Here’s where things stand on Monday, June 17:
Fighting
- Several explosions rocked areas across Iran, including its central and western provinces as well as the densely populated capital Tehran, as Israel stepped up bombardment.
- The Israeli military said it struck “12 missile launch and storage sites”.
- Areas attacked by Israel include Isfahan province and Tabriz city, while attacks on Tehran were “continuous and intense”, according to Iranian state media IRNA.
- Israel’s military claimed one of its strikes in Tehran assassinated Iran’s Armed Forces chief Ali Shadmani.
- Iran launched retaliatory strikes towards parts of northern Israel and Tel Aviv, and said its missile attacks hit a military intelligence centre and a Mossad operations planning centre.
- Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Iranian attacks are targeting Israeli air bases from which attacks on the nation were launched.
- Iran’s army also said it tracked and intercepted 28 “hostile aircraft” in the past 24 hours, adding that one of them was a spy drone trying to gain intelligence on “sensitive” sites.
- Abdolrahim Mousavi, chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, said attacks carried out so far have been a “warning for deterrence”, and warned “the punitive operation will be executed soon”.
Casualties and disruptions
- Iran reported several killed in Israel’s attack on a State tv building Monday and three others died in strikes on the central city of Kashan.
- Israel has not reported any deaths on Tuesday.
- The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it conducted more satellite imagery analysis of Israel’s recent attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, adding it has further evidence indicating “direct impacts” on the “underground enrichment halls” in the Natanz facility.
- The IAEA added its analysis did not show any such change at two of Iran’s other major nuclear facilities targeted by Israel – Isfahan and Fordow.
- The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned of a devastating toll on civilians and potential health risks associated with Israel’s nuclear-site attacks on Iran.
- More than 600 foreign nationals have crossed from Iran into neighbouring Azerbaijan in recent days, including citizens of Russia, Germany, Spain, Italy, Romania, the United States, among others.
- Ukraine, China, and South Korea have become the latest countries to advise their citizens to leave Israel and Iran, citing “significant deterioration of the security situation” in the region.
Diplomacy
- US President Donald Trump, after leaving the G7 summit early, said he is not pushing for an Israel-Iran ceasefire but wants a “real end”, with Iran “giving up entirely” on nuclear weapons.
- He also wrote on his Truth Social app that “we now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran”, without clarifying further, and made a thinly veiled threat to assassinate Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
- The remarks come as US Vice President JD Vance said Trump may take “further action to end Iranian enrichment”.
- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia is ready to act as a mediator, but added there is a “reluctance, at least on the part of Israel”, to start talks.
- Russia’s Foreign Ministry denounced continued the Israeli attacks as illegal.
- Jordan’s King Abdullah II warned that Israel’s “attacks” on Iran threatened to dangerously escalate tensions and were “a threat to people everywhere”.
- Qatar also said it “strongly condemns” Israel’s attacks, calling them “an uncalculated measure that will have very dire repercussions”.
- French President Emmanuel Macron said he was against military action against Iran that could lead to regime change and potential “chaos”.
