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Straits Times
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Iran threatens ‘more devastating' response to Israel's attacks
Rocket trails are seen in the sky above the Israeli coastal city of Netanya, amid a fresh barrage of Iranian missile attacks on June 21. PHOTO: AFP TEHRAN - Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian warned on June 21 of a 'more devastating' retaliation should Israel's nine-day bombing campaign continue, saying the Islamic republic would not halt its nuclear programme 'under any circumstances'. Israel said on June 21 it had killed three more Iranian commanders in its unprecedented offensive, and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar claimed Tehran's alleged progress towards a nuclear weapon had been set back by two years. 'We will do everything that we can do there in order to remove this threat,' Mr Saar told the German newspaper Bild, adding that Israel would keep up its onslaught. Israel and Iran have traded wave after wave of devastating strikes since Israel launched its aerial campaign on June 13, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon. On June 21, Israel said it had attacked Iran's Isfahan nuclear site for a second time, with the UN nuclear watchdog reporting that a centrifuge manufacturing workshop had been hit. Later on June 21, Iran's Mehr news agency said Israel had launched strikes on the southern city of Shiraz, which hosts military bases. And early on June 22, Iran's Revolutionary Guard announced that a 'vast' wave of 'suicide drones' had been launched against 'strategic targets' across Israel. Iran denies seeking an atomic bomb, and on June 21 President Pezeshkian said its right to pursue a civilian nuclear programme 'cannot be taken away... by threats or war'. 'Not prepared to negotiate' In a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Mr Pezeshkian said Iran was 'ready to discuss and cooperate to build confidence in the field of peaceful nuclear activities'. 'However, we do not agree to reduce nuclear activities to zero under any circumstances,' he added, according to Iran's official IRNA news agency. Referring to the Israeli attacks, he said: 'Our response to the continued aggression of the Zionist regime will be more devastating.' Iran's armed forces threatened to strike shipments of military aid to Israel 'from any country'. Israel's main arms supplier is the United States, whose President Donald Trump warned on June 20 that Tehran had a 'maximum' of two weeks to avoid possible American air strikes as Washington weighed whether to join Israel's campaign. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in Istanbul on June 21 for a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to discuss the conflict. Top diplomats from Britain, France and Germany met Mr Araghchi in Geneva on June 20 and urged him to resume nuclear talks with the United States that had been derailed by the war. But Mr Araghchi said on June 21: 'Iran is ready to consider diplomacy once again, and once aggression is stopped and the aggressor is held accountable for the crimes committed.' 'We're not prepared to negotiate with them (the Americans) anymore, as long as the aggression continues'. People waiting in an underground parking lot amid an attack by Iran, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on June 21. PHOTO: REUTERS Hundreds killed Mr Trump, dismissive of European diplomatic efforts, said he was unlikely to ask Israel to stop its attacks to get Iran back to the table. 'If somebody's winning, it's a little bit harder to do,' he said, of Israel's campaign. Any US involvement would likely feature powerful bunker-busting bombs that no other country possesses to destroy an underground uranium enrichment facility in Fordow. US B-2 stealth bombers capable of carrying bunker busters were flying across the Pacific Ocean, according to tracking data and media reports, fuelling speculation over their intended mission. Iran's Houthi allies in Yemen on June 21 threatened to resume their attacks on US vessels in the Red Sea if Washington joined the war, despite a recent ceasefire agreement. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said on June 20 that, based on its sources and media reports, at least 657 people had been killed in Iran, including 263 civilians. Iran's health ministry on June 21 gave a toll of more than 400 people killed and 3,056 in the Israeli strikes. Iran's retaliatory strikes have killed at least 25 people in Israel, according to official figures. The Israeli military said it had launched a fresh wave of strikes on June 21 in the area of southern Iran's Bandar Abbas, targeting drone storage sites and a weapons facility. Iran's Tasnim news agency said air defences were activated in the area. Overnight, Iran said it had targeted central Israel with drones and missiles. Israeli rescuers said there were no casualties after an Iranian drone struck a residential building. On the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, Israel said June 21 that an Iranian terror plot targeting Israeli citizens had been 'thwarted'. 'Tired' Israel's National Public Diplomacy Directorate said more than 450 missiles had been fired at the country so far, along with about 400 drones. In Tel Aviv, where residents have faced regular Iranian strikes for nine days, some expressed growing fatigue under the constant threat from Iran. The streets of Tehran, meanwhile, were still largely quiet on June 21, though a few cafes and restaurants were open. In the afternoon, supporters of the government gathered briefly in front of the headquarters of state television to wave Iranian, Palestinian and Hezbollah flags to a soundtrack of electronic music whose lyrics called for the 'death of Israel'. Western powers have repeatedly expressed concerns about the expansion of Iran's nuclear programme, questioning in particular the country's accelerated uranium enrichment. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi has said Iran is the only country without nuclear weapons to enrich uranium to 60 per cent. However, his agency had 'no indication' of the existence of a 'systematic programme' in Iran to produce a bomb. Mr Grossi told CNN it would be 'pure speculation' to guess at how long it would take Iran to develop one. AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Critical damage dealt to key Iranian nuclear site, says UN atomic watchdog
Israeli strikes to destroy Iran's primary enrichment facility in Natanz have been limited to surface structures. PHOTO: AFP TEHRAN – Israeli air strikes dealt critical damage to a key Iranian nuclear facility during weekend air strikes, according to the United Nations atomic watchdog, likely setting back the Islamic Republic's uranium fuel cycle by months. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that multiple Israeli strikes against Iran's uranium-conversion facility at Isfahan, 400km south of Tehran, resulted in serious damage. Successfully knocking out Isfahan would be significant because it is the only location for converting uranium into the feedstock used by centrifuges that, in turn, separate the uranium isotopes needed for nuclear power or bombs. The IAEA reported late on June 13 that Israel had so far failed to damage Iran's Fordow enrichment complex, which is buried some 500m inside a mountain. Similarly, efforts to destroy Iran's primary enrichment facility in Natanz have been limited to surface structures, with no detected breaches to the heavily fortified underground enrichment halls. Diplomats will convene in Vienna on June 16 for an emergency session of the IAEA's board of governors. They are expected to discuss Israel's ongoing efforts to destroy Iran's nuclear infrastructure, as well the interruption to the IAEA's ability to verify the country's stockpile of near-bomb grade uranium. Even without destroying Iran's ability to enrich, Israel's campaign has had some measured success after three days of bombing, according to experts. Without Isfahan's capacity to convert new volumes of raw uranium, Iran's ability to make additional quantities of enriched product would be frozen. And while Iran has ample stockpiles of existing material, its ability to scale up would be limited. 'If you interrupt that piece of the flow-sheet, the fuel cycle doesn't work anymore,' said Mr Robert Kelley, a US nuclear engineer who led inspections for the IAEA in Iraq and Libya. 'The front end of their programme dies.' Converting raw uranium involves mixing the ore with fluorine, creating a highly corrosive feedstock. Highly specialised machines are needed to run the process. Unless Iran has spare gear in stock, it may take significant time for Tehran to reboot its uranium fuel cycle, Mr Kelley said. Deeper underground The risk for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is that extending the military campaign could drive the Islamic Republic's nuclear activities deeper underground, ending access to UN-backed inspectors and potentially hardening Tehran's resolve. Iran responded to the attacks by targeting Israeli cities with hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones from late on June 13. Israel's leaders will sift through the damage reports in the coming days and decide whether to press ahead with the strikes. The campaign, a long-promised fulfillment of Mr Netanyahu's promise to target the nuclear programme, also killed nine leading scientists whose expertise was crucial for Iran's nuclear ambitions. 'There's obviously not yet a full assessment,' said Ms Suzanne Maloney, a vice-president at the Washington-based Brookings Institution. But the combination of strikes and the killing of key security and nuclear personnel is 'going to make it very difficult for Iran to reconstitute the programme to the level that it was at prior to these attacks,' she said. Experts said the air strikes will make it tougher to monitor Iran's atomic activities, given that UN inspectors probably won't be given access to sites for a long time. The attack is also unlikely to end Tehran's nuclear programme even if progress is slowed, said Ms Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association. 'There's a real risk that Iran may divert uranium, enriched to near-weapons grade levels, to a covert location, or that due to the damage, the IAEA may not be able to account for all of Iran's nuclear materials,' Ms Davenport said. Iran's 400kg of highly enriched uranium could fit in three or four easily-concealed cylinders, said Mr Kelley, the nuclear-weapons engineer. Concern has mounted that Iran could use the material as the feedstock for a weapon, should it follow through with threats to opt out of the UN's Non-Proliferation Treaty – a key global initiative to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons – and kick out inspectors. BLOOMBERG Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
