Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's great survivor

JUST OVER a week ago it seemed as if Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, might be part of a breakthrough with America. Talks involving the two countries were approaching decision-hour. The Americans were offering to lift sanctions in exchange for Iran rolling back its nuclear programme. Some spoke of diplomatic relations between the Islamic Republic and its forever foe. The more optimistic predicted a photo-op of their two supreme leaders shaking hands.

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The Independent

4 hours ago

• The Independent

Israel-Iran war live: Iran's foreign minister warns US involvement would be ‘very dangerous' after Israel kills commanders

US involvement in Israeli attacks on Iran would be 'very, very dangerous', Tehran's foreign minister has said as he continues a round of diplomacy in Istanbul. Abbas Araghchi, who yesterday met his British, French and German counterparts, said Iran 'cannot' join further nuclear negotiations with the US while the Iranian people are 'under bombardment'. Tehran stands 'absolutely ready for a negotiated solution for our nuclear programme', he said. Negotiations with Washington have been halted since Israeli strikes last week sparked a deadly air conflict which has killed hundreds in Iran and dozens in Israel. Meanwhile, the Israeli military says it has killed two commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) who were closely linked with arming Hamas and other militant groups in the region. Saeed Izadi led the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force - the IRGC's overseas arm. He has been described as a veteran figure in Iran's military operations. The military later said that it killed a second commander of the Guards' overseas arm, who it identified as Benham Shariyari. Israel says he was responsible for weapons transfers 'from the Iranian regime to its proxies across the Middle East". The IRGC has not confirmed the deaths. Tehran vows to make Grossi 'pay' A senior adviser for Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, vowed in a social media post Saturday to make the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency "pay" once the war with Israel is over. Ali Larijani's threat comes as IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi has become a major target for many Iranian officials who say his conflicting statements about the status of Iran's nuclear program incited the Israeli surprise attack last week. Grossi told the United Nations' Security Council Friday that while Iran has the material to build a nuclear bomb, it appears they have no plans to do so. Alex Croft21 June 2025 12:56 Hope of change by my fellow Iranians has turned to horror - our pain was primed for Israel's exploitation 'When are the Americans coming to save us from these mullahs?' my fellow Iranians would ask when I started my journalism career in Tehran some 22 years ago. That was just before the Middle East was transformed by the US's reverse Midas touch. Within a few years Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya had been reduced to rubble and ruin at the hands of US intervention. So salvation from the clerics shrank to two options: reform from within or revolt. Iran's hardline conservatives in charge would not abide either. Author and documentary maker Ramita Navai writes: Hope of change by my fellow Iranians has turned to horror after Israel's strikes Those living in Iran thought Israel's attacks might lead to freedom – but Netanyahu only really wants a nation unravelled, another carefully engineered fracture in the region, writes author and documentary maker Ramita Navai Alex Croft21 June 2025 12:34 In pictures: Israeli rescuers check damage in Beit She'an Alex Croft21 June 2025 12:13 Iran updates official death toll to 430 - Iranian media Iran's health ministry has now updated its casualty figures, according to Iranian media. At least 430 people have been killed and 3,500 wounded in Iran since the conflict began on June 13, Iranian state-run Nour News reported Tehran's health ministry as saying on Saturday. Earlier reports by Washington-based group Human Rights Activists had suggested more than 600 people had died in Iran since the conflict began. Alex Croft21 June 2025 11:50 Who is Mohammad Saeed Izadi, the veteran commander Israel says it has killed? Israel says it has killed Mohammad Saeed Izadi, the veteran commander who served as the head of the Palestine Corps within Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Quds Force. This was the IRGC's overseas operations arm with ties to armed groups across the region. He was believed to be a liaison between Iran and Hamas and played a role in co-ordinating support by Tehran for armed Palestinian groups. Izadi reportedly helped arm Iran and Hamas - and Israel says he helped orchestrate an assault on Israel in assistance of Hamas' 7 October attack. Izadi was killed in an Israeli attack on an apartment in the city of Qom, coming more than a year after he narrowly survived an Israeli air strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, in April 2024, the BBC reported. Alex Croft21 June 2025 11:28 Sam Kiley: What Trump must decide in his two week pause on the Israel-Iran conflict Alex Croft21 June 2025 11:05 Who was Behnam Shahriyari, Iranian commander who 'armed Hamas'? Our world affairs editor Sam Kiley is in Tel Aviv: Israel claimed that it had killed the Iranian officer responsible for arming Hamas in Gaza. The commander of the Quds Force's Weapons Transfer Unit (Unit 190) in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Behnam Shahriyari, was killed by the Israeli air force in an overnight strike against his vehicle the IDF said. The attack shows the continued deep penetration of Israeli's Mossad intelligence agency in Iran and was another assassination of a senior officer as part of a campaign to break the back of Iran's security structures. Shahriyari "worked for years to arm various terrorist organizations in order to directly advance the Iranian regime's plan to destroy the State of Israel' the IDF said. Israel itself suffered not overnight casualties from a significantly lower level of Iranian missile and drone attacks which involved only five missiles - down from 23 the day before. Alex Croft21 June 2025 10:44 US involvement in Iran would be 'very very dangerous', warns Tehran's foreign minister Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has said any US involvement in attacks on his country would be 'very, very dangerous'. Speaking to reporters in Istanbul, he said Iran 'cannot' join negotiations with the US while the Iranian people are 'under bombardment'. Mr Araghchi met with European representatives on Friday, and on Saturday is due to meet with representatives from Arab and Muslim countries, according to Tasnim state news agency. "The US has been involved in the aggression since day one,' he alleged according to the BBC, adding that direct involvement would be 'very, very dangerous'. Tehran stands 'absolutely ready for a negotiated solution for our nuclear programme', he said. "Diplomacy has worked in the past and can work again in the future. In order for us to come back to diplomacy the aggression must be stopped." Alex Croft21 June 2025 10:20 Russia has told Israel there is no evidence Iran is seeking nuclear weapons, says Putin Russia has repeatedly told Israel that there is no evidence Iran is aiming to get nuclear weapons, president Vladimir Putin said according to Sky Arabia. "Russia, as well as the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), has never had any evidence that Iran is preparing to obtain nuclear weapons, as we have repeatedly put the Israeli leadership on notice," the broadcaster quoted Putin as saying. Russia is ready to support Iran in developing a peaceful nuclear programme, Putin said, adding that Iran has the right to do so. Speaking at an economic forum in St. Petersburg on Friday, Putin said Russia was sharing its ideas on how to stop the bloodshed in the Iran-Israel conflict with both sides. He did not give details of those ideas. Alex Croft21 June 2025 10:00 Two commanders including Quds force leader killed by Israel, military claims We earlier brought you the news that the Israeli military said it killed two commanders from Iran's Revolutionary Guard. One of the commanders, Saeed Izadi, led the Palestine Corps of the overseas arm, or Quds Force, foreign minister Israel Katz said in a statement. The Quds Force built up a network of Arab allies known as the Axis of Resistance, establishing Hezbollah in Lebanon in 1982 and supporting the Palestinian militant Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Izadi has been described as a veteran figure in Iran's military operations. The military later said that it killed a second commander of the Guards' overseas arm, who it identified as Benham Shariyari, during a strike on his vehicle overnight in western Tehran. It said the commander "was responsible for all weapons transfers from the Iran ian regime to its proxies across the Middle East". Alex Croft21 June 2025 09:37

Economist

8 hours ago

• Economist

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's great survivor

JUST OVER a week ago it seemed as if Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, might be part of a breakthrough with America. Talks involving the two countries were approaching decision-hour. The Americans were offering to lift sanctions in exchange for Iran rolling back its nuclear programme. Some spoke of diplomatic relations between the Islamic Republic and its forever foe. The more optimistic predicted a photo-op of their two supreme leaders shaking hands.

The Independent

8 hours ago

• The Independent

Iran and Israel continue attacks as diplomatic talks fail

Iran and Israel traded daytime missile attacks on Friday, concluding a week of relentless bombing and escalating tensions. Iran 's foreign minister stated his country would not negotiate with the US as long as Israel continued airstrikes, maintaining Iran 's nuclear program is peaceful. Iranian ballistic missiles struck a building near Haifa, injuring at least 17 people, prompting a warning of revenge from Iran 's religious ruler, Ali Khamenei. Israel reported conducting multiple airstrikes on Iran, targeting industrial sites for missile manufacturing and a research agency linked to potential nuclear device development. Diplomatic talks in Geneva involving Iran, the EU, and the UK showed no breakthrough, with the UK urging Iran to engage in diplomacy with the US within a two-week window.