Iran state TV hit in Israeli attack on Tehran
The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) building was struck in an Israeli attack on Monday, cutting live coverage immediately.
The blast occurred as the presenter was live on TV, lambasting Israel before she was seen leaving the live broadcast, Iranian media reported, sharing a video of the incident.
Iran’s Mehr news agency posted visuals from the attack on the IRIB building on X.
Iran’s Press TV also shared a video showing the aftermath of the attack.
The attack came shortly after Iranian media reported Israeli airstrikes in a civilian residential neighbourhood in Tehran.
Latest developments:
- Israel airstrikes hit parts of Tehran
- 8 new deaths in Israel take toll to 23; Tehran says 224 killed in Iran so far, with over 1,000 injured
- Russia ‘ready to mediate’ and accept Tehran’s uranium
- Fire seen at power plant near Israel’s Haifa port; residential buildings destroyed near US Embassy branch in Tel Aviv
- Iran president reiterates Tehran does not seek nuclear weapons
- Trump reportedly vetoed plan to target Khamenei; Netanyahu claims Iran tried to assassinate US president twice
- 3 more Iranian commanders killed; Tehran hangs man on charges of spying for Mossad
Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country was “on the road to victory” and claimed that his air force was “in control of the skies over Tehran”, Al Jazeera reported.
The latest military exchange between the arch-rivals began when Israel struck Iran’s nuclear and military sites on Friday, killing top commanders and scientists. Tel Aviv has said it wants to stop Tehran from building an atomic weapon, which the latter has consistently denied, saying its uranium enrichment programme is for civilian purposes.
Dangers of further escalation loomed over a meeting of G7 leaders in Canada, with US President Donald Trump expressing hope a day ago that a deal could be done but no sign of the fighting abating on a fourth day of war.
Netanyahu made the remarks as he visited the Tel Nof airbase in central Israel, accompanied by Defence Minister Israel Katz and Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Eyal Zamir, according to the Israeli media.
“We are on our way to achieving our two objectives: eliminating the nuclear threat and eliminating the missile threat,” he said.
Netanyahu also threatened the citizens of Tehran, telling them to leave Iran’s capital. “We are taking action.”
Meanwhile, Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted an evacuation order for citizens in Tehran on his X account.
The post ordered citizens living in a specific area of the Iranian capital to “leave immediately”, warning that Israel would attack Iran’s military infrastructure in the area.
“Dear citizens, for your safety, please leave the mentioned area in the third district of Tehran immediately,” the order read, enclosing a map of the city. “Your presence in this area endangers your life.”
Katz also said that Iran’s state television and radio were “about to disappear”, after the evacuation warning was issued for the district in Tehran where the broadcaster is based.
“The Iranian propaganda and incitement megaphone is about to disappear,” he said in a statement. “Evacuation of nearby residents has begun.”
The area marked for evacuation is an upmarket part of the Iranian capital home to at least four hospitals and medical centres, a major police building and state broadcaster IRIB. It also houses several embassies, including those of Qatar, Oman and Kuwait, as well as UN offices and the AFP bureau.
Earlier today, Katz threatened that residents of Tehran will “pay the price and soon” after Iranian missiles struck Tel Aviv and the port city of Haifa before dawn, killing at least eight people.
“The residents of Tehran will pay the price, and soon,” Katz wrote on X.
The latest fatalities in Israel, reported by Israel’s national emergency services, raised the death toll to 23 since Friday.
Israeli attacks in Iran have killed at least 224 people so far, including 70 women and children, while over 1,200 have been injured, the health ministry was quoted as saying earlier today by Anadolu Agency.
More than 90 per cent of the wounded were civilians, including women and children, health ministry official Hossein Kermanpour said on X.
At least 100 more were wounded in Israel in the overnight blitz, part of a wave of attacks by Tehran in retaliation for Israel’s strikes targeting the nuclear and ballistic missile programmes of sworn enemy Iran.
US warship reported heading toward Mideast
The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz was leaving Southeast Asia on Monday after cancelling plans to dock in Vietnam, amid reports it is headed to the Middle East to boost the US presence.
At 1:45pm GMT (6:45pm PKT), the carrier was traveling through the Malacca Strait toward the Indian Ocean, according to Marine Traffic, a ship-tracking site.
A Vietnamese government official confirmed to AFP that a planned reception aboard the USS Nimitz on June 20, as part of the ship’s expected June 19-23 visit to Danang, had been cancelled.
The official shared a letter from the US embassy announcing that the Defense Department was cancelling the event due to “an emergent operational requirement.” The US Embassy in Hanoi declined to comment to AFP, as did a spokesman for the Nimitz.
PM Shehbaz meets Iranian ambassador
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met with Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan Reza Amir Moqadam on the sidelines of the International Maritime Expo and Conference in Karachi, a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said on Monday.
The statement said, “PM [Shehbaz] reiterated Pakistan’s condemnation of the recent Israeli aggression on Iran and the entire nation’s sympathy with Iran over the deaths of innocent people.”
While discussing the current regional situation, the premier expressed Pakistan’s solidarity with Iran and its people during the tense situation, the statement added.
Russia and Turkiye offer to mediate, condemn Israeli attacks
As the attacks did not seem to halt, Russia and Turkiye offered to facilitate the end of the ongoing war between Israel and Iran.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian in a phone call today that his country “stands ready to undertake a facilitating role to end the conflicts as soon as possible and return to nuclear negotiations”.
Erdoğan “emphasised the importance Turkiye attaches to the preservation of peace and stability in the region”, the Turkish presidency said.
The Kremlin said Russia remains ready to act as a mediator between Israel and Iran, and that Moscow’s previous proposal to store Iranian uranium in Russia remains on the table.
Before Israel launched strikes on the Islamic Republic, Russia said last week that it stood ready to remove highly enriched uranium from Iran and convert it into civilian reactor fuel as a potential way to calm the crisis.
“This proposal remains on the table, it remains relevant. But, of course, with the outbreak of hostilities, the situation has become seriously complicated,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“You know that we condemn those actions that have led to such a dangerous escalation of tension in the region,” Peskov stated.
He noted that the root causes of the conflict needed to be addressed and eliminated, and that the military strikes were escalating the entire crisis to beyond serious levels.
“And secondly, we also note a significant consolidation of society in Iran against the background of the bombing that is currently being carried out by the Israeli side,” Peskov added.
Stating that Russia “remains ready to do everything necessary to eliminate the root causes of this crisis”, Peskov said the situation was “escalating more than seriously, and, of course, this is not affecting the situation for the better”.
Asked about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks to Fox News on Sunday that regime change in Iran could be a result of Israel’s military attacks, Peskov said that the Kremlin had seen the remarks.
The statement comes after Trump yesterday cited the possibility that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, could help. Speaking to ABC News, Trump said he would be open to Putin being a mediator in the conflict. “He is ready. He called me about it. We had a long talk about it,” the US president had said.
The European Union said Russia has “zero credibility” as a potential mediator between Iran and Israel, after Trump suggested that Putin could play a role.
“There has been a recent Russia-Iran partnership agreement, which signals deepening cooperation across multiple areas, including foreign policy and defence,” EU spokesman Anouar El Anouni said.
“In light of such, Russia cannot be an objective mediator.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan 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.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in a phone call on Monday that the conflict between Iran and Israel must end and room must be made for diplomacy as soon as possible, the Turkish presidency said.
In a statement, the presidency also said Erdogan repeated his view that the only solution to the crisis was a return to nuclear talks.
Fires in Haifa, more buildings destroyed in Tel Aviv
Search and location operations were underway in the coastal city of Haifa, where around 30 people were wounded, emergency authorities said, as dozens of first responders rushed to the strike zones.
Fires were seen burning at a power plant near the port, the media reported. Video footage showed several missiles over Tel Aviv and explosions could be heard there and over Jerusalem.
Israel’s military warned of a new missile salvo incoming from Iran. “A short while ago, the IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel,” the army posted on Telegram, using the acronym for its official name.
It said its air defences were working to intercept the threat but advised people to “enter a protected space and remain there until further notice”.
Several residential buildings in a densely populated neighbourhood of Tel Aviv were destroyed in a strike that blew out the windows of hotels and other nearby homes just a few hundred metres from the US Embassy branch in the city.
The US ambassador to Israel said the building sustained minor damage, but there were no injuries to personnel.
British maritime security firm Ambrey said that fires were observed at the power plant in the vicinity of Israel’s Haifa port, Reuters reported.
Ambrey said it observed video footage of the Israeli military intercepting the attack, followed by impacts from two hypersonic missiles.
An AFP journalist heard loud explosions in Jerusalem on early Monday, while footage showed Israeli air defences working over the city. Outside Haifa, an AFP journalist saw fires break out following the latest Iranian barrage.
Israel’s public broadcaster Kan reported that at least four areas were hit in the latest Iranian attacks on central Israel.
The predawn missiles also struck near Shuk HaCarmel, a popular market in Tel Aviv that typically draws large crowds of residents and tourists buying fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as popular bars and restaurants.
A residential street in nearby Petah Tikva and a school in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish city of Bnei Brak were also hit.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news outlet termed the latest strikes on Israel the “heaviest missile attacks” since last week. It added that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had “apparently employed the ‘Fattah’ hypersonic ballistic missiles in the latest operation”.
Iran does not seek nuclear weapons: president
Iran does not intend to develop nuclear weapons but will pursue its right to nuclear energy and research, President Masoud Pezeshkian said today, reiterating Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s religious edict against weapons of mass destruction.
Iran had claimed the existence of the fatwa for years before making the text public for the first time in 2010, when it was being accused by the West and Israel of seeking to secretly acquire the atomic bomb.
While asserting that Iran remains opposed to developing weapons of mass destruction, Esmaeil Baghaei, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said the Iranian parliament is preparing a bill to leave the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The Iranian president, speaking during a parliamentary session on Monday, also called for unity and solidarity “more than ever” against the Israeli aggression, Press TV reported.
Pezeshkian asserted that Iran had the right to benefit from nuclear energy and research that served the nation’s interests, adding that no one had the right to deny this right.
“We have extended a hand of brotherhood to all Islamic nations — for they are all our brothers. Today, most, if not all, of them stand with us and by our side,” he further said.
The president said the US violated international norms by “allowing” Israel to attack Iran, stressing that Iran never sought war or initiated it.
“The enemy cannot remove us or our nation from the scene through violence, killings, and assassinations,” Pezeshkian said.
“For every hero who falls, hundreds more will rise to carry the flag and stand against the oppression, injustice, crimes, and betrayal committed by these aggressors,” he added.
On the slain nuclear researchers killed in Israel’s attacks, Pezeshkian asked: “What crime did a scientist commit to deserve being murdered, along with his family, by someone from the other side of the world?”
More commanders killed in Iran
IRGC intelligence chief General Mohammad Kazemi, his deputy Gen Hassan Mohaqqeq, and Gen Mohsen Baqeri were among those killed in Israel’s attacks on Sunday, the IRGC said.
The Israeli military said earlier today that it was striking surface-to-surface missile sites in central Iran, adding it was “operating against this threat in our skies and in Iranian skies”.
Israel has claimed strikes as far away as Iran’s holy city of Mashhad in the far east, 2,300 kilometres from Israel.
Iranian state television reported that at least five people were killed on Sunday by an Israeli strike that hit a residential building in downtown Iran.
Colonel Reza Sayyad, a spokesman for Iran’s armed forces, threatened a “devastating response” to Israel’s attacks.
“Leave the occupied territories (Israel) because they will certainly no longer be habitable in the future,” he warned in a televised address, adding shelters will “not guarantee security”.
According to AFP, residential areas in both countries have suffered deadly strikes since the hostilities broke out, with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slamming Iran on Sunday for allegedly targeting civilians.
“Iran will pay a very heavy price for the premeditated murder of civilians, women and children,” he said, during a visit to the site of a missile strike on a residential building in the coastal city of Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv.
His remarks came hours after Iranian missile fire killed another 10 people yesterday.
Meanwhile, a likely Iranian drone killed a woman in Syria, a Britain-based war monitor said, in what would be the first death on Syrian soil since the current hostilities between Iran and Israel began, reported AFP.
The drone struck the woman’s home in western Tartus province, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Iran has executed a man who was found guilty of spying for Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad, the semi-official Fars news agency reported today, identifying the man as Esmail Fekri.
The execution is the third in recent weeks related to the conduct of espionage on behalf of Israel.
Iranian media, including Tasnim, reported on Sunday that police had arrested two suspects over alleged links to Israel’s Mossad spy agency. Israel, in turn, said it had taken two individuals into custody over alleged links to Iranian intelligence.
‘I will not leave’
In Iran, a heavy cloud of smoke hung above Tehran after Israeli aircraft struck two fuel depots. Local media also reported an Israeli strike on the police headquarters in the city centre.
“We haven’t been able to sleep since Friday because of the terrible noise,” said a Tehran resident who gave her name as Farzaneh.
“Today, they hit a house in our alley, and we were very scared. So we decided to leave Tehran and head to the north of the country.”
Some, however, were determined to stay.
“It is natural that war has its own stress, but I will not leave my city,” 31-year-old Shokouh Razzazi told AFP.
AFP images from Israel’s Haifa, meanwhile, also showed a column of smoke rising on Sunday evening following an Iranian missile barrage.
The military said rescue teams “have been dispatched to several hit sites in Israel”, while the fire services reported rescuers heading to a building on the coast that sustained a “direct hit”.
Earlier in the day, in Bat Yam, first responders wearing helmets and headlamps picked through a bombed-out building.
“There was an explosion and I thought the whole house had collapsed,” said Bat Yam resident Shahar Ben Zion.
“It was a miracle we survived.”
Trump vetoes plan to target Khamenei: report
In Washington, two US officials told Reuters that Trump had vetoed an Israeli plan in recent days to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“We found out that the Israelis had plans to hit Iran’s supreme leader. President Trump was against it, and we told the Israelis not to,” a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also told AFP.
When asked about the Reuters report, Netanyahu told Fox News on Sunday: “There’s so many false reports of conversations that never happened, and I’m not going to get into that.”
“We do what we need to do,” he told Fox’s ‘Special Report With Bret Baier’.
Asked whether regime change in Iran was one of the objectives of Israel’s strikes, Netanyahu said that “it certainly could be the result, because the Iran regime is very weak”.
In the same interview, The Independent reported, Netanyahu claimed that Iran attempted to assassinate Trump twice “through proxies”.
“Through their intel, yes; they want to kill him,” he added. “He’s enemy number one,” the Israeli premier said, referring to the US president.
Trump has lauded Israel’s offensive but said Washington had nothing to do with it, while threatening to unleash “the full strength and might” of the US military if Iran attacked American interests.
However, seemingly contradicting his ally, Netanyahu claimed that American pilots were shooting down drones headed towards Israel. In the same interview, he also said that he and Trump were “fully coordinated”.
Trump has urged the two foes to “make a deal”, adding, however, that “sometimes they have to fight it out” first.
He told ABC News on Sunday that he would be “open” to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, being a mediator. “It’s possible we could get involved” in the ongoing battle in the Middle East, he said.
Two US officials said on Friday that the US military had helped shoot down Iranian missiles that were headed toward Israel, according to Reuters. The Wall Street Journal reported the same.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi maintained Tehran had “solid proof” that US forces had supported Israel in its attacks.
He also told a meeting of foreign diplomats that Iran’s actions were a “response to aggression”. “If the aggression stops, naturally our responses will also stop,” he added.
Iran scrapped planned nuclear talks with the United States, saying it was “meaningless” to negotiate while under fire.