The Israeli military has struck a nuclear facility in Iran’s Isfahan, a military spokesperson said in a post on X on Sunday, Reuters reports. The spokesperson did not provide a time frame for the attack. Israel’s El Al Airlines has cancelled flights to and from many European cities as well as Tokyo and Moscow until June 23, owing to the conflict between Israel and Iran, it said on Sunday, Reuters reports. Israeli authorities said the country’s airspace was closed Sunday for a third consecutive day, Agence France-Presse reports. “Due to the security situation and in accordance with the instructions of security authorities, Israeli airspace is currently closed to civilian aviation - no incoming or outgoing flights are operating,” the transport and foreign ministries said in a joint statement. Israeli media reported that thousands of Israeli nationals have been stranded abroad since Friday when the Israeli military began striking military and nuclear targets in Iran. A statement from the Israel airports authority spokesperson confirmed that Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv would remain closed, saying “a notice regarding its reopening will be given with at least 6 hours’ advance warning”. “A decision to resume flights to Israel will only be made once it is deemed safe to do so,” the statement added. Meanwhile, Israel’s land border crossings to Jordan and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula remain open. Iranian media said on Sunday that Israel attacked a facility affiliated with the defence ministry in the central city of Isfahan, on the third consecutive day of Israeli strikes, Agence France-Presse reports. “One of the centres affiliated with the Ministry of Defence in Isfahan was attacked, and possible damages are under investigation,” ISNA news agency reported, quoting deputy provincial governor Akbar Salehi. Iran said it has arrested two individuals it accused of being members of Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad in Alborz province while they were preparing explosives and electronic devices, Reuters reports, citing the semi-official Tasnim news agency. We have more details on Israel’s evacuation warnings to Iranians living near weapons production facilities in Tehran (see post 8.12am). In a statement, Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said: The Israeli military will strike these sites and will continue to peel away the Iranian snake’s skin in Tehran and everywhere — targeting nuclear capabilities and weapons systems. Israel had earlier issued an evacuation warning to Iranians residing near weapons facilities in Iran, an Israeli military spokesperson said in a post on X in Arabic and Farsi. Israel’s ambassador to the UK has said “Europe owes a huge thank you” for its strikes on Iranian nuclear infrastructure, PA Media reports. Tzipi Hotovely insisted the operation was an act of self-defence and argued Iran had rejected diplomatic efforts to ease tensions. She told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: Europe owes a huge thank you to Israel for doing that, and the Gulf countries as well. Our region would have been a place that is not safe for anyone if Iran had accomplished their plan. Israel’s Oil Refineries said its pipelines and transmission lines in Haifa had been damaged by missile strikes by Iran, according to a regulatory filing to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. It said that no injuries or casualties were reported at the sites, with refining facilities continuing to operate despite a shutdown of some downstream operations, Reuters reports. It added that it is examining the impact of the damage on its operations and implications on its financial results. We have more from Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi. Araghchi said Iran does not want its conflict with Israel to expand to neighbouring countries unless the situation is forced. The foreign minister said the Israeli strikes on the offshore South Pars gas field Iran shares with Qatar were “a blatant aggression and a very dangerous act”. “Dragging the conflict to the Persian Gulf is a strategic mistake, and its aim is to drag the war beyond Iranian territory,” he said. The foreign minister accused Israel of seeking to sabotage ongoing Iran-US nuclear talks, which, according to him, could have opened the way for an agreement, Reuters reports. “Israel’s attack would never have happened without the US green light and support,” Araghchi said, adding Tehran does not believe American statements that Washington had taken no part in recent attacks. “It is necessary for the United States to condemn Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities if they want to prove their goodwill.” Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, criticised the United Nations Security Council on Sunday, accusing it of “indifference” over Israel’s attacks on Iran. In a meeting with foreign diplomats broadcast on state TV, Araghchi said the Israeli attack “is being met with indifference at the Security Council”, adding that Western governments have “condemned Iran instead of Israel despite it being the side that was violated”. He said the attacks on Israel will end when its “aggression stops”. We have an update on the 7.44am post. Reuters is reporting that at least twelve Palestinians were killed in Israeli fire and airstrikes on Sunday, according to local health authorities, at least five of them near two aid sites operated by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Medics at Al-Awda Hospital in the central Gaza Strip said at least three people were killed and dozens wounded by Israeli fire as they tried to approach a GHF site near the Netzarim corridor. Two others were killed en route to another aid site in Rafah in the south. An airstrike killed seven other people in Beit Lahiya town, medics said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Germany, France and Britain are ready to hold immediate talks with Iran over Tehran’s nuclear programme in a bid to de-escalate the situation in the Middle East, German foreign minister Johann Wadephul said. Wadephul, who is on a visit to the Middle East, said he was trying to contribute towards a de-escalation of the conflict between Israel and Iran, and noted Tehran had previously failed to take the opportunity to enter into constructive talks, Reuters reports. “I hope that’s still possible,” Wadephul told German public broadcaster ARD late on Saturday. “Germany, together with France and Britain are ready. We’re offering Iran immediate negotiations about the nuclear programme, I hope (the offer) is accepted. “This is also a key prerequisite for reaching a pacification of this conflict, that Iran presents no danger to the region, for the state of Israel or to Europe.” Wadephul, who is in Oman on Sunday, said the conflict would be ended only when influence is exerted on Iran and Israel from all sides. “There’s a shared expectation that within the next week, a serious attempt must be made on both sides to interrupt the spiral of violence,” he said. When asked whether he believed the Iranian government could fall, Wadephul said his assumption was that it was not Israel’s intention to bring down the administration in Tehran. Israel on Sunday issued an evacuation warning to Iranians residing near weapons facilities in Iran, an Israeli military spokesperson said in a post on X, Reuters reports. The spokesperson said the evacuation warning includes all weapons factories and supporting facilities. Israeli authorities have raised the confirmed death toll at Bat Yam to six, with about 180 injured, after two bodies were recovered from the rubble. It brings the number of fatalities from Iran’s missile strikes on Israel to 10. They have also downgraded the number of missing at the site from the dozens previously thought. There are seven people still unaccounted for in the rubble of buildings hit by Iranian missiles overnight. Regional police commander Daniel Hadad told reporters it “could take days” to complete the search. “There is great destruction here, lots of rubble and debris that has to be lifted to find the missing,” he said, according to the Times of Israel. Israeli forces have opened fire on people at several aid distribution sites in Gaza, killing at least five civilians, according to Palestinian media. The news agency Wafa reports three people were killed and others injured at the former Netzarim corridor in central Gaza, according to medical sources and eyewitnesses. “Further south, in Khan Younis, two Palestinians were killed and others injured when Israeli forces fired on a separate group waiting for assistance. Just prior to that, an Israeli airstrike targeted the Hamad City, north of Khan Younis,” the report said. Al-Jazeera Palestine reported a number of Palestinians were injured by Israeli artillery shelling while waiting for aid in the Al-Tawam area. Israel’s blockade on aid entering Gaza has created a mass starvation crisis. A small number of aid trucks have been allowed in, but the World Food Program has said it is far from enough. Large numbers of people have been killed by Israeli forces at food distribution sites, many of them associated with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which has come under significant criticism and scrutiny over its operations, and a system which forces people to travel through combat zones to reach food. Iranian news agencies report that operations at the Tehran refinery are continuing, without disruption to fuel production or distribution. Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Sunday that they targeted Israel in coordination with Iran, the first time an Iran-aligned group has publicly announced joint cooperation on attacks with Tehran, Reuters reports. The Yemeni group targeted central Israel’s Jaffa with several ballistic missiles in the last 24 hours, military spokesperson Yehya Sarea said in a televised address. “Triumphing for the oppressed Palestinian and Iranian peoples...This operation was coordinated with the operations carried out by the Iranian army against the criminal Israeli enemy,” he added. The Israeli military earlier said sirens were activated in several areas in the country following missile launches from Iran and Yemen. Israel and Iran continued to exchange missile attacks since Israel launched its biggest-ever military strike against its longstanding enemy on Friday. On the same day Israel launched its attack on Iran, Israel said a missile that was launched from Yemen towards Israel fell in Hebron in the occupied West Bank. The Yemeni group however did not claim responsibility for the missile launch. The Israeli defence force says that in the last hour it has conducted “another wave of attacks” in western Iran, targeting missile storage and infrastructure. Iran’s civil aviation authorities have announced the country’s airspace will remain closed until 3pm Sunday. It urged passengers to monitor the website for updates rather than go to airports in person. Hours after presiding over an unprecedented military parade in Washington DC, Donald Trump has threatened that if Iran attacks the United States in any way, it would face the might of the US military “at levels never seen before.” In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump also said the US had nothing to do with Israel’s latest attack on Iran overnight and that “we can easily get a deal done” to end the conflict. He wrote: The US had nothing to do with the attack on Iran, tonight. If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the US Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before. However, we can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict!!! The upcoming G7 summit “represents the first collective opportunity for western leaders to challenge Trump with the consequences of his unilateralism, but with the world on a knife-edge, the six leaders cannot risk being seen to gang up on him and spark a presidential explosion,” writes the Guardian’s diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour today. European leaders will seek an explanation about what persuaded Trump to give Israel a green light to strike Iran before talks involving his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, in Oman, had come to an end… With the diplomatic route currently closed, western leaders at the summit will instead collectively have to assess how close Israel is to permanently destroying Iran’s nuclear facilities, and the risk that the country’s reeling leadership will declare that the lesson of the war is that its security can only be protected by rushing to build a nuclear bomb. Demands for the leadership to take the fateful step are being openly voiced by demonstrators and by politicians. Israel is trying to create the conditions for the regime to be overthrown but western diplomats report even internal critics of the brinkmanship over its nuclear programme are rallying to patriotic calls. Read more here: Here’s some video showing the Iranian oil depot on fire and Iranian missiles in the sky over Israel: The US Council of Muslim Organizations, the largest coalition of American Muslim groups, has called on Trump to reject reported demands from Netanyahu for the US to increase its involvement in the war. “We call on President Trump to demand an immediate end to the attacks that Israel is launching, including against Iranian civilians, using American bombs, American jets and American taxpayer dollars,” it said in a statement just released. “Let’s be clear. What we are seeing today echoes the lies that led to the Iraq war. Just as Iraq did not have WMDs, Iran does not have nuclear weapons, was not making nuclear weapons, and was at the negotiating table ready to commit to limiting its uranium enrichment to the amount that can only be used for civilian purposes. Instead of making a deal and avoiding another unnecessary war, our government has enabled Netanyahu’s latest war crimes.” You can read the full statement here: Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the Middle East. Israel and Iran exchanged another round of strikes late on Saturday and into Sunday, with at least eight people killed in Israel when Iranian missiles penetrated air defences in the north and centre of the country as well as hitting a science institute near Tel Aviv. The latest wave of Iranian attacks began shortly after 11 pm on Saturday, when air raid sirens blared in Jerusalem and Haifa. Israeli media said at least 35 people were missing after a strike hit Bat Yam, a city south of Tel Aviv, in a second wave of strikes for the night, which began after 2am. A spokesperson for the emergency services said a missile hit an eight-storey building there and while many people were rescued, there were at least four fatalities. At least four people were killed in an Iranian strike on the Palestinian majority town of Tamra, in Israel’s north. All four were reported to be from the same family, including a woman and her two daughters aged 13 and 20. In Iran, Shahran oil depot in Tehran was targeted and set ablaze in an Israeli attack, Iran said, but added the situation was under control. Israeli strikes also targeted Iran‘s defence ministry building, causing minor damage, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said on Sunday. Iran has said 78 people were killed there on Friday, the first day of Israel’s shock attack, and scores more on the second, including 60 when a missile brought down a 14-storey apartment block in Tehran, where 29 of the dead were children. Here are the key developments: At least eight people are dead and more than 100 injured after Iran launched a barrage of missile strikes at Israel overnight, in retaliation for Israel’s Friday strikes which Israel said targeted Tehran’s nuclear program, hitting key sites including its defence ministry. An unknown number of missiles evaded Israel’s air defence system to hit Rehovot and Bat Yam in Tel Aviv, killing a 69-year-old woman, an 80-year-old woman, and two children including a 10-year-old boy, according to Israeli emergency services. More than 100 have been injured, and dozens still missing under rubble. Earlier strikes on Saturday night killed at least four Palestinian citizens of Israel in the northern town of Tamra, including a woman and her two daughters aged 13 and 20. Two oil facilities in Iran are on fire – one in Shahran and another in southern Tehran – after they were hit by Israeli strikes. The Israeli military said Iran still has an arsenal that can cause grave damage to Israel. The Israeli military added that “at this hour, we are striking Iran”, and that “Iranian attacks are not behind us”. Iran has said 78 people were killed there on the first day of Israel’s attack, and scores more on the second, including 60 when a missile brought down a 14-storey apartment block in Tehran, where 29 of the dead were children. Oman has announced the latest Iran-US nuclear talks that were scheduled to be held in Muscat have been cancelled. “The Iran US talks scheduled to be held in Muscat this Sunday will not now take place. But diplomacy and dialogue remain the only pathway to lasting peace,” Oman’s foreign minister, Badr Albusaidi, said in a post on X. Ali Shamkhani, Iran’s top adviser to its supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, has died in the hospital a day after Israel launched airstrikes across the country, Iranian media reports. Shamkhani had previously served as Iran’s top national security official for a decade and had represented Iran in the China-facilitated rapprochement talks with Saudi Arabia. Iranian authorities said that Israel’s airstrikes on Friday killed at least 30 military personnel in East Azerbaijan province, according to news agency ISNA. “Following the Zionist regime’s aggression against this province since Friday morning, 30 military personnel and one Red Crescent member have been martyred in defence of the Islamic homeland, and 55 people have been injured,” ISNA reported on Saturday, quoting East Azerbaijan provincial authorities. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel’s strikes have set Iran’s nuclear programme back, possibly by years, and that heavier blows were yet to come. “We will hit every site and every target of the Ayatollahs’ regime and what they have felt so far is nothing compared with what they will be handed in the coming days,” Netanyahu said in a video message.
Author: Jane Clinton (now) and Helen Davidson (earlier)