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Iran, Israel launch new attacks after Tehran rules out nuclear talks
Iran, Israel launch new attacks after Tehran rules out nuclear talks

Khaleej Times

time21-06-2025

  • Politics
  • Khaleej Times

Iran, Israel launch new attacks after Tehran rules out nuclear talks

[Editor's Note: Follow the KT live blog for live updates on the Israel-Iran conflict.] Iran and Israel exchanged fresh attacks early on Saturday, a day after Tehran said it would not negotiate over its nuclear programme while under threat and Europe tried to keep peace talks alive. Shortly after 2:30 am in Israel (2330 GMT on Friday), the Israeli military warned of an incoming missile barrage from Iran, triggering air raid sirens across parts of central Israel, including Tel Aviv, as well as in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Interceptions were visible in the sky over Tel Aviv, with explosions echoing across the metropolitan area as Israel's air defence systems responded. At the same time, Israel launched a new wave of attacks against missile storage and launch infrastructure sites in Iran, the Israeli military said. Sirens also sounded in southern Israel, said Magen David Adom, Israel's national emergency service. An Israeli military official said Iran had fired five ballistic missiles and that there were no immediate indications of any missile impacts. There were no initial reports of casualties. The emergency service released images showing a fire on the roof of a multi-storey residential building in central Israel. Local media reported that the fire was caused by debris from an intercepted missile. Israel began attacking Iran last Friday, saying its longtime enemy was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran, which says its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes, retaliated with missile and drone strikes on Israel. Israel is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons. It neither confirms nor denies this. Its air attacks have killed 639 people in Iran, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, a US-based human rights organisation that tracks Iran. The dead include the military's top echelon and nuclear scientists. In Israel, 24 civilians have been killed in Iranian missile attacks, according to authorities. Reuters could not independently verify casualty figures for either side. Iran has repeatedly targeted Tel Aviv, a metropolitan area of around 4 million people and the country's business and economic hub, where some critical military assets are also located. Israel said it had struck dozens of military targets on Friday, including missile production sites, a research body it said was involved in nuclear weapons development in Tehran and military facilities in western and central Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said there was no room for negotiations with the US "until Israeli aggression stops". But he arrived in Geneva on Friday for talks with European foreign ministers at which Europe hopes to establish a path back to diplomacy. US President Donald Trump on Friday reiterated that he would take as long as two weeks to decide whether the United States should enter the conflict on Israel's side, enough time "to see whether or not people come to their senses", he said. Trump said he was unlikely to press Israel to scale back its airstrikes to allow negotiations to continue. "I think it's very hard to make that request right now. If somebody is winning, it's a little bit harder to do than if somebody is losing, but we're ready, willing and able, and we've been speaking to Iran, and we'll see what happens," he said. The Geneva talks produced little signs of progress, and Trump said he doubted negotiators would be able to secure a ceasefire. "Iran doesn't want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us. Europe is not going to be able to help in this one," Trump said. Hundreds of U.S. citizens have fled Iran since the air war began, according to a U.S. State Department cable seen by Reuters. Israel's envoy to the United Nations, Danny Danon, told the Security Council on Friday his country would not stop its attacks "until Iran's nuclear threat is dismantled". Iran's U.N. envoy Amir Saeid Iravani called for Security Council action and said Tehran was alarmed by reports that the U.S. might join the war. Russia and China demanded immediate de-escalation.

‘Offering prayer': Relieved Pakistanis recall ‘horrifying nights' as Israel, Iran trade strikes
‘Offering prayer': Relieved Pakistanis recall ‘horrifying nights' as Israel, Iran trade strikes

Malay Mail

time19-06-2025

  • Politics
  • Malay Mail

‘Offering prayer': Relieved Pakistanis recall ‘horrifying nights' as Israel, Iran trade strikes

TAFTAN (Pakistan), June 20 — Mohammad Hassan anxiously returned to Pakistan from neighbouring Iran this week after witnessing drones, missiles, and explosions tear through Tehran's sky during what he called long, 'horrifying nights'. The 35-year-old University of Tehran student is one of about 3,000 Pakistanis who, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have returned home since Israel launched its aerial war against its long-time enemy last week. Governments around the world are scrambling to evacuate their nationals caught up in the rapidly spiralling conflict as Israel and Iran trade missile and drone strikes. This picture shows the heavily damaged building of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) after it was hit a few days earlier in an Israeli strike, in Tehran, on June 19, 2025. — AFP pic 'I was in the city centre where most of the strikes took place and even one of the student dormitories was attacked and luckily no one was dead, but students were injured,' Hassan said. There are more than 500 Pakistani students at his university alone, he said, all of them on their way 'back home'. 'Those days and nights were very horrifying... hearing sirens, the wailing, the danger of being hit by missiles. As one peeped out the window in the night, you could see drones, missiles with fire tails,' he told AFP. Vehicles move along a street in central Tehran on June 13, 2025. — AFP pic Ghost town Pakistan and Iran have a shaky diplomatic relationship. They bombed each other's territory little more than a year ago, both claiming to target rebels using their neighbour's land to launch attacks. Yet they have never suspended trade, tourism and academic ties. Iranian consulates across Pakistan have stepped up efforts to promote their universities. Between 25 million and 35 million Pakistani Shiite Muslims also hope to make at least one pilgrimage in their lifetime to holy sites in Iran, foremost among them the sacred city of Qom. Mohammad Khalil, a 41-year-old petroleum engineer, left Tehran three days ago, the capital of the Islamic Republic looking like a ghost town as residents sheltered indoors and families fled. 'In the last two days, I saw people moving out of the city in different vehicles with necessary commodities,' Khalil said. Abdul Ghani Khan sells medical equipment in his hometown of Peshawar in north-west Pakistan and travels to Iran regularly for supplies. He had been in Tehran for a week when the first Israeli missiles fell on Friday. Iran and Israel have traded heavy missile fire in the days since, raising fears of a wider regional conflict. Pakistan is in a difficult position as the only Muslim-majority country with nuclear weapons. It, like Iran, does not recognise Israel but is also a major ally of the United States. Khan had to make the journey home by road because the airspace is now closed. Pakistan has also shut its border crossings with Iran to all except Pakistanis wanting to return home. 'We saw drones, red lights of anti-aircraft guns and I spotted one building catch fire,' Khan said. Pakistani pilgrims evacuated from Iran walk across the Pakistan-Iran border at Taftan, in Balochistan province on June 18, 2025, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran. — AFP pic 'Offering prayer' Mohammad Asif, a lawyer from Lahore in Pakistan's east, heard about the air strikes while on a pilgrimage in Qom. He wasn't initially afraid and continued his pilgrimage to Mashhad in Iran's northeast, home to the golden-domed Imam Reza shrine. That was until Israeli strikes hit the airport in Mashhad, nearly 1,000 kilometres from the Pakistani border. Samreen Ali was also in Mashhad but, like Asif, cut her trip short and returned with her husband and 15-year-old son. She was praying in a mosque in Mashhad when Israel struck the city. Ali said she had visited Iran nine times before on pilgrimages and never imagined witnessing war there. 'I was offering prayer when I heard two explosions,' she told AFP. She then noticed she wasn't receiving messages on her phone and assumed that 'communication was being restricted... because of the war'. Syed Saqib, 46, was in Qom and had to travel 500 kilometres by bus south-east to Yazd. 'We had to take alternative routes, spend an entire night waiting at a bus terminal,' Saqib said. They then boarded buses to Zahedan, a city near the border with Pakistan's Balochistan province. A relieved Saqib recalled making the border crossing at Taftan, surrounded by families carrying heavy luggage. — AFP

Residential areas in Israel take ‘direct hit' after series of Iranian drone and missile attacks
Residential areas in Israel take ‘direct hit' after series of Iranian drone and missile attacks

CNN

time15-06-2025

  • CNN

Residential areas in Israel take ‘direct hit' after series of Iranian drone and missile attacks

The death toll from Iranian strikes on Israel continue to rise overnight as Israel and Iran exchange more missile and drone strikes. Israel's national emergency service Magen David Adom (MDA) reported a 'direct hit' on a residential building in the Palestinian-Israeli town of Tamra, killing at least three women and a 13-year-old girl. A later wave of strikes struck buildings in a residential area in the central Israeli city of Bat Yam, killing at least four.

Residential areas in Israel take ‘direct hit' after series of Iranian drone and missile attacks
Residential areas in Israel take ‘direct hit' after series of Iranian drone and missile attacks

CNN

time15-06-2025

  • CNN

Residential areas in Israel take ‘direct hit' after series of Iranian drone and missile attacks

The death toll from Iranian strikes on Israel continue to rise overnight as Israel and Iran exchange more missile and drone strikes. Israel's national emergency service Magen David Adom (MDA) reported a 'direct hit' on a residential building in the Palestinian-Israeli town of Tamra, killing at least three women and a 13-year-old girl. A later wave of strikes struck buildings in a residential area in the central Israeli city of Bat Yam, killing at least four.

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