Israel-Iran conflict live: Israeli military issues evacuation warning to residents in Iranian industrial area

Blasts have been heard in the Safidrood industrial town near the Iranian town of Kolesh Taleshan, in the north-west of the country, Al Jazeera reports, shortly after Israel told people in the area to evacuate.

Iran’s air defences have also intercepted “hostile targets” in the central city of Isfahan – home to one of Iran’s biggest nuclear facilities – and shot down an Israeli drone in the Kahrizak area south of Tehran, the Qatar-based broadcaster reported.

The Israeli military says it has intercepted a drone launched by Iran in the Dead Sea area.

Here’s a selection of images from around Gaza on Thursday:

Australia’s embassy in Tehran has suspended operations and the government is ordering officials to leave Iran, the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has said, over concerns about “the deteriorating security environment”.

As alarm grows about the conflict between Iran and Israel, Wong said the Australian ambassador to Iran would “remain in the region to support the Australian government’s response to this crisis”, while consular staff are being deployed to neighbouring Azerbaijan, “including its border crossings, to support Australians departing Iran”.

The government is trying to assist Australians to leave Iran but Wong said options were limited.

“The Australian government has directed the departure of all Australian officials and dependents and suspended operations at our embassy in Tehran, based on advice about the deteriorating security environment in Iran,” Wong said this morning.

We urge Australians who are able to leave Iran to do so now, if it is safe. Those who are unable to, or do not wish to leave, are advised to shelter in place.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio has also been working the phones and spoke earlier with Australian foreign minister Penny Wong, according to state department spokesperson Tammy Bruce.

In a statement Bruce said that the pair had “agreed to continue to work together closely to commit to a path of peace and ensure that Iran never develops a nuclear weapon”.

Israel is the only Middle East state with nuclear weapons, but has never formally acknowledged its arsenal nor has it signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT).

After meeting with US secretary of state Marco Rubio in Washington on Thursday, UK foreign secretary David Lammy has said the pair discussed “how a deal could avoid a deepening conflict” and that a “window now exists within the next two weeks to achieve a diplomatic solution”. In a statement he added:

Now is the time to put a stop to the grave scenes in the Middle East and prevent a regional escalation that would benefit no one.

Lammy is set to meet Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi in Geneva on Friday, alongside his French and German counterparts.

The war last week began when Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran, as Tehran was in the middle of nuclear negotiations with Washington.

The UK’s minister for the Middle East and North Africa, Hamish Falconer, has condemned Iran’s strike on an Israeli hospital.

In a post on X, he wrote: “My thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones following the appalling Iranian strike on a hospital in Beer Sheba. Hospitals must never be targeted. This is a dangerous moment for the entire region. The UK and our allies are clear that diplomacy is the only solution.”

Dozens were injured in the strike on Soroka hospital in the southern city of Beersheba.

Reuters carrying quotes from Israel’s Washington embassy on the claims that Iran used a cluster munition above Israel:

“Today, the Iranian Armed Forces fired a missile that contained cluster submunitions at a densely populated civilian area in Israel,” the embassy said in an email to Reuters that did not identify the area.

“Cluster weapons are designed to disperse over a large area and maximise the chances of a harmful strike,” the email continued. “Iran unlawfully fired deliberately at civilian population centres, and seeks to maximise the damage to civilians in them by using wide-dispersal munitions.”

A grenade was thrown at the residence of the Norwegian ambassador to Israel on Thursday evening in Tel Aviv, Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar said. No one was injured.

“I spoke a short time ago with the Norwegian ambassador to Israel, Per Egil Selvaag, in whose yard a grenade was thrown this evening,” Saar said on X. “I strongly condemn this serious and dangerous crime.”

In Oslo, the Norwegian foreign ministry said an explosion occurred at the residence.

“No staff with the embassy was injured during the incident,” it said in an emailed statement, which did not say what caused the explosion. Israeli police said in a statement “light property damage was sustained” and that it had opened an investigation.

Dozens of US military aircraft are no longer on the tarmac at a major US base in Qatar, satellite images show, Agence France-Presse reports.

It could be a move to shield them from potential Iranian air strikes, as Washington weighs whether to intervene in Iran’s conflict with Israel.

Between 5 and 19 June, nearly all of the aircraft visible at the Al Udeid base are no longer anywhere in plain sight, according to images published by Planet Labs PBC and analysed by AFP.

Nearly 40 military aircraft – including transport planes like the Hercules C-130 and reconnaissance aircraft – were parked on the tarmac on 5 June. In an image taken on 19 June, only three aircraft are visible.

The US embassy in Qatar announced earlier today that access to the base would be limited “out of an abundance of caution and in light of ongoing regional hostilities,” and urged personnel to “exercise increased vigilance.

The UK foreign secretary, David Lammy has met his US counterpart Marco Rubio to discuss the conflict in the Middle East

The pair were joined by British ambassador Peter Mandelson and Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, for the meeting at the White House.

Rubio’s spokesperson, Tammy Bruce, said: “They discussed the conflict between Israel and Iran and agreed Iran can never develop or acquire a nuclear weapon.

“They reviewed other key areas of US-UK co-operation, including efforts to bring an end to the Russia-Ukraine war. The secretary (Mr Rubio) and foreign secretary (David) Lammy also talked about the upcoming Nato summit and reaffirmed the importance of increased defence spending to secure peace and stability.”

Iran’s foreign ministry summoned Germany’s envoy following what it called “unwise and irresponsible” statements by the German chancellor supporting Israeli actions that violate international law, AP reports, citing Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency.

IRNA reported that the country’s foreign ministry conveyed Tehran’s “strong protest” to Markus Potzel, over the German chancellor’s remarks, which he described as an “implicit endorsement of lawbreaking and the use of force against a peaceful country and government.”

In the meeting, Iran underscored Germany’s international commitment, as a signatory to the United Nations Charter, to oppose aggressive acts that breach international law. It asserted that Israel’s armed attack on Iran “explicitly violates Article 2, Paragraph 4 of the UN Charter and is a clear instance of an aggressive act that must be condemned by all UN member states.”

Germany is a staunch ally of Israel.

UK prime minister Keir Starmer and Bahraini crown prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, agreed on the need for closer relationships to support stability in the Middle East, a spokesperson for Starmer’s office said on Thursday.

“The leaders called for de-escalation and both agreed on the need for enduring and closer relationships across the region to support stability,” the spokesperson said, referring to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

An explosion occurred at the residence of the Norwegian ambassador to Israel on Thursday evening in Tel Aviv, the Norwegian foreign ministry said.

“We have been in contact with the embassy tonight. No staff with the embassy was injured during the incident,” the foreign ministry said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

It did not say what caused the explosion.

Israeli military strikes hit Iran’s Khondab Heavy Water Research Reactor, a project under construction that had not begun operating, and damaged the nearby plant that makes heavy water, the UN nuclear watchdog said on Thursday, Reuters reports.

“IAEA has information the Khondab (former Arak) heavy water research reactor, under construction, was hit. It was not operational and contained no nuclear material, so no radiological effects,” the IAEA said in a post on X.

“While damage to the nearby Heavy Water Production Plant was initially not visible, it is now assessed that key buildings at the facility were damaged, including the distillation unit,” the IAEA statement said.

What is Donald Trump’s plan for Iran? Is he about to break his campaign pledge for ‘no more wars’? And if he does, could this be the moment he loses some of his most loyal Maga supporters?

The Guardian’s Rachel Leingang and Andrew Roth discuss:

Israel’s attack has exposed Iran’s lack of firepower but the conflict could yet turn in Tehran’s favour.

The Guardian’s Dan Sabbagh reports:

It is a week since Israel began its largest attack ever on Iran, and in conventional military terms it is clear that Tehran is under extreme pressure. Israel has been able to achieve superiority over Iran’s skies at extraordinary speed, within hours of launching its surprise assault. Its military claimed on Monday to have knocked out 120 Iranian air defence systems through a mixture of air and drone strikes, about a third of Tehran’s pre-war total.

In response, Iran’s most effective weapon has been its stock of high-speed ballistic missiles, estimated at about 2,000 by Israel’s Defence Force (IDF) at the outset of hostilities last week. But the heavy targeting by Israel of launch sites in western Iran, in underground bases such as at Kermanshah – coupled with Israel’s grimly effective targeted killing of Iran’s top military commanders – have left Iran struggling to respond militarily and presenting a significant threat.

Iran has so far launched more than 400 missiles at Israel, but half, about 200, were launched in the initial retaliatory barrages last Friday. Since Monday the size of its missile barrages has reduced to a maximum of 15 to 20 (including 15 on Thursday afternoon), compared with up to 40 during the weekend, according to a count compiled by a US thinktank, the Institute for the Study of War. Iran’s ability to manufacture new weapons is also likely to be limited, estimated by the US to be 50 a month before the hostilities broke out.

For the full story, click here:

The body of a Ukrainian mother who had travelled to Israel for her daughter’s leukemia treatment was recovered on Thursday from a building struck by an Iranian missile four days earlier, Israeli officials said.

Agence France-Presse reports:

The city of Bat Yam, close to Tel Aviv, announced that “in the past few minutes, a body was found at the site of the missile impact”, identifying the victim as 31-year-old Maria Peshkarova, 31, also known as Marina.

Peshkarova had travelled to Israel in December 2022 on a medical visa to seek life-saving treatment for her daughter Anastasia, 8, who was killed along with her grandmother in the destroyed apartment bloc in Bat Yam, according to the mayor’s office.

Peshkarova’s husband is fighting in Ukraine’s war against Russia, according to the Israeli news website Ynet.

Israeli authorities had previously released the names of eight people killed in the strike and had stated that one person was missing. Peshkarova’s confirmed death takes the total deathtoll in Israel to 25 since the war with Iran started on Friday, according to authorities.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Sunday that five of its nationals were killed in the Iranian strike on Bat Yam near Tel Aviv, including three minors. Ukraine on Tuesday urged its citizens to leave Israel and Iran as soon as possible amid the spiralling conflict between the two countries.

The UK has updated its travel guidance to Lebanon on Thursday, warning on its website that “there is a risk of disruptions to air travel to and from Beirut airport due to ongoing hostilities in the region which could escalate quickly and pose security risks for the wider region.”

“Separately, the risk of air strikes in areas of Lebanon, including in southern suburbs of Beirut, remains,” the website said.

Iranian state media said air defence systems were activated Thursday against “hostile targets” over the capital Tehran, a week into a war triggered by major Israeli attacks, Agence France-Prese reports.

“Iran’s air defences confront hostile targets in northern Tehran,” said official news agency IRNA without elaborating.

Donald Trump has denied a report in the Wall Street Journal that he has approved US plans to attack Iran, saying that the news outlet has “no idea” what his thinking is concerning the Israel-Iran conflict.

The Guardian’s Edward Helmore reports:

The Journal reported late on Wednesday that Trump told senior aides a day earlier that he had approved attack plans but was delaying on giving the final order to see if Tehran would abandon its nuclear program. The report cited three anonymous officials.

On Thursday, Trump responded to the report, posting on Truth Social: “The Wall Street Journal has No Idea what my thoughts are concerning Iran!”

But Trump’s decision is dependent on whether the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) would destroy the Fordow uranium enrichment site, a US official told Axios. Fordow, which is built into a mountain south of Tehran, is a target of Israel’s, but they lack the “bunker-buster bombs” and aircraft needed to destroy it; the US has access to both.

“We’re going to be ready to strike Iran. We’re not convinced yet that we’re necessary. And we want to be unnecessary, but I think the president’s just not convinced we are needed yet,” a US official told the outlet.

For the full story, click here:

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that the change or fall of the Iranian regime was not a goal but could be a result.

“The matter of changing the regime or the fall of this regime is first and foremost a matter for the Iranian people. There is no substitute for this. And that’s why I didn’t present it as a goal. It could be a result, but it’s not a stated or formal goal that we have,” Netanyahu told Israeli public broadcaster Kan, Reuters reports.

Meanwhile, more than 2,000 Israelis are expected today to return to the country from Cyprus, a regional hub for travellers trying to get into or out of the region since the crisis erupted.

An estimated 21 flights are scheduled for Haifa, Tel Aviv and the Red Sea port city of Aqaba in Jordan, according to sources at the island’s main international Larnaca as part of the repatriation scheme.

In the six days since the crisis erupted, more than 100 private vessels have also transported people to and from Israel from Larnaca marina.

The Cyprus news agency reported that 460 people had travelled out of Israel to the island via the sea route with roughly the same number boarding yachts and other craft to head back to Israel.

Returnees were quoted as saying that despite the explosive situation, they were desperate to be back home with their families. Cyprus is the nearest EU member state to the Middle East.

Defence minister Israel Katz says Iran’s supreme leader “personally gives the order to fire on hospitals” after Soroka hospital in southern Israel was hit during an Iranian missile attack.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi have spoken by phone several times since Israel began its strikes on Iran last week, in a bid to find a diplomatic end to the crisis, three diplomats told Reuters.

According to the diplomats, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter, Araqchi said Tehran would not return to negotiations unless Israel stopped the attacks, which began on 13 June.

They said the talks included a brief discussion of a US proposal given to Iran at the end of May that aims to create a regional consortium that would enrich uranium outside Iran, an offer Tehran has so far rejected.

US and Iranian officials did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the matter.

Ottawa is planning commercial options for Canadians in Israel, the West Bank and Iran to leave the region via neighbouring countries, foreign minister Anita Anand said on Thursday.

“We are developing further options with our allies,” she said in a post on X, but gave no details.

German chancellor Friedrich Merz had a phone call with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which Merz called for moderation in Israel’s campaign against Iran, a German government source told Reuters on Thursday.

Merz voiced Germany’s support in principle for Israeli military attacks on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure during the call on Wednesday evening but stressed the importance of seeking diplomatic solutions to the conflict, the source said.

Germany plans to host nuclear talks with its European partners and the Iranian foreign minister at its permanent representation in Geneva on Friday, a source told Reuters on Wednesday, with the goal of getting assurances from Iran that its nuclear programme is used solely for civilian purposes.

The leader of the opposition in the UK, Kemi Badenoch, has said she would “in principle” support the US using the UK-controlled Diego Garcia base in the Chagos Islands in a potential strike on Iran.

Asked if Keir Starmer should allow the US to use the base if necessary, she said: “So I haven’t seen the security briefings.

“But in principle, I think that that’s absolutely something that we should do. I don’t think the US or Israel would be rushing into something unless there was a serious threat to global security.

“But what is astonishing is that we now have to get permission from Mauritius, who are an ally of China and ally of Iran.

“That is a situation we should not have been in. And I’m also worried about us not being ready for the more dangerous world that we’re living in.”

She also said the UK should be thinking about pulling its citizens out of Israel.

At the Soroka hospital in Beersheba, Netanyahu called for the Iranian people to rise up and overthrow their government, saying Israel might create the conditions for regime change with its bombing campaign while insisting that was not the objective.

He said:

People ask me – are we targeting the downfall of the regime.

That may be a result, but it’s up to the Iranian people to rise for their freedom. Freedom is never cheap. It’s never free. Freedom requires these subjugated people to rise up, and it’s up to them.

But we may create conditions that will help them do it. Our goal is twofold. Nuclear [and] ballistic missiles. We are going to remove them. We are in the process of completing and removing this threat.

Speaking in Hebrew, the prime minister added:

I want to tell you that 2,500 years ago, Cyrus the Great, the King of Persia, liberated the Jews. And today, a Jewish state is creating the means to liberate the Persian people.

The Israeli military said on Thursday that Iran used a missile with multiple warheads in its attack, posing a new challenge to its defenses, the Associated Press (AP) reports.

Instead of having to track one warhead, missiles with multiple warheads can pose a more difficult challenge for air defense systems, like Israel’s Iron Dome.

There was no immediate independent analysis that could be made.

Iranian police announced the arrest on Thursday of 24 people accused of spying for Israel and of seeking to tarnish the country’s image, according to a statement carried by Tasnim news agency, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.

Kiumars Azizi, police commander for west Tehran, said:

Twenty-four individuals who were spying for the Zionist enemy offline and online, and who were... trying to disturb public opinion, and to tarnish and destroy the image of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran, were arrested.

Here are some more photos coming to us through the wires of the events unfolding in the Middle East:

A key Iranian body warned the US on Thursday that any intervention in support of its ally Israel would be met with a “harsh response”, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.

The Guardian Council said in a statement carried by state television:

The criminal American government and its stupid president must know for sure that if they make a mistake and take action against Islamic Iran, they will face a harsh response from the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Benjamin Netanyahu has just left Soroka hospital in Beer Sheva. He toured the site and gave a statement to the press.

According Ynet news, he said: “The entire people of Israel are paying a price. We are going through a blitz, and we are going through it in an astonishing way.”

“There are personal costs, people have been hurt, families have lost their loved ones. Each of us bears a personal cost, and my family has not been exempt – this is the second time that my son Avner has cancelled a wedding due to missile threats. It is a personal cost for his fiancee as well, and I must say that my dear wife is a hero, and she bears a personal cost.”

Iran could shut the strait of Hormuz as a way of hitting back against its enemies, a senior lawmaker said on Thursday, though a second member of parliament said this would only happen if Tehran’s vital interests were endangered.

Iran has in the past threatened to close the strait of Hormuz to traffic in retaliation for western pressure, and shipping sources said on Wednesday that commercial ships were avoiding Iran’s waters around the strait, Reuters reported.

“Iran has numerous options to respond to its enemies and uses such options based on what the situation is,” the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted Behnam Saeedi, a member of the parliament’s National Security Committee presidium as saying.

“Closing the strait of Hormuz is one of the potential options for Iran,” he said.

Mehr later quoted another lawmaker, Ali Yazdikhah, as saying Iran would continue to allow free shipping in the Strait and in the Gulf so long as its vital national interests were not at risk.

“If the United States officially and operationally enters the war in support of the Zionists (Israel), it is the legitimate right of Iran in view of pressuring the U.S. and western countries to disrupt their oil trade’s ease of transit,” Yazdikhah said.

Lithuania will evacuate family members of its diplomats in Israel as well as non-essential staff after an Iranian missile struck Tel Aviv’s Ramat Gan neighbourhood, the Lithuanian foreign ministry said on Thursday.

The US special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, on Thursday warned Lebanese group Hezbollah against getting involved in the war between its main backer Iran and Israel, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.

Barrack, who is also the US ambassador to Turkey, is on his first visit to Beirut, where he met top Lebanese officials including parliament speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah.

“I can say on behalf of President (Donald) Trump … that would be a very, very, very bad decision,” Barrack said after his meeting with Berri, responding to a question on what the US position would be on any involvement by Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in the war.

The group condemned Israel’s strikes on Iran when the conflict erupted on Friday, but did not announce its intention to intervene in support of Tehran.

Hezbollah suffered devastating losses in its war against Israel last year, which ended with a ceasefire agreement in November.

Despite the ongoing ceasefire, Israel has repeatedly attacked Lebanon, saying it would continue to strike the country until Hezbollah was disarmed.

An Israeli strike on Kfar Juz, south Lebanon, killed two people on Wednesday, while another strike injured one person in Barish, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

Israel said it killed two Hezbollah members in its attacks.

Below is a graphic produced by the Guardian of the latest airstrikes reported across Iran since 12 June.

Israel attacked Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor early on Thursday, Iranian state television has reported. The report said there was “no radiation danger whatsoever” and that the facility had been already evacuated before the attack.

Below is a graphic produced by the Guardian of the latest airstrikes reported across Israel since 12 June.

Most recently, Soroka hospital in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba was hit by a ballistic missile after Iran launched its latest wave of retaliatory airstrikes on the country.

Here is a video showing the aftermath of the Iranian missile strike on Soroka hospital in Beersheba on Thursday:

Aryeh Myers, a spokesperson for the Magen David emergency services, said the Soroka hospital building which was struck had been evacuated the previous evening because “there were certain areas that we knew were less protected than we’d like them to be.”

He added: “So we moved patients to more protected areas again, to give them the best protection we possibly can. And so that as few people as possible were actually directly affected.”

Myers made a distinction between Iran’s missile strike against this hospital and the Israeli targeting of hospitals and clinic across Gaza over the past 20 months.

He said it was not a moral or legal double standard.

He added:

The main difference between this hospital is it is a totally civilian hospital.

There are no tunnels underneath, its not housing terrorist headquarters. This hospital is for the civilians who live in the Negev region – whether they are Jewish residents, Muslim residents, whoever it is.

We’ve got a huge Bedouin community that live in this area who are served very much by this hospital. And the fact that this hospital was targeted is a horrendous state of affairs.

China urged countries in the Middle East, “especially Israel”, to cease fighting on Thursday after fresh exchanges of fire with Iran, and as US president Donald Trump warned he was weighing US military action in the conflict, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said:

China strongly calls on all parties involved in the conflict, especially Israel, to put the interests of the region’s people first, immediately cease fire and stop fighting

The spokesperson added that Beijing “opposes any act that... infringes upon the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of other countries, and opposes the use or threat of use of force in international relations”.

UK shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel said the Conservative party would support the UK government in joining the military fight against Iran if it was deemed necessary, PA Media reports

Asked whether she would agree if the UK joined the offensive, she told Good Morning Britain:

While we want peace in the region, we’re crystal clear that Iran should not be able to obtain nuclear weapons.

And if the Government judges that such action is necessary to avoid that then we would absolutely support the Government if it deemed it necessary to ensure that we can defend our country, our citizens and effectively a lot of our strategic equities in the Middle East region.

She added that she believed the opposition would be able to hold the government to account without a vote in parliament on such a decision.

Ms Patel also told the programme that the government needs to “step up” the evacuation of British nationals in Israel.

She said:

I think the current Government’s response is not sufficient and if families of embassy staff and personnel are being evacuated then I think the same facilities must be extended to our citizens.

Iran on Thursday accused the UN’s nuclear watchdog of acting as a “partner” in what it described as Israel’s “war of aggression”.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) accused Iran in a report prior to the start of the Iran-Israel war of non-compliance with its obligations in its nuclear programme.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei wrote on X, in a post addressed to the head of the agency, Rafael Grossi.

Misleading narratives have dire consequences, Mr. Grossi, and demand accountability.

You betrayed the non-proliferation regime; You’ve made IAEA a partner to this unjust war of aggression.

Here are some of the latest photos of Soroka hospital coming to us through the wires:

Iraq’s top Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani warned against targeting Iran’s leadership and said that the Iran-Israel war could plunge the whole region into chaos, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.

Sistani said in a statement on Thursday that any targeting of Iran’s “supreme religious and political leadership” would have “dire consequences on the region”.

He warned that it could spark “widespread chaos that would exacerbate the suffering of its [the region’s] people and severely harm everyone’s interests”.

Sistani urged the international community to “make every effort to end this unjust war and find a peaceful solution” to Iran’s nuclear programme.

Sistani, an Iranian, is the highest religious authority for millions of Shia Muslims in Iraq and around the world, with the power to mobilise a huge portion of that base in Iraq.

With warnings of all-out regional war intensifying following Israel’s surprise assault on Iran last week, fears are growing over an intervention by Iran-backed Iraqi factions, mostly against American interests in the region.

Only the United States has the clout to engage Israel and Iran in negotiations as the two countries continue to trade air attacks, Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

Mitsotakis said in an interview on the sidelines of an energy conference in Athens:

Europe alone does not have the necessary influence to bring the parties concerned to the (negotiation) table. Only the United States can do that. So I think it is up to the President of the United States to decide which path to take.

We are all very concerned about any factor that will push inflation up and significantly disrupt energy markets

The foreign ministers of Germany, France and the UK plan to hold nuclear talks with their Iranian counterpart on Friday in Geneva, a German diplomatic source told Reuters.

Mitsotakis said Greece was also very worried about the safety of around 180 Greek-flagged and Greek-owned ships that sailed in the wider Persian Gulf region when Israel first attacked Iran last week.

Greek owners control the world’s largest fleet of oil tankers. Commercial ships are being advised by maritime agencies to avoid Iran’s waters around the strait of Hormuz, shipping sources said on Wednesday.

A senior Kenyan official said foreign diplomatic missions must be protected by Iran and Israel after a strike on Tel Aviv’s Ramat Gan area on Thursday hit within several hundred metres of the east African country’s embassy, Reuters reports.

Korir Sing’Oei, the principal secretary at Kenya’s foreign affairs ministry, said:

Foreign missions are inviolable under international law and must be excluded and protected from armed conflict at all times.

Sing’Oei also shared a message from Kenya’s ambassador to Israel saying embassy staff had been working from home and were safe.

UK prime minister Keir Starmer will be a “cool, calm head” guided by international law in response to the Israel-Iran crisis, a Government minister said, according to PA Media.

Attorney general Lord Hermer is reported to have raised concerns about any potential UK involvement in the conflict beyond defending its allies, something which could limit any support for the US if Donald Trump decides to bomb Iranian nuclear sites.

Energy minister Miatta Fahnbulleh told Times Radio:

Legal advice is for the Prime Minister, and I think that’s where it will stay and you can understand why I won’t comment on that.

But what I will say is that we have a Prime Minister who is a lawyer and a human rights lawyer, he will obviously do everything that is in accord with international law.

No-one wants an escalation. No-one wants this to erupt into a major conflict in the region that is hugely destabilising for every country involved and for us, globally.

So the most important role that the Prime Minister can play, and is playing, is to be that cool, calm head, to urge all partners around the negotiating table and to find a diplomatic route out of this.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister warned the United States on Thursday against intervening in the war to back up its ally Israel, according to state TV, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.

He added that his country was ready to defend itself in case of escalation.

Deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said:

If the United States wants to actively enter the field in favour of the Zionist regime, Iran will have to use its tools to both teach a lesson to aggressors and defend its national security and national interests.

Naturally, our military decision makers have all the necessary options on the table.

The minister previously said that Iran has never welcomed any war and never sought to expand any conflict.

Haim Bublil, a local police commander, told reporters from the Associated Press (AP) that several people were lightly wounded in the strike on Soroka hospital in southern Israel.

He said there was a fire in a six-story building that was hard to access, and that rescuers were still searching various buildings and moving patients to safer areas of the hospital.

A hospital statement said several parts of the medical centre were damaged and that the emergency room was treating several minor injuries.

The medical complex has over 1,000 beds and provides services to the approximately 1 million residents of Israel’s south.

Russian president Vladimir Putin said he did not want to discuss the possibility of Israel killing Iran’s supreme leader with the assistance of the US, Reuters reports.

The president said on Thursday:

I do not even want to discuss this possibility. I do not want to.

Putin said all sides should look for ways to end hostilities in a way that ensured both Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear power and Israel’s right to the unconditional security of the Jewish state.

The comments come after Putin pushed himself as a possible mediator for talks between Israel and Iran, as he “expressed deep concern” over the continuing escalation of the conflict.

The Times of Israel reports that Iran fired approximately 30 ballistic missiles at Israel on Thursday morning, according to IDF assessments.

Included in the targets were Soroka hospital in southern Israel as well as Holon and Ramat Gan in central Israel.

The outlet said that medics report three seriously wounded as a result of the strikes, with two in a moderate condition and dozens of others with light injuries.

Israel, in conducting its strike on Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor, signaled it remained concerned the facility could be used to produce plutonium again one day, the Associated Press (AP) reports.

The Israeli military said in a statement:

The strike targeted the component intended for plutonium production, in order to prevent the reactor from being restored and used for nuclear weapons development

Israel’s military warned people to evacuate the area around the heavy water reactor in the regions of Arak and Khondab just a couple of hours before it launched its attack on Thursday morning.

Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said Thursday that at least 47 people were injured in Iran’s latest missile strikes, updating an earlier toll and reporting 18 more injured “while running to shelter”.

Three people are in serious condition, and two are in moderate condition, an MDA spokesperson said in as statement reported by Agence France-Presse. It added that “an additional 42 people sustained minor injuries from shrapnel and blast trauma, and 18 civilians were injured while running to shelter”.

As well as the attack on the Soroka medical centre in Beersheba, another missile hit a high-rise building and several other residential buildings in at least two sites near Tel Aviv, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service.

At least 40 people were wounded in the attacks.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, has warned that it will “teach aggressors a lesson” in comments to the country’s ISNA news agency.

He said that Iran never welcomed any war and never sought to expand any conflict. He said if the US wants to actively intervene to support Israel, Tehran would use its tools to defend itself and “teach aggressors a lesson”.

Some images are coming through of the strike on the Soroka hospital:

Israel’s deputy foreign minister Sharren Haskel called Iran’s strike on an Israeli hospital on Thursday “deliberate” and “criminal”, after the Islamic republic fired its latest salvo of missiles at the country.

“Iran just hit Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva with a ballistic missile. Not a military base. A hospital. This is the main medical center for Israel’s entire Negev region. Deliberate. Criminal. Civilian target. The world must speak out,” Sharren Haskel wrote on X.

AP has some detail on the impact of the strike on the Soroka Medical Center, which has over 1,000 beds and provides services to the approximately 1 million residents of Israel’s south.

Israeli media aired footage of blown-out windows and heavy black smoke.

A hospital statement said several parts of the medical center were damaged and that the emergency room was treating several minor injuries.

The hospital was closed to all new patients except for life-threatening cases. It was not immediately clear how many were wounded in the strike.

AP says many hospitals in Israel activated emergency plans in the past week, converting underground parking to hospital floors and move patients underground, especially those who are on ventilators or are difficult to move quickly.

The Israeli military has said it carried out attacks on dozens of places in Iran overnight, including the nuclear reactor in Arak.

In a post on X, it said it had also carried out an attack on the nuclear facility of Natanz as well as air defence batteries, missile storage sites, radars and other sites.

It was not possible to independently confirm the claims.

Israel has killed hundreds of people since launching its shock attack on Iran last week, including many children.

At least 32 people have been injured in the latest round of retaliatory Iranian missile strikes, Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service has said.

In a statement, an MDA spokesperson said that medics were “providing medical treatment and evacuating to hospitals two people in serious condition... as well as 30 people in mild condition with blast and shrapnel injuries”.

It added that additional MDA teams were treating “several injured individuals at multiple scenes.”

The “main target” of Iran’s missile attack early on Thursday was the “large [Israeli army] Command and Intelligence (IDF C4I) headquarters and the military intelligence camp in the Gav-Yam Technology Park”, the Iranian state-run news agency IRNA has reported, according to Al Jazeera.

IRNA said that the facility is located next to Soroka hospital, according to Al Jazeera.

The leader of Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service has said that a directive had been issued to reduce the number of people on the floor that was hit at Soroko hospital in Beersheba, according to the Haaretz newspaper.

He added that there had been no hazardous materials incident at the hospital and that for now Magen David Adom was transferring patients to other hospitals in southern Israel instead of Soroka.

As well as serving populations in southern Israel, Soroka hospital is known to treat soldiers wounded in Gaza.

The Philippines has evacuated 21 of its officials from Israel to Jordan and is preparing to evacuate a first group of migrant workers over the coming days.

The Philippine government said it had received 178 requests for repatriation so far, after asking Filipinos working abroad in Israel or Iran if they wish to leave.

There are more than 30,000 Filipinos in Israel, where many work in jobs in the care sector. One Filipino remains in critical condition following Iran’s retaliatory air strikes on Israel, while another has moderate injuries.

The Philippine embassy said it is providing assistance, such as accommodation, to 74 Filipinos in Israel.

Here are some more images from the wires of damage in the town of Ramat Gan, just east of Tel Aviv:

Some images are coming through of the damage from Iranian strikes on Israel:

The Times of Israel reporter Emanuel Fabian has posted some pictures from the scene of the strike on the hospital in Beersheba:

Earlier he reported that a roof on one building had collapsed and that the building was on fire.

Another Iranian ballistic missile hit the city of Holon, south of Tel Aviv, the Times of Israel is reporting. Citing emergency services it said one person had been seriously wounded and another two dozen left with minor injuries.