Iran warns US, UK and France against helping stop Iranian strikes on Israel
Iran has warned the United States, United Kingdom and France that their bases and ships in the region will be targeted if they help stop Tehran’s strikes on Israel, Iran state media reported on Saturday, according to Reuters.
The UK government has already said that Britain did not provide military support to Israel’s attack on Iran or help shoot down Iranian drones.
Prime minister Keir Starmer spoke to Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday afternoon during which, according to an official readout, he emphasised that “Israel has a right to self-defence” but also that the conflict needed a diplomatic solution.
A spokesperson said Starmer “set out the UK’s grave concerns about Iran’s nuclear programme” but also “reiterated the need for de-escalation” in the interests of regional stability after Israel’s air and drone attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, air defence and military leadership.
Earlier, the prime minister’s spokesperson said: “The UK did not participate in Israel’s strikes overnight,” and they indicated that the RAF had also not taken part in any military action to knock out Iranian drones attacking Israel in a counterattack launched by Tehran in the morning.
Updated at 05.30 EDT
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Nine senior Iranian nuclear scientists were killed in the Israeli airstrikes, according to an Israeli military official.
They also told Reuters that they attacked more than 150 targets in Iran with hundreds of munitions, adding that both the Esfahan and Natanz nuclear sites were both “significantly damaged”.
Share‘Tehran will burn’: Israeli defence minister warns Iran over missile strikes
Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz warned Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that “Tehran will burn” if it keeps firing missiles at Israeli civilians.
“The Iranian dictator is taking the citizens of Iran hostage, bringing about a reality in which they, and especially Teheran’s residents, will pay a heavy price for the flagrant harm inflicted upon Israel’s citizens.
“If Khamenei continues to fire missiles at the Israeli home front, Tehran will burn,” Katz said in a statement.
Updated at 05.42 EDT
Iran has arrested five people in central city of Yazd for taking pictures and “collaborating with Israel”, Iranian news sites reported on Saturday.
The arrests were made as Iran and Israel continue to target each other after Israel launched on Friday its biggest-ever air offensive against its longtime foe in a bid to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Updated at 05.17 EDT
Two people were killed in an Israeli attack on a missile site in Assadabad in western Iran on Saturday, Iranian news sites reported.
Updated at 05.16 EDT
Iran warns US, UK and France against helping stop Iranian strikes on Israel
Iran has warned the United States, United Kingdom and France that their bases and ships in the region will be targeted if they help stop Tehran’s strikes on Israel, Iran state media reported on Saturday, according to Reuters.
The UK government has already said that Britain did not provide military support to Israel’s attack on Iran or help shoot down Iranian drones.
Prime minister Keir Starmer spoke to Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday afternoon during which, according to an official readout, he emphasised that “Israel has a right to self-defence” but also that the conflict needed a diplomatic solution.
A spokesperson said Starmer “set out the UK’s grave concerns about Iran’s nuclear programme” but also “reiterated the need for de-escalation” in the interests of regional stability after Israel’s air and drone attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, air defence and military leadership.
Earlier, the prime minister’s spokesperson said: “The UK did not participate in Israel’s strikes overnight,” and they indicated that the RAF had also not taken part in any military action to knock out Iranian drones attacking Israel in a counterattack launched by Tehran in the morning.
Updated at 05.30 EDT
Pope Leo XIV appealed on Saturday for authorities in Iran and Israel to act with “reason” after recent airstrikes and to pursue dialogue.
According to Reuters, he told an audience in St Peter’s Basilica he was after the situation with “great concern”.
“The situation in Iran and Israel has seriously deteriorated at such a delicate moment. I wish to forcefully renew an appeal for responsibility and reason,” the pope, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“The commitment to build a safer world free from the nuclear threat must be pursued through a respectful meeting and sincere dialogue,” he said. “No one should ever threaten the existence of the other.”
Pope Leo XIV speaking at St Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican, on Saturday. Photograph: Yara Nardi/ReutersShare
Updated at 04.54 EDT
Patrick Wintour
The Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, has shared more on the story that Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson has not ruled out the possibility that the bilateral talks with the United States scheduled to take place in Muscat on Sunday will go ahead:
Speaking to Iranian media the foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaee said: “It is still unclear what decision we will make in this regard on Sunday.” He added:
The other side did something that practically rendered negotiations and dialogue meaningless.
He emphasised that it is unthinkable for the Islamic Republic of Iran that “the Zionist regime [Israel]” would have committed such a war in the region without the coordination or conscious green light of the US.
It had been expected that Iran would feel compelled immediately to end all talks, so the Iranian indecision is a surprise, possibly reflecting diplomatic pressure on the country to find a way out of the crisis.
Donald Trump had urged Iran to attend the talks – the sixth set of talks that are being brokered by Oman. The meeting was due to be the first in which both sides would have tabled written proposals.
The sticking point for both sides is whether Iran could retain the right to enrich uranium at much lower levels than now. Iran is content for this to happen subject to independent monitoring, but only on the condition that US sanctions are lifted.
The US is insisting that Iran lose its right to enrich since there is no sure way of preventing Iran acquiring a nuclear bomb if it continues to enrich domestically. The US believes that if Iran is to have a civil nuclear programme it should import uranium from third countries. Iran says it is a sovereign right to enrich.
Updated at 04.35 EDT
Iran’s state TV reported on Saturday that about 60 people, including 20 children, were killed in an Israeli attack on a housing complex in the Iranian capital Tehran.
We will update with more information as it comes in.
Iran’s airspace has closed ‘until further notice’, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP), citing Iranian state media.
ShareIran says planned Sunday talks with US ‘meaningless’ after Israel attack, but yet to decide on attendance
Iran said the dialogue with the US over Tehran’s nuclear programme is “meaningless” but said it is yet to decide on whether to attend planned talks on Sunday, reports Reuters.
“The other side [the US] acted in a way that makes dialogue meaningless. You cannot claim to negotiate and at the same time divide work by allowing the Zionist regime [Israel] to target Iran’s territory,” state media on Saturday quoted foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei as saying. “It is still unclear what decision we will make on Sunday in this regard,” Baghaei was quoted as saying.
He said Israel “succeeded in influencing” the diplomatic process and the Israeli attack would not have happened without Washington’s permission, accusing Washington of supporting the attack.
Iran earlier accused the US of being complicit in Israel’s attacks, but Washington denied the allegation and told Tehran at the UN security council that it would be “wise” to negotiate over its nuclear programme.
The sixth round of US-Iran nuclear talks was to be held on Sunday in Muscat, but it was unclear whether it would go ahead after the Israeli strikes.
Iran denies that its uranium enrichment programme is for anything other than civilian purposes, rejecting Israeli allegations that it is secretly developing nuclear weapons.
US president Donald Trump told Reuters that he and his team had known the Israeli attacks were coming but they still saw room for an accord.
Updated at 04.12 EDT
Lebanon said it had temporarily reopened its airspace on Saturday at 10am local time (7am GMT/8am BST), the state news agency NNA said.
The airspace will be shut down again starting from 10.30pm local time (7.30pm GMT/8.30pm BST) till 6am (3am GMT/4am BST) on Sunday, NNA reported citing the Lebanese Civil Aviation Authority.
Israel’s military said on Saturday it was striking dozens of missile launchers in Iran, after announcing it had targeted air defences with a wave of strikes in the Tehran area overnight.
The Israeli air force “continues striking dozens of surface-to-surface missile launchers in Iran”, the military said in a statement, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
ShareTwo deputy commanders at Iranian armed forces’ general staff killed in Israeli attacks, state media reports
Two deputy commanders at the Iranian armed forces’ general staff were killed in Israeli attacks, Iranian state media reported on Saturday.
According to Reuters, it was unclear when the two commanders were killed but their deaths were announced on Saturday.
Israel’s attacks on Iran since Friday have killed at least 78 people, including senior military officials, in what are Israel’s biggest attacks ever against Iran.
Reuters has a breaking news line, citing Iranian state media, that two deputy commanders at Iran’s armed forces general staff have been killed in Israeli attacks.
More details soon …
ShareIran confirms limited damage at Fordow nuclear site, atomic body says
Iran confirmed that its Fordow nuclear facility sustained limited damage after recent attacks, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported on Saturday, citing a spokesperson for the country’s atomic energy organisation.
“There has been limited damage to some areas at the Fordow enrichment site,” state atomic energy agency spokesperson Behrouz Kamalvandi said, reports Reuters.
“We had already moved a significant part of the equipment and materials out, and there was no extensive damage and there are no contamination concerns.”
SharePatrick Wintour
France and Saudi Arabia have postponed next weeks UN conference in New York on a two state solution. The high level three day conference starting 17 June was seen as a moment for countries such as France and the UK to clarify their plans formally to recognise the state of Palestine.
There was a concern that the sudden Iran crisis meant senior Arab ministers would not have felt able to leave the region to fly to New York. Many Gulf states are trying to ensure they do not become drawn into the Iran-Israel conflict.
Decisions about recognition – bound to be denounced as a betrayal by the Israeli government – would also be harder to take at a time when Israel is locked in military combat with Iran.
The postponement underlines how Israel can still lead in shaping the agenda in the Middle East.
Iran’s Fars news agency has reported that the country’s strikes against Israel will continue, citing senior Iranian military officials.
“This confrontation will not end with last night’s limited actions and Iran’s strikes will continue, and this action will be very painful and regrettable for the aggressors,” Fars cited an unnamed official as saying.