Iran-Israel live updates: Supreme leader warns US over joining war
In a recorded speech played on television June 18, his first appearance in five days, Khamenei, 86, said Washington "should know that any U.S. military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage."
Khamenei's defiant speech came after a sixth night of airstrikes by Israel and Iran sent civilians fleeing for safety in Tehran and Tel Aviv.
"Intelligent people who know Iran, the Iranian nation and its history will never speak to this nation in threatening language because the Iranian nation will not surrender," he said. Trump on June 17 personally threatened Khamenei, caling him an "easy target.
Trump has veered from proposing a swift diplomatic end to the war to suggesting the United States might join it. In social media posts on Tuesday he mused about killing Khamenei, then demanded Iran's "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!"
Follow along with USA TODAY's live coverage of the conflict.
Israel's military said 50 Israeli jets had struck around 20 targets in Tehran overnight, including sites producing raw materials, components and manufacturing systems for missiles. The military told Iranians to leave parts of the capital for their safety while it struck targets.
Traffic was backed up on highways leading out of the city of 10 million people. Arezou, 31, told Reuters by phone that she had made it out to the nearby resort town of Lavasan.
"We will stay here as long as this war continues. My friend's house in Tehran was attacked and her brother was injured. They are civilians," she said. "Why are we paying the price for the regime's decision to pursue a nuclear programme?"
In Israel, sirens rang out warning people of Iranian retaliatory missile strikes. At Ramat Gan city train station east of Tel Aviv people were lying on city-supplied mattresses lined along the floor, the odd camping chair and plastic water bottles strewn about.
"I feel scared, overwhelmed. Especially because I live in a densely populated area that Iran seems to be targeting and our city has very old buildings, without shelters and safe spaces," said Tamar Weiss, clutching her four-month-old daughter.
-Reuters
As Israel and Iran trade blows in an escalating aerial war, Israel has its sights trained on taking out Iran's nuclear facilities - and it wants the U.S. military's help.
Israel wants the Pentagon to drop the bombs because their penetrating weapons cannot reach the depth necessary to destroy underground facilities, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Fully demolishing Iran's nuclear facilities would require 30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs, or "bunker-busters," which Israel's military doesn't have.
But Israel could use smaller penetrating weapons to collapse the entry ways to Iran's underground nuclear facilities, Scott Murray, a retired Air Force colonel and intelligence officer, told USA TODAY. Israel could then effectively bar Iran from recovery work at the sites.
"Think of it as a no-work zone patrolled from above," he said. "Air superiority buys incredible capability and flexibility."
-Cybele Mayes-Osterman and Tom Vanden Brook
Israel's National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi offered the clearest signal yet about the goals of Israel's air campaign, telling local Channel 12 News on June 17 the military is going after the hardest target in Iran: The Fordo nuclear enrichment plant.
"This operation will not conclude without a strike on the Fordo nuclear facility," Hanegbi said.
Fordo, built into a mountain to withstand airstrikes, has 1,000 centrifuges used to enrich uranium. Hanegbi made clear Israel's war would only end after Fordo was hit.
Analysts say that would take a U.S. "bunker buster" bomb, dropped from an American plane. But Hanegbi said Israel was ready to go it alone.
"We're not trying to convince the Americans to join," he said. "The prime minister has a close and intimate dialogue with President Trump, but we never received any promise the U.S. would take part."
Hanegbi added the plan is "entirely blue and white" - fully Israeli, without external military support.
-Kim Hjelmgaard
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The National
an hour ago
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an hour ago
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'We will be the first nation to become extinct through tiredness'. This is the very Israeli joke doing the rounds in Tel Aviv where no night for the last five has gone uninterrupted without at least one dash to the bomb shelter. It's a nice way of shrugging off danger and giving a nod to the country's resilience, while at the same time acknowledging the deep anxiety here. Think back to sitting in the sun in your garden during the first weeks of the Covid lockdown unsure of whether you'll need to be intubated and you'll get the vibe. With jokes out of the way, two big questions dominate conversation here – one spoken, one left hanging awkwardly. Will the US join in the assault on Iran? And what happens if it doesn't? For the moment, the vast majority of Israelis believe it is only a matter of time before Trump joins in. Some think he and Benjamin Netanyahu have been in cahoots all along, others that the mercurial Israeli prime minister has left Trump with little option other than to attack. They point to the build up of the US war machine in the region, the power of the Israeli lobby in Washington and the 'moral' case for action. The phrase 'regime change' has not been used with such fervour since the build up to the invasion of Iraq in early part of 2003. 'Tougher than Iraq' Every US president needs a Cheney, goes the quip, and Bibi is Trump's Dick. There is a logic to all this and the fact that the US has not yet got involved is no indication that it will not do so. Iran is a vast, mountainous and faraway country with a population of 92 million (just ask Senator Ted Cruz). It also has a standing army of 610,000, rising to 960,000 with reserves. Taking on regime change in such a place is no small task – tougher even than Iraq – and the Pentagon will want weeks, perhaps months, to get its pieces in place before acting. US generals would not just have to prepare for retaliatory strikes against their own troops in the region (some 40,000 to 50,000) but assure its allies in the Gulf that it would protect their gas and oil fields, not to mention the shipping lanes they rely on. Let's face it, that recent trade tour Trump undertook in Saudi, the UAE and Qatar will have been for nothing if the region's oil industry goes up in smoke. Then there are the political risks for Trump to consider, not to mention legacy. The US was engaged in Iraq for nearly nine years and he owes much of his rise to power to the 'America First' promise and his rejection of 'endless conflict'. It's no wonder his MAGA base is showing signs of splitting over the issue. But what if Trump decides that war is not worth the risk. What if he rejects the TACO taunts, saying he never wanted the war? That today – along with the ballistic missiles – is what most Israelis are losing sleep over.
