Israel and Iran launch new strikes as new diplomatic effort takes shape
Israel and Iran have exchanged strikes a week into their war as Donald Trump considered US military involvement and new diplomatic efforts appeared to be under way.
The US president has been weighing whether to attack Iran by striking its well-defended Fordo uranium enrichment facility, which is buried under a mountain and widely considered to be out of reach of all but America's 'bunker-buster' bombs.
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He said he will decide within two weeks whether the US military will be directly involved in the war given the 'substantial chance' for renewed negotiations over Tehran's nuclear programme.
Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi appeared to be heading to Geneva for meetings with the European Union's top diplomat and counterparts from the UK, France and Germany.
A plane with his usual call sign took off from the Turkish city of Van, near the Iranian border, flight-tracking data from FlightRadar24 showed.
Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he met US secretary of state Marco Rubio and envoy Steve Witkoff at the White House to discuss the potential for a deal to cool the conflict.
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Israel said it conducted air strikes into Friday morning in Iran with more than 60 aircraft hitting what it said were industrial sites to manufacture missiles.
It also said it hit the headquarters of Iran's Organisation of Defensive Innovation and Research, known by its acronym in Farsi, SPND. The US has linked the agency to alleged Iranian research and testing tied to the possible development of nuclear explosive devices.
Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi (Hassan Ammar/AP)
Israeli air strikes reached into the city of Rasht on the Caspian Sea early on Friday, Iranian media reported.
The Israeli military had warned the public to flee the area around Rasht's Industrial City, but with Iran's internet shut off to the outside world, it is unclear how many people could see the message.
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In Israel, paramedic service Magen David Adom said missiles struck a residential area in southern Israel, causing damage to buildings, including one six-storey building. Crews provided medical treatment to five people with minor injuries, it added.
It comes a day after at least 80 patients and medical workers were wounded in a strike on the Soroka Medical Centre in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
Israel's defence minister threatened Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after the Iranian missile crashed into the hospital. Israel's military 'has been instructed and knows that in order to achieve all of its goals, this man absolutely should not continue to exist', said defence minister Israel Katz.
Smokes rises from the Soroka hospital complex (Leo Correa/AP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he trusted that Mr Trump would 'do what's best for America'. Speaking from the rubble and shattered glass around the hospital, he added: 'I can tell you that they're already helping a lot.'
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The war between Israel and Iran erupted on June 13 with Israeli air strikes targeting nuclear and military sites, senior generals and nuclear scientists. At least 657 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2,000 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group.
Iran has retaliated by firing 450 missiles and 1,000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. Most have been shot down by Israel's air defences, but at least 24 people have been killed and hundreds wounded.
Iran has long maintained its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes, but it is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich uranium up to 60%, a short technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with a nuclear weapons programme but has never acknowledged it.
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The Israeli air campaign has targeted Iran's enrichment site at Natanz, centrifuge workshops around Tehran, a nuclear site in Isfahan and what the army assesses to be most of Iran's ballistic missile launchers. The destruction of those launchers has contributed to the steady decline in Iranian attacks since the start of the conflict.
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The Guardian
30 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Trump raises specter of further attacks against Iran after US military operation
Fresh from ordering military strikes on Iran, Donald Trump on Saturday raised the specter of further attacks against Iran if its leadership did not engage in peace talks in a sweeping and at times ominous televised late night address delivered from the White House. The remarks suggested that the president, who has repeatedly said he wanted to bring peace to global conflicts, at least partly viewed the strikes against Iran's enrichment facilities as a tactic to force negotiations – just days after he had suggested he would given Iran two weeks before deciding on an attack. Flanked by his vice-president, JD Vance; the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth; and the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, Trump said from the Cross Hall of the White House that the strikes were aimed at destroying Iran's ability to enrich uranium to a level where it could be used in nuclear weapons. 'The strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier,' Trump said. Trump's address sparked a concerned reaction from some advisers in his orbit who had cautioned against US involvement against Iran because of the potential for the US military to become dragged into a protracted conflict to topple Iran's leadership as Israel has pushed. 'I'm not sure the talk Maga wanted to hear. It sounded open-ended. They either shut down the nuclear power facility, or give up, or surrender. Very open-ended,' Steve Bannon, the former Trump adviser who had a three-hour lunch with the president on Thursday, said in a special broadcast of his War Room show. Trump claimed in the speech that the three nuclear facilities in Iran bombed by the US were 'completely and totally obliterated'. But the address was short on detail about the bombing operation against three nuclear sites at Natanz and Fordow, the key facility buried deep underground, and at Isfahan, where Iran was believed to have stored supplies of uranium that had been enriched to near-weapons grade. A US official speaking on the condition of anonymity said the dark-of-night operation involved six B-2 bombers dropping a dozen of the 30,000lb 'bunker buster' bombs, formally known as GBU-57s, to try to reach the bottom of the Fordow facility located deep under a mountain. One B-2 bomber also dropped two GBU-57s on the Natanz facility, in addition to the US navy launching 30 Tomahawk missiles on Natanz and Isfahan, the official said – a strike package far larger than many defense officials had expected. Aside from his claim of military success, Trump's remarks were most notable in warning of more attacks if Iran did not start negotiations to end the conflict with Israel and accede to his demands to stop enriching uranium. They also appeared to double as a warning against any retaliation by Iran. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion 'There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran,' Trump said. 'Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight's was the most difficult of them all, by far, and perhaps the most lethal. But if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill. Most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes.' Trump also appeared to offer some justification for the bombing run, making the argument that Iran posed a direct threat to not just Israel but also the US. In doing so, after months of hesitancy, he re-embraced the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and said they had worked together as a team. 'For 40 years, Iran has been saying: 'Death to America, Death to Israel.' They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs, with roadside bombs. In particular, so many were killed by their general Qassem Suleimani. I decided a long time ago that I would not let this happen. It will not continue,' Trump said.
The Guardian
30 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Australia says Iran's nuclear program ‘a threat to international peace' after US launches attacks and threatens more
The federal government has called for 'de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy' after the US bombed Iran, as almost 4,000 Australian citizens attempt to escape the conflict zone. Donald Trump said the US had 'totally obliterated' key Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities after directly intervening to aid Israel's mission to destroy Tehran's nuclear program. Trump said Iran, which he called 'the bully of the Middle East', 'must make peace'. 'If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier. For 40 years, Iran has been saying death to America, death to Israel.' In a statement issued after Trump's White House address, a federal government spokesperson did not explicitly endorse the strikes, but reiterated Australia's position on the risk posed by Iran's nuclear program. 'We have been clear that Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile program has been a threat to international peace and security,' a government spokesperson said. 'We note the US president's statement that now is the time for peace. The security situation in the region is highly volatile. We continue to call for de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy.' Speaking before news of the bombings broke, the defence minister, Richard Marles, refused to be drawn on whether a US attack would be justified. However, while repeating calls for a de-escalation in the conflict, Marles restated the government's position that Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile program was a threat to the region and 'stability of the world'. The government last week deployed Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel to the Middle East to help evacuate citizens stuck in Israel and Iran amid the latest escalation in the conflict. The number of Australian citizens seeking government help to evacuate the Middle East had reached 3,800 as of Sunday morning, including 2,600 people in Iran and 1,200 in Israel. Marles confirmed chartered civilian aircraft were ready to depart as soon as airspace over Iran and Israel reopened. 'Australians in Israel and Iran and the region should continue to monitor public safety information provided by local authorities, including to shelter in place when required,' the government spokesperson said on Sunday. 'The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will be communicating directly with registered Australians about preparations for assisted departures.' Also speaking before Trump's announcement on the US strikes, the acting shadow foreign minister, Andrew Hastie, said he agreed with the government that Iran should not have nuclear weapons; that Israel had a right to defend itself; and that the war should end. A former special forces soldier who served in Afghanistan, Hastie said he would be 'very hesitant' to put Australian troops on the ground in the Middle East. The international law expert Prof Donald Rothwell said it was 'virtually impossible' to mount a case that the US strikes were legal under international law. Under article 51 of the UN charter, states can use force to defend themselves from an armed attack. International law experts say the charter does not provide a broader right to pre-emptive attacks, such as the strikes Israel, and now the US, have launched on Iran. Rothwell, a professor at the Australian National University, said given there had been no direct threat from Iran towards the US then Trump's attack could not be justified. 'It's virtually impossible, I think, for the United States to mount any credible legal argument [for the strikes] on that basis,' he said. Rothwell said the US attacks could set a precedent for how other countries would use self-defence arguments as cover for pre-emptive attacks. 'The really concerning aspect of this is the precedent it sets. If the United States can do this, and this is a precedent that the United States is taking in terms of its interpretation of self-defence, or the way in which you can use force, then other states will take that into account in terms of how they consider their own future conduct.' The Australian Greens leader, Larissa Waters, said the federal government should condemn the US attacks which she described as a 'terrifying and catastrophic escalation'. 'From Iraq to Afghanistan, we have seen Australia follow the US into devastating and brutal wars that have done untold damage to the people of the Middle East,' she said. 'We know that you cannot bomb your way to peace.'
Daily Mail
41 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Inside the top-secret Situation Room where Trump made the decision to launch strikes on Iran
The White House posted an inside look at the top-secret Situation Room where President Donald Trump made a history-changing decision to wipe out Iran's nuclear facilities. The exclusive photographs posted on X on Saturday evening revealed who was in the room as Trump made the call to strike Iran 's nuclear sites. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, all joined Trump in the White House Situation Room Saturday. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was also reported to be in the Situation Room, but was not pictured in photographs released by the White House. Trump himself was seated in the middle of the room, donning a Make America Great Again hat with '45-47' embroidered on the side. He surprised the world a little before 8 p.m. ET Saturday by announcing on Truth Social that he had given the go-ahead to attack Iran. Trump used six massive 30,000-pound 'bunker buster' bombs and 30 Tomahawk missiles to destroy Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan. Trump addressed the nation hours later, calling Saturday's strikes on a trio of Iranian nuclear sites a 'spectacular military success.' He also gave a stark warning to Tehran that more attacks would be coming if the regime didn't make peace. 'Our objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's number one state sponsor of terror. Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success.' Addressing the nation Saturday evening, President Donald Trump announced complete success in eliminating Iran's three key nuclear enrichment sites. 'Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.' During his speech, President Trump also added that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine will brief reporters at the Pentagon on the U.S. military operation against Iran. Hegseth, a former Fox News commentator and Army National Guard officer, stood behind Trump during his remarks in the East Wing, although he had to quickly reposition himself to be seen. Trump was also flanked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance. 'Tomorrow, Gen. Caine [and] Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, will have a press conference at 8 am at the Pentagon,' Trump said at the end of his speech to the nation. 'And I want to just thank everybody, and in particular, God, I want to just say we love you, God and we love our great military protect them,' he said. During his speech, Trump also thanked the American pilots who flew the B-52 bombers over Iran to drop the bombs over Iran's nuclear facilities Saturday. He also thanked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the allied approach to eliminating Iran's nuclear capabilities.
