Israel and Iran bombard each other as Trump says conflict can easily end
[JERUSALEM/DUBAI] Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on each other overnight into Sunday (Jun 15), killing scores, as US President Donald Trump said that the conflict could be ended easily while warning Teheran not to strike any US targets.
Israeli rescue teams combed through the rubble of residential buildings destroyed in strikes, using flashlights and sniffer dogs to look for survivors after at least 10 people, including children, were killed, authorities said.
Iran has said at least 138 people have been killed in Israel's onslaught since Friday, including 60 on Saturday, half of them children, when a missile brought down a 14-storey apartment block in Teheran.
The Israeli military warned Iranians living near weapons facilities to evacuate after both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump said Israel's attacks would intensify, not abate.
An official said Israel still had a long list of targets in Iran and declined to say how long the offensive would continue. Those attacked on Saturday evening included two 'dual-use' fuel sites that supported military and nuclear operations, he said.
Trump has lauded Israel's offensive while denying Iranian allegations that the US has taken part in it. He warned Teheran not to widen its retaliation to include US facilities or interests.
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
Sign Up
Sign Up
'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,' he said in a message on Truth Social. 'However, we can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict.'
The US had been negotiating with Iran to try to secure a commitment to severely restrict its nuclear programme, which Iran says is purely civilian but Israel sees as an existential threat because of its weapons potential.
Trump gave no details of any possible deal.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Israel's attacks had been aimed at sabotaging those talks, which were due to resume in Oman on Sunday before being cancelled. He said the offensive had the support of the US and that Iran was acting only in self-defence.
Israel, which has not signed the global nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, says it aims to stop Iran from developing atomic weapons, and eliminate its ballistic missile capability.
The International Atomic Energy Agency on Thursday declared Iran in breach of its obligations under the NPT.
Israeli officials have acknowledged that the strikes are unlikely to halt the programme altogether but voiced hopes that they can bring about a comprehensive US-Iran deal.
Iran said Israel had attacked the Shahran oil depot in the capital but that the situation was under control. The semi-official Tasnim news agency said Israel had attacked an oil refinery near the capital on Sunday, causing a fire, and Iran's defence ministry, causing minor damage.
It also reported the arrest of two people in Alborz province accused of belonging to Israel's Mossad intelligence agency.
In Israel, the latest wave of Iranian attacks began shortly after 11 pm on Saturday, when air raid sirens blared in Jerusalem and Haifa, sending around a million people into bomb shelters.
Around 2.30 am, the military warned of another incoming missile barrage and again urged residents to shelter. Explosions echoed through Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as missiles streaked across the skies and interceptor rockets were deployed.
The Iran-aligned Houthis who control most of Yemen said they had launched ballistic missiles towards Jaffa near Tel Aviv, the first time an ally of Iran has reportedly joined the fray.
At one time, Iran could have expected military support from proxy forces in Gaza, Lebanon and Iraq.
However, 20 months of war against the Hamas militia in Gaza and last year's conflict with Lebanon's Hezbollah have decimated Teheran's strongest regional proxies, reducing its options for retaliation.
The Israeli military official said Israel had targeted the Houthis' chief of staff overnight.
Israeli authorities said at least 10 people had been killed overnight, including three children, and more than 140 injured, by missiles that had hit homes in northern and central Israel.
In the Arab town of Tamra in northern Israel, four women were killed, including a mother and her two daughters.
At least six people were killed by an Iranian missile that hit a cluster of residential buildings including multi-storey apartments in the town of Bat Yam.
Shmuel Bar David, 62, returned briefly to what remained of his home there. 'I've lived here for 35 years,' he said, adding his family survived 'by miracle'.
In all, at least 13 people in Israel have been killed and more than 350 others injured since Iran launched its retaliatory attacks.
In the first apparent attack on Iran's energy infrastructure, Tasnim said Iran had partially suspended production at South Pars, the world's biggest gas field, after an Israeli strike caused a fire there on Saturday.
South Pars, off Iran's southern Bushehr province, is the source of most of the gas produced in Iran.
Fears about potential disruption to the region's oil exports had already driven up oil prices 9 per cent on Friday, even though Israel spared Iran's oil and gas industry on the first day of its attacks.
Share markets in the region opened for the first time since the Israeli strikes, with Tel Aviv stocks edging higher after an early dip and Saudi shares down 1.5 per cent.
With Israel saying its operation could last weeks, and Netanyahu urging Iran's people to rise up against their Islamic clerical rulers, fears have grown of a regional conflagration dragging in outside powers. REUTERS
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Times
13 minutes ago
- Business Times
Australians equally distrust both Trump and Xi: survey
[CANBERRA] Australians are equally distrustful of both US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, according to a new survey, complicating Canberra's task of managing ties with its key security ally and biggest trading partner. A new survey released by the Lowy Institute think tank in Sydney showed that 72 per cent of respondents said they did not trust Trump to act responsibly in global affairs, just edging out the 71 per cent who said they did not trust China's Xi. When asked whether Trump or Xi would be a better partner for Australia, the two leaders were tied at 45 per cent apiece. The results come as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attends a Group of Seven meeting in Canada, where he could hold his first face-to-face meeting with the US president. Albanese will be hoping to negotiate an exemption on US steel and aluminium tariffs for Australia, as well as trying to secure Trump's support for Aukus following the announcement in Washington of a review of the security accord. Albanese's balancing act with Trump is a difficult one. Australians' faith in the US has deteriorated following the president's return to the White House. Trust in America as a global player has fallen to just 36 per cent, by far the lowest result in the Lowy survey's 20-year history. Yet despite an aversion to Trump, Australians are not ready to move away from the US as the nation's primary security partner. The survey showed consistent support for the US alliance, with 80 per cent of respondents saying America was important for Australia's security. Meanwhile, attitudes to China have slightly improved, although Beijing is generally considered less reliable than the US across most metrics. BLOOMBERG
Straits Times
15 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Israel-Iran battle escalates, will be high on agenda as world leaders meet
Emergency personnel operate after missiles were launched from Iran to Israel, in Haifa, Israel, June 15, 2025. REUTERS/Shir Torem Emergency personnel operate after missiles were launched from Iran to Israel, in Haifa, Israel, June 15, 2025. REUTERS/Shir Torem A rescue personal walks inside a damaged synagogue at an impact site following missile attack from Iran on Israel, at Zavdiel, Israel, June 15, 2025. REUTERS/Itay Cohen Firefighters and rescue personnel work at an impact site following missile attack from Iran on Israel, in Haifa, Israel, June 15, 2025. REUTERS/Rami Shlush ISRAEL OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN ISRAEL Firefighters and rescue personnel work at an impact site following missile attack from Iran on Israel, in Haifa, Israel, June 15, 2025. REUTERS/Rami Shlush ISRAEL OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN ISRAEL Israel-Iran battle escalates, will be high on agenda as world leaders meet TEL AVIV/DUBAI/WASHINGTON - Israel and Iran kept up their attacks, killing and wounding civilians and raising concern among world leaders meeting in Canada this week that the biggest battle between the two old enemies could lead to a broader regional conflict. The Iranian death toll in four days of Israeli strikes, carried out with the declared aim of wiping out Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, had reached at least 224, with 90% of the casualties reported to be civilians, an Iranian health ministry spokesperson said. At least 10 people in Israel, including children, have been killed so far, according to authorities there. Group of Seven leaders began gathering in the Canadian Rockies on Sunday with the Israel-Iran conflict expected to be a top priority. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said his goals for the summit include for Iran to not develop or possess nuclear weapons, ensuring Israel's right to defend itself, avoiding escalation of the conflict and creating room for diplomacy. "This issue will be very high on the agenda of the G7 summit," Merz told reporters. Before leaving for the summit on Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump was asked what he was doing to de-escalate the situation. "I hope there's going to be a deal. I think it's time for a deal," he told reporters. "Sometimes they have to fight it out." Iran has told mediators Qatar and Oman that it is not open to negotiating a ceasefire while it is under Israeli attack, an official briefed on the communications told Reuters on Sunday. FIRST DAYLIGHT ATTACK ON ISRAEL Explosions shook Tel Aviv on Sunday during Iran's first daylight missile attack since Israel's strike on Friday. Shortly after nightfall, Iranian missiles hit a residential street in Haifa, a mixed Jewish-Arab city, and in Israel's south. In Bat Yam, a city near Tel Aviv, residents braced on Sunday evening for another sleepless night after an overnight strike on an apartment tower. "It's very dreadful. It's not fun. People are losing their lives and their homes," said Shem, 29. Images from Tehran showed the night sky lit up by a huge blaze at a fuel depot after Israel began strikes against Iran's oil and gas sector - raising the stakes for the global economy and the functioning of the Iranian state. Brent crude futures were up $1.17, or 1.6%, to $75.39 a barrel by 0015 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained $1.11, or 1.6%, to $74.14. They had surged more than $4 earlier in the session. TRUMP VETOES PLAN TO TARGET KHAMENEI, OFFICIALS SAY In Washington, two U.S. officials told Reuters that Trump had vetoed an Israeli plan in recent days to kill Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 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." Israel began the assault with a surprise attack on Friday that wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command and damaged its nuclear sites, and says the campaign will escalate in coming days. The intelligence chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Kazemi, and his deputy were killed in attacks on Tehran on Sunday, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency said. Iran has vowed to "open the gates of hell" in retaliation. TRUMP WARNS IRAN NOT TO ATTACK Trump has lauded Israel's offensive while denying Iranian allegations that the U.S. has taken part and warning Tehran not to widen its retaliation to include U.S. targets. Two U.S. officials said on Friday the U.S. military had helped shoot down Iranian missiles that were headed toward Israel. The U.S. president has repeatedly said Iran could end the war by agreeing to tough restrictions on its nuclear program, which Iran says is for peaceful purposes but which Western countries and the IAEA nuclear watchdog say could be used to make an atomic bomb. The latest round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the U.S., due on Sunday, was scrapped after Tehran said it would not negotiate while under Israeli attack. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Business Times
32 minutes ago
- Business Times
Trump returns to G7 he once loathed as Iran crisis intensifies
[WASHINGTON] US President Donald Trump arrives in Canada as the centre of attention for a Group of Seven (G7) summit of world leaders whose main purpose will be to mollify him – and one where spiralling conflict in the Middle East offers another test of its unity. Trump was travelling on Sunday (Jun 15) night to Kananaskis, Alberta, for the first big international summit of his second term. Wary of opening new rifts with the US president, other G7 leaders will not even try for a statement of unity on matters such as Ukraine or climate change. It's not even clear that they will be able to demonstrate a sense of common purpose over the conflict between Israel and Iran that began with Israeli attacks on Iranian nuclear sites late last week. Those strikes continued over the weekend, fanning fears of a regional war. Trump has called for a ceasefire but is helping Israel defend itself, while others such as French President Emmanuel Macron have urged the sides to avoid further escalation. Instead of speaking to allies about the fighting, Trump discussed the conflict in a Saturday call with the G7's main adversary, Russian President Vladimir Putin, a central antagonist in a war with Ukraine that's also frustrated Trump. Macron, speaking to reporters on Sunday, dismissed the notion of Putin mediating the Middle East conflict, saying the Russian leader, given his flouting of international norms, could not 'be in any way a mediator'. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up More than a dozen leaders from around the world were set to join Trump at the Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge looking to strike trade deals to stave off a fresh round of US tariffs as early as next month. The meeting's remote location means it will be inaccessible to protesters and give leaders the freedom to meet Trump on neutral turf instead of under the glare of the cameras in the Oval Office where he's in control and playing to his domestic audience. Trade deals Leaders from Brazil, South Africa, India, and South Korea will be there seeking to protect their own interests, as will Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, looking to shore up support for his nation's fight against Russia despite Trump's ambivalence. Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum is likely to get her first one-on-one in-person meeting with Trump, while also seeking a fresh US-Mexico-Canada trade deal along with the event's host, Prime Minister Mark Carney. The Canadian leader, meanwhile, will seek to balance standing up to Trump's calls to make Canada the 51st state while avoiding the flareups that turned past summits into displays of rancour and disunity. 'The best case scenario in my mind, coming out of this, is that there's no real blowups,' said Josh Lipsky, chair of international economics at the Atlantic Council think-tank. Trump has long considered such summits tedious, and used them to pick fights with fellow leaders. One of his first, the 2017 G20 in Hamburg, was marked by widespread protests, with posters plastered around the city calling Trump a clown. An enduring image of his first G7, in Italy, was six leaders walking together while Trump travelled separately in a golf cart. A year later at a G7 meeting also in Canada, Trump made his most indelible mark on the summit circuit. A viral photo showed him sitting defiant, with arms crossed, staring up at then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel, while other leaders stood around her. He then upended the event by pulling out of the joint communique that had been forged in the meeting and firing an angry tweet at then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over the Canadian leader's criticisms of Trump's tariff policies. That photo, along with Trump's eruption, casts a 'long shadow' over this year's summit, said Caitlin Welsh, who served as a US summit official during Trump's first term and is now a programme director with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. It showed 'that consensus outcomes could not be taken for granted in the G7 or G20 or other bodies,' Welsh said. Even after that, leaders were never quite sure what to make of Trump. In 2019, a hot mic caught leaders – including Trudeau – at another summit griping about Trump running late. At President Joe Biden's first G7 in 2021, he declared 'America is back,' to which Macron shot back – 'For how long?' Now Trump returns, both to the summit sanctum and to Canada, after a bruising tariff war and his refusal to back down from the 51st state threat. That stoked widespread anger in the country and helped fuel Carney's spring election victory. Trump himself has claimed credit. Playing nice But while earlier summits saw Trump spar with counterparts, this batch of leaders have tended to try to play nice with Trump, soothing his ego and avoiding confrontations. And several, such as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Macron and Carney have all had relatively successful – or at least unremarkable – meetings with Trump since his return to office. And there are widespread signs the bloc wants to maintain that approach. Macron is the sole holdover from Trump's first term. While he will look to maintain pleasant relations with Trump, he visited Greenland on the way to Canada, a nod of support after Trump mused about annexing the Danish territory. Leaders are not preparing a joint communique this time around given that differences are too large on everything from climate change to artificial intelligence to women's empowerment. Instead, they are set to issue statements on half a dozen subjects, though Ukraine isn't among them. The US will also push to discuss trade, expanding exports of American energy and AI development, a White House official said on Friday in a briefing that made no direct mention of Iran. The leaders are also expected to discuss breaking their dependency on China for critical minerals, according to a German official. Trump has set so-called 'reciprocal' tariffs at 10 per cent for about five dozen countries and the EU, but has made a Jul 9 deadline to reach deals or see the tariffs rise again. That threat hangs over nearly every leader at the summit. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has touted the progress made so far, as his trade negotiator makes near-weekly visits to the US to negotiate terms, but has also expressed caution about rushing into an agreement. Japan is seeking the removal of the levies – and is a test case of Trump's willingness to negotiate auto tariffs in particular. 'What's important is to achieve an agreement that's beneficial to both Japan and the US,' Ishiba said last week. 'We will not compromise Japan's interests by prioritising a quick deal.' BLOOMBERG
