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Straits Times
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Israel under missile attack, Iran says all options open after US strikes
Rescue personnel evacuate a resident from under a building at an impacted site after a missile attack from Iran, amid the Iran-Israel conflict in Tel Aviv, Israel June 22, 2025. REUTERS/Tomer Appelbaum ISRAEL OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN ISRAEL. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY Emergency personnel look at the damage at an impact site following Iran's strike on Israel, amid the Iran-Israel conflict, in Haifa, Israel, June 22, 2025. REUTERS/Florion Goga A rescuer evacuates a dog from an impacted site after a missile attack from Iran, amid the Iran-Israel conflict in Tel Aviv, Israel June 22, 2025. REUTERS/Tomer Appelbaum ISRAEL OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN ISRAEL. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY Emergency personnel work at an impact site following a missile attack from Iran on Israel, amid the Iran-Israel conflict, in Tel Aviv, Israel, June 22, 2025. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura Israel under missile attack, Iran says all options open after US strikes JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON - Israel faced a missile attack on Sunday as Iran said it reserved all options to defend itself after unprecedented U.S. strikes that President Donald Trump said had "obliterated" its key nuclear facilities. Hours after Trump dramatically escalated Middle East tensions by sending B-2 bombers to Iran, the Israeli military warned people to seek cover from a barrage that appeared heavier than the Iranian salvoes fired in the past few days. "The events this morning are outrageous and will have everlasting consequences," said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas, calling the U.S. strikes a "grave violation" of the U.N. charter, international law and the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. "Iran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interest, and people," Araqchi posted on X. Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said it would not allow development of its 'national industry' to be stopped, and an Iranian state television commentator said every U.S. citizen or military member in the region would be legitimate targets. Israel's ambulance service said at least 16 people were hurt in the morning barrage. Air raid sirens sounded across most of the country, sending millions of people to safe rooms and bomb shelters as explosions rang out and missile interceptions were seen above Jerusalem and in other parts of the country. It was not immediately clear how many missiles had pierced Israel's air defence systems, but police confirmed at least three impact sites in residential areas in central and northern Israel. Video from Israel's commercial hub Tel Aviv and the port city of Haifa further north showed rescue teams combing through debris, apartments reduced to rubble, mangled cars along a street filled with debris and medics evacuating injured people from a row of blown out houses. Most airlines continued to avoid large parts of the Middle East after the U.S. strikes, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24, with traffic already skirting airspace in the region due to recent missile exchanges. TRUMP SAYS IRAN FACES 'PEACE OR TRAGEDY' Trump, in a televised address to the U.S. people, flanked by Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, called the strikes a "spectacular military success" that had taken out Iran's three principal nuclear sites: Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow. He warned Tehran it would face more devastating attacks if it does not agree to peace. After days of deliberation and long before his self-imposed two-week deadline, Trump's decision to join Israel's military campaign against its major rival Iran is the biggest foreign policy gamble of his two presidencies and one fraught with risks and unknowns. The major escalation of armed conflict in the Middle East risks opening a new era of instability in the Middle East. Trump said Iran's future held "either peace or tragedy," and there were many other targets that could be hit by the U.S. military. "If peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill." The U.S. contacted Iran diplomatically on Saturday to say the strikes are all the U.S. plans and it does not aim for regime change, CBS News reported. Trump told Fox News' Sean Hannity show that six "bunker-buster" bombs were dropped on the deep-underground Fordow facility, while 30 Tomahawk missiles were fired against other nuclear sites. U.S. B-2 bombers were involved in the strikes, a U.S. official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. Reuters had reported the movement of the B-2 bombers, which can be equipped to carry the massive bombs that experts say would be needed to strike Fordow, which is buried beneath a mountain south of Tehran. Given its fortification, it will likely be days, if not longer, before the impact of the strikes is known. An Iranian official, cited by Tasnim news agency, confirmed part of the Fordow site was attacked by "enemy airstrikes." However, Mohammad Manan Raisi, a lawmaker for Qom, near Fordow, told the semi-official Fars news agency the facility had not been seriously damaged. A reporter from Iranian state media IRNA reporter said he had arrived near the Fordow site at 3 a.m. (2330 GMT on Saturday) and saw smoke that "seems to be related to air defences". He quoted a nearby witness as reporting "six explosions were heard, but they said it wasn't very loud.' DIPLOMATIC FAILURE The U.N. nuclear watchdog said no increases in off-site radiation levels had been reported after the U.S. strikes. Hassan Abedini, deputy political head of Iran's state broadcaster, said Iran had evacuated the three sites some time ago. "The enriched uranium reserves had been transferred from the nuclear centres and there are no materials left there that, if targeted, would cause radiation and be harmful to our compatriots," he told the channel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Trump on his "bold decision", saying, "History will record that President Trump acted to deny the world's most dangerous regime, the world's most dangerous weapons." Israel and Iran have been engaged in more than a week of aerial combat that has resulted in deaths and injuries in both countries. Israel launched its attacks on June 13, saying Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only. Israel is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons, which it neither confirms nor denies. Diplomatic efforts by Western nations to stop the hostilities have so far failed. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the U.S. strikes a "dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge – and a direct threat to international peace and security." In the U.S., Democratic lawmakers and some from Trump's Republican Party have argued that he must receive permission from Congress before committing the U.S. military to any combat against Iran. At least 430 people have been killed and 3,500 injured in Iran since Israel began its attacks, Iranian state-run Nour News said, citing the health ministry. In Israel, 24 civilians have been killed and 1,272 people injured, according to local authorities. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
15-06-2025
- Straits Times
Tourists stranded in Israel as sirens sound, missiles fly, planes grounded
FILE PHOTO: A worker at Ben Gurion International Airport in Israel sits at the arrivals terminal as all flights from and to the airport are indicated cancel, following an Israeli attack on Iran. June 13, 2025 REUTERS/Tomer Appelbaum ISRAEL OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN ISRAEL/File Photo JERUSALEM - Woken by air raid sirens, hurrying to bomb shelters, scouring travel sites for escape routes — thousands of tourists in Israel have found their holiday plans upended by the country's conflict with Iran. Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran in the early hours of Friday, shutting down the national airspace and telling people to remain where they were as the arch Middle East foes traded deadly blows. The violence has left around 40,000 tourists blocked in Israel, according to the Ministry of Tourism. Airlines are cancelling flights until further notice, leaving travellers to decide whether to wait it out or seek costly detours through neighbouring countries. Justin Joyner, from California, is on holiday in Jerusalem with his father John, who lives in Nevada, and his son. They had expected some possible disruption, with Israel locked in a months-long conflict against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. But, like most locals, they did not foresee a whole new war. "We didn't expect Israel to attack Iran. That is a completely different level of escalation," Joyner said from his hotel in East Jerusalem, which, for the past two nights, has seen Iranian ballistic missiles flash overhead like a rain of meteorites. "It's unsettling to feel the shockwaves of intercepted missiles above you, and to take your family down to a bomb shelter. That's just something we don't think about in America," he said. Dr. Greer Glazer, who lives in Cleveland and was in Jerusalem for a nursing training program, faces a race down 10 flights of stairs in her hotel to reach the shelter when sirens sound -- as they have done regularly since Friday night. "I feel safe," she said, "but waking from a dead sleep and running to the safe room, that's been the hardest. My family is scared to death ... They think it's 24/7 destruction, but it's not like that." THE JORDAN ROUTE Glazer had been due to return home on June 29, but is looking to bring forward her departure. The easiest exit route is via land crossings into neighbouring Jordan and then a flight out of Amman airport which has been operating in daylight hours. Israeli media reported that the transgender U.S. influencer Caitlyn Jenner, who only flew into Israel on Thursday for Tel Aviv's since-canceled Gay Pride Parade, had left through Jordan. Hours earlier, she had been photographed drinking a glass of red wine in a bomb shelter. "What an incredible way it has been to celebrate Shabbat," she wrote on X. Not everyone is rushing to leave. Karen Tuhrim is visiting from London to see her daughter, who lives in Tel Aviv. "Within two days of being here, Israel attacked Iran. So now I'm stuck," she said. Unlike Jerusalem, Tel Aviv has taken direct hits from the Iranian missiles and Tuhrim has had to dip in and out of her hotel's shelter. But she said she felt safe and was happy to be near her daughter. "For me, personally, at the moment, I feel better being here than in London, watching it all on the news, knowing my daughter is here. So, for now, we're good." Israel's Ministry of Tourism has set up a round-the-clock virtual help desk in English and Hebrew for stranded travellers. But for anyone stuck here, all the museums are closed until further notice, entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem is barred to non-residents and many shops remain shuttered. "The streets and shops are empty," said Jerusalem resident Anwar Abu Lafi, who saw no quick end to the gloom. "People are yearning for a break, to find something good in this existing darkness. We are deluding ourselves into thinking that the future will be better," he said. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Deccan Herald
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Deccan Herald
May 22, 2025: Best photos from around the world
Fire blazes with the words in Hebrew, "Enough with the madness", as demonstrators and relatives of hostages block a road demanding the immediate release of hostages who were kidnapped during the deadly October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, in Tel Aviv Israel May 21, 2025 REUTERS/Tomer Appelbaum U.S. President Donald Trump hands over to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa copies of articles that he said showed white South Africans who had been killed, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 21, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque Vineyards are seen near Imola, Italy, May 17, 2025. REUTERS/Florion Goga A person holds a flag that reads "Peace" as Pope Leo XIV arrives for his first general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, May 21, 2025. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane
