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The day so far
A fourth day of strikes between Israel and Iran continues as global leaders meet today at the G7 Summit in Canada.
Here are the top headlines we’ve followed today:
Israel indicated that its attacks on Iran are unfinished, and that it would not rule out targeting the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in interviews with US media today. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Associated Press that Israeli strikes have set Iran’s nuclear program back a “very, very long time” and he would “not be surprised” if the attacks toppled the Iranian government. Speaking on ABC News, Netanyahu added that killing Khamenei would not “escalate the conflict” but rather “end it.” On social media, Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar wrote that he had told the European Union’s foreign minister Kaja Kallas that its military operation in Iran was unfinished and that “Israel will act to complete it.”
Meanwhile, Iran called its counter-attacks on Israel “self-defense” and has appealed to Gulf State leaders for aid asking Donald Trump to help negotiate a ceasefire with Israel. Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations told the body’s Security Council that its strikes on Israel are “proportionate defensive operations directed exclusively at military objectives and associated infrastructure”, Reuters reports. Iranian officials have also asked the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman to mediate discussions with the United States, Reuters reports.
The United States has relocated refueling aircraft to Europe in order to give Donald Trump military options as hostilities escalate between Iran and Israel, Reuters reports. Reuters and the New York Times also report that the USS Nimitz, an aircraft carrrier, is en route to the Middle East as part of a planned deployment. The news comes even as US senator Tim Kaine introduced legislation to restrict Donald Trump’s war powers.
Group of Seven leaders drafted a joint statement calling for de-escalation of the Israel-Iran conflict, according to two sources and a draft seen by Reuters. The draft commits to safeguarding market stability, including energy markets, and says Israel has the right to defend itself. Donald Trump does not intend to sign the statement, CBS News reports, citing unnamed US officials.
European countries have begun evacuating their citizens from Israel. Germany will evacuate its citizens via Jordan’s capital Amman, with a charter flight scheduled for Wednesday. Meanwhile, the UK is establishing a system for UK nationals to register their presence in Israel.
Russia believes Iran is exercising its right to defend itself against attack by Israel, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said. Russian news agencies also quoted Ryabkov as saying that Russia was discussing the crisis with the United States as well as maintaining contacts with both Israel and Iran.
Updated
House Speaker Mike Johnson will postpone a visit to Israel due to the ongoing hostilities between Israel and Iran.
“Due to the complex situation currently unfolding in Iran and Israel, Speaker Ohana and I have made the decision to postpone the special session of the Knesset. We look forward to rescheduling the address in the near future and send our prayers to the people of Israel and the Middle East,” Johnson said.
Johnson had been scheduled to visit Israel’s parliament, or Knesset, where Amir Ohana is the current speaker.
Updated
Humanitarian organisations told UK parliamentarians they fear colleagues in Gaza will “die in the dark” as the world shifts its attention to concerns of a regionwide war.
Speaking on Monday before the foreign affairs committee on Israel’s war on Gaza, a number of humanitarian organisations including Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) spoke of the humanitarian crisis on the ground in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Opening the evidence session on Monday, the committee chair and MP Emily Thornberry said the “eyes of the world have turned away” from what’s happened in Gaza the last few days.
“It’s gone off the news and it’s not like things aren’t happening,” said Thornberry. “It’s important that we put information before the public.”
“This has been the darkest and most terrifying period of the attacks so far,” said Rohan Talbot, director of advocacy and campaigns at MAP.
Talbot spoke of the daily casualties from Israeli bombardment and at aid distribution points, and fears among colleagues when Israel cut internet in the territory a few days ago.
“They worry they will die in the dark,” he said.
For MSF, understanding the situation on the ground has been difficult because of the communication blackout in northern and central Gaza, said Anna Halford, field coordinator for MSF and Doctors without Borders.
“The situation in Gaza has not stopped, has not changed, there is still what amounts to a total blockade,” said Halford.
For the last 19 months there had been nearly 500 community points for people to obtain food in Gaza, said Halford, most of which were supported by international efforts. Now, she said, there are four.
Halford said that the organisation has had 4 aid trucks enter the territory since 27 May. At the border, 100 trucks containing essential drugs, materials and equipment to provide surgery and care for chronic diseases, are awaiting entry.
“There is nothing humanitarian about this system,” she said. “We are weeks away from having to make choices about quality of care, because there won’t be any care to provide.”
Also speaking before MPs was Dr Tanya Haj-Hassan, a pediatric doctor who has travelled into the territory with MAP, most recently as Israel broke the ceasefire in March.
“What future have we left for these children?” Haj-Hassan told MPs over video.
She recalled the hospital she volunteered in being attacked by a drone as she worked in the emergency room. She recalled mass casualties of children and described a complete dismantling of the territory’s healthcare infrastructure.
“I remember thinking to myself this is the worst it could possibly get, something will change, and it hasn’t.”
Netanyahu: Israeli strikes have set Iran back a "very, very long time"
Benjamin Netanyahu told the Associated Press that Israeli strikes have set Iran’s nuclear program back a “very, very long time”.
The Israeli prime minister added that he is in daily contact with Donald Trump and that he would “not be surprised” if the attacks toppled the Iranian government.
“The regime is very weak,” he said.
Israeli operation in Iran unfinished, says foreign minister
Israel has not finished its operation in Iran, Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar shared in a social media post.
Sa’ar wrote that he had told the European Union’s foreign minister Kaja Kallas that “Israel will act to complete it.”
Strikes on Israel are "self-defence", Iran tells UN
Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations told the body’s Security Council that its strikes on Israel are self-defense and are “proportionate defensive operations directed exclusively at military objectives and associated infrastructure”, Reuters reports.
In a letter to the Security Council, Amir Saeid Iravani added that any cooperation with Israel would make countries “complicit in the legal responsibility and consequences of this crisis”.
The United States has relocated refueling aircraft to Europe in order to give Donald Trump military options as hostilities escalate between Iran and Israel, Reuters reports, citing two anonymous US officials.
Reuters and the New York Times also report that the USS Nimitz, an aircraft carrrier, is en route to the Middle East as part of a planned deployment.
Speaking from the sidelines of the ongoing G7 summit regarding the conflict between Israel and Iran, a spokesman for British prime minister Keir Starmer told reporters that a “significant destabilization in the region is in nobody’s interests.”
Spokesman Tom Wells said “this summit is an opportunity to try and press for de-escalation and that is the priority, certainly for the prime minister and I believe for other world leaders too”, the Associated Press reports.
Senator Tim Kaine has introduced legislation to restrict Donald Trump’s war powers, as tensions escalate between Israel and Iran, Reuters reports.
The Democratice senator from Virginia introduced a bill which would prevent the US president from using military force without congressional authorization. Kaine introduced a similar resolution in 2020, during Trump’s first term.
“It is not in our national security interest to get into a war with Iran unless that war is absolutely necessary to defend the United States. I am deeply concerned that the recent escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran could quickly pull the United States into another endless conflict,” Kaine said in a statement.
Netanyahu says killing Khamenei would end conflict
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he is open to targeting Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during an appearance on ABC News this afternoon. Netanyahu was responding to a question about Donald Trump’s reported veto of an Israeli plan to kill Khamenei.
Netanyahu said killing Khamenei would not “escalate the conflict” but rather “end it.”
“We’ve had half a century of conflict spread by this regime,” he said. “The forever war is what Iran wants.”
Tehran has asked Gulf State leaders to appeal to Donald Trump for aid negotiating a ceasefire with Israel, Reuters reports.
Iranian leaders have been in contact with officials from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman, and have offered flexibility in nuclear negotiations, Reuters reported, citing two Iranian and three regional sources.
Keir Starmer held informal talks over a glass of wine at the G7 summit with Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, France’s president Emmanuel Macron, Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, and Georgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, Downing Street has said.
The Middle East crisis “featured heavily” in the talks, a No 10 spokesperson said, although no other details were available given the leaders were talking without any officials present. Asked if another focus of the talks was “Trump-handling strategy”, the spokesperson said he would not characterise it as that.
The gathering happened by chance at the main G7 hotel in Kanakaskis in Alberta, after Starmer had held a formal bilateral with Meloni. The UK prime minister and Merz started talking in a restaurant area, and were joined successively by Macron, Carney and then Meloni. They “had a glass of wine each”, the spokesperson said.
While UK officials stressed this was not a snub to Donald Trump given the US president did not arrive at the summit until later on Sunday night, such talks will be seen as a way for a key group of G7 leaders to present a united front to the volatile US president. Starmer is due to meet Trump later on Monday.
The day so far
Iran has been urgently signaling that it seeks an end to hostilities and resumption of talks over its nuclear programs, sending messages to Israel and the United States via Arab intermediaries, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing officials. Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.
Tehran has asked Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman to press US president Donald Trump to use his influence on Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire with Iran. It would be in return for Tehran’s flexibility in nuclear negotiations, two Iranian and three regional sources told Reuters on Monday.
Group of Seven leaders have a draft joint statement calling for de-escalation of the Israel-Iran conflict, according to two sources and a draft seen by Reuters. The draft commits to safeguarding market stability, including energy markets, and says Israel has the right to defend itself.
US president Donald Trump does not intend to sign a G7 statement related to Israel and Iran, CBS News reported on Monday, citing unnamed US officials. A draft document discusses monitoring Iran, calls for both sides to protect civilians and for commitments to peace, according to CBS News.
Germany will start evacuating its citizens from Israel via Jordan’s capital Amman with a charter flight planned for Wednesday, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday. “Germans in Israel who are registered on the Elefand crisis preparedness list have been informed about this option and the details,” the spokesperson said.
The UK government is setting up a formal system for UK nationals in Israel to register that they are there, Keir Starmer has told broadcasters at the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Canada. Ahead of a day of talks which will be based around ways to wind back the Iran-Israel clashes, the UK prime minister said he was deeply worried about the possibility of the knock-on effects on the region.
Russia believes Iran is exercising its right to defend itself against attack by Israel, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying on Monday. Russian news agencies also quoted Ryabkov as saying that Russia was discussing the crisis with the United States as well as maintaining contacts with both Israel and Iran.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli troops killed 20 people waiting to collect food on Monday, the latest deadly incident near a US-backed aid centre in the Palestinian territory’s south, AFP reports. Civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal said that “the (Israeli) occupation forces opened fire” near the Al-Alam roundabout in the southern city of Rafah, where many were waiting to reach an aid distribution site.
Downing Street would not be drawn on whether the UK was aware of an Israeli plan to kill Iran’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. US president Donald Trump is reported to have vetoed the plan. Asked if the UK was aware, a No 10 spokesperson said: “We wouldn’t comment on private conversations or intelligence matters.”
France on Monday blocked access to the stands of five Israeli arms manufacturers at the Paris Air show for displaying “offensive weapons”, according to a French government source, AFP reports.
Israeli officials say eight people have reportedly been killed overnight in the latest round of Iranian strikes, as the conflict between the two regional rivals enters a fourth day. The total number of people killed since Friday stands at 24, according to the Israeli PM’s office and media reports.
Iran says more than 200 people have been killed there since the start of the conflict on Friday.
Iran’s foreign ministry has challenged Israel’s characterisation of what it has described as ‘surgical’ strikes in Tehran, saying that many women and children have been killed in residential areas.
Iranian media said that a hospital in the country’s west has been “seriously damaged” after an Israeli strike in the area on Monday, AFP reports citing the Tasnim news agency.
Germany will start evacuating its citizens from Israel via Jordan’s capital Amman with a charter flight planned for Wednesday, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday.
“Germans in Israel who are registered on the Elefand crisis preparedness list have been informed about this option and the details,” the spokesperson said
Israel has in the last few minutes confirmed that it attacked the Iranian state TV during a broadcast.
Here is a video:
US president Donald Trump does not intend to sign a G7 statement related to Israel and Iran, CBS News reported on Monday, citing unnamed US officials.
A draft document discusses monitoring Iran, calls for both sides to protect civilians and for commitments to peace, according to CBS News.
The conflict began on Friday when Israel launched predawn strikes that hit more than 100 targets, including nuclear facilities and missile sites, and killed senior military commanders and scientists.
That attack set off an escalating series of tit-for-tat exchanges, raising fears of a wider, more dangerous regional war.
Residential areas in both countries have suffered deadly strikes since the hostilities broke out. As of Monday, Iran’s health ministry said 224 people had been killed and 1,277 injured; while official Israeli sources said 23 civilians had been killed and nearly 60 injured.
Here is a guide to the nuclear sites, residential areas and military installations that have been hit during the conflict so far:
The UK government is setting up a formal system for UK nationals in Israel to register that they are there, Keir Starmer has told broadcasters at the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Canada.
Ahead of a day of talks which will be based around ways to wind back the Iran-Israel clashes, the UK prime minister said he was deeply worried about the possibility of the knock-on effects on the region.
“For British nationals in Israel, we’re giving advice today to register their presence, so there will be a portal for that,” he said, following UK travel advice against travelling to Israel. Officials said the portal is expected to be live later on Monday.
Asked about his efforts at the G7, Starmer said: “It is really important that we focus on de-escalation, because the risks of the conflict escalating are obvious across the region and beyond the region., the impact that this could and probably will have on Gaza, which is a tinderbox, and, of course, the impact on the economy. That is why the G7 has such a focus on de-escalation. That will be an intense discussion for our talks today
“We’re just arriving for the beginning of these talks. We haven’t started the sessions yet, so there’s going to be a whole day of discussions about all manner of things, including the economy, the global economy, and a number of other matters. But this will be a central issue.”
British prime minister Keir Starmer said on Monday he believed there was a consensus at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Canada on the need for de-escalation in the Israel-Iran conflict.
“I do think there’s a consensus for de-escalation. Obviously, what we need to do today is to bring that together and to be clear about how it is to be brought about,” Starmer told reporters.
Group of Seven leaders have a draft joint statement calling for de-escalation of the Israel-Iran conflict, according to two sources and a draft seen by Reuters.
US president Donald Trump has not signed off on the draft however, the sources said. The draft commits to safeguarding market stability, including energy markets, and says Israel has the right to defend itself.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Iran 'asks Gulf states to press Trump to influence Israel'
Tehran has asked Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman to press US president Donald Trump to use his influence on Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire with Iran.
It would be in return for Tehran’s flexibility in nuclear negotiations, two Iranian and three regional sources told Reuters on Monday.
Updated
Iran seeks talks with US and Israel to end hostilities, WSJ reports
Iran has been urgently signaling that it seeks an end to hostilities and resumption of talks over its nuclear programs, sending messages to Israel and the United States via Arab intermediaries, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing officials.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.
Russia believes Iran is exercising its right to defend itself against attack by Israel, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying on Monday.
Russian news agencies also quoted Ryabkov as saying that Russia was discussing the crisis with the United States as well as maintaining contacts with both Israel and Iran.
The office of French Prime Minister has commented after France shut down the main Israeli company stands at the Paris Airshow on Monday for refusing to remove attack weapons from display, in a move condemned by Israel and highlighting tensions between the traditional allies.
A spokesperson for the office of Francois Bayrou said it had told all exhibitors ahead of the show that offensive weapons would be prohibited from display and that Israel’s embassy in Paris had agreement to this. It added that the companies could resume their exhibits if they complied with this requirement.
Bayrou told reporters that given France’s diplomatic stance, and “in particular its ...very great concern about Gaza”, the government had felt it unacceptable for attack weapons to be on show.
The remaining three volunteers who were detained by Israeli forces have been released and were returning to their home countries via Jordan, the nonprofit Freedom flotilla coalition said on Monday.
They were aboard a boat - whose voyage was organised by the Freedom flotilla – which was seized by Israel’s military as it tried to break the blockade on Gaza. It was towed into an Israeli port after sunset last Monday, with the crew of activists including Greta Thunberg.
The Madleen was attempting to bring a symbolic shipment of aid to Gaza, which faces a looming famine after more than 11 weeks of total siege and ongoing severe restrictions on food entering the territory.
Israel's attack on hospital in western Iran 'war crime' - Iran foreign ministry
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson says Israel’s attack on a hospital in western Iran is a “war crime”, Reuters reports.
Here are some images coming to us over the wires.
Leading Iranian activists and filmmakers on Monday called for an end to hostilities between Iran and Israel, urging Tehran to stop the conflict by halting its enrichment of uranium, AFP reports.
“We demand the immediate halt of uranium enrichment by the Islamic Republic, the cessation of military hostilities, an end to attacks on vital infrastructure in both Iran and Israel, and the stopping of massacres of civilians in both countries,” said the activists in an op-ed in French newspaper Le Monde.
The signatories included Nobel peace prize winners Shirin Ebadi and Narges Mohammadi, as well as the winner of the top prize at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival Jafar Panahi and his fellow director Mohammad Rassoulof.
'We are on the path to victory' - Netanyahu
Reuters is reporting comments coming from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has said: “We are on the path to victory”.
He also said the Israeli air force is “in control” of the skies over Tehran.
Netanyahu added: “We are on our way to achieve our two main objectives, eliminating the nuclear threat and eliminating the missile threat.
“We are telling the citizens of Tehran: ‘Evacuate’, and we are taking action.”
Israeli fire kills 20 waiting for aid – Gaza civil defence agency
Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli troops killed 20 people waiting to collect food on Monday, the latest deadly incident near a US-backed aid centre in the Palestinian territory’s south, AFP reports.
Civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal said that “the (Israeli) occupation forces opened fire” near the Al-Alam roundabout in the southern city of Rafah, where many were waiting to reach an aid distribution site.
Bassal said that “20 martyrs and more than 200 wounded by occupation gunfire” were taken to nearby hospitals.
AFP added that the Israeli military said it was looking into the report.
Updated
Downing Street would not be drawn on whether the UK was aware of an Israeli plan to kill Iran’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
US president Donald Trump is reported to have vetoed the plan.
Asked if the UK was aware, a No 10 spokesperson said: “We wouldn’t comment on private conversations or intelligence matters.
“We are concerned by further escalation, which is in no one’s interest, and we’re working closely with our allies to press for a return to diplomacy.”
Russian president Vladimir Putin and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan condemned Israel’s “act of force” against Iran and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities when they spoke by phone on Monday, the Kremlin said.
“Both sides expressed the most serious concern about the ongoing escalation of the Iran-Israel conflict, which has already led to a large number of casualties and is fraught with serious long-term consequences for the entire region,” a Kremlin statement said.
“The leaders spoke in favour of an immediate cessation of hostilities and the settlement of contentious issues, including those related to the Iranian nuclear programme, exclusively by political and diplomatic means.”
The two sides agreed to remain in close cooperation, the statement said.
Updated
France on Monday blocked access to the stands of five Israeli arms manufacturers at the Paris Air show for displaying “offensive weapons”, according to a French government source, AFP reports.
The stands were blocked off by black tarps for showing “offensive weapons”, including those used in Gaza, which allegedly violated terms made with Israel, said the source. The Israeli government condemned the “scandalous” decision in a statement, calling it a form of “segregation” against the Israeli companies.
UK declines to say if it backs US negotiating demand
The UK has declined to say if it supported the US negotiating demand that Iran must lose its right to enrich uranium inside Iran, the issue on which the bilateral Iran-US talks were stalled, but had not yet aborted.
A sixth round of talks scheduled for Sunday were cancelled after Israel mounted its pre-emptive military strike.
The issue still matters since the possibility of a return to diplomacy rests in part on whether there is still any scope for manoeuvre about a limited Iranian right to enrich, or whether European countries was always backing the Trump administration policy, and will not press for the issue to be reopened.
Iran has said it will only consider returning to talks if the Israeli attacks cease, and it is continuing to insist on its right to enrich as a matter of national sovereignty.
Britain, France, and Germany last week played a central role in passing a motion censuring Iran for failing to cooperate with the UN nuclear inspectorate the IAEA, but the British government has not yet said in public that it now believes Iran had permanently forfeited the right to enrich.
Iran negotiated a right to enrich in the 2015 nuclear deal, a multilateral agreement from which the UK France and Germany have never withdrawn, unlike the US which withdrew in 2018.
The Foreign Office in response to a question on whether the UK continued to support Iran’s right to enrich said simply that “the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty does not provide states with a right to enrich uranium; it also does not prohibit uranium enrichment”.
Officials added the UK was clear that Iran must never develop a nuclear weapon and have long called for Iran to de-escalate its deeply concerning nuclear activities.
Updated
Here is a summary of events so far
Israeli officials say eight people have reportedly been killed overnight in the latest round of Iranian strikes, as the conflict between the two regional rivals enters a fourth day. The total number of people killed since Friday stands at 24, according to the Israeli PM’s office and media reports.
Iran says more than 200 people have been killed there since the start of the conflict on Friday.
Iran’s foreign ministry has challenged Israel’s characterisation of what it has described as ‘surgical’ strikes in Tehran, saying that many women and children have been killed in residential areas.
Iranian media said that a hospital in the country’s west has been “seriously damaged” after an Israeli strike in the area on Monday, AFP reports citing the Tasnim news agency.
Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz on Monday had to row back on his warning that Tehran’s residents would “pay the price” for Iranian strikes on Israeli civilians. He later said Israel has “no intention to physically harm the residents of Tehran”.
Iran does not intend to develop nuclear weapons but will pursue its right to nuclear energy and research, president Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday, as reported by Reuters.
An Israeli military spokesperson has said Israel has “achieved aerial superiority over Iran”, AFP reports.
Israel’s military says it has destroyed “one-third” of Iran’s surface-to-surface missile launchers, AFP reports.
UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi provided an update on Monday on the situation at Iran’s nuclear facilities after Israel launched military strikes and said there was no sign of further damage at the Natanz or Fordow enrichment sites
Tensions between Iran and Israel are escalating as leaders of G7 nations prepare meet on Monday in the Canadian Rockies, where they plan to spend the opening day asking Trump to justify his confidence that Israel and Iran will make a deal that will mean “peace soon”.
Iran has urged the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency to condemn Israeli attacks on nuclear sites in the Islamic republic during an emergency meeting on Monday, AFP reports.
China has urged Iran and Israel to “immediately take measures to cool down the tensions”.
Iran has executed a man who was found guilty of spying for Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Monday, as reported by Reuters.
Israel’s military says it has attacked Iran’s Quds force headquarters in Tehran.
Iran’s chief justice, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, on Monday said there would be swift trials for people arrested on suspicion of collaborating with Israel, Reuters reports.
Iran on Monday urged Britain, France and Germany to pressure Israel to stop its attacks on Iran, AFP reports.
Israel said on Monday that it deported the last three remaining activists from an aid flotilla that attempted to reach the war-torn Gaza Strip last week.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian in a phone call on Monday that his country was ready to play a facilitator role to return to nuclear negotiations and end the conflict with Israel.
Turkey willing to facilitate nuclear talks, Erdoğan tells Pazeshkian
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian in a phone call on Monday that his country was ready to play a facilitator role to return to nuclear negotiations and end the conflict with Israel, the Turkish presidency said.
Updated
Russia remains ready to act as a mediator in the conflict between Israel and Iran, and Moscow’s previous proposals to store Iranian uranium in Russia remain on the table, the Kremlin said on Monday, AFP reports.
Russia’s previous proposals to resolve the conflict are still on the table, but the outbreak of hostilities has complicated the situation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, AFP reports.
Israeli strike on Iran’s west damages hospital - media reports
Iranian media said that a hospital in the country’s west has been seriously damaged after an Israeli strike in the area on Monday, AFP reports citing the Tasnim news agency.
The semi-official Fars news agency carried a video of the hospital showing shattered glass, collapsed ceilings, and extensive damage in patient rooms.
We have more from Rafael Grossi, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog (see earlier post).
Grossi said on Monday there was “no indication of a physical attack” on the underground section of Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment site following Israeli strikes that destroyed the plant’s above-ground section.
“There has been no indication of a physical attack on the underground cascade hall containing part of the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant and the main Fuel Enrichment Plant,” Grossi said in a statement to an extraordinary board session.
“However, the loss of power to the cascade hall may have damaged the centrifuges there,” he added.
Israel’s military says it has destroyed “one-third” of Iran’s surface-to-surface missile launchers, AFP reports.
“More than 50 fighter jets and aircraft carried out strikes and destroyed over 120 surface-to-surface missile launchers. This amounts to one-third of the surface-to-surface missile launchers possessed by the Iranian regime,” military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said in a televised statement.
Israel has “no intention” of deliberately harming the residents of Tehran, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said, walking back earlier comments he had made on Monday, Reuters reports.
In a statement, Katz said:
I wish to clarify the obvious: there is no intention to physically harm the residents of Tehran as the murderous dictator does to the residents of Israel.
The residents of Tehran will have to pay the price of dictatorship and evacuate their homes from areas where it will be necessary to attack regime targets and security infrastructures in Tehran.
Israeli military spokesperson: 'We have achieved aerial superiority over Iran'
An Israeli military spokesperson has said Israel has “achieved aerial superiority over Iran”, AFP reports.
UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi provided an update on Monday on the situation at Iran’s nuclear facilities after Israel launched military strikes and said there was no sign of further damage at the Natanz or Fordow enrichment sites.
In a statement to his agency’s board of governors, he said:
The (International Atomic Energy) Agency is and will remain present in Iran. Safeguards inspections in Iran will continue as soon as safety conditions allow, as is required under Iran’s NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) safeguards obligations.
Iran urges IAEA to condemn Israeli strikes on nuclear sites at urgent meeting
Iran has urged the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency to condemn Israeli attacks on nuclear sites in the Islamic republic during an emergency meeting on Monday, AFP reports.
“We expect the (IAEA) Board of Governors and the Director General to take a firm position in condemning this act (attacking nuclear facilities) and holding the regime (Israel) accountable,” said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei during a weekly press briefing.
Updated
Iranian media has reported a new Israeli strike on western Iran on Monday, AFP reports.
“The Zionist regime has brutally attacked the fire department building at the Musiyan municipality” in the western province of Ilam, the Tasnim news agency reported, publishing a video of smoke rising from the site.
Here are some images coming to us over the wires:
Remaining aid boat activists deported, says Israel
Israel said on Monday that it deported the last three remaining activists from an aid flotilla that attempted to reach the war-torn Gaza Strip last week, AFP reports.
“The last three participants remaining from the “Selfie Yacht” (flotilla) were transferred this morning to Jordan via the Allenby Crossing,” the foreign ministry said in a statement, adding they included one Dutch and two French nationals.
Updated
Poland is ready to start evacuating around 200 of its citizens who were on visits to Israel via Jordan’s capital Amman, a deputy foreign minister said on Monday, Reuters reports.
“We assume we will be ready in the next few dozen hours, [the evacuation] will concern those who are stuck as tourists and those staying for a short stay,” Henryka Moscicka-Dendys told reporters.
Tehran remains opposed to weapons of mass destruction - Iran foreign ministry
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday that the Iranian parliament is preparing a bill to leave the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), adding that Tehran remains opposed to the development of weapons of mass destruction, Reuters reports.
Iran on Monday urged Britain, France and Germany to pressure Israel to stop its attacks on Iran, AFP reports.
“Germany, France and England should have very clearly condemned the Zionist regime’s crimes, especially against the Natanz nuclear facility,” said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, adding that European powers should focus on “stopping the aggression” and holding Israel “accountable”.
Iran’s chief justice, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, on Monday said there would be swift trials for people arrested on suspicion of collaborating with Israel, Reuters reports.
“If someone is arrested for having ties to and collaborating with the Zionist regime, their trial and punishment should be carried out and announced very quickly, in accordance with the law and given the war conditions,” Ejei said, quoted by Tasnim news agency.
Death toll from Iranian reportedly rises to eight
Israeli army radio says the death toll from Iranian attacks on Sunday night has risen to eight, Reuters reports.
Updated
Israel’s military said a missile launched from Yemen on Monday fell before entering Israeli territory, after sirens sounded in several areas of the country, AFP reports.
In a statement, the military said:
Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen fell prior to crossing into Israeli territory.
China urged Iran and Israel to “immediately” take steps to reduce tensions, AFP reports.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said:
We urge all parties to immediately take measures to cool down the tensions, prevent the region from falling into greater turmoil, and create conditions for returning to the right track of resolving issues through dialogue and negotiations.
Updated
Ali Khamenei: ruthless defender of Iran’s revolution with few good options left
When he appeared in public for the first time in five years in October, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, had an uncompromising message. Israel “won’t last long”, he told tens of thousands of supporters at a mosque in Tehran in a Friday sermon.
“We must stand up against the enemy while strengthening our unwavering faith,” the 84-year-old told the gathering.
Days before, Israel had killed Hassan Nasrallah, the veteran secretary general of Hezbollah, with huge bombs dropped on the militant Islamist movement’s headquarters in Beirut. The assassination was a personal blow to Khamenei, who had known Nasrallah for decades.
The Israeli air offensive against Iran, launched on Friday, is another such blow. It has prompted more defiance from Tehran, and a barrage of missiles and drones launched at Tel Aviv, but neither appear likely to stop the Israeli attacks. Iran’s air defences are apparently ineffective and the coalition of Islamist militias that Khamenei had built up to deter Israel is effectively shattered.
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In its latest update, Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency service has said five people were killed and 92 wounded on Monday in Iran’s latest missile strikes on the country, raising a previous toll of four deaths, AFP reports.
The casualties were from strikes on four sites in central Israel, the MDA said in a statement, adding those killed included “two women and two men around the age of 70, as well as one additional fatality”.
It added: “So far, MDA teams have evacuated 92 injured individuals to hospitals, including a 30-year-old woman in serious condition with facial injuries, six in moderate condition, and 85 in mild condition.”
The MDA said search and rescue operations were ongoing at two of the four sites.
Updated
New Delhi said on Monday its diplomats were helping some Indian students relocate to safer places in Iran, AFP reports.
“The Indian Embassy in Tehran is continuously monitoring the security situation and engaging Indian students in Iran to ensure their safety,” a foreign ministry statement said.
“In some cases, students are being relocated with (the) Embassy’s facilitation to safer places within Iran,” the ministry added.
New Delhi, which has relations with both countries, has sought to relocate its citizens within Iran after Tehran closed its airspace.
There are around 10,000 Indian citizens in Iran, according to government data from last year, while figures from 2022 listed more than 2,000 students in Iran.
Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz on Monday warned that Tehran’s residents would “pay the price” for Iranian strikes on Israeli civilians, after overnight missile attacks killed several.
“The boastful dictator from Tehran has turned into a cowardly murderer, deliberately firing at Israel’s civilian home front in an attempt to deter the (Israeli military) from continuing the offensive that is crippling his capabilities,” Katz wrote on his Telegram channel, as reported by AFP. “The residents of Tehran will pay the price - and soon.”
The latest video footage of the new wave of Iranian missile strikes in Tel Aviv and Haifa.
If you are just tuning in to the latest developments in the escalating conflict in the Middle East, here is our new wrap on the strikes between Israel and Iran.
Iran executes man for spying for Israel, Fars reports
Iran has executed a man who was found guilty of spying for Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Monday, as reported by Reuters.
The execution, Reuters reported, is the third in recent weeks related to the conducting of espionage on behalf of Israel.
The Guardian was unable to independently verify the report.
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Iran said it “successfully” struck Israel with a salvo of missiles on Monday, as Israeli rescuers reported four deaths and damage to residential buildings in multiple cities, according to the Associated Press.
“A new wave of attacks by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps... enabled missiles to successfully and effectively hit” targets in Israel, the Guards said in a statement quoted by the official IRNA news agency.
Iranian president says Tehran does not seek nuclear weapons
Iran does not intend to develop nuclear weapons but will pursue its right to nuclear energy and research, president Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday, as reported by Reuters.
Pezeshkian was reiterating Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s religious edict against weapons of mass destruction.
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee is reporting minor damage from concussions of an Iranian missile hit near its embassy branch in Tel Aviv, but said in a post on X that no US personnel were injured.
The US embassy and consulate in Israel will remain closed on Monday, he added.
Israel's military says it has attacked Iran's Quds force headquarters in Tehran
In a statement on X, the IDF says its air force has attacked the Quds force headquarters in Tehran.
Air Force fighter jets struck Quds Force headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards and the Iranian army, guided by precise intelligence from the Intelligence Directorate. In these headquarters, Quds operatives planned terrorist operations against Israel through proxies of the Iranian regime in the Middle East.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the latest attack on Israel employed a new method that caused Israel’s multi-layered defence systems to target each other, Reuters reports.
“The initiatives and capabilities used in this operation, despite the comprehensive support of the United States and Western powers and the possession of the most up-to-date and newest defence technology, led to the successful and maximum hitting of the missiles on the targets in the occupied territories,” it said.
Israeli media reported that three people were killed in the country’s centre while dozens more were wounded in the overnight strikes.
Some images coming through from Tel Aviv:
A missile fired from Iran breaches Israeli’s ‘Iron Dome’ air defense system
Aftermath of missile attack from Iran on Israel.
The latest update on the Iranian strikes in Israel has been reported by Israel’s national emergency service, Magen David Adom, which says that 3 people have been killed in rocket strikes across 4 sites in central Israel.
The MDA also said 74 people had been evacuated, 68 with mild injuries. Rescue operations still ongoing at 2 sites.
Summary
Israeli officials say several people have been injured in the latest round of Iranian strikes, as the conflict between the two regional rivals enters a fourth day.
British maritime security firm Ambrey said that fires were observed at a power plant in the vicinity of Haifa, after Iranian forces launched a ballistic missile attack on the northern city’s port infrastructure. Ambrey said it observed video footage of the Israeli military intercepting the attack, followed by impacts from two hypersonic missiles.
It comes as world leaders meet in Canada for a G7 meeting set to be dominated by the escalating Middle East conflict.
Israel and Iran have broadened their strikes against each other as the conflict between the two nations enters its fourth day, in an escalating war that has killed and injured hundreds of people.
Israeli strikes in Iran have killed 224 people so far, with 90% of the casualties reported to be civilians, an Iranian health ministry spokesperson said.
Iran’s foreign ministry has challenged Israel’s characterisation of what it has described as ‘surgical’ strikes in Tehran, saying that many women and children have been killed in residential areas.
The intelligence chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Kazemi, and his deputy were killed in Israel’s attacks on Tehran on Sunday, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said.
In an earlier interview on Sunday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News anchor Bret Baier: “I can tell you we got their chief intelligence officer and his deputy in Tehran.”
In Israel, Iranian strikes have killed at least 14 people, with three missing and hundreds injured by Sunday morning. Netanyahu visited the site of the Bat Yam strike on Sunday to see the damage and meet rescue workers. “Iran will pay a very heavy price for the premeditated murder of civilians, women and children,” he said.
In a post on X, the IDF said the Home Front Command has instructed residents across the country to continue staying close to protected spaces. “Movement in open areas should be minimized, and gatherings should be avoided. Upon receiving an alert, enter the protected space and remain there until a new official announcement is issued,” the IDF said.
US President Donald Trump has said there will “soon” be peace between Israel and Iran, adding that there were many calls and meetings happening and that the two countries should make a deal. “Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal,” Trump said on Truth Social, adding that “we will have PEACE, soon”.
Trump reportedly vetoed an Israeli plan in recent days to kill Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, two US officials told Reuters on Sunday. The officials said top US officials have been in constant communications with Israeli officials in the days since Israel launched a massive attack, and that they had an opportunity to kill the top Iranian leader, but Trump waved them off of the plan.
Tasnim, Iran’s semi-official news agency, reports that security forces have discovered a secret drone-manufacturing site in Shahr-e Ray, located south of Tehran. The agency said on X that homemade bombs and more than 200kg of explosives had been found in the three floor building, claiming the space had been used by Israeli agents to assemble and store drones.
The foreign policy chief of the European Union has called for a video conference of the EU’s foreign ministers on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran. “In light of the gravity of the situation in the Middle East, EU high representative Kaja Kallas has convened a meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers via video link for Tuesday,” an EU spokesperson said.
Tensions between Iran and Israel are escalating as leaders of G7 nations prepare meet on Monday in the Canadian Rockies, where they plan to spend the opening day asking Trump to justify his confidence that Israel and Iran will make a deal that will mean “peace soon”.
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