LIVE UPDATES: Israel says hit nuclear facility in Tehran as Iran launches hypersonic missiles at Tel Aviv - Region
Israel escalated its 'Operation Rising Lion' on Tehran six days after bombing residential and military areas in Iran, killing over 200 people and wounding over 1,200.
As US President Donald Trump urged residents to evacuate—echoing Israeli calls for 330,000 people to leave central Tehran—the capital began to empty, with shops shuttered and traffic clogging westbound roads.
In retaliation, Iran intensified its 'Operation True Promise III,' launching multiple waves of missiles into central Israel, where large explosions were reported overnight and air raid sirens wailed throughout the night.
Earlier Iranian strikes forced the shutdown of the Haifa oil refinery, other industrial facilities, and the local power plant. At least 24 people have been killed in Israel, with hundreds more wounded.
Meanwhile, Israel has imposed a ban on live TV feed streaming, preventing networks from broadcasting images of incoming Iranian missiles and the damage caused by the strikes.
The US aircraft carrier USS Nimitz departed Southeast Asia as the Pentagon announced the deployment of 'additional capabilities' to the Middle East. Israeli Channel 11 claimed US forces had begun attacking targets inside Iran, an allegation Washington denied, stating American forces in the region remain in a "defensive posture and that has not changed."
09:45 The US Embassy in Jerusalem will be shut from Wednesday through Friday due to the security situation in the region and to comply with Israeli guidance, the US State Department said.
'Given the security situation and in compliance with Israel Home Front Command guidance, the US Embassy in Jerusalem will be closed tomorrow (Wednesday, June 18) through Friday (June 20). This includes the Consular Sections in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv,' the State Department said on X.
09:30 Iran said it had detained five suspected agents of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency on charges of tarnishing the country's image online, Iranian news agencies reported.
"These mercenaries sought to sow fear among the public and tarnish the image of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran through their calculated activities online," the Tasnim and ISNA news agencies quoted a statement from the Revolutionary Guards as saying. They added that the arrests had been made in western Iran.
09:15 Iran claimed early Wednesday to have fired hypersonic missiles at Israel in the latest round of overnight strikes between the archfoes, hours after Donald Trump demanded the Islamic Republic's "unconditional surrender".
The US president insists Washington has played no part in ally Israel's bombing campaign, but also warned Iran his patience is wearing thin as the conflict enters a sixth day.
Israeli warplanes targeted the Iranian capital before dawn Wednesday after the military issued a warning on social media for civilians in an area known as District 18 to evacuate.
Iranian state media reported explosions ricocheting in the Piroozi, Sabalan and Sayyad areas of Tehran.
In retaliation, Iran told residents of Tel Aviv to prepare for an attack, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claiming its hypersonic Fattah-1 missiles were "repeatedly shaking the shelters" in the commercial hub.
"The 11th wave of the proud Operation Honest Promise 3 using Fattah-1 missiles" was carried out, the Guards said in a statement broadcast on state television.
Hypersonic missiles travel at more than five times the speed of sound and can manoeuvre mid-flight, making them harder to track and intercept.
Iran also sent a "swarm of drones" towards Israel, where the army said it intercepted two over the Dead Sea area.
09:00 Israel's military said Wednesday it struck an Iranian centrifuge production facility and multiple weapons manufacturing sites, in the latest round of strikes between the archfoes.
"More than 50 Israeli Air Force fighter jets... carried out a series of air strikes in the Tehran area over the past few hours," an Israeli army statement said. "As part of the broad effort to disrupt Iran's nuclear weapons development program, a centrifuge production facility in Tehran was targeted."
"During the wave of attacks, several weapons manufacturing sites were struck, including facilities for producing raw materials and components used to assemble surface-to-surface missiles," it added.
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