Israel-Iran conflict: what we know
Israel targeted Iran's air defence capabilities on Saturday, pressing on with a massive wave of strikes it began a day earlier that targeted Iranian nuclear and military facilities, prompting counterattacks by Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to hit "every target of the ayatollah regime", adding: "What they have felt so far is nothing."
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, meanwhile, warned the continued "aggression will be met with a more severe and powerful response".
The first wave of Israeli strikes killed 78 people and wounded 320, according to Iran's ambassador to the United Nations.
The Israeli military said three people were killed and 76 wounded since Iran began its retaliatory attacks.
International calls for restraint have multiplied as fears grow that the Middle East could be on the threshold of a broader conflict.
Here is what we know:
- Targeting air defences -
On Saturday, Israel's military said it was attacking dozens of missile launchers in Iran after announcing it had targeted air defences with a wave of strikes in the Tehran area.
Iranian media also reported a "massive explosion" on Saturday after an Israeli drone strike on a refinery in the southern city of Kangan.
The air campaign, which has targeted surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missile infrastructure in Iran, has given Israel "aerial freedom of action from west Iran all the way to Tehran", Israeli military spokesman Effie Defrin told journalists.
Defence Minister Israel Katz warned that "Tehran will burn" if Iran kept targeting Israeli civilians.
- Iran's response -
Israel said dozens of missiles -- some of which were intercepted -- had been fired in the latest salvos from Iran.
AFP images of the city of Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv showed blown-out buildings, destroyed vehicles and streets strewn with debris.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had attacked dozens of targets in Israel.
- Nuclear talks -
The fiercest ever exchange of fire between the arch foes came amid ongoing talks between Tehran and Washington seeking to reach a deal on Iran's nuclear programme.
Before the Israeli strikes, the two sides had been set to hold a sixth round of negotiations in Oman on Sunday.
But Iran said it would be "meaningless" to attend the talks while it was under attack by Israel, and Oman confirmed Sunday's talks had been called off.
Tehran has consistently denied seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, but had been enriching uranium to 60 percent -- far above the 3.67-percent limit set by a 2015 agreement with major powers that the United States and Iran have since largely abandoned.
However, that is still short of the 90-percent enrichment threshold needed for a nuclear warhead.
- More Iranian generals killed -
The Israeli military said on Saturday its air strikes had killed more than 20 Iranian army and Revolutionary Guard commanders.
Iranian state media reported on Saturday that General Gholamreza Mehrabi, deputy head of intelligence of the armed forces general staff, and General Mehdi Rabbani, deputy head of operations, had been killed.
On Friday, other members of the top brass reported killed included the head of the Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, and armed forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri, with replacements swiftly named by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Revolutionary Guards said its aerospace commander Amirali Hajizadeh was also killed. He was in charge of Iran's ballistic missile arsenal.
Iranian media said on Saturday that three more nuclear scientists were killed, bringing the total to nine -- a toll that Israel also reported.
- Nuclear sites hit -
Israel's attacks started in the early hours of Friday, a day of rest and prayer in Iran, and continued through the day at various sites.
One key target was a vast underground uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, which Israel hit several times, according to Iranian state television.
Israel said another strike later Friday on an Iranian plant in Isfahan damaged infrastructure for reconverting enriched uranium.
Netanyahu said Israel's strikes had dealt a "real blow" to Iran's nuclear programme.
But Iran said the damage was limited, both in Isfahan and at another uranium enrichment facility at Fordo.
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ABC News
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- ABC News
Iran and Israel carry out more strikes as Trump says US involvement 'possible'
Israel and Iran have launched multiple waves of missile strikes at each other for the third successive day, as the conflict between the two sides escalates. It came as US President Donald Trump urged the two countries to "make a deal" and said it was "possible" for the United States to become militarily involved in the conflict. Both sides launched daytime strikes on each other on Sunday, with air raid sirens and booms heard in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Sunday evening local time. Local police confirmed an Iranian missile struck a settlement in the coastal city of Haifa. Israel also carried out widespread strikes across Iran, including on its nuclear facilities and on at least 80 sites across its capital Tehran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US news channel Fox News that Israel had destroyed the main Iranian nuclear enrichment facility, Natanz. He also strongly suggested to Fox News that Israel had killed Iran's intelligence chief Mohammad Kazemi, saying it had recently "got the chief intelligence officer and his deputy in Tehran" as its jets carried out raids over the capital. Iran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi said Israel had "crossed a new red line in international law" by striking its nuclear facilities. Among the Israel Defense Forces' targets on Sunday was Mashhad Airport in Iran's east, which it claimed was being used by Iranian refuelling aircraft. Iranian state TV said there was no damage to the facility. Israel later announced further strikes against surface-to-surface missile installations in western Iran. Iranian media, citing the health ministry, said at least 128 people had been killed by Israeli attacks from Friday to Saturday, including women and children, with 900 more reported injured. With no end in sight to the exchanges, officials said mosques, metro stations and schools would be opened up as makeshift bomb shelters for civilians. The head of Tehran's traffic police, Ahmad Karami, told IRNA news agency "heavy traffic was reported at the capital's exit points". Local media also reported long queues at petrol stations. The latest exchanges came as Mr Netanyahu visited the site of a deadly Iranian missile strike on a residential building in the coastal city of Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv. At least 10 people, including children, were killed in a missile strike in the city, raising the two-day toll in Israel to 13. "Iran will pay a very heavy price for the premeditated murder of civilians, women and children," Mr Netanyahu said. He later told Fox News the ongoing conflict could result in regime change in Iran, which he accused of wanting to destroy Israel. That appeared to contradict comments by IDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Shoshani, who earlier on Sunday said the goal of Israel's operation "was not regime change". Mr Netanyahu also refused to comment on a Reuters report that Mr Trump had vetoed a plan to kill Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. "There's so many false reports of conversations that never happened, and I'm not going to get into that," Mr Netanyahu told host Bret Baier. "But I can tell you, I think that we do what we need to do, we'll do what we need to do. And I think the United States knows what is good for the United States." The escalating tensions came as US President Donald Trump warned Iran not to strike American facilities in the Middle East. Speaking to ABC America, Mr Trump said it was "possible" for the United States to become militarily involved in the conflict. He added that he was open to the idea of Russian President Vladimir Putin acting as a mediator between the two sides, after the two leaders held a phone conversation on Saturday. In a further post on his social media platform Truth Social, Mr Trump also urged Iran and Israel to "make a deal" to end the conflict. "We will have PEACE, soon, between Israel and Iran! Many calls and meetings now taking place," he wrote. Other world leaders, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, urged both sides to avoid further escalation. ABC/wires
Sky News AU
an hour ago
- Sky News AU
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls on Iranians to overthrow 'evil and oppressive regime' as both sides escalate strikes
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called on Iranians to overthrow the "evil and oppressive" regime of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as both sides escalated military strikes. Israel's pre-emptive bombardment of Iran's nuclear facilities triggered a swift response from Tehran, with dozens of missiles launched toward Jerusalem and Tel Aviv over the weekend. At least 10 people were killed and more than 200 injured across Israel, with further strikes expected to push both numbers higher in the coming days. Meanwhile, the Israel Defence Force has stepped up its own bombing campaign, targeting major gas and oil sites in Iran in a bid to cripple the nation's economy. The IDF's actions have landed a devastating blow to Tehran's leadership, which was already deeply unpopular with many Iranians, and Mr Netanyahu has attempted to capitalise on any weakness by encouraging civilians to rise up against the government. "The time has come for the Iranian people to unite around its flag and its historic legacy, by standing up for your freedom from the evil and oppressive regime," he said following the latest round of strikes. Mr Netanyahu's call is the clearest sign yet Israel is seeking to force a change of regime in Iran. While the IDF has maintained its primary focus is the disarmament of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's government, including preventing Tehran from producing a nuclear weapon, the Israeli Prime Minister's comments suggest toppling the government is of equal priority. In a press briefing on Monday, an IDF spokesman repeatedly insisted Israel was not interested in destroying Iran, but was coy when pressed on whether this meant it was hoping to topple Ayatollah Khamenei. "Our fight is not with the people of Iran, it is with the Iranian regime, it is aimed at removing this existential threat from over our heads," Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said.
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
With Israel and Iran trading missiles, the global economy looks precarious once again
Three questions remain after Israel's attack on Iran during the past few days. First, with two parts: will Iran now accelerate its nuclear weapons program in response, and can Israel stop that from happening? Second, will Iran block the Straits of Hormuz, through which passes a quarter of the world's seaborne oil and a third of the gas? And third, will Israel take out Iran's oil production facilities on Kharg Island? The answers to the first are probably yes and no, and if either or both of the other two are "yes," it would be disastrous for the global economy. Israel's strike against Iran was inevitable as soon as the International Atomic Energy Agency reported on May 31 that Iran had enriched more than 400kg of uranium to 60 per cent. The report was embargoed until last Wednesday, June 11, although Mossad would already have known the contents. The Israeli government couldn't let it stand. It was also probably inevitable once Donald Trump, in May 2018, withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that Barack Obama had signed with Iran three years earlier, and then reimposed all sanctions. Trump's complaint, apart from the fact that Obama did it and not him, was that the agreement was not permanent, and IAEA inspectors didn't have full access to all sites. Both of which were true, but at least for a few years, Iran seemed to have stopped enriching uranium, or at least the IAEA couldn't find evidence that it hadn't. But in 2019, Iran's effort to become a nuclear-armed state was back to full steam ahead, and in the past few months, it went to a new level. In a footnote on page 8 of its May 31 verification report for United Nations resolution 2231 (with which the UN endorsed Obama's JCPOA), the IAEA noted that it had "verified all 432.3 kg of UF6 enriched up to 60 per cent U-235 that has been produced since 21 November, 2022". (UF6 is uranium hexafluoride gas used to enrich uranium with a centrifuge. U-235 is the unstable, or fissile, uranium isotope needed for a chain reaction bomb, and for that to work, the uranium must be enriched to 90 per cent U-235. There is no civilian use for 60 per cent enriched uranium — it has no purpose other than as a precursor to the 90 per cent enrichment needed for nuclear weapons.) In its February report, the IAEA said Iran's stockpile of 60 per cent enriched uranium was 265.7kg, in November it was 147.8kg, and in August it was 132.1kg. So, it has increased by 62 per cent in three months and tripled in nine months. Then, on Thursday last week, the day after the IAEA report became public, Iran announced it would launch a new enrichment facility in a "highly secure" place in response to the adoption of a "political" resolution against it by the IAEA, which accused Iran of "non-compliance" with its nuclear commitments. It was the final straw, and the last in a series of catastrophic mistakes by the Iranian leadership that left it vulnerable and friendless. On Friday, Israel attacked. us military parade Apart from pre-empting Iran's nuclear capability, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu also wanted to pre-empt the planned new talks between Iran and the United States that were due to get underway on the weekend to coincide with Trump's birthday military parade yesterday. Netanyahu would also have been keen to change the subject away from Gaza, with increasing, and increasingly credible descriptions of Israel's conduct there as genocide. The oil price surged more than 7 per cent on Friday after news of the attack hit commodity traders' screens, and any thought of the price staying below $US60 a barrel this year now seems dead. This latest conflict between Israel and Iran is very different from the skirmishes that took place in April and October last year, and which did nothing to disturb oil's slide from $US89 in early 2024 to $US58 at the end of April this year. Importantly, Israel did knock out a lot of Iran's air defences in October in response to some ineffective Iranian missiles, but decided not to "take the win" as president Joe Biden advised. This time, Israel, emboldened by its "success" in Gaza, now seems to think it can win against Iran and de-fang its nemesis entirely. The attack this time was not part of a sort of chess move-and-counter-move process; it was done without US help, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio has made clear, and it gave Iran's leaders no off-ramp to avoid an uncontrolled escalation. Yet, all-out conventional war, as in Ukraine, is unthinkable. Neither side can viably invade the other, so the conflict will be confined to missile strikes, drones, and targeted assassinations, which Netanyahu has vowed to keep going until the nuclear threat is removed. But as the two sides go at it, and with the Straits of Hormuz and Kharg Island at risk, the oil price, global inflation, and the world economy are once again in a very precarious spot. Donald Trump, for one, thinks it will all be fine. He told the Wall Street Journal in an interview: "I think ultimately, it … should be the greatest thing ever for the market. Iran won't have a nuclear weapon that was a great threat to humanity." That could be true eventually if Israel really could stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon, but short of regime change, that is questionable. This is the most telling Israeli attack since its 1981 destruction of Iraq's nuclear reactor near Baghdad, in Operation Opera, but Iran's enrichment facilities are deep underground in protected sites that would challenge even the most powerful conventional US-made bombs. Iran's nuclear program will suffer a setback, and as Israel's assassinations by agents on the ground have demonstrated, the generals and scientists running the program are more vulnerable and may be hard to replace. What happens next could depend on how effective Iran's direct retaliation is against Israel. Some strikes on Tel Aviv and Haifa have been getting through, but if Iran's leadership judges that they're not doing enough damage, they might be inclined to try something else, such as an attack on Saudi Arabian oil production or desalination, US military bases, or the Straits of Hormuz. Any of those things would be counter-productive for Iran and probably disastrous, both for Iran and the world economy. But Iran's leaders have left themselves with few options. Alan Kohler is finance presenter and columnist on ABC News and he also writes for Intelligent Investor.
