Israel-Iran live: Tehran calls Geneva proposals 'unrealistic' - as Israel launches strikes in southwestern Iran

US bombers heading to Guam

We now have more to bring you on the earlier report that the US is moving several of its B-2 bombers (see 15.46 post).

Our US partner network NBC, citing two defence officials, says a group of bombers took off from the Whiteman air base in Missouri overnight and are now heading to Guam.

It's unclear at this point whether the bombers, which are designed for long-range strike missions, are planning to land at Guam or not.

The B-2 aircraft are capable of delivering the 30,000lb bunker buster bombs that would be needed to successfully attack Fordow, the Iranian nuclear facility buried 300ft inside a mountain.

  

Israel says Iran attempted to attack Israeli citizens in Cyprus

Israel's foreign minister says Iran's Revolutionary Guard tried to carry out an attack on Israeli citizens in Cyprus.

Posting on X, Gideon Sa'ar says the attack war thwarted thanks to Cypriot security authorities in cooperation with Israeli security services.

He did not provide any further details on the alleged attack. There was no immediate comment from Iran.

'Iranian spy' arrested in Cyprus

It comes as, earlier today, Cypriot authorities confirmed they had arrested a British man on suspicion of terror-related offences and espionage.

Local media reported the suspect had been watching a British RAF military base in nearby Akrotiri, as well as a Cypriot base, since mid-April.

It is not known at this point if the man is linked to the plot alleged by Sa'ar.

  

IDF: 'Dozens' of targets struck in southwestern Iran

The Israeli military has just revealed further information about its strikes in southwestern Iran today.

It says around 30 jets struck "dozens of military targets" in the areas of Ahvaz "with over 50 munitions".

"As part of the strikes, IAF fighter jets struck a site where missile launchers were stored, some of which had launched missiles in the past toward the State of Israel," it added.

The military says jets also struck radar detection system sites and other military infrastructure.

 

If Israel breaks Iran it will end up owning the chaos that could ensue

Israelis are good at tactics, poor at strategic vision, it has been observed.

Their campaign against Iran may be a case in point.

Short termism is understandable in a region that is so unpredictable. Why make elaborate plans if they are generally undone by unexpected events? It is a mindset that is familiar to anyone who has lived or worked there.

And it informs policy-making. The Israeli offensive in Gaza is no exception. The Israeli government has never been clear how it will end or what happens the day after that in what remains of the coastal strip. Pressed privately, even senior advisers will admit they simply do not know.

It may seem unfair to call a military operation against Iran that literally took decades of planning short-termist or purely tactical. There was clearly a strategy of astonishing sophistication behind a devastating campaign that has dismantled so much of the enemy's capability.

But is there a strategic vision beyond that? That is what worries Israel's allies.

 

Houthis threaten US ships if Trump joins strikes on Iran

Yemen's Houthi rebels have warned they will target US ships in the Red Sea if America becomes involved in Israeli attacks on Iran.

Washington agreed to halt its bombing campaign against the Houthis in May after the Iran-aligned group agreed to stop targeting shipping in the Red Sea in return.

 

Israel attacks facility in Isfahan, nuclear watchdog says

The UN nuclear watchdog has confirmed that a centrifuge manufacturing site at Iran's Isfahan nuclear site was hit earlier today.

This is "the third such facility that has been targeted in Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear-related sites over the past week," according to the International Atomic Energy Agency boss Rafael Grossi.

"We know this facility well," he added. "There was no nuclear material at this site, and therefore the attack on it will have no radiological consequences."

Centrifuges are used to enrich uranium, which can be used for domestic purposes but also for nuclear weapons. 

  

US stealth bombers on the move

A group of US stealth bombers appear to be on the move as tensions increase over whether America will join the Israel-Iran conflict.

According to Fox News, flight tracking data shows the B-2 warplanes, which are designed for long-range strike missions, heading off the west coast of America.

The reports adds that the bombers apparently refuelled after launching from Missouri, indicating they launched without full tanks due to a heavy onboard payload.

The B-2 aircraft are capable of delivering the 30,000lb bunker buster bombs needed to attack Fordow, the Iranian nuclear facility buried 300ft inside a mountain.

On Thursday, Donald Trump said he would make a decision on whether to strike Iran "in the next two weeks". The deployment of the bombers suggests the US president may be prepared to launch a strike sooner than expected.

It's unclear where exactly the bombers are heading to, though. Reported destinations include either Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean or a US military base in Guam.

The US would need British permission to launch strikes from Diego Garcia, over which the UK maintains sovereignty. 

This would not be necessary if they deployed from the base in Guam.

  

'Frightening explosions' heard in southwestern Iran after Israeli strikes

A little earlier, we mentioned fresh Israeli strikes in southwestern Iran, where the IDF says it's targeting military infrastructure.

Shortly after strikes began, Iranian state media reported that the sound of large blasts was heard in two cities in the oil-rich province of Khuzestan. 

A large column of smoke had also risen above the port city of Mahshahr, Iran's Fars news agency said, while "frightening explosions" were heard in the provincial capital of Ahvaz. 

 

Senior Iranian official: European proposals in Geneva unrealistic

A senior Iranian official has labelled the proposals made by European powers in Geneva yesterday as "unrealistic".

Speaking to the Reuters news agency, the official said that zero uranium enrichment - described yesterday by David Lammy as a "starting point" for talks with Tehran - was a dead end.

He said insisting on these positions will not bring Iran and Europe closer, adding that his country will not negotiate over its defensive capabilities, including its missile programme.

"In any case, Iran will review the European proposals in Tehran and present its responses in the next meeting," the official said. 

 

Germany relocates Tehran embassy staff, official says

Germany has temporarily relocated its embassy staff in Tehran, a foreign ministry official said. 

The embassy remains operational and can be contacted via phone by Germans who are still in Iran, the official said, adding it would continue to advise on possible options for leaving the country by land. 

 

What did the Geneva talks achieve?

After a week of back-and-forth strikes between Israel and Iran, EU foreign ministers from the UK, France and Germany met with their Iranian counterpart in Geneva yesterday.

There was no diplomatic breakthrough, so what did the talks achieve?

International affairs editor Dominic Waghorn talks us through it...

 

Americans flee Iran and Israel

Hundreds of American citizens have departed Iran using land routes over the past week, according to an internal State Department message seen by Reuters.

"Numerous" citizens faced "delays and harassment" while trying to exit, it read.

With Iranian airspace closed, the department has urged Americans wishing to leave to use land routes via Azerbaijan, Armenia or Turkey.

"US nationals are at significant risk of questioning, arrest and detention in Iran," it said.

Washington is also looking at ways to potentially evacuate its citizens from Israel.

As of Friday, more than 6,400 US citizens filled out a form indicating they wanted departure assistance, a separate internal department email seen by Reuters said.

But the Trump administration has almost no way of assisting Americans inside Iran.

The two countries have had no diplomatic ties since the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

 

Israel strikes southwestern Iran

The Israeli military says it is attacking Iranian military infrastructure in southwestern Iran.

An explosion has been heard in the Khuzestan province, according to the Iranian state-run Fars news agency. 

 

Negotiations to speed up after call between French and Iranian presidents

Emmanuel Macron says negotiations between Europe and Iran will speed up following a call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

"Iran must never acquire nuclear weapons, and it is up to Iran to provide full guarantees that its intentions are peaceful," the French leader posted on X.

"I am convinced that there is a way out of the war and to avoid greater dangers.

"To achieve this, we will accelerate the negotiations led by France and its European partners with Iran."

 

Neighbours sound alarm over 'dangerous' strikes on nuclear sites

Ambassadors from six Gulf states have raised concerns to the UN's nuclear watchdog over Israel's targeting of nuclear sites in nearby Iran.

Envoys from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) warned Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, about the "dangerous repercussions" during a meeting in Vienna.

The GCC is a political and economic alliance between Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman.

The warning comes after the Israeli military said at one point on Thursday it had struck Iran's only operating nuclear power plant, Bushehr, before retracting the statement as "a mistake".

The Russian-built facility sits on the Gulf coast and an attack could contaminate the air and water.

 

What are the risks from Israel's strikes on Iran's nuclear infrastructure?

Israel's stated goal in its fight with Iran is to dismantle its potential to build a nuclear weapon.

It isn't clear if Israel has the military might to do it alone, with some of the key sites Iran is using to store and process nuclear material protected deep underground.

So far, Israel has conducted strikes on nuclear sites like Natanz, Khondab, Isfahan and Fordow.

Yesterday, Israel said it had struck the Bushehr site, Iran's only active nuclear plant, before seemingly rowing back the comments.

But what are the risks from such attacks, and could they lead to a nuclear fallout of some kind in a region home to tens of millions of people?

Underground safety

Peter Bryant, a professor at the University of Liverpool who specialises in radiation protection science, said he was not too concerned about the risks so far.

While there had been strikes on the likes of Khondab, a lot of the damage reported so far is external, and such facilities are designed to contain internal issues.

"Uranium is only dangerous if it gets physically inhaled or ingested or gets into the body at low enrichments," he said.

Nuclear material could end up buried

Darya Dolzikova, a senior research fellow at London thinktank RUSI, said attacks on facilities at the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle - the enrichment stages where uranium is prepared for use in a reactor - pose primarily chemical, not radiological risks.

Sites like Natanz and Isfahan are enrichment sites.

Such chemicals could be dispersed, but such a risk is again lower with underground facilities.

Simon Bennett, who leads the civil safety and security unit at the University of Leicester in the UK,  said Israeli strikes were likely to end up "burying nuclear material in possibly thousands of tonnes of concrete, earth and rock".

Risk of 'absolute catastrophe' at power plant

The major concern would be if the Israelis attacked the Bushehr nuclear reactor.

Richard Wakeford, honorary professor of epidemiology at the University of Manchester, said that while enrichment facilities would remain a chemical issue, a reactor strike would be a "different story".

This could lead to the release of radioactive elements either in a plume of volatile materials or into the sea, he added.

James Acton, co-director of the nuclear policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said an attack on Bushehr "could cause an absolute radiological catastrophe".

Gulf State water supply could be vulnerable

For the Gulf States, any potential impact on Bushehr threatens to contaminate Gulf waters, jeopardising a critical source of desalinated potable water. 

In a number of Gulf countries like the UAE,  Qatar and Bahrain, desalinated water accounts for a huge amount of drinking water.

Nidal Hilal, professor of engineering and director of New York University Abu Dhabi's Water Research Centre, said: "Coastal desalination plants are especially vulnerable to regional hazards like oil spills and potential nuclear contamination."

 

Pakistan to nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize - and analysts think it will help the Middle East

Pakistan has said it will nominate Donald Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize. 

Analysts think the move might persuade the US president to stop his military from joining Israel's strikes against Iran. 

Pakistan has condemned Israel's actions against Iran as a violation of international law and a threat to regional stability. 

It said it would nominate Trump for the accolade for his work in helping resolve the recent conflict between India and Pakistan. 

In May, a surprise announcement by Trump of a ceasefire brought an abrupt end to a four-day conflict between the two long-term enemies. 

Trump has since repeatedly said that he averted a nuclear war, saved millions of lives, and grumbled that he got no credit for it.

India has denied that the US had any involvement in finding a resolution, saying instead that it was a bilateral agreement between the two countries. 

 

Netanyahu is 'biggest obstacle to regional peace', says Turkey's PM

Benjamin Netanyahu's government is the "biggest obstacle" to peace in the Middle East, Turkey's prime minister has said. 

Tayyip Erdogan said Israel has tried to "sabotage" any nuclear talks between the US and Iran, showing it does not want diplomacy by launching its attacks. 

He called on countries not to listen to Israel's "poison" dialogue on the conflict, and instead find a diplomatic solution. 

Several countries have been calling on Iran to come to the negotiating table to find a resolution to the conflict. 

Iranian officials have said a diplomatic solution will not be possible while Israel's attacks continue. 

 

At least 430 people killed in Iran since start of conflict, says Iranian health ministry

At least 430 people have been killed since the Israel-Iran conflict erupted last week, the Iranian health ministry has said. 

A total of 3,500 people have been wounded, it added. 

At least 24 people in Israel have been killed and hundreds wounded. 

The war between Israel and Iran erupted on 13 June, with Israeli airstrikes targeting nuclear and military sites. 

Iran has retaliated by firing 450 missiles and 1,000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. 

-SKY NEWS