any use of tactical nuclear weapons in Iran would be ‘catastrophic’ amid fears it could spark wider conflict across the Middle East.

These pictures show Israeli bomb experts at the scene of the latest Iranian ballistic missile attack in southern Israel today.

For the second day in a row Beersheba has come under attack as the missile struck a road near several apartment blocks.

The strike has created a large crater and caused several cars to catch alight. The Times of Israel is reporting seven people suffered minor injuries with some substantial damage to homes.

Donald Trump is said to be increasingly relying on a small group of advisors for input on Iran as he debates whether or not to join Israel’s military action.

Two defence officials and a senior administration official told NBC News that the U.S. President has closed his inner circle in a report published on Friday.

Another senior administrational official said that while Trump routinely crowdsources for ideas, he is listening to only a handful of officials for decision-making.

These include his Vice President, chief of staff, deputy chief of staff and Secretary of State, the official said.

Trump was also said to have sidelined National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, who opposes strikes in Iran.

And he has not been leaning on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, officials said.

The possibility of kinetic action against Iran remains deeply divisive within the administration and without.

United States President Donald J Trump on June 18

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has claimed Tehran has refused talks with Washington because it is a ‘partner’ in Israeli ‘crimes’.

Speaking on state television, Araghchi said Iran is not planning any contact with the US for the time being.

His remarks come just hours after the White House indicated Donald Trump will decide whether or not the US gets directly involved in the conflict within the next two weeks.

Araghchi said that while negotiations with the US are not on the horizon, Iran had no issue engaging with other countries as officials meet European leaders in Geneva later today.

The minister said those talks were limited to nuclear and regional issues and that Iran will not negotiate regarding its missile capabilities.

The Iranian Khondab heavy water research reactor was damaged in Israeli strikes on Thursday, but no ‘radiological consequence’ is expected, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.

The UN’s nuclear watchdog assessed that because the facility was still under construction and not operational, it contained no nuclear material.

Rafael Grossi assured that, as a result, no radiological consequence was expected.

Reactors like the facility near the city of Arak can be used for scientific purposes, but will create plutonium as a byproduct. This could be used for nuclear weapons.

Iran’s fragmented opposition groups think their moment may be close at hand, but activists involved in previous bouts of protest say they are unwilling to unleash mass unrest, even against a system they hate, with their nation under attack.

Exiled opponents of the Islamic Republic, themselves deeply divided, are urging street protests. In the borderlands, Kurdish and Baluchi separatist groups look poised to rise up, with Israeli strikes pummelling Iran’s security apparatus.

While the Islamic Republic looks weaker than at nearly any point since soon after the 1979 revolution, any direct challenge to its 46-year rule would likely require some form of popular uprising.

Triggering regime change is certainly one war goal for Israel, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressing Iranians to say ‘we are also clearing the path for you to achieve your freedom’.

But while Israeli strikes have targeted a security hierarchy that crushed previous bouts of protest, they have also caused great fear and disruption for ordinary people – and anger at both Iranian authorities and Israel, the activists said.

Smoke rises following an Israeli attack on the IRIB building, the country’s state broadcaster, in Tehran, Iran, June 16, 2025.

The Iranian Red Crescent ambulance targeted in the Israeli attack on June 16 in Iran’s West Azerbaijan province, in which two healthcare workers lost their lives, is being displayed in Haft-e Tir Square in Tehran, Iran on June 19, 2025

‘How are people supposed to pour into the streets? In such horrifying circumstances, people are solely focused on saving themselves, their families, their compatriots, and even their pets,’ said Atena Daemi, a prominent activist who spent six years in prison before leaving Iran.

One activist, who was jailed for five months after the 2022 protests over the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, said she believed in regime change in Iran but that it was not time to take to the streets.

She and her friends were not planning to stage or join rallies, she said, and dismissed calls from abroad for protests. ‘Israel and those so-called opposition leaders abroad only think about their own benefit,’ she said.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy is to join with top European diplomats and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Geneva on Friday to discuss Iran’s nuclear programme.

Foreign ministers from France, Germany, Britain and the EU are urging de-escalation, with David Lammy saying the next two weeks are ‘a window… to achieve a diplomatic solution’.

Lammy yesterday met with American Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff at the White House.

Al Jazeera, reporting from Washington, reports: ‘We’re told that Lammy came away with a genuine feeling that Trump does want to see a deal [with Iran]’.

After days of escalatory comments suggesting the U.S. could join Israel in its hitherto unilateral strikes against Iran, Donald Trump decided overnight to open a two-week negotiating window before deciding on striking Iran.

‘Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,’ a readout from Trump said, shared late Thursday.

Leaders will today convene in Geneva to see if there is a way back to the negotiating table, after talks in Oman were called off.

‘I’ve received several phone calls reassuring me that the Zionist regime [Israel] would not target’ Araghchi en route to Geneva, his adviser Mohammad Reza Ranjbaran said on X.

Separately, the UN Security Council is also due to convene on Friday for a second session on the conflict, at Iran’s request with support from Russia, China and Pakistan, a diplomat told AFP on Wednesday.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy leaves Downing Street, London on Wednesday, June 18

‘I am 200 per cent sure Lebanon will not enter the war,’ senior politician and parliament speaker Nabih Berri told local MTV News last night.

‘It has no interest in doing so and would pay a heavy price. Iran does not need us. It is Israel that needs support.’

Israel has been cautioning Iranian proxy group Hezbollah not to involve itself as Israel and Iran continue to exchange blows.

Late last year, Israel and Hezbollah agreed to terms that would see Hezbollah retract and more Lebanese army troops brought in to patrol the border with the U.N.

Israel has nonetheless continued strikes into Lebanon, hitting southern Beirut on the eve of Eid Al Adha earlier this month.

The military claimed it had identified a Hezbollah unit producing ‘thousands’ of drones underground, funded by ‘Iranian terrorists’.

Ali Shamkhani, a senior advisor to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is alive and in a stable condition, according to Iranian media, after being reported dead earlier this week.

Shamkhani was said to have been seriously wounded in an Israeli attack a week ago. Iranian state TV network IRINN reported that he succumbed to injuries and died.

But now the semi-official Tasnim news agency, based in Iran, has quoted him as having said ‘I am alive and ready to sacrifice myself’ in a message to the Ayatollah and the Iranian nation.

Shamkhani, a close aide to the Ayatollah Khamenei, was reported to have died earlier this week. Now, Iranian media says he is alive and ‘ready to sacrifice myself’.

Iranian missiles struck near a military branch in Israel’s Beersheba (Be’er Sheva) on Friday, Al Jazeera is reporting.

Strikes were said to have damaged a Microsoft office in the Gav-Tam Negev advanced technologies park.

The park borders Ben Gurion University and the C4i branch campus of the Israeli army, its telecoms branch, the Qatari outlet says, noting the strikes would have come down before typical business hours.

Seven people are reported to have been injured in the attack.

Emergency personnel work next to burnt cars and damaged residential buildings at an impact site following Iran’s missile strike on Israel, in Be’er Sheva, Israel, June 20

Israeli soldiers work next to a damaged residential building at an impact site following Iran’s missile strike on Israel, in Be’er Sheva, Israel, June 20

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned Lebanon’s Hezbollah to exercise caution on Friday, saying Israel’s patience with ‘terrorists’ who threaten it had worn thin.

The head of Iran-backed Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, said on Thursday that the Lebanese group would act as it saw fit in the face of what he called ‘brutal Israeli-American aggression’ against Iran.

Hezbollah’s military leadership was vanquished late last year after Israel launched a ground invasion of Lebanon to oust the Iranian-proxy group, citing failure to uphold the terms of a long-established ceasefire agreement.

An even heavier blow to Hezbollah was the fall in December of Syria’s Bashar Assad when Sunni rebels marched on the capital and removed him from power. Now, a government hostile to Iran and Hezbollah rules from Damascus.

Supporters of Iraq’s Hezbollah Brigades attend a gathering to condemn Israel’s attack on Iran in the city of Nasiriyah, in Iraq’s southern Dhi Qar province on June 19, 2025

Israel’s military said on Friday that it had struck dozens of targets in Tehran overnight, including what it called a centre for the ‘research and development of Iran’s nuclear weapons project’.

In a statement, the army said it had ‘completed a series of strikes in the heart of Tehran’ as the crisis entered its eighth day.

‘Dozens of targets were struck, including military missile production sites and the SPND (Organisation of Defensive Innovation and Research) headquarters for research and development of Iran’s nuclear weapons project,’ it claimed.

According to the Israeli military the SPND headquarters ‘is used for research and development of advanced technologies and weapons supporting the Iranian regime’s military capabilities.’

The army said that during the night on Thursday more than 60 fighter jets struck dozens of military targets.

‘Among the targets were sites producing missile components and facilities manufacturing raw materials used in casting missile engines,’ it added.

The military also said it intercepted overnight four UAVs launched from Iran.

American use of tactical nuclear weapons in the Middle East would lead to catastrophic consequences, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the Russian TASS news agency.

‘There have been a lot of speculations,’ Peskov caveated, responding to media reports that Washington had not yet ruled out the use nuclear weapons to attack the entrenched underground Fordow enrichment site in Iran.

‘This would be a catastrophic development,’ he said. ‘But there are so many speculations that in fact, it’s impossible to comment on them.’

Fordow remains the most heavily defended known enrichment site in Iran, buried some 80 to 90 metres underground.

Israel is believed to lack the capability to destroy the site with its current arsenal, though insiders have suggested multiple raids could weaken the site.

The American B-2 Spirit bombers, capable of carrying GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs), could deal heavy damage – though would require U.S. intervention.

Russia has presented itself as a possible mediating force between U.S.-backed Israel and Iran in recent days, though U.S. President Donald Trump has publicly been reluctant to accept the offer.

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

Russia has today warned America any use of tactical nuclear weapons in Iran would be ‘catastrophic’ as it wades into the situation in the Middle East.

Russian news service Tass is reporting the Kremlin has issued a fresh plea for Trump to avoid using bunker busting bombs on Iranian nuclear facilities

It comes as Donald Trump will decide within the next two weeks on whether the U.S. will conduct a strike on Iran.

Stick with us for the latest updates throughout the day plus the most eye-catching pictures and videos