IRAN and Israel launched fresh attacks in the early hours of Saturday, June 21, just a day after Tehran declared it would not engage in nuclear negotiations under threat.
Iran’s Fars news agency reported that Israel targeted the Isfahan nuclear facility and confirmed there was no leakage of hazardous materials. A building in the city of Qom was hit, with early reports indicating a 16-year-old was killed and two others injured.
Shortly after 2:30 a.m. local time in Israel (2330 GMT Friday), the Israeli military issued a warning about an incoming missile barrage from Iran, prompting air raid sirens in parts of central Israel, including Tel Aviv, and across the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Iran targeted Tel Aviv, a metropolitan area of around four million people and the country’s business and economic hub, where some critical military assets are also located.
An Israeli military official said Iran had fired five ballistic missiles and that there were no immediate indications of any missile impacts or casualties.
The ICIR reported that Israel launched attacks on Iran on June 13, claiming its longtime adversary was close to developing nuclear weapons. In response, Iran, which insists its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes, retaliated with missile and drone strikes on Israeli targets.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency said Israel’s air attacks had killed 639 people in Iran, including the military’s top echelon and nuclear scientists.
United States President Donald Trump told reporters at the airport in Morristown, on Friday, that he believed Iran could obtain a nuclear weapon “within a matter of weeks, or certainly within a matter of months…We can’t let that happen.”
Trump disagreed with his Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, stating she was wrong to suggest there was no evidence that Iran was developing a nuclear weapon.
However, Israel said it carried out strikes on dozens of military targets on Friday, including missile production sites, a research facility in Tehran it claimed was linked to nuclear weapons development, and military installations in western and central Iran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said there would be no negotiations with the US “until Israeli aggression stops.” However, he arrived in Geneva on Friday for talks with European foreign ministers, where Europe aimed to revive a path toward diplomacy.
Meanwhile, Trump has reiterated that he would take up to two weeks to decide whether the US should join the conflict, saying it would allow time “to see whether or not people come to their senses.” He added that he was unlikely to urge Israel to ease its airstrikes to keep diplomatic efforts alive.
“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 showed little sign of progress, and Trump expressed doubt that negotiators would succeed in reaching 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.
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.”
Meanwhile, Russia and China have called for an immediate de-escalation of the conflict.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues.