Iran-Israel conflict LIVE: Iran warns US, UK, France against blocking strikes on Israel
Israel's ongoing airstrikes and intelligence operation and Iran's retaliation raised concerns about all-out war between the countries
Iran announced on Saturday (June 14) that planned nuclear talks with the United States have become "meaningless" in the wake of an Israeli military attack on Iranian territory.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei, quoted by a news agency, said, "The other side (the US) acted in a way that makes dialogue meaningless. You cannot claim to negotiate and at the same time divide work by allowing the Zionist regime (Israel) to target Iran's territory."
Baghaei further asserted that Israel's strikes constituted a "criminal act" and had crossed all of Iran's "red lines."
The sixth round of US-Iran nuclear talks was scheduled for Sunday in Muscat, but it remains uncertain if they will proceed following the Israeli strikes.
Earlier, Iran launched retaliatory missile strikes on Israel into Saturday morning, killing at least two people and wounding others, after a series of blistering Israeli attacks on the heart of Iran's nuclear programme and its armed forces.
Israel's assault used warplanes, as well as drones smuggled into the country in advance, to assault key facilities and kill top generals and scientists.
Israel asserted the barrage was necessary before Iran got any closer to building an atomic weapon, although experts and the U.S. government have assessed that Tehran was not actively working on such a weapon before the strikes. It also threw talks between the United States and Iran over an atomic accord into disarray days before the two sides were set to meet Sunday.
Iran retaliated by launching drones and later firing waves of ballistic missiles at Israel, where explosions lit the night skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and shook the buildings below. The Israeli military urged civilians, already rattled by the raging Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, to head to shelter for hours.
78 killed, over 300 injured
Iranian missiles strike Israel Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a recorded message Friday: “We will not allow them to escape safely from this great crime they committed.” Iran's UN ambassador said 78 people were killed and more than 320 wounded in Israeli attacks.
Iran launched waves of missiles at Israel late Friday and early Saturday.
A hospital in Tel Aviv treated seven people wounded in the second Iranian barrage; all but one of them had light injuries. Israel's Fire and Rescue Services said they were injured when a projectile hit a building in the city.
Hours later, an Iranian missile struck near homes in the central Israeli city of Rishon Lezion, killing two people and injuring 19, according to Israel's paramedic service Magen David Adom. Israel's Fire and Rescue service said four homes were severely damaged.
Meanwhile, the sound of explosions and Iranian air defence systems firing at targets echoed across central Tehran shortly after midnight on Saturday. An Associated Press journalist could hear air raid sirens near their home.
Iran's semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported a fire at Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport, with a video posted on X of a column of smoke and orange flames rising from what the outlet said was the airport.
Israel's paramedic services said 34 people were wounded in the barrage on the Tel Aviv area, including a woman who was critically injured after being trapped under rubble. In Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv, an AP journalist saw burned-out cars and at least three damaged houses, including one where the front was nearly entirely torn away.
US ground-based air defence systems in the region were helping to shoot down Iranian missiles, said a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the measures.
Strikes raise fears of all-out war
Israel's ongoing airstrikes and intelligence operation and Iran's retaliation raised concerns about all-out war between the countries and propelled the region, already on edge, into even greater upheaval.
Countries in the region condemned Israel's attack, while leaders around the globe called for immediate deescalation from both sides.
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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have agreed on the need to de-escalate tensions between Iran and Israel.
During their phone call, Starmer updated Prince Mohammed on his recent conversations with international partners, emphasizing the UK’s commitment to supporting a diplomatic resolution, as reported by the CNN.
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'Difficult night for Israel'
“It was a difficult night for the State of Israel, but we must continue to follow and adhere to the Home Front Command’s instructions. I support our security forces in their efforts to ensure the safety of Israeli citizens,” said Israel’s Opposition leader Yair Lapid on X (formerly Twitter).
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Israel defence minister: 'Tehran will burn' if Iran fires more missiles
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India abstaining from UN motion on Gaza 'shameful': Priyanka Gandhi
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In a post on 'X', Vadra contended that the Indian government was refusing to take a stand when 60,000 people, mostly women and children, had been killed and the entire population of Gaza were being "confined and starved to death".
The Congress MP from Wayanad also alleged that not only was India being silent on the Gaza issue, it was "cheering on" the Israeli government as it attacked Iran and assassinated its leadership.
She questioned how the country can "abandon" the principles of the Constitution, and the values of the freedom struggle "that led the way for an international arena based on peace and humanity".
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Trump says Iran has 'second chance' to come to nuclear deal as Israel and Iran exchange blows
President Donald Trump on Friday urged Iran to quickly reach an agreement on curbing its nuclear program as Israel vowed to continue its bombardment of the country.
Trump framed the volatile moment in the Middle East as a possible "second chance” for Iran's leadership to avoid further destruction "before there is nothing left and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire.” The Republican president pressed on Iran as he met his national security team in the Situation Room to discuss the tricky path forward following Israel's devastating strikes, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to keep up for “as many days as it takes” to decapitate Iran's nuclear program.
The White House said it had no involvement in the strikes, but Trump highlighted that Israel used its deep arsenal of weaponry provided by the US to target Iran's main enrichment facility in Natanz and the country's ballistic missile program, as well as top nuclear scientists and officials.
Trump said on his Truth Social platform that he had warned Iran's leaders that “it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come - And they know how to use it."
