Death toll from Iranian reportedly rises to eight
Israeli army radio says the death toll from Iranian attacks on Sunday night has risen to eight, Reuters reports.
Key events
Israel’s military said a missile launched from Yemen on Monday fell before entering Israeli territory, after sirens sounded in several areas of the country, AFP reports.
In a statement, the military said:
Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen fell prior to crossing into Israeli territory.
China urged Iran and Israel to “immediately” take steps to reduce tensions, AFP reports.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said:
We urge all parties to immediately take measures to cool down the tensions, prevent the region from falling into greater turmoil, and create conditions for returning to the right track of resolving issues through dialogue and negotiations.
Ali Khamenei: ruthless defender of Iran’s revolution with few good options left
Jason Burke
When he appeared in public for the first time in five years in October, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, had an uncompromising message. Israel “won’t last long”, he told tens of thousands of supporters at a mosque in Tehran in a Friday sermon.
“We must stand up against the enemy while strengthening our unwavering faith,” the 84-year-old told the gathering.
Days before, Israel had killed Hassan Nasrallah, the veteran secretary general of Hezbollah, with huge bombs dropped on the militant Islamist movement’s headquarters in Beirut. The assassination was a personal blow to Khamenei, who had known Nasrallah for decades.
The Israeli air offensive against Iran, launched on Friday, is another such blow. It has prompted more defiance from Tehran, and a barrage of missiles and drones launched at Tel Aviv, but neither appear likely to stop the Israeli attacks. Iran’s air defences are apparently ineffective and the coalition of Islamist militias that Khamenei had built up to deter Israel is effectively shattered.
Read the full profile here:
In its latest update, Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency service has said five people were killed and 92 wounded on Monday in Iran’s latest missile strikes on the country, raising a previous toll of four deaths, AFP reports.
The casualties were from strikes on four sites in central Israel, the MDA said in a statement, adding those killed included “two women and two men around the age of 70, as well as one additional fatality”.
It added: “So far, MDA teams have evacuated 92 injured individuals to hospitals, including a 30-year-old woman in serious condition with facial injuries, six in moderate condition, and 85 in mild condition.”
The MDA said search and rescue operations were ongoing at two of the four sites.
New Delhi said on Monday its diplomats were helping some Indian students relocate to safer places in Iran, AFP reports.
“The Indian Embassy in Tehran is continuously monitoring the security situation and engaging Indian students in Iran to ensure their safety,” a foreign ministry statement said.
“In some cases, students are being relocated with (the) Embassy’s facilitation to safer places within Iran,” the ministry added.
New Delhi, which has relations with both countries, has sought to relocate its citizens within Iran after Tehran closed its airspace.
There are around 10,000 Indian citizens in Iran, according to government data from last year, while figures from 2022 listed more than 2,000 students in Iran.
Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz on Monday warned that Tehran’s residents would “pay the price” for Iranian strikes on Israeli civilians, after overnight missile attacks killed several.
“The boastful dictator from Tehran has turned into a cowardly murderer, deliberately firing at Israel’s civilian home front in an attempt to deter the (Israeli military) from continuing the offensive that is crippling his capabilities,” Katz wrote on his Telegram channel, as reported by AFP. “The residents of Tehran will pay the price – and soon.”
The latest video footage of the new wave of Iranian missile strikes in Tel Aviv and Haifa.
If you are just tuning in to the latest developments in the escalating conflict in the Middle East, here is our new wrap on the strikes between Israel and Iran.
Iran executes man for spying for Israel, Fars reports
Iran has executed a man who was found guilty of spying for Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Monday, as reported by Reuters.
The execution, Reuters reported, is the third in recent weeks related to the conducting of espionage on behalf of Israel.
The Guardian was unable to independently verify the report.
Iran said it “successfully” struck Israel with a salvo of missiles on Monday, as Israeli rescuers reported four deaths and damage to residential buildings in multiple cities, according to the Associated Press.
“A new wave of attacks by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps… enabled missiles to successfully and effectively hit” targets in Israel, the Guards said in a statement quoted by the official IRNA news agency.
Iranian president says Tehran does not seek nuclear weapons
Iran does not intend to develop nuclear weapons but will pursue its right to nuclear energy and research, president Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday, as reported by Reuters.
Pezeshkian was reiterating Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s religious edict against weapons of mass destruction.
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee is reporting minor damage from concussions of an Iranian missile hit near its embassy branch in Tel Aviv, but said in a post on X that no US personnel were injured.
The US embassy and consulate in Israel will remain closed on Monday, he added.
Israel’s military says it has attacked Iran’s Quds force headquarters in Tehran
In a statement on X, the IDF says its air force has attacked the Quds force headquarters in Tehran.
Air Force fighter jets struck Quds Force headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards and the Iranian army, guided by precise intelligence from the Intelligence Directorate. In these headquarters, Quds operatives planned terrorist operations against Israel through proxies of the Iranian regime in the Middle East.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the latest attack on Israel employed a new method that caused Israel’s multi-layered defence systems to target each other, Reuters reports.
“The initiatives and capabilities used in this operation, despite the comprehensive support of the United States and Western powers and the possession of the most up-to-date and newest defence technology, led to the successful and maximum hitting of the missiles on the targets in the occupied territories,” it said.
Israeli media reported that three people were killed in the country’s centre while dozens more were wounded in the overnight strikes.
Some images coming through from Tel Aviv:
A missile fired from Iran breaches Israeli’s ‘Iron Dome’ air defense system
Aftermath of missile attack from Iran on Israel.
The latest update on the Iranian strikes in Israel has been reported by Israel’s national emergency service, Magen David Adom, which says that 3 people have been killed in rocket strikes across 4 sites in central Israel.
The MDA also said 74 people had been evacuated, 68 with mild injuries. Rescue operations still ongoing at 2 sites.
Summary
Israeli officials say several people have been injured in the latest round of Iranian strikes, as the conflict between the two regional rivals enters a fourth day.
British maritime security firm Ambrey said that fires were observed at a power plant in the vicinity of Haifa, after Iranian forces launched a ballistic missile attack on the northern city’s port infrastructure. Ambrey said it observed video footage of the Israeli military intercepting the attack, followed by impacts from two hypersonic missiles.
It comes as world leaders meet in Canada for a G7 meeting set to be dominated by the escalating Middle East conflict.
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Israel and Iran have broadened their strikes against each other as the conflict between the two nations enters its fourth day, in an escalating war that has killed and injured hundreds of people.
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Israeli strikes in Iran have killed 224 people so far, with 90% of the casualties reported to be civilians, an Iranian health ministry spokesperson said.
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Iran’s foreign ministry has challenged Israel’s characterisation of what it has described as ‘surgical’ strikes in Tehran, saying that many women and children have been killed in residential areas.
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The intelligence chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Kazemi, and his deputy were killed in Israel’s attacks on Tehran on Sunday, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said.
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In an earlier interview on Sunday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News anchor Bret Baier: “I can tell you we got their chief intelligence officer and his deputy in Tehran.”
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In Israel, Iranian strikes have killed at least 14 people, with three missing and hundreds injured by Sunday morning. Netanyahu visited the site of the Bat Yam strike on Sunday to see the damage and meet rescue workers. “Iran will pay a very heavy price for the premeditated murder of civilians, women and children,” he said.
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In a post on X, the IDF said the Home Front Command has instructed residents across the country to continue staying close to protected spaces. “Movement in open areas should be minimized, and gatherings should be avoided. Upon receiving an alert, enter the protected space and remain there until a new official announcement is issued,” the IDF said.
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US President Donald Trump has said there will “soon” be peace between Israel and Iran, adding that there were many calls and meetings happening and that the two countries should make a deal. “Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal,” Trump said on Truth Social, adding that “we will have PEACE, soon”.
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Trump reportedly vetoed an Israeli plan in recent days to kill Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, two US officials told Reuters on Sunday. The officials said top US officials have been in constant communications with Israeli officials in the days since Israel launched a massive attack, and that they had an opportunity to kill the top Iranian leader, but Trump waved them off of the plan.
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Tasnim, Iran’s semi-official news agency, reports that security forces have discovered a secret drone-manufacturing site in Shahr-e Ray, located south of Tehran. The agency said on X that homemade bombs and more than 200kg of explosives had been found in the three floor building, claiming the space had been used by Israeli agents to assemble and store drones.
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The foreign policy chief of the European Union has called for a video conference of the EU’s foreign ministers on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran. “In light of the gravity of the situation in the Middle East, EU high representative Kaja Kallas has convened a meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers via video link for Tuesday,” an EU spokesperson said.
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Tensions between Iran and Israel are escalating as leaders of G7 nations prepare meet on Monday in the Canadian Rockies, where they plan to spend the opening day asking Trump to justify his confidence that Israel and Iran will make a deal that will mean “peace soon”.
