Iran and Israel warned on Tuesday of intensifying their attacks against each other as the G7 countries called for de-escalation in the Middle East.
After months of attacking Gaza — flattening homes, targeting hospitals, and starving a besieged population — Israel expanded its assault by launching wide-scale air strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities, military sites and private residences last week, killing top commanders, scientists and civilians..
Israeli officials have claimed the strikes are part of a broader operation codenamed ‘Rising Lion’ to deter Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, which the latter has consistently denied, saying its uranium enrichment programme is for civilian purposes.
Latest developments:
- 3 killed in Iran as missile exchange continues for 5th day
- Trump refutes Macron’s comments on US ceasefire offer
- 20 Muslim states call for end to Israeli hostilities, urge Mideast countries to join NPT
- Some countries advise their nationals to evacuate Iran
- Iran state broadcaster says 3 killed in attack on its building
As long-standing foes Iran and Israel continued their air war for a fifth day, both warned of intensifying their warfare.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said a “more powerful” new wave of missiles had recently been launched towards Israel, Al Jazeera reported, citing the official IRNA news agency.
“A new wave of fierce attacks by the armed forces, especially the army’s ground forces, with new and advanced weapons has begun and will intensify in the coming hours,” it quoted Kioumars Heydari, commander of the Army Ground Forces, as saying.
On the other side, Major General Shlomi Binder, chief of the Military Intelligence Directorate, said Israel would soon “break ground” in areas of Iran besides Tehran, Times of Israel reported.
“You brought the intelligence that paved the way to Tehran and enabled the strike on the Iranian general staff. Soon, you’ll break ground in additional areas. You’ve proven that you can push boundaries and reach any target,” Binder told officers today, according to an army statement.
Tensions have escalated since Friday, with more than 224 Iranians killed and over 1,000 injured, most of them civilians. Israel says 24 people have been killed, mostly civilians.
Three more people were killed while four others were wounded when an Israeli projectile hit a checkpoint in Isfahan’s Kashan city this morning, local security official Akbar Salehi said, according to a Mehr news agency report quoted by Al Jazeera.
Iranian media reported explosions and heavy air defence fire in Tehran earlier today. Air defences were also activated in Natanz, home to key nuclear installations 320km away, the Asriran news website reported. A White House aide said it was not true that the US was attacking Iran.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said a missile strike lightly damaged a building used by the American embassy in Tel Aviv. The State Department had warned Americans not to travel to Israel.
In Israel, air raid sirens wailed in Tel Aviv after midnight and again early in the morning, when several explosions were heard over the city.
There were two direct impacts from those Iranian missiles — one in the Tel Aviv area and one in Herzliya. Israeli reports described the missile strike in Herzliya as having targeted a sensitive site, Al Jazeera reported.
The report added that a sensitive site was code for something of military or strategic significance.
Israel’s military also claimed that it had killed Ali Shadmani, Iran’s wartime chief of staff and the most senior military commander, AFP reported.
It also said it targeted multiple missile and UAV sites in western Iran, including surface-to-surface missile infrastructure, surface-to-air launchers and drone storage facilities, in a statement accompanied by black-and-white footage showing missile launchers exploding.
Defence Minister Israel Katz warned Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “of a fate similar to Saddam Hussein”, referring to Iraq’s former president who was sentenced to death in 1959, Times of Israel reported.
While Trump had reportedly vetoed an Israeli plan to assassinate Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not rule out the possibility when asked about the reports during an interview with ABC News.
“It’s not going to escalate the conflict, it’s going to end the conflict,” he said.
Netanyahu said Israel was eliminating Iran’s security leadership “one after the other”. “We are changing the face of the Middle East, and that can lead to radical changes inside Iran itself,” he said.
G7 calls for regional de-escalation, says no to Iran having nuclear weapons
Earlier today, the G7 countries — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States — called for a wider regional de-escalation that would lead to a ceasefire in Gaza. They also stated their conviction that Iran “can never have a nuclear weapon”.
“We urge that the resolution of the Iranian crisis leads to a broader de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, including a ceasefire in Gaza,” said the G7 joint statement released by Canada.
The statement said that Israel “has a right to defend itself” and stressed “the importance of the protection of civilians,” as the growing attacks kill civilians on both sides.
Trump told reporters before his decision was announced to leave early due to the Middle East situation: “As soon as I leave here, we’re going to be doing something.”
He later stated that his early departure from the summit had “nothing to do with” working on a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, refuting comments by French President Emmanuel Macron, who said the US president made a ceasefire proposal.
Macron “mistakenly said that I left the G7 Summit, in Canada, to go back to DC to work on a ‘ceasefire’ between Israel and Iran”, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform as he left the moot to return to Washington.
“Wrong! He has no idea why I am now on my way to Washington, but it certainly has nothing to do with a ceasefire. Much bigger than that,” Trump added in the post.
Macron said earlier today that Trump had made an offer for a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.
“There is indeed an offer to meet and exchange. An offer was made especially to get a ceasefire and to then kick-start broader discussions,” Macron told reporters at the G7.
Trump has repeatedly declined to say if the United States would participate in Israeli military action, although he has said Washington was not involved in initial strikes, and the White House said that US forces remained in a defensive posture.
A US official had said Trump would not sign a draft statement from G7 leaders calling for a de-escalation of the conflict. The draft statement had stated Iran must never have a nuclear weapon and that Israel has the right to defend itself.
Separately, Macron called for strikes against civilians in Iran and Israel to end, as he warned against forcing regime change in Tehran.
“If the United States can achieve a ceasefire, that’s a very good thing,” Macron told reporters at the G7 summit in Canada. Fox News reported he would convene his National Security Council.
Macron called on both Israel and Iran to “end” strikes against civilians and warned that aiming to overthrow Tehran’s clerical state would be a “strategic error”.
“All who have thought that by bombing from the outside you can save a country in spite of itself have always been mistaken,” he said.
Trump says looking for ‘real end, not a ceasefire’
Trump has said he “wants ‘a real end’ to the nuclear problem with Iran”, while predicting that Israel would not be slowing its attacks on Iran, according to comments shared by CBS journalist Jennifer Jacobs on X.
“You’re going to find out over the next two days. You’re going to find out. Nobody’s slowed up so far,” CBS journalist Jennifer Jacobs quoted Trump as saying on Air Force One.
The US would “come down so hard if they (Iran) do anything to our people”, Trump warned, according to the reporter.
Trump said “I may”, on the prospect of sending US Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff or Vice President JD Vance to meet with Iran. However, he added that “it depends what happens when I get back”, according to Jacobs.
Sources told Reuters that Tehran had asked Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to urge Trump to pressure Netanyahu to agree to an immediate ceasefire. In return, Iran would show flexibility in nuclear negotiations, according to two Iranian and three regional sources.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News on Tuesday that Trump was still aiming for a nuclear deal with Iran even as hostilities have escalated between Israel and Tehran, while a White House aide said separately that Washington was not attacking Iran.
“Of course,” Hegseth said on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” show when asked if Trump was still aiming for a nuclear deal with Iran.
“We are postured defensively in the region to be strong in pursuit of a peace deal. And we certainly hope that’s what happens here,” Hegseth said.
“If President Trump is genuine about diplomacy and interested in stopping this war, next steps are consequential,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X.
“Israel must halt its aggression, and absent a total cessation of military aggression against us, our responses will continue.”
Netanyahu told reporters on Monday that Israel was committed to eliminating threats posed by Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, adding, “If this can be achieved in another way — fine. But we gave it a 60-day chance.”
FMs from 20 Muslim states call for ending Israeli hostilities
Meanwhile, in a joint statement, Pakistan and 19 other countries’ foreign ministers strongly condemned Israel’s recent military attacks against Iran, calling for de-escalation and swift return to negotiations for a sustainable agreement on the Iranian nuclear programme.
The statement was issued by the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Brunei, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Turkiye and the United Arab Emirates.
Their top diplomats called for the urgent necessity of establishing a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and other Weapons of Mass Destruction, which should apply to all states in the region without exception, in line with relevant international resolutions. There is also an urgent need for all countries of the Middle East to join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), they emphasised.
The foreign ministers highlighted the paramount importance of refraining from targeting nuclear facilities that were under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards, in accordance with relevant IAEA resolutions and United Nations Security Council decisions, as such acts constituted a violation of international law and international humanitarian law, including the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
Iran is a party to the NPT, whereas Israel, which is not a party to the NPT, is the only country in the Middle East widely believed to have nuclear weapons.
Israel possesses around 90 nuclear warheads, according to the US-based Centre for Nuclear Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. There are multiple UN resolutions concerning Israel’s nuclear arsenal, including UN General Assembly Resolution 41/93, which urged Tel Aviv to renounce its weapons and place its facilities under IAEA safeguards.
Later in the day, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq received a call from his UAE counterpart, the Foreign Office said. “They expressed deep concern over the escalating tensions and underscored the urgent need to support efforts for ensuring regional peace and stability.”
In an address to the European Parliament, Jordan’s King Abdullah II warned that Israel’s “attacks” on Iran threatened “a dangerous escalation of tensions in my region and beyond.”
“With Israel’s expansion of its offensive to include Iran, there is no telling where the boundaries of this battleground will end,” Abdullah told lawmakers.
“And that, my friends, is a threat to people everywhere.”
Countries evacuate their nationals from Iran
More than 600 foreign nationals of 17 countries have crossed from Iran into neighbouring Azerbaijan since Israeli strikes began, a government source told AFP on Tuesday.
The evacuees, who crossed the border via the Astara checkpoint on the Caspian Sea coast, are being transported to Baku airport and “flown to their home countries on international flights,” the source said.
Among those evacuated are citizens of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, as well as Germany, Spain, Italy, Serbia, Romania, Portugal, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, China, and Vietnam.
Meanwhile, with security concerns growing and Israeli airspace closed because of the war, the Chinese embassy in Israel urged Chinese citizens to leave the country via land border crossings as soon as possible.
Flights carrying evacuees from Israel arrived in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, authorities said, making these countries among the first to get their citizens out of the Middle East.
Slovak authorities said that the first evacuation flight with 73 people, including 25 Slovak tourists and five family members of Slovak diplomats working in Tel Aviv, had arrived in the capital, Bratislava, late on Monday.
The Japanese government was looking into “various options” to evacuate Japanese nationals from affected areas, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters today.
Meanwhile, the Thai government has ordered its military to prepare planes to evacuate its citizens from Israel and Iran.
“We are ready to evacuate people and have coordinated with the military to prepare planes to bring them home from Israel and Iran,” government spokesperson Jirayu Houngsub told reporters after a cabinet meeting.
India’s foreign ministry said Indian students in Tehran have been moved out of the city for safety in light of the conflict, while others who are “self-sufficient” in terms of transport have been advised to move out too.
“Separately, some Indians have been facilitated to leave Iran through the border with Armenia,” the ministry said.
Earlier today, Trump urged civilians to evacuate Tehran “immediately” amid rising tensions between Israel and Iran.
“Iran should have signed the ‘deal’ I told them to sign. What a shame, and waste of human life. Simply stated, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. I said it over and over again!
“Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!” he said on his Truth Social platform.
Broadcaster says 3 killed in attack on its building
The Iran-Israel air war — the biggest battle ever between the two longtime enemies — escalated on Monday with Israel targeting Iran’s state broadcaster and uranium enrichment facilities.
Last night, Iran’s state TV resumed live coverage after an Israeli attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) building that the broadcaster said killed three people, AFP reported.
“The Zionist regime, the enemy of the Iranian nation, minutes ago conducted a military operation against the Islamic Republic of Iran news network”, part of IRIB, said Hassan Abedini, a senior official at the broadcasting service. “The regime (Israel) was unaware of the fact that the voice of the Islamic revolution and the great Iran will not be silenced with a military operation.”
The blast occurred as the presenter was live on TV, lambasting Israel before she was seen leaving the live broadcast, Iranian media reported, sharing a video of the incident. The attack was confirmed by the Israeli defence minister as well.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) strongly condemned Israel’s strike on IRIB and called for an end to the “bloodshed”, Al Jazeera reported.
“CPJ is appalled by Israel’s bombing of Iran’s state TV channel while live on air,” CPJ Regional Director for the Middle East Sara Qudah said.
“Israel’s killing, with impunity, of almost 200 journalists in Gaza has emboldened it to target media elsewhere in the region. This bloodshed must end now.”
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi told the BBC that the Natanz plant sustained extensive damage, likely destroying 15,000 centrifuges, while Iran’s Fordow plant remained largely intact.
Trump has consistently said the Israeli assault could end quickly if Iran agreed to US demands that it accept strict curbs to its nuclear programme. Talks between the US and Iran, hosted by Oman, had been scheduled for June 15 but were scrapped, with Tehran saying the attacks made the dialogue “meaningless”.
“As I’ve been saying, I think a deal will be signed, or something will happen, but a deal will be signed, and I think Iran is foolish not to sign,” Trump told reporters on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Canada on Monday.
Yesterday, Israel’s Haifa-based Bazan Group said all refinery facilities have been shut down after a power station used to produce steam and electricity were significantly damaged in an attack by Iran, according to a regulatory filing.
The group said the Iranian attack resulted in the death of three company employees. The refinery is located in Haifa Bay, according to Israeli media.
