Israel, Iran resume missile exchange, threaten more attacks
June 14 (UPI) -- Iran and Israel exchanged more airstrikes overnight Friday after Israel mainly attacked Iranian nuclear and military targets one day earlier.
On Saturday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that "Tehran will burn" if drone and missile attacks continue as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "more is on the way" and directly addressed the Iranian people on Friday night, calling on civilians to "stand up and let your voices be heard."
Iran's Maj. Gen. Mohammad Pakpour said in a letter to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.
"Soon, the gates of hell will be opened upon this child-killing regime. The crime that the terrorist Zionist regime committed today in its aggression against the national security and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic will certainly not go unanswered," Pakpour wrote.
Damage, casualties on both sides
Israeli Air Force aircraft struck dozens of targets, including surface-to-air missile infrastructure, Israel Air Force Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar said.
Iran's retaliatory strikes killed at least three people and injured dozens, according to Israeli authorities. Iran said it had downed Israeli drones that crossed its northwestern border near Salmas, the state-affiliated Nour News reported Saturday.
Explosions could be heard in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, according to reports, as air raid sirens were activated and people took shelter.
Damage was reported in Ramat Gan, a city of about 170,000 people neighboring Tel Aviv.
"I feel like the collateral damage," Rony Armon told ABC News, whose family took cover in a shelter on Friday night. "The walls were shaking. We never imagined that it was so close. I look horrified at what happens in Gaza, but now it's in my back door, which is totally different story."
Ifat Benjamin told the BBC that she, her husband Zion and their six younger relatives are moving their possessions out of the home they've lived in for 29 years in Ramat Gan.
"We closed the door, and suddenly there was such a big boom," Benjamin said. "I thought all the house fell on us."
In Iran, at least 78 people died in the Israeli strikes, including senior military officials, Iran's UN envoy Amir Saeid Iravani said Friday. More than 320 people were injured, most of them civilians.
Israel said "over 20 commanders in the Iranian regime's security apparatus" have been killed since the start of the attacks.
Iranian state media reported 60 people, including 20 children, were killed after an Israeli strike hit a residential building in Tehran's Shahrak-e Shahid Chamran residential compound, while Iranian television showed workers removing debris from the site of a 14-story building.
Israel's military said nine scientists and experts involved in Iran's nuclear program died. Nuclear facilities in Fordow and Isfahan were not extensively damaged, the spokesperson of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said. According to the spokesperson, there is no concern for contamination.
The Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant is buried deep in the mountains near Qom in northern Iran and is one of the locations that Israel and its allies have feared Iran is developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran's Taekwondo Federation said three of its members were killed in Israeli attacks on Tehran, which Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which lost several of its leaders during the first Israeli airstrikes, said it targeted Israeli military centers and air bases.
A missile struck in the vicinity of the Kirya, an area of Tel Aviv that's home to the military headquarters housing the Israel Defense Forces and the Ministry of Defense, according to video obtained by CNN.
Nations on high alert
Airspace in Iran and Israel remains closed, meaning commercial flights can't take off and land there. No damage was reported to Tehran airport's runways and main buildings, although smoke was seen at the airport.
On Saturday morning, Tehran's air defense system was active after Israel continued strikes on the Iranian capital, state media reported. Israel targeted provinces that included East Azerbaijan, Lorestan and Kermanshah, according to state-affiliated Fars news agency.
Israelis are prepared to go into bomb shelters when strikes are imminent.
Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, said he had to head to bomb shelters five times overnight.
"Been rough nite in Israel," Huckabee, who is in Israel right now, said in a post on X on Saturday morning after he had to seek cover in bomb shelters five times during the course of the night.
Huckabee added that Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest, which occurs from sundown Friday though sundown Saturday, should be quiet, but "probably won't be."
Most businesses closed one day earlier than the Sabbath in Israel as people stocked up on essentials in preparation for possible retaliatory attacks from Iran.
Sheba Medical Facility in the Tel Aviv area treated dozens of patients injured in the Iranian strikes, where many suffered shrapnel wounds, is one of several hospitals that have been relocating patients underground for protection.
In Tehran, residents were also fearful of more attacks.
"We're hearing that tonight Israel will be hitting more densely populated parts of Tehran in retaliation for the strike that hit Tel Aviv, which is really terrifying," a 24-year-old woman told CNN.
There were also demonstrations in Tehran against Israel and residents oppose Netanyahu's call to rise up against the regime, the network reported.
"Do I wish the regime wasn't in power? Absolutely. Do I want my city bombed by another dictator? Absolutely not," Neda, a 28-year-old, told CNN.
Another 36-year-old man told CNN that "Israel is underestimating our love for our country, the idea that bombing us, our homes, killing our children would send us to the streets is shocking. We want to live peacefully whether we like the regime or not."
Nuclear negotiations called off
The sixth round of talks between the United States and Iran in Oman on a nuclear deal scheduled for Sunday have been canceled.
"The United States has supported the Zionist regime's aggression, including the targeting of Iran's peaceful nuclear facilities," Esmaeil Baghaei said Saturday, according to Iranian state media Mehr News. "Participating in talks with a party that is the principal supporter and accomplice of the aggressor is fundamentally meaningless."
On Friday, Trump posted on Truth Social: "Two months ago I gave Iran a 60 day ultimatum to 'make a deal.' They should have done it! Today is day 61. I told them what to do, but they just couldn't get there. Now they have, perhaps, a second chance!"
Other nations react
The United States helped Israel intercept Iranian missiles, U.S. officials and a White House official confirmed to CBS News.
During Israel's airstrikes on Iran, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. wasn't involved.
Iran will target the regional bases of any country that tries to defend it, a senior Iranian official told CNN. The United States has bases in Qatar, where U.S. Central Command is based, as well as in Bahrain, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
"We are robustly postured to ensure that our people -- our bases, our interests -- are safe and we're continuing to monitor any, any forces we would need to do that, capabilities we would need to do that, we will, we will keep Americans safe," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Saturday. "The U.S. is postured to defend our people in the region. We've got significant assets in the region."
"I wouldn't say we were really surprised by any dynamic of the back and forth," Hegseth added. "That's been ongoing, but we're monitoring it closely."
The British government has said its forces had not provided any military assistance to Israel as its prime minister, Keir Starmer, has emphasized the need for de-escalation.
The prime minister spoke to Netanyahu on Friday afternoon during, according to an official readout, he emphasized that "Israel has a right to self-defense" but the conflict needed a diplomatic solution.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Saturday again called for an end to the fighting.
"Enough escalation. Time to stop," he wrote on X. "Peace and diplomacy must prevail."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
UPI
27 minutes ago
- UPI
AG Pam Bondi appoints emergency Washington, D.C. police chief
1 of 4 | U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed DEA Administrator Terrence Cole to temporarily serve as the chief of Washington, D.C.'s police department. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo Aug. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that DEA Administrator Terrence Cole will temporarily serve as the chief of Washington, D.C.'s police department. "I hereby order the Mayor of the District of Columbia and the Metropolitan Police Department to immediately implement the following directives," Bondi said in a press release Thursday. "Effective immediately, Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Terrence C. Cole shall serve as MPD's Emergency Police Commissioner for the duration of the emergency declared by the President." President Donald Trump issued an executive order Monday in which he put the district's Metropolitan Police Department under federal control. Bondi alleged in her order that the "danger posed by violent crime" was evident and declared such danger is "multiplied by the district's sanctuary city policies" as reasons she put Cole in control of the police. Bondi has also directed Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to eliminate a standing police policy that forbids officers from arresting a person only because of a federal immigration warrant. Washington, D.C. Chief of Police Pamela Smith has issued new executive orders that allow police to notify ICE agents about subjects not in custody, including during traffic stops, and officers are to help ICE to transport detained suspects. Washington, D.C.'s Attorney General Brian Schwalb has since called the Trump administration's actions in regard to taking control of the MPD as "unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful." "There is no crime emergency in the District of Columbia," Schwalb stated on social media Monday. "Violent crime in D.C. reached historic 30-year lows last year, and is down another 26% so far this year." "We are considering all of our options and will do what is necessary to protect the rights and safety of District residents," he added. Schwalb then put out a public letter Thursday addressed to Smith, in which he wrote, "It is my opinion that the Bondi Order is unlawful, and that you are not legally obligated to follow it." He cited that while the law does allow Trump to direct Bowser to "provide services of the Metropolitan Police Department in order to address special circumstances of an emergency nature and for federal purposes," it doesn't grant him or anyone serving in his administration to remove or replace the Chief of Police or to make changes to the chain of command within the district's police force. He further asserted that Trump can't stop or change previous orders or rules issued to the police. "Under District law, it is the duty of the police force to respect and obey the Chief of Police as the head and chief of the police force, subject to the rules, regulations, and general orders of the Council of the District of Columbia and the Mayor of the District of Columbia," Schwalb added. "In reference to the U.S. Attorney General's order, there is no statute that conveys the District's personnel authority to a federal official," Bowser posted to X Thursday. It is unclear if or how district officials would or will effectively deny or ignore any particular directives from either Bondi or Trump. Federal officers, National Guard patrol Washington Residents keep with their normal routine and run past National Guard troops on the National Mall near the Washington Monument on August 12, 2025. Photo by Pat Benic/UPI | License Photo
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Stephen Miller's revenge? Duke is now in the crosshairs
Duke University, my alma mater, largely escaped the national campus turmoil following Hamas's Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel and the Israeli military's subsequent brutal war on Gaza. There were no encampments or serious complaints of antisemitism. There were no reports of faculty harassment of supporters of Israel — just some verbal student altercations and a few peaceful demonstrations on Duke's leafy quads. Race-neutral admissions have kept the campus diverse, with an especially large Asian representation. Possibly as a result, university President Vincent Price was not among other university presidents subpoenaed and grilled by opportunistic members of Congress. In April, Price joined over 200 other university leaders, signing a joint resistance letter, perhaps assuming safety in numbers. 'We speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education,' the statement said. However laudable, this contrasted with more outspoken academic leaders, such as Harvard University's Alan Garber and Wesleyan University's Michael Roth. These have opposed the Trump administration's extortionate demands, risking cutoffs of federal research funding. Bard College President Leon Botstein said that Trump's campaign against colleges follows 'a classic antisemitic routine.' Yet Price's low-profile approach — effectively choosing 'Profiles in Prudence' over 'Profiles in Courage' — has not spared Duke. Nationwide, blanket research compensation cutbacks on all universities have already cost Duke 600 jobs, mostly through buyouts. Three thousand more positions may be at risk. Then came the July 28 l e tter, jointly signed by Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which strongly suggested that Duke's medical center may be guilty of 'vile racism' that 'hides behind a smug superiority.' Specifically — and without offering evidence — the letter states, 'These practices allegedly include illegal and wrongful racial preferences and discriminatory activity in recruitment, student admissions, scholarships and financial aid, mentoring and enrichment programs, hiring, promotion, and more.' The Department of Education is also separately investigating allegations that Duke Law School and the Duke Law Journal 'gave advantages to prospective editors from underrepresented groups.' On July 30, the Trump administration froze $108 million in Duke's federal research funding. Last year, the university said it spent $1.5 billion on research, almost 60 percent from government. Some on campus see in all this the malign hand of perhaps the most powerful Duke alum in the country, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, class of 2007. Miller, a conservative student firebrand on campus, may be out to settle some scores. Miller had a weekly column called 'Miller Time' in the Duke Chronicle, the daily student paper. His first missive, from September 2005, was titled ' Welcome to Leftist University.' He castigated Duke for hosting writer Maya Angelou, accusing her of 'racial paranoia.' In February 2006, Miller wrote, 'A large number of Duke professors have disregarded the basic tenets of academic freedom and abandoned their professional obligations. They indoctrinate students in their personal ideologies and prejudices and in so doing betray the very people who are supposed to be their paramount concern.' Even with additional or more draconian federal research funding cuts, Duke won't go broke. Its university endowment is $11.9 billion. The separate $3.6 billion Duke Endowment also supports it. However, drawing on these funds is severely restricted. Cuts could slow projects like the development of an HIV/AIDS vaccine. Some alumni and faculty were outraged. William Lawrence, a former Duke Divinity School faculty member and former dean of Southern Methodist University's Perkins School of Theology, told me that the government's action 'revealed the deadly depravity of those public officials' who composed and sent it. The 'vile racism' allegation, he said, is baseless. 'Their presumption that 'smug superiority' will prevent Duke from solving a problem that only exists in their ideological cesspool is itself toxic to the vision that propelled Duke to greatness,' he said. More than 100 Duke graduates, initiated by a group called Concerned Alumni of Duke University, together with faculty, staff, students and friends of Duke, have sent President Price an open letter (which I have signed). The letter states, in part: 'These accusations ignore the necessity, urgency, legitimacy and integrity of recognizing all Duke community citizens' dignity and value, including historically excluded people … The Departments of Education and HHS have no cause to harass and attempt to intimidate our educational institution. Duke should reject these authoritarian intrusions. That action would be the most authentic and effective way … to recognize and affirm the rich diversity that is the Duke community — and the nation.' Despite — or because of — the stakes involved for Duke and other universities, Price's strategically low-profile response to Trump administration actions is understandable. But some of us strongly disagree. Since the early 1960s, when Duke began incrementally ending formal racial segregation, students, both Black and white, protested the pace of change. Now, with the administration's threats, there is a new challenge. 'The only answer for universities is to refuse and stand tough together. Otherwise, more and more demands will be forthcoming,' said Rees Shearer, a veteran of the 1968 Silent Vigil. That spontaneous mass encampment on the main campus, immediately following Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, demanded union recognition and pay raises for the university's predominantly Black non-academic workers. A year later, Duke's Afro-American Society seized the Allen Building, the university's administrative center, again advocating for non-academic workers plus for a Black Studies program to be established, and for more Black students and faculty. 'Ultimately,' Shearer told me, 'bullies only demand more and more until academic freedom and the bedrock moral principles of institutions become so eroded that these capitulating institutions become tools of authoritarian plutocracy.' Being true to your school means different things to different people. Duke's 1960s and 1970s cohort has not been shy regarding moral hectoring dating from our activist undergraduate days, urging the university to be its best self. In the 1990s, Duke students helped launch what became a nationwide anti-sweatshop campaign, beginning with the university's popular apparel and merchandise. Today, being true to your school means standing up forcefully against what smells like government extortion. The threat of federal funding cuts demonstrates that this is no time for institutional neutrality. 'By gambling the livelihoods of our faculty members and staff, our university has proven to Trump its intention to acquiesce, a perilous move,' undergraduate Leo Goldberg said in an interview. 'Once again, American higher education has been dealt an unprincipled sellout by those who head it.'
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Israel's 'Dancing with the Stars' routine goes viral with Trump and Melania tribute
A routine on Israel's "Dancing with the Stars" made headlines this week for its humorous tribute to President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump. In the recently aired episode of "Rokdim Im Kokhavim," the Israeli version of the popular reality dance competition television show, two professional dancers appear dressed as the president, in his signature blue suit and red tie, and the first lady in the navy blue outfit she wore to the inauguration earlier this year. As they listen to the National Anthem play, the dancer portraying Trump attempts to kiss Melania before she shoos him away and fixes his tie. The music then switches to the Village People's "YMCA" as the pair hit the dance floor. The dancer portraying Melania switches into an American flag outfit as the dancer portraying Trump breaks out into his signature dance moves. Clips of the light-hearted routine were widely shared on social media platform X, where they drew millions of views. "Israel 'Dance with the Stars' TV show featured one of the pairs dressed as President Trump and Melania Trump, and they absolutely killed it," one account posted on X, along with a clip from the show that drew over two million views. "This is a must-watch." The routine drew praise from the president's supporters on social media. "This is very fun!" former Trump campaign senior adviser Steve Cortes lauded. "An overseas 'Dancing with the Stars' pair dressed as Pres Trump & the First Lady and CRUSHING it…" "MUST WATCH!!" pro-Trump political commentator April Silverman also applauded, writing that the pair "absolutely killed it." The White House did not immediately return Fox News Digital's request for comment.
