Iran and Israel broaden attacks as conflict escalates
Israel
and
Iran
issued evacuation orders to residents of both countries as the conflict escalated on a fourth day, underlining the potential to trigger a broader war.
Iran on Monday threatened to leave the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and separately told the
United Nations
Security Council that its strikes on Israel were self- defence.
In a letter to the Security Council, Iran's UN envoy Amir Saeid Iravani added that any co-operation with Israel would make countries 'complicit in the legal responsibility and consequences of this crisis'.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces issued an evacuation order to residents of a large part of Tehran, warning them of the imminent bombing of 'military infrastructure' in the area in a social-media post very similar to those regularly directed at Palestinians in
Gaza
over the past 20 months.
READ MORE
The post on X was from the account of the
Israel Defense Forces
' Arabic spokesperson, Col Avichay Adraee, and is a further sign of the evolving nature of the Israeli campaign against Iran, which began with attacks on air defences, nuclear sites and the military chain of command, but appears to have drifted towards a war of attrition focused on Iran's oil and gas industry and on the capital.
Meanwhile, Iranian state television reported on Monday evening that a new wave of missile attacks on Israel had begun. The attacks include drones and missiles, believed to be targeting the Israeli cities of Haifa and Tel Aviv.
More than 1,800 people in Iran have been injured since Israel launched its attack on June 13th, according to the country's health minister. A total of 24 people in Israel have been killed so far in the Iranian missile attacks, all of them civilians.
In another sign of the changing targets of the Israeli offensive, Iran's state TV announced on Monday evening that it was under attack, and had to cease live broadcasting.
The sound of an explosion could be heard in a live transmission, and the news presenter hurried off camera as dust and debris appeared in the studio.
Speaking to personnel at Tel Nof air force base, the Israeli prime minister,
Binyamin Netanyahu
, confirmed the evacuation orders on the Iranian capital.
'The Israeli air force controls the skies over Tehran. This changes the entire campaign,' he said.
'When we control the skies over Tehran, we strike regime targets, as opposed to the criminal Iranian regime which targets our civilians and comes to kill women and children. We tell the people of Tehran to evacuate, and we act.'
Netanyahu later said killing Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, would 'end the conflict' in what would be another ominous escalation.
After the surprise Israeli attack on Friday morning, Iran has carried out retaliatory missile strikes on Israeli cities, focusing on the most populated areas between Tel Aviv and the port of Haifa.
Both sides have targeted each other's oil and gas facilities, increasing the threat of environmental disaster, and explosions were reported on Monday near oil refineries in southern Tehran.
Earlier on Monday, Iran threatened to leave the NPT as Israeli bombing raids entered a fourth day, underlining the conflict's potential to trigger a broader war and Tehran's race to construct a nuclear weapon.
The human cost of the war continued to escalate with both sides broadening their range of targets, as
G7
leaders convened in the Canadian Rockies with no clear plan to end the conflict. There were reports on Monday that
Donald Trump
was refusing to sign a joint statement calling for the conflict to be scaled down.
'They should talk, and they should talk immediately,' Trump said of Tehran during the summit. 'I'd say Iran is not winning this war.'
[
Israelis under attack from Iran shift to full-scale war mode
Opens in new window
]
The Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, announced on Monday that Iran's parliament, the Majlis, was preparing a Bill that would withdraw the country from the 1968 NPT agreement, which obliges it to forgo nuclear weapons and to undergo international inspections to verify compliance. Baghaei added that Tehran remained opposed to the development of weapons of mass destruction.
Israel is the only Middle East state with nuclear weapons and did not sign the NPT, but has never formally acknowledged its arsenal.
US forces have so far helped Israel intercept Iranian missiles, but have not taken part, at least overtly, in offensive bombing operations. – Guardian and Reuters
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Irish Independent
an hour ago
- Irish Independent
Sean O'Grady: Israel's attack is risky, but so far not a trigger for WWIII
It is a sobering fact that as the heads of most of the world's leading industrial powers and democracies – the G7 – meet in Canada, there is not much they can do or wish to do to end the Iran-Israel war.
RTÉ News
2 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Trump to leave G7 early after warning of Iran attack
US President Donald Trump was leaving a Group of Seven summit early on Monday as he hinted of greater involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict after issuing an ominous warning for the capital Tehran to evacuate. After a day of speaking with G7 leaders at a Canada summit about the need for a negotiated deal, Mr Trump took to social media to back Israel and issue a warning to Tehran, a city of nearly 10 million people. "Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!" Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. Shortly afterward, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Mr Trump would return to Washington due to the crisis, a day earlier than planned. Mr Trump will miss a day of meetings in the Rockies resort of Kananaskis that was also expected to include meetings with the leaders of Ukraine and Mexico. The US president has repeatedly declined to say if the United States would participate in Israeli military action, although he says it was not involved in initial strikes. He told reporters before his decision was announced to leave early: "As soon as I leave here, we're going to be doing something. But I have to leave here." Mr Trump, who has praised Israel's strikes despite his stated preference for diplomacy, said Iran would be "foolish" not to agree to a negotiated settlement. "It's painful for both parties, but I'd say Iran is not winning this war, and they should talk, and they should talk immediately, before it's too late," Mr Trump told reporters as he met Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Israel has struck major nuclear and military sites and killed leading commanders and nuclear scientists in Iran, which has responded with its own volley of drones and missiles on Israel. Onus on Iran Canada and European leaders had looked to draft a statement on the crisis, but diplomats said that Mr Trump has not committed the United States to joining it. Leaders of the club of industrialized democracies - Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States - have mostly backed Israel but concern has mounted as the violence intensifies. French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking to reporters, pleaded with Israel to spare civilians in Iran. Any statement would be expected to put the onus on Iran and stop short of calling for an immediate ceasefire. "We'll highlight the legitimate right of the state of Israel to defend itself and we will also discuss potential additional measures to reach a diplomatic solution," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that G7 leaders share concern about Iran's nuclear program but also: "I do think there's a consensus for de-escalation." Unusually, Japan - which has historic relations with Iran and limited domestic pressure related to the Middle East - has broken with its Western allies to condemn Israel's attack, calling it "completely unacceptable and deeply regrettable." Iran, since Mr Trump pulled out of an earlier nuclear deal in 2018, has ramped up uranium enrichment but not yet at levels to create an atomic bomb. Israel is widely known to have nuclear weapons but does not acknowledge them publicly. Easing tensions with Trump The summit at a wooded lodge under snow-capped mountains comes after months of tumult on the global stage since Mr Trump's return. Seeking to shatter a decades-old US-led global economic order, Mr Trump has vowed sweeping tariffs on friends and foes alike although he has postponed implementation until 9 July. However, Mr Trump voiced optimism about a resolution with Canada and signed documents with Mr Starmer to confirm an agreement with Britain. The Republican president has previously mocked host Canada, stating that the vast but less populated neighbor should become the 51st US state. But he has appeared to show more respect to Canada since Mr Carney, a staid former central banker, took over from Justin Trudeau in March. Mr Trump was "very respectful" and spoke of "how much he likes Canada," said the country's ambassador to Washington, Kirsten Hillman. The US leader had taken office seeking diplomacy both on Iran and Ukraine, which Russia invaded in 2022. Mr Trump has since voiced frustration that Russian President Vladimir Putin has not accepted a US proposal for a ceasefire. He has previously mused about re-admitting Russia to the G8, from which it was expelled in 2014 after invading and annexing Ukraine's region of Crimea, triggering a war which accelerated in 2022 with a full-scale Russian invasion. Mr Trump said that his Russian counterpart was "very insulted" by the G8 expulsion and that if Russia was still a member, "you wouldn't have a war right now."
Irish Times
6 hours ago
- Irish Times
Iran and Israel broaden attacks as conflict escalates
Israel and Iran issued evacuation orders to residents of both countries as the conflict escalated on a fourth day, underlining the potential to trigger a broader war. Iran on Monday threatened to leave the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and separately told the United Nations Security Council that its strikes on Israel were self- defence. In a letter to the Security Council, Iran's UN envoy Amir Saeid Iravani added that any co-operation with Israel would make countries 'complicit in the legal responsibility and consequences of this crisis'. Meanwhile, Israeli forces issued an evacuation order to residents of a large part of Tehran, warning them of the imminent bombing of 'military infrastructure' in the area in a social-media post very similar to those regularly directed at Palestinians in Gaza over the past 20 months. READ MORE The post on X was from the account of the Israel Defense Forces ' Arabic spokesperson, Col Avichay Adraee, and is a further sign of the evolving nature of the Israeli campaign against Iran, which began with attacks on air defences, nuclear sites and the military chain of command, but appears to have drifted towards a war of attrition focused on Iran's oil and gas industry and on the capital. Meanwhile, Iranian state television reported on Monday evening that a new wave of missile attacks on Israel had begun. The attacks include drones and missiles, believed to be targeting the Israeli cities of Haifa and Tel Aviv. More than 1,800 people in Iran have been injured since Israel launched its attack on June 13th, according to the country's health minister. A total of 24 people in Israel have been killed so far in the Iranian missile attacks, all of them civilians. In another sign of the changing targets of the Israeli offensive, Iran's state TV announced on Monday evening that it was under attack, and had to cease live broadcasting. The sound of an explosion could be heard in a live transmission, and the news presenter hurried off camera as dust and debris appeared in the studio. Speaking to personnel at Tel Nof air force base, the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu , confirmed the evacuation orders on the Iranian capital. 'The Israeli air force controls the skies over Tehran. This changes the entire campaign,' he said. 'When we control the skies over Tehran, we strike regime targets, as opposed to the criminal Iranian regime which targets our civilians and comes to kill women and children. We tell the people of Tehran to evacuate, and we act.' Netanyahu later said killing Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, would 'end the conflict' in what would be another ominous escalation. After the surprise Israeli attack on Friday morning, Iran has carried out retaliatory missile strikes on Israeli cities, focusing on the most populated areas between Tel Aviv and the port of Haifa. Both sides have targeted each other's oil and gas facilities, increasing the threat of environmental disaster, and explosions were reported on Monday near oil refineries in southern Tehran. Earlier on Monday, Iran threatened to leave the NPT as Israeli bombing raids entered a fourth day, underlining the conflict's potential to trigger a broader war and Tehran's race to construct a nuclear weapon. The human cost of the war continued to escalate with both sides broadening their range of targets, as G7 leaders convened in the Canadian Rockies with no clear plan to end the conflict. There were reports on Monday that Donald Trump was refusing to sign a joint statement calling for the conflict to be scaled down. 'They should talk, and they should talk immediately,' Trump said of Tehran during the summit. 'I'd say Iran is not winning this war.' [ Israelis under attack from Iran shift to full-scale war mode Opens in new window ] The Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, announced on Monday that Iran's parliament, the Majlis, was preparing a Bill that would withdraw the country from the 1968 NPT agreement, which obliges it to forgo nuclear weapons and to undergo international inspections to verify compliance. Baghaei added that Tehran remained opposed to the development of weapons of mass destruction. Israel is the only Middle East state with nuclear weapons and did not sign the NPT, but has never formally acknowledged its arsenal. US forces have so far helped Israel intercept Iranian missiles, but have not taken part, at least overtly, in offensive bombing operations. – Guardian and Reuters
