Israel attacks Iranian nuclear sites, missile damages Israeli hospital
WASHINGTON/DUBAI/OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Israel struck a key Iranian nuclear site on Thursday and Iranian missiles hit an Israeli hospital, as President Donald Trump kept the world guessing about whether the US would join Israel in airstrikes seeking to destroy Tehran's nuclear facilities.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to press on with Israel's biggest ever attack on Iran until his arch enemy's nuclear programme is destroyed, said Tehran's 'tyrants' would pay the 'full price'.
His Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military had been instructed to intensify strikes on strategic-related targets in Tehran in order to eliminate the threat to Israel and destabilise the 'Ayatollah regime'.
Netanyahu has said that Israel's military attacks could topple the regime in Iran, and Israel would do whatever is necessary to remove the 'existential threat' posed by Tehran.
A week of Israeli air and missile strikes against its major rival has wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command, damaged its nuclear capabilities and killed hundreds of people, while Iranian retaliatory strikes have killed at least two dozen civilians in Israel.
The Israeli military said it targeted the Khondab nuclear reactor in Iran's central city Arak overnight, including a partially-built heavy-water research reactor.
Heavy-water reactors produce plutonium, which, like enriched uranium, can be used to make the core of an atom bomb.
Iran's Khamenei rejects Trump's call for unconditional surrender
Iranian media reported two projectiles hitting an area near the facility.
There were no reports of radiation threats. Israel's military said it also struck a site in the area of Natanz, which it said contains components and specialised equipment used to advance nuclear weapons development.
Iran has always denied planning to build an atomic weapon and says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.
Its Atomic Energy Organisation said Israel had attacked its nuclear sites 'in renewed violation of international law' and that there were no casualties because the areas had been evacuated.
Missiles damage hospital in Israel
On Thursday morning, several Iranian missiles struck populated areas in Israel, including a hospital in the southern part of the country, according to an Israeli military official.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard said it was targeting Israeli military and intelligence headquarters near Soroka medical centre in the city of Beersheba in the south of the country. Soroka reported it had sustained damage.
The week of Iranian missile salvoes mark the first time in decades of shadow war and proxy conflict that a significant number of projectiles fired from Iran have penetrated defences, killing Israelis in their homes.
Trails of missiles and interception efforts were visible in the skies over Tel Aviv, with explosions heard as incoming projectiles were intercepted. Israeli media also reported direct hits in central Israel.
Emergency services said five people had been seriously injured in the attacks and dozens of others hurt in three separate locations.
Vladimir Putin eyes peacemaking role in Israel-Iran air war
People were still trapped in a building in a south Tel Aviv neighbourhood, they added.
Around a dozen mostly European and African embassies and diplomatic missions are located just a few hundred metres from the strike on Tel Aviv.
Buildings were extensively damaged in Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv, a key commercial hub home to high-rise towers, and emergency workers helping residents, including children.
The blast caused significant damage to nearby residential buildings and shattered windows across the area.
'It's very scary,' said Yaniv, 34, who lives just a few hundred meters away. He said he heard a deafening explosion when the missile hit, shaking his apartment tower.
The worst-ever conflict between the two regional powers has raised fears that it will draw in world powers and further destabilize the Middle East.
Oil prices surged after Israel said it attacked Iranian nuclear sites overnight, as investors grapple with fears of a broader conflict in the Middle East that could disrupt crude supplies.
Israel, which has the most advanced military in the Middle East, has been fighting on several fronts since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack triggered the Gaza war, which has spilled over across the region.
It has pounded Iran's regional allies, the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza and Lebanon's Hezbollah, with fierce military campaigns and assassinations of their top leaders, and bombed Yemen's Houthis.
Iran says hypersonic missiles fired at Israel as Trump demands 'unconditional surrender'
Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Wednesday, Trump declined to say if he had made any decision on whether to join Israel's air campaign.
'I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do,' he said. Trump also said Iranian officials wanted to come to Washington for a meeting: 'We may do that,' he said, adding 'it's a little late' for such talks. Trump has said the war could end if Iran quickly agrees to sharp curbs on its nuclear programme.
Tehran has said it will not negotiate while under attack. Nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran, due last Sunday, were cancelled.
In an effort to restart negotiations, the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain plan to hold nuclear talks with Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araqchi on Friday in Geneva, a German diplomatic source told Reuters.
Trump has veered from proposing a swift diplomatic end to the war to suggesting the United States might join it.
On Tuesday he mused on social media about killing Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei, then demanded Iran's unconditional surrender.
A source familiar with internal discussions said Trump and his team were considering options that included joining Israel in strikes against Iranian nuclear installations.
But the prospect of a US strike against Iran has exposed divisions in the coalition of supporters that brought Trump to power, with some of his base urging him not to get the country involved in a new Middle East war.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Recorder
37 minutes ago
- Business Recorder
US B-2 bombers involved in Iran strikes, U.S. official says
WASHINGTON: US B-2 bombers were involved in strikes on Iran's nuclear sites announced by President Donald Trump on Saturday, a U.S. official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. Trump says US forces bombed Iran nuclear sites; says 'Fordow is gone' Reuters had reported earlier on Saturday the movement of B-2 bombers, which can be equipped to carry massive bombs that experts say would be ideal to strike the sites.
Express Tribune
an hour ago
- Express Tribune
Israeli fire kills 8 near aid centres
Palestinians at al-Shifa Hospital react over the bodies of their relatives killed by Israeli fire near an aid distribution centre in central Gaza, June 11 [Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters] Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed at least 12 people on Saturday, including eight who had gathered near aid distribution sites in the Palestinian territory suffering severe food shortages. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that three people were killed by gunfire from Israeli forces while waiting to collect aid in the southern Gaza Strip. In a separate incident, Bassal said five people were killed in a central area known as the Netzarim corridor, where thousands of Palestinians have gathered daily in the hope of receiving food rations. The Israeli army told AFP it was "looking into" both incidents, which according to the civil defence agency occurred near distribution centres run by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Its operations began at the end of May -- when Israel eased a total aid blockade that lasted more than two months -- but have been marred by chaotic scenes and neutrality concerns. UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the foundation over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives. The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said on Saturday that 450 people had been killed and 3,466 others injured while seeking aid in near-daily incidents since late May. The Israeli blockade imposed in early March amid an impasse in truce negotiations had produced famine-like conditions across Gaza, according to rights groups. Israel's military has pressed its operations across Gaza more than 20 months since an unprecedented Hamas attack triggered the devastating war, and even as attention has shifted to the war with Iran since June 13. Bassal told AFP that three people were killed on Saturday in an Israeli air strike on Gaza City in the north, and one more in another strike on the southern city of Khan Yunis. Israeli forces also demolished more than 10 houses in Gaza City "by detonating them with explosives", he added. Israeli restrictions on media in the Gaza Strip and difficulties in accessing some areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers and authorities. Earlier this week, the UN's World Health Organization warned that Gaza's health system was at a "breaking point", pleading for fuel to be allowed into the territory to keep its remaining hospitals running.
Express Tribune
an hour ago
- Express Tribune
Pakistan to recommend Trump for Nobel Peace Prize
U.S. President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up as he walks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 25, 2025. PHOTO:REUTER Listen to article Pakistan said on Saturday it would recommend US President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, an accolade that he has said he craves, for his work in helping to resolve the recent conflict between Pakistan and India. Some analysts in Pakistan said the move might persuade Trump to think again about potentially joining Israel in striking Iran's nuclear facilities. Pakistan has condemned Israel's action as a violation of international law and a threat to regional stability. Pakistan agrees that US diplomatic intervention ended the fighting, but India says it was a bilateral agreement between the two militaries. "President Trump demonstrated great strategic foresight and stellar statesmanship through robust diplomatic engagement with both Islamabad and New Delhi, which de-escalated a rapidly deteriorating situation," Pakistan said. "This intervention stands as a testament to his role as a genuine peacemaker." Governments can nominate people for the Nobel Peace Prize. There was no immediate response from Washington. A spokesperson for the Indian government did not respond to a request for comment. Trump has repeatedly said that he's willing to mediate between Pakistan and India over the disputed Kashmir region, their main source of enmity. In a social media post on Friday, Trump gave a long list of conflicts he said he had resolved, including India and Pakistan and the Abraham accords in his first term between Israel and some Muslim-majority countries. He added: "I won't get a Nobel Peace Prize no matter what I do." Mushahid Hussain, a former chair of the Senate Defence Committee in Pakistan's parliament, suggested nominating Trump for the peace prize was justified. "Trump is good for Pakistan," he said. "If this panders to Trump's ego, so be it. All the European leaders have been sucking up to him big time." But the move was not universally applauded in Pakistan, where Trump's support for Israel's war in Gaza has inflamed passions.
