Israel and Iran launch new attacks as Tehran says it will not negotiate nuclear programme while under threat
Iran and Israel exchanged fresh strikes early on Saturday, after Tehran said it would not negotiate over its nuclear programme while under threat and Israel claimed its attacks had delayed Iran's potential to develop a nuclear weapon by 'at least two or three years'.
Shortly after 2.30am the Israeli military warned of an incoming missile barrage from Iran, triggering air raid sirens across parts of central Israel, including Tel Aviv, as well as in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Interceptions were visible in the sky over Tel Aviv, with explosions echoing across the metropolitan area as Israel's air defence systems responded. An Israeli military official said Iran had fired five ballistic missiles and that there were no immediate indications of any missile impacts. There were no initial reports of casualties.
At the same time, Israel launched a new wave of attacks against missile storage and launch infrastructure sites in Iran, the Israeli military said.
The war started when Israel launched hundreds of airstrikes on Iran last Friday morning, in what it said was an operation aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Iran quickly responded with a barrage of missiles and drones, triggering a tit-for-tat cycle of bombing between the two countries.
Israel knocked out much of Iran's air defences in its initial wave of attacks and Israeli jets have operated with relative freedom over Iran. Iran has sent a steadily diminishing number of ballistic missiles into Israel and managed to get some past air defences, hitting a hospital in southern Israel on Thursday and injuring about 80 people.
Israeli bombing has killed at least 639 people and wounded 1,326, according to Iranian media, while Iranian missiles have killed at least 25 people and wounded hundreds in Israel.
As fighting continues to escalate, the Israeli military chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, said Israelis must prepare for 'difficult days' ahead.
He said on Friday: 'To remove a threat of such magnitude, against such an enemy, we must be ready for a prolonged campaign. Day by day, our freedom to operate is expanding and the enemy's is narrowing.'
In an interview published on Saturday, Israel's foreign minister said the strikes on Iran had delayed Tehran's potential to develop a nuclear weapon by 'at least two or three years'.
Israel's offensive – which has hit hundreds of nuclear and military sites, killing top commanders and nuclear scientists – has produced 'very significant' results, Gideon Saar told German newspaper Bild.
'We already achieved a lot, but we will do whatever we can do. We will not stop until we will do everything that we can do there in order to remove this threat,' he said.
Speaking in Geneva, where he was meeting his counterparts from the UK, France and Germany, the Iranian foreign minster, Abbas Araghchi, said Iran was determined to defend its territorial integrity and sovereignty 'with all force'.
But there was no sign of any breakthrough, and Araghchi said Iran would only consider a resumption of diplomacy with Washington if Israel halted its bombardment.
Late on Friday, Donald Trump said it was unlikely he would pressure Israel to scale back its offensive to allow negotiations, telling reporters: 'I think it's very hard to make that request right now. If somebody is winning, it's a little bit harder to do than if somebody is losing, but we're ready, willing and able, and we've been speaking to Iran.'
The US president reiterated that he would take as long as two weeks to decide whether the US should enter the conflict on Israel's side, enough time 'to see whether or not people come to their senses'. He doubted negotiations with European officials would be able to secure a ceasefire, he added.
'Iran doesn't want to speak to Europe, they want to speak to us,' Trump said. 'Europe is not going to be able to help in this one.'
Israel is keen for the US to jump into the fray, as only the US possesses the capacity to strike Iran's most heavily fortified nuclear facility, the Fordow uranium enrichment site, which lies up to 100 metres under a mountain near Qom.
On Friday, Trump said his director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, had been wrong in suggesting there was no evidence Iran is building a nuclear weapon.
In March, Gabbard testified to Congress that the US intelligence community continued to believe that Tehran was not building a nuclear weapon.
Trump began to publicly contest that assessment after the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, claimed he launched the war because Iran was on the threshold of obtaining a nuclear bomb.
On Friday, Gabbard said in a post on social media that the media had taken her March testimony 'out of context' and was trying to 'manufacture division', adding: 'America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalise the assembly. President Trump has been clear that can't happen, and I agree.'
With Reuters and Agence France-Presse
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AI disinformation wey dey comot from di Iran- Israel War
Plenti disinformation don comot online since wen Israel start to dey strike Iran last week, dis na as BBC Verify don review plenti posts for social media wey dem use to boost how effective di Tehran response dey. Di analysis find out some videos wey dem use artificial intelligence to make, wey bin dey brag about Iran military capacity togeda wit fake clips wey show wetin strikes cause for Israeli targets. Di three most viewed fake videos wey BBC Verify find don get ova 100 million views from all di platforms wey dem follow post dem. Pro-Israeli accounts sef don also share dia own disinformation online. Dis na mainly by say dem repost old clips of protests and gatherings for Iran wey dem go lie say dem dey show say di public for Iran no dey feel dia goment and dey support di Israel military campaign. Israel bin launch strikes for Iran for 13 June wey cause Iran to send several rounds of missile and drone attacks to Israel. One joinbodi wey dia work na to torchlight and analyse open source images tok say di amount of disinformation wey dey online dey, "astonishing" and even accuse who dem call "engagement farmers" say dem dey try to make money from di kasala by sharing misleading content wey dey made to get attention online. Geoconfirmed, wey be di online verification group write for X say, "we dey see everting from unrelated videos from Pakistan, to recycled videos from di October 2024 strikes, wey don gada ova 20 million views, to game videos and AI generated content wey dem dey try pass off say na wetin happun be dat". Some accounts don turn "super spreaders" of disinformation as dem dey get growth for dia followers. One pro Iranian account wey no look like e get any ties wit Tehran don grow dia followers from ova 700,000 for 13 June to 1.4 million for 19 June. Dis na 100% growth and, e neva even reach one week sef. Na one of di many not known accounts wey don dey show for pipo feeds as of recent. All of dem get blue ticks, get ogbonge messaging and don dey post disinformation well-well. Bicos some dey use names wey look like say dem dey official, so pipo go reason say dem bi real accounts but e no dey clear who dey run di accounts. Dis amount of disinformation dey marked as "di first time wey we go see di use of generative AI for dis level during kasala", na wetin Emmanuella Saliba wey be di Chief Investigative Officer for di analyst group Get Real tell BBC Verify. Accounts wey BBC Verify review bin dey normally show AI generated pictures as e be like say dem wan exaggerate how di Iran response to Israel strikes dey successful. One image wey get 27m views show dozens of missiles as dem dey enta di city of Tel Aviv. Anoda video look like e show missile strike on top one building for di Israeli city late for night. Ms Saliba say dis clips dey normally show night time attacks wey dey make am harder to verify. Di AI fakes dey also focus on claims say dem destroy di Israeli F-35 fighter jets, wey be di state of di art planes US make wey fit strike both targets for ground and for air. If di plenti clips wey dey comot dey real, dat mean say Iran for don destroy 15% of di Israel fleet of fighters. Dis na wetin Lisa Kaplan wey be di CEO of di Alethea analyst group tell BBC Verify. We neva fit verify any video of F-35s wey dem shoot down. One of di post wey don go far claim to show jet wey dey damaged afta dem shoot am down for Iranian desert. But signs of AI manipulation bin dey inside, like how di pipo wey dey around di jets bin dey di same size as di nearby motor and how di sand no even move small to show say jet crash land on am. Anoda video wey get 21.1 million views for TikTok show one Israeli F-35 wey air defences bin shoot down, but wia di video bin actually come from na from one flight simulator video game. TikTok don comot di video afta BBC Verify meet wit dem. Ms Kaplan explain say some of di focus wey dey on top F-35s na from network of accounts wey Alethea bin formerly link to Russian influence operations. She bin note say Russian influence operations don shift from dia work to undermine support for di war for Ukraine to come sow doubts on top weda Western and especially American weapons dey work well. Ms Kaplan say, "Russia no really get response to di F-35. So wetin dem go do? Na to reduce di support e dey get for certain kontris." Disinformation also dey spread by well-known accounts wey don chook mouth for di Israel Gaza war and oda kasala bifor. Dia motivations dey different but sabi pipo tok say some of dem fit dey try to make money from di kasala as some social media platforms don dey offer money to accounts wey dey get plenti views. Pro-Israeli posts, howeva, dey focus on suggestions say di goment of Iran dey face backlash as di strikes dey go on. Among dem, na widely shared AI video wey lie, wey show Iranians dey hala "we love Israel" for di streets of Tehran. But recently, amd as di speculation about US strikes for Iran nuclear sites still dey grow, some accounts don start to dey post AI pictures of B-2 bombers ova Tehran. Pipo don dey torchlight di B-2 since Israel strikes for Iran start bicos na di only aircraft wey fit effectively carry out attack for Iran underground nuclear sites. Official sources for Iran and Israel don share some of di fake images. State media for Tehran share fake videos of strikes and AI image of crashed F-35 while Israel Defense Forces (IDF) gbab community note for X for one of dia post say dem use old unrelated footage of missile bombardment. Plenti of di disinformation wey BBC Verify review don dey shared for X. Sotay users now dey ask di platform AI chatbot, Grok weda di posts na true or na lie. But for some cases, Grok don tok say di AI videos dey real. One of dat kain video show plenti trucks wey dey carry ballistic missiles dey comot from one mountainside complex. Di signs of AI content show as di rocks for di video bin dey move dia self na wetin Ms Saliba tok. But Grok still tell X users say di videos bin dey real and also cite reports wey media outlets like Newsweek and Reuters put out say make pipo "check trusted news for clarity". X no ansa BBC Verify wen dem ask for comments for wetin Grok dey do. Many videos also comot for TikTok and Instagram, For statement to BBC Verify, TikTok tok say dem dey ginger to enforce community guidelines "wey prohibit inaccurate, misleading or fake content" and dem dey work wit independent fact checkers to "verify misleading content". Instagram owner Meta no ansa dia own request for comment. While motivation for pipo wey dey create dis online fakes dey plenti, many of dem dey shared by ordinary social media users. Matthew Facciani, wey be researcher for di University of Notre Dame, bin suggest say disinformation fit spread sharparly online wen pipo dey faced wit two options like di kain wey kasala and politics dey bring comot. E say, "dat one torchlight wetin be di bigger social and psychological issue of pipo wey wan reshare tins if e go wit dia political identity and also in general, more sensationalist emotional content wey dey spread quicker for di online world".
