Donald Trump says Israel strikes on Iran were "very successful"
People gather outside a building that was hit by an Israeli strike in Tehran on 13 June, 2025.
Photo:
MEGHDAD MADADI / TASNIM NEWS / AFP
Catch up with what happened overnight on our blog:
Israel's military said on Friday (local time) it had begun deploying reservists "to all combat arenas throughout the country" after launching a wave of strikes on military and nuclear sites in Iran.
The military said in a statement that it "began to deploy reservists from different units to all combat arenas throughout the country", calling it part of "preparations for defence and offence across all arenas".
Earlier an Israeli military official said Israel is prepared to continue striking Iran for days, after launching a sustained attack on "dozens" of Iranian nuclear and military facilities on Friday.
Israel's air strikes killed Iran's three most senior military commanders and a number of its top nuclear scientists, and followed days of escalating tensions over Iran's efforts to develop nuclear weapons technology.
A barrage of 100 drones launched by Iran towards Israel in response appeared to have largely been intercepted by Israeli air defences, however the IDF says it is anticipating further retaliatory strikes - possibly with ballistic missiles - over the coming days.
Israeli authorities claim it acted out of self-defence, saying Iran is close to building a nuclear weapon.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday (local time) that the Iranian people expected the European Union and the broader international community to condemn Israel's "criminal attack".
US President Donald Trump said he knew of the plan to attack, and he hopes that Iran will continue negotiations with the US this weekend on curbing its nuclear programme.
- ABC/AFP
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
6 hours ago
- RNZ News
Israel's attacks on Iran hint at bigger goal
By Crispian Balmer, Michael Martina and Matt Spetalnick , Reuters Iranian worshippers chant slogans during an anti-Israeli gathering after Friday prayers in Tehran, Iran, 2024. File photo. Photo: AP / Vahid Salemi Analysis - Israel's surprise attack on Iran had an obvious goal of sharply disrupting Tehran's nuclear programme and lengthening the time it would need to develop an atomic weapon. The scale of the attacks, Israel's choice of targets and its politicians' own words suggest another, longer-term objective - toppling the regime itself. The strikes early on Friday (local time) hit, not just Iran's nuclear facilities and missile factories, but also key figures in the country's military chain of command and its nuclear scientists, blows that appear aimed at diminishing Iran's credibility, both at home and among its allies in the region - factors that could destabilise the Iranian leadership, experts said. "One assumes that one of the reasons Israel is doing that is they're hoping to see regime change," said Michael Singh of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former senior official under President George W Bush. "It would like to see the people of Iran rise up," he said, adding that the limited civilian casualties in the initial round of attacks also spoke to a broader aim. In a video address shortly after Israeli fighter jets began striking Iranian nuclear facilities and air defence systems, Israel Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu appealed to the Iranian people directly. Photo: - Israel's actions against Iran's ally Hezbollah led to a new government in Lebanon and the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, he said. The Iranian people had an opportunity too. "I believe that the day of your liberation is near and when that happens, the great friendship between our two ancient peoples will flourish once again," said Netanyahu Despite the damage inflicted by the unprecedented Israeli attack, decades of enmity toward Israel - not only among Iran's rulers, but its majority-Shi'ite population - raised questions about the prospect for fomenting enough public support to oust an entrenched theocratic leadership in Tehran, backed by loyal security forces. Singh cautioned that no-one knew what conditions would be required for an opposition to coalesce in Iran. Friday's assault was the first phase of what Israel said would be a prolonged operation. Experts said they expected Israel would continue to go after key Iranian nuclear infrastructure to delay Tehran's march to a nuclear bomb, even if Israel - on its own - did not have the capability to eliminate Iran's nuclear programme. Iran said its nuclear programme was for civilian purposes only. The UN nuclear watchdog concluded this week that it violated its obligations under the global non-proliferation treaty. Israel's first salvoes targeted senior figures in Iran's military and scientific establishment, took out much of the country's air defence system and destroyed the above-ground enrichment plant at Iran's nuclear site. "As a democratic country, the State of Israel believes that it is up to the people of a country to shape their national politics and choose their government," the Israeli embassy in Washington told Reuters. "The future of Iran can only be determined by the Iranian people." Netanyahu has called for a change in Iran's government, including in September. US President Donald Trump's administration, while acquiescing to Israel's strikes and helping its close ally fend off Iran's retaliatory missile barrage, has given no indication that it seeks regime change in Tehran. The White House and Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York also did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the matter. Israel has much further to go if it is to dismantle Iran's nuclear facilities and military analysts have always said it might be impossible to totally disable the well-fortified sites dotted around Iran. The Israeli government has also cautioned that Iran's nuclear programme could not be entirely destroyed by means of a military campaign. "There's no way to destroy a nuclear programme by military means," Israel's National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi told Israel's Channel 13 TV . The military campaign could, however, create conditions for a deal with the US that would thwart the nuclear programme. Analysts also remain sceptical that Israel will have the munitions needed to obliterate Iran's nuclear project on its own. "Israel probably cannot take out completely the nuclear project on its own, without the American participation," Sima Shine, a former chief Mossad analyst and now a researcher at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies, told reporters on Friday. While setting back Tehran's nuclear programme would have value for Israel, the hope for regime change could explain why Israel went after so many senior military figures, potentially throwing the Iranian security establishment into confusion and chaos. "These people were very vital, very knowledgeable, many years in their jobs and they were a very important component of the stability of the regime, specifically the security stability of the regime," Shine said. "In the ideal world, Israel would prefer to see a change of regime, no question about that." Such a change would come with risk, said Jonathan Panikoff, a former US deputy national intelligence officer for the Middle East, who is now at the Atlantic Council. If Israel succeeds in removing Iran's leadership, there is no guarantee that the successor that emerges would not be even more hardline in pursuit of conflict with Israel. "For years, many in Israel have insisted that regime change in Iran would prompt a new and better day - that nothing could be worse than the current theocratic regime," Panikoff said. "History tells us it can always be worse." -Reuters
RNZ News
11 hours ago
- RNZ News
Iran launches waves of missiles at Israel in response to airstrikes
By Alexander Cornwell , Parisa Hafezi and Steve Holland, Reuters Israel and Iran have exchanged a series of volleys of attacks, like these traces seen over Jerusalem, since Israel launched strikes on Iran on Friday. Photo: Chen Junqing / Xinhua via AFP Iran and Israel targeted each other with missiles and airstrikes early on Saturday (local time) after Israel launched its biggest-ever air offensive against its longtime foe in a bid to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon. Air raid sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Israel's two largest cities, sending residents rushing into shelters as successive waves of Iranian missiles streaked across the skies. The military said its air defence systems were operating. "In the last hour, dozens of missiles have been launched at the state of Israel from Iran, some of which were intercepted," the Israeli military said. It said rescue teams were working at a number of locations across the country where fallen projectiles were reported, without commenting on casualties. In Iran, several explosions were heard in the capital, Tehran, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. The Fars news agency said two projectiles hit Tehran's Mehrabad airport, and Iranian media said flames were reported there. Close to key Iranian leadership sites, the airport hosts an air force base with fighter jets and transport aircraft. Photo: - Israeli media said a suspected missile came down in Tel Aviv, and a Reuters witness heard a loud boom in Jerusalem. It was unclear whether Iranian strikes or Israeli defensive measures were behind the activity. The Fars news agency said Tehran launched waves of airstrikes on Saturday after two salvos on Friday night. One of the waves targeted Tel Aviv before dawn on Saturday, with explosions heard in the capital and Jerusalem, witnesses said. Those were in response to Israel's attacks on Iran early on Friday against commanders, nuclear scientists, military targets and nuclear sites. Iran denies that its uranium enrichment activities are part of a secret weapons programme. In central Tel Aviv, a high-rise building was hit, damaging the lower third of the structure in a densely populated urban area. An apartment block in nearby Ramat Gan was destroyed. Fire and smoke rise from a building, reportedly hit by a missile fired from Iran, in central Tel Aviv on 13 June 2025. Photo: Jack Guez / AFP Israel's ambulance service said 34 people were injured on Friday night in the Tel Aviv area, most with minor injuries. Police later said one person had died. The US military helped shoot down Iranian missiles headed for Israel on Friday, two US officials said. Israel's military said Iran fired fewer than 100 missiles on Friday and that most were intercepted or fell short. Several buildings in and around Tel Aviv were hit. Israeli first responders evacuate an injured resident from a site hit by a missile fired from Iran, in Ramat Gan on the outskirts of Tel Aviv on 13 June 2025. Photo: Gil Cohen-Magen / AFP The Israeli strikes on Iran throughout the day and the Iranian retaliation raised fears of a broader regional conflagration, although Iran's allies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, have been decimated by Israel. Iran's state news agency IRNA said Tehran launched hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel after Israel blasted Iran's huge Natanz underground nuclear site and killed its top military commanders. Iran said its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes. Members of the Israeli security forces inspect a site hit by a missile fired from Iran, in Ramat Gan on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. Photo: AFP / Jack Guez Israeli officials said it may be some time before the extent of damage at Natanz was clear. Western countries have long accused Iran of refining uranium there to levels suitable for a bomb rather than civilian use. The above-ground pilot enrichment plant at Natanz has been destroyed, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council on Friday. He said the UN was still gathering information about Israeli attacks on two other facilities, the Fordow fuel enrichment plant and at Isfahan facility. Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, accused Israel of starting a war. A senior Iranian official said that nowhere in Israel would be safe, and revenge would be painful. Iran's UN envoy Amir Saeid Iravani said 78 people, including senior military officials, were killed in Israel's strikes on Iran, and more than 320 people were wounded, most of them civilians. He accused the US of being complicit in the attacks and said it shared full responsibility for the consequences. Israel's UN envoy, Danny Danon, said intelligence had confirmed that within days Iran would have produced enough fissile material for multiple bombs. He called Israel's operation "an act of national preservation." This handout photo released by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) official Sepah News Telegram channel on 13 June 2025 reportedly shows smoke billowing from a site targeted by an Israeli strike in the Iranian capital Tehran early in the morning. Photo: AFP / Sepah News Iran has long insisted its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes only. The UN nuclear watchdog concluded this week that it was in violation of its obligations under the global non-proliferation treaty. US President Donald Trump said it was not too late for Tehran to halt the Israeli bombing campaign by reaching a deal on its nuclear programme. Tehran had been engaged in talks with the Trump administration on a deal to curb its nuclear programme to replace one that Trump abandoned in 2018. Tehran rejected the last US offer. The talks are due to resume in Oman on Sunday, but Iran signalled it might not join. "The other side (the US) acted in a way that makes dialogue meaningless," Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson said on Friday. "You cannot claim to negotiate and at the same time divide work by allowing the Zionist regime (Israel) to target Iran's territory." - Reuters
RNZ News
12 hours ago
- RNZ News
Live: Sirens heard across Tel Aviv as Iran launches fresh wave of missiles towards Israel
An Israeli first responder evacuates an injured resident from a site hit by a missile fired from Iran, in Ramat Gan on the outskirts of Tel Aviv on 13 June 2025. Photo: Gil Cohen-Magen / AFP The Israeli military says it identified missiles launched from Iran towards Israel, and says it is operating to intercept "the threat". Israel launched a huge wave of airstrikes across Iran , blasting Iran's huge underground nuclear site, wiping out its entire top echelon of military commanders and killing nuclear scientists in the biggest ever direct attack between the foes. Iran said "the gates of hell will open" in retaliation, while Israel said the strikes were only the start of its campaign. US President Donald Trump said it was not too late for Iran to halt the Israeli attacks by reaching a deal to curb its nuclear programme. As evening fell on Friday (local time), Iranian media reported a number of explosions in what appeared to be a second wave of strikes. "Moments ago, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel's very survival," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said early on Friday in a televised address that invoked the failure of the world to prevent the Holocaust in World War Two. Israel's operation "will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat," he said. "Generations from now, history will record our generation stood its ground, acted in time and secured our common future." Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel had "unleashed its wicked and bloody" hand, and would suffer "a bitter fate". Israel said that Iran had launched around 100 drones towards Israeli territory in retaliation on Friday, but Iran denied this and there were no reports of any drones reaching Israeli targets. - Reuters
