Israel-Iran conflict LIVE: India to evacuate its nationals from Israel

IDF claims it has struck over 20 military targets in Tehran

⭕️ 60 IAF Jets Strike 20+ Military Targets in Tehran

The IDF struck key nuclear and missile sites across Tehran, including:
- Uranium enrichment & centrifuge sites
- Missile & air defense production facilities
- Nuclear weapons R&D centers

These sites fuel Iran’s weapons… pic.twitter.com/9p8EJ4CJkG

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 18, 2025

Trump approved attack plans for Iran, but withheld order: Report

A Wall Street Journal article quoting sources said that US President Donald Trump told senior aides on Tuesday that he approved attack plans for Tehran, but was keeping it on hold to see if Tehran would abandon its nuclear programme.

Reports said Iran’s Fordow nuclear enrichment facility is a possible target if US decides to join the strike against Iran.

When asked if he has decided to go ahead with the strike, Trump said, Trump said, “I may do it, I may not do it.”

Israel's military warns people to evacuate area around Iran's Arak heavy water reactor

Israel's military warned people Thursday to evacuate the area around Iran's Arak heavy water reactor.

The warning came in a social media post on X. It included a satellite image of the plant in a red circle like other warnings that proceeded strikes.

The Arak heavy water reactor is 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Tehran.

Heavy water helps cool nuclear reactors, but it produces plutonium as a byproduct that can potentially be used in nuclear weapons. That would provide Iran another path to the bomb beyond enriched uranium, should it choose to pursue the weapon.

Iran had agreed under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers to redesign the facility to relieve proliferation concerns.

In 2019, Iran started up the heavy water reactor's secondary circuit, which at the time did not violate Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Britain at the time was helping Iran redesign the Arak reactor to limit the amount of plutonium it produces, stepping in for the U.S., which had withdrawn from the project after President Donald Trump's decision in 2018 to unilaterally withdraw America from the nuclear deal.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, has been urging Israel not to strike Iranian nuclear sites. IAEA inspectors reportedly last visited Arak on May 14.

Due to restrictions Iran imposed on inspectors, the IAEA has said it lost “continuity of knowledge” about Iran's heavy water production -- meaning it could not absolutely verify Tehran's production and stockpile. 

US starts evacuating some diplomats from its embassy in Israel

The State Department has begun evacuating nonessential diplomats and their families from the US embassy in Israel as hostilities between Israel and Iran intensify and there is the possibility that the United States could become directly involved in the conflict.

Two US officials said a government plane evacuated a number of diplomats and family members who had asked to leave the country Wednesday, shortly before US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee announced on X that the embassy was making plans for evacuation flights and ships for private American citizens.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive diplomatic movements.

“Given the ongoing situation and as part of the embassy's authorized departure status, mission personnel have begun departing Israel through a variety of means,” the State Department said.

“Authorized departure” means that nonessential staff and the families of all personnel are eligible to leave at government expense.

There was no indication of how many diplomats and family members departed on the flight.

Putin says Russia could help broker deal between Iran, Israel

Russian President Vladimir Putin offered Wednesday to help mediate an end to the conflict between Israel and Iran, suggesting Moscow could help negotiate a settlement that could allow Tehran to pursue a peaceful atomic program while assuaging Israeli security concerns.

Speaking at a roundtable session with senior news leaders of international news agencies, Putin noted that “it's a delicate issue,” but added that “in my view, a solution could be found.” Putin said he shared Moscow's proposals with Iran, Israel and the United States. His comments follow a mediation offer that he made in a call with U.S. President Donald Trump last weekend.

Trump said Wednesday that he told Putin to keep focused on finding an endgame to his own conflict with Ukraine.

“I said, Do me a favour, mediate your own,'” Trump said he told Putin. “I said, Vladimir, let's mediate Russia first. You can worry about this later.'” The comments represented a shift for Trump, who earlier this week said he was “open” to Putin's offer to mediate.

Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 639 people, says rights group

 Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 639 people and wounded 1,329 others, a human rights group said Thursday.

The Washington-based group Human Rights Activists released the figures, which covers the entirety of Iran. It said of those dead, it identified 263 civilians and 154 security force personnel being killed.

Human Rights Activists, which also provided detailed casualty figures during the 2022 protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, crosschecks local reports in the Islamic Republic against a network of sources it has developed in the country.

Iran has not given regular death tolls during the conflict and has minimized casualties in the past. Its last update, issued Monday, put the death toll at 224 people being killed and 1,277 others being wounded.

'We saw drones, missiles; we were scared': Indian student after evacuation from Iran

#WATCH | Flight carrying 110 Indian Nationals evacuated from Iran, lands in Delhi.

A student evacuated from Iran, says, "I am a final year MBBS student at Urmia University... We saw drones and missiles. We were scared... We are happy to return to India and are very thankful to… pic.twitter.com/Fuahu2XdG0

— ANI (@ANI) June 19, 2025