Iran-Israel conflict LIVE: Iran warns US, UK, France against blocking strikes on Israel
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Israeli security forces inspect destroyed houses that were struck by a missile fired from Iran, in Rishon Lezion, Israel on Saturday. | AP/PTI

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.

Also Read: Trump urges Iran to accept nuclear deal with US, warns Israel's attacks 'will only get worse'

Also Read: Why India-Pak truce brings little cheer as uncertainty looms large


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