President Trump views Israel's attack on Iran as ‘positive'
Foundation for Defense Democracies Senior Fellow David Daoud claims US President Donald Trump is likely to 'stick to his carrots' by viewing Israel's attack on Iran as 'positive'.
'President Trump has been very supportive of the Israeli strike yesterday,' Mr Daoud told Sky News Australia.
'The United States has not gotten involved directly in this fight.
'Iran views us, the United States, as its primary enemy.'
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Canberra Times
15 minutes ago
- Canberra Times
Israel attacks on Iran will intensify, vows Netanyahu
US President Donald Trump has lauded Israel's strikes and warned Iran of much worse to come. He said it was not too late to halt the Israeli campaign, but only if Tehran quickly accepted a sharp downgrading of its nuclear program at talks with Washington due to be held on Sunday.
Perth Now
30 minutes ago
- Perth Now
Israel attacks on Iran will intensify, vows Netanyahu
Israel has pounded Iran for a second day and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said its campaign will intensify dramatically, while Tehran has called off nuclear talks that Washington had held out as the only way to halt the bombing. A day after Israel wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command with a surprise attack on its old foe, it appeared to have hit Iran's oil and gas industry for the first time, with Iranian state media reporting a blaze at a gas field. Netanyahu said Israel's strikes had set back Iran's nuclear program possibly by years and rejected international calls for restraint. "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," he said in a video message. In Tehran, Iranian authorities said around 60 people, including 29 children, were killed in an attack on a housing complex, with more strikes reported across the country. Israel said it had attacked more than 150 targets. Iran had launched its own retaliatory missile volley on Friday night, killing at least three people in Israel. Air raid sirens sent Israelis into shelters as waves of missiles streaked across the sky and interceptors rose to meet them. US President Donald Trump has lauded Israel's strikes and warned Iran of much worse to come. He said it was not too late to halt the Israeli campaign, but only if Tehran quickly accepted a sharp downgrading of its nuclear program at talks with Washington due to be held on Sunday. But host Oman confirmed on Saturday that the next round of talks had been scrapped. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said holding talks was unjustifiable while Israel's "barbarous" attacks were ongoing. In the first apparent attack to hit Iran's energy infrastructure, Iranian media reported a fire on Saturday after Israel bombed the South Pars gas field in southern Bushehr province. With Israel saying its operation could last weeks, and urging Iran's people to rise up against their Islamic clerical rulers, fears have grown of a regional conflagration dragging in outside powers. "If (Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei continues to fire missiles at the Israeli home front, Tehran will burn," Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said. Tehran warned Israel's allies that their military bases in the region would come under fire too if they helped shoot down Iranian missiles. However, 20 months of war in Gaza and a conflict in Lebanon last year have decimated Tehran's strongest regional proxies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, reducing its options for retaliation. Iran's overnight fusillade included hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones, an Israeli official said. Three people were killed and dozens wounded, the ambulance service said. In Iran, Israel's two days of strikes destroyed residential apartment buildings, killing families and neighbours as apparent collateral damage in strikes targeting scientists and senior officials in their beds. Iran said 78 people had been killed on the first day and scores more on the second day, including 60 when a missile brought down a 14-storey apartment block in Tehran, where 29 of the dead were children. State TV broadcast pictures of a building flattened into debris and the facade of several upper storeys lying sideways in the street, while slabs of concrete dangled from a neighbouring building. Fars News agency said two projectiles had hit Mehrabad airport, located inside the capital, which is both civilian and military. Israel sees Iran's nuclear program as a threat to its existence, and said the bombardment was designed to avert the last steps to production of a nuclear weapon. A military official said Israel had "eliminated the highest commanders of their military leadership" and had killed nine nuclear scientists who were "main sources of knowledge, main forces driving forward the (nuclear) program".
The Age
3 hours ago
- The Age
How Israel's assault unfolded – and how Iran responded
It was fast, targeted and deadly. In a split second, a quiet pre-dawn Tehran was rocked by explosions. Israel attacked several locations across Iran, including the capital, targeting nuclear sites, including its main enrichment facility, ballistic missile and other military capabilities, and commanders and nuclear scientists. Here's how it unfolded, moment by moment (note: all times in AEST). June 12 Trump withdraws US officials from the Middle East The White House orders the departure of all non-essential personnel from its embassy in Baghdad. It also gives non-essential officials in its Bahrain and Kuwait embassies the authorisation to leave if they so wish. This comes as US intelligence indicates Israel has been preparing to strike Iran while the Trump administration struggles to make progress on a nuclear deal with Iran. 'They are being moved out because it could be a dangerous place, and we'll see what happens,' US President Donald Trump says. June 13 Trump warns an Israeli strike 'could very well happen' if Iran doesn't reach a deal over its nuclear weapons capabilities. 'I don't want to say imminent, but it looks like it's something that could very well happen,' Trump tells reporters at the White House. Israel attacks Iran at 3.30am local time, with explosions booming across Tehran. People in the city wake to blasts, which damage residential buildings. Smoke is seen rising from Tehran's western neighbourhood of Chitgar. 'Dozens' of nuclear and military targets hit An Israeli military official confirms 'dozens' of sites across Iran were targeted, including the country's Natanz nuclear complex, with footage on Iranian state TV showing black smoke rising from the facility. The deaths Iranian state TV reports that the chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Hossein Salami, was killed in the strikes, along with the commander-in-chief of Iran's army, General Mohammad Bagheri, and another top-ranking commander, General Gholamali Rashid. Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, survived, but Ali Shamkhani, a top political, military and nuclear adviser to Khamenei was reportedly 'critically injured' in the strikes. Six nuclear scientists, including Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, were also reportedly killed. Iranian TV reports children were among the dead in the affected residential areas. The Israel Defence Forces shares news of the successful 'first stage' of its offensive on X. 'Dozens of IAF [Israeli Air Force] jets completed the first stage that included strikes on dozens of military targets, including nuclear targets in different areas of Iran,' it posts. 'Today, Iran is closer than ever to obtaining a nuclear weapon.' 11am: US not involved, avoids both endorsing and condemning strikes The United States declines to endorse Israel's strikes against Iran, noting in an official statement that it was aware of, but not involved in, the operation. Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivers the first official US response to the attack, saying Israel 'advised us that they believe this action was necessary for its self-defence'. Later, Trump calls an emergency security meeting set for 11am Friday (1am AEST) and tells Fox News 'Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb'. 11.19am: Netanyahu speaks Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the strikes were aimed at hurting Iran's nuclear infrastructure, ballistic missile factories and other military capabilities. 'This operation will take as long as is needed to complete the task of fending off the threat of annihilation against us,' he says in a recorded video message. 'As prime minister, I have made it clear time and again Israel will never allow those who call for our annihilation to develop the means to achieve their goal.' He says Israel has successfully 'struck at the heart' of Iran's nuclear weaponisation program by targeting 'their main enrichment facility'. 1.23pm 'Sworn enemies' to expect retaliation, says Tehran Israel will receive a 'harsh punishment' in response to the strikes, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, tells Iranian state TV. He says Israel has 'unleashed its wicked and bloody' hand in a crime against Iran that reveals its 'vile nature'. Iran's Revolutionary Guards later release a statement, seen by Reuters, which says Israel 'will pay a heavy price' for killing their chief, Salami. The statement claims Israel's strikes were done with the knowledge and support of the 'wicked rulers in the White House' and the 'terrorist US regime'. 'Iran's sworn enemies should expect a decisive retaliation,' it says. 3.01pm: Iran launches 100-drone assault on Israel Israel's chief army spokesman, Brigadier General Effie Defrin, says: 'In the last few hours, Iran has launched more than 100 drones toward Israel, and all the defence systems are acting to intercept the threats.' A short time later, neighbouring Jordan says its air force and defence systems intercepted several missiles and drones that had entered its airspace for fear they would fall in its territory. Defrin says the strikes are continuing. How has Australia reacted? Speaking from Fiji, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the government wants the conflict solved 'through dialogue'. 'We, of course, are very conscious of the threat [that] Iran becoming a nuclear state would represent to peace and security in the region as well,' he says. Speaking to reporters minutes after the strikes were first reported, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she was 'alarmed' by the attack. 'We call on all parties to refrain from actions and rhetoric that will further exacerbate tensions,' Wong said. What becomes of the US and Iran's nuclear negotiations? A key mediator in Iran's nuclear talks with the US says Israel's attack 'threatens to eliminate diplomatic solutions and undermine security and stability of the region'. Oman was due to host US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and other key officials for a sixth round of nuclear deal talks with Iran on Sunday. After the strikes, Trump says he's hoping to get 'back to the negotiating table', according to Fox News. When asked in the hours before the attack how any strikes would affect the nuclear talks, Trump said: 'I think it would blow it', before reconsidering and saying, it 'might help it actually, but it also could blow it'. June 14 4.14am Iran's retaliation begins The Associated Press reports air raid sirens have sounded in Jerusalem as Israel says Iran has fired missiles. A few minutes later, an Israeli military official claims dozens of missiles have been detected. Explosions can be heard in Jerusalem and Israeli TV stations show plumes of smoke rising in Tel Aviv after an apparent strike. 4.25am Iran's Supreme Leader vows revenge Ayatollah Ali Khamenei releases a defiant message to Iran in which he promises Israel will suffer a 'bitter fate' for its actions. 4.28am Major ballistic assault on Israel Iran's state-run news site says the country has launched hundreds of ballistic missiles towards Israel. But the Israeli military says the missiles numbered fewer than 100 and most were intercepted or fell short. No casualties are immediately reported. 8.20am Sirens and a round of explosions, possibly from Israeli interceptors, can be heard booming in the sky over Jerusalem and the Israeli military says another attack is taking place. A witness tells Reuters that air-raid sirens had sounded again in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The Israeli military urges civilians, already rattled by an earlier wave of missiles, to take shelter. The Iranian outlet Nour News, which has close links with the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, says a wave of attacks is being launched. With Reuters, AP
