LIVE: Israel strikes heart of Tehran as Iran expands missile, drone attacks

Shayesteh, who was described by Tasnim as “the head of a cyber-team affiliated with Mossad”, was arrested in late 2023.

Since Israel began attacking Iran on June 13, Iranian authorities have executed at least three people convicted of spying for Israel. One was executed in the early hours of June 16, while the second suspect was executed on July 22.

The allegations against the suspects could not be independently verified.

Human rights organisations have frequently denounced the executions of suspects in Iran as well as its lack of due process.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has called on the world to ramp up pressure on Israel to “stop its provocative and violent actions against other nations”, according to Free Malaysia Today.

“When they launch attacks and kill the people of Iran, there will inevitably be retaliation. Our position is one of fairness,” he told reporters.

“In Gaza, the killings continue and it includes women and children. Now Israel is attacking Iran, which has decided to fight back. The involvement of outside powers, including the US, is only worsening the situation.”

He added, “The question is if Iran is not allowed to respond, why allow Israel to [continue] acting in such a manner?”

Anwar’s comments came as Malaysia’s foreign minister, Mohamad Haji Hasan, said he met with his Iranian counterpart on the sidelines of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Ankara over the weekend, Malaysia’s Foreign Ministry has said.

At the time, Malaysia’s top diplomat “urged all parties to exercise maximum restraint and avoid further escalation of the situation in the Middle East”.

The people of Iran are preparing to mark one of the holiest months of the year in the face of conflict as Israel continues its attacks on the country and Iranian leaders mull a response to the US’s bombings.

Muharram, which begins around June 26 or 27, is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is a particularly important period of mourning for Shia Muslims, as it marks the anniversary of the seventh-century Battle of Karbala in present-day Iraq, where Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Hussein, was killed.

During this period, thousands of Iranian pilgrims either travel to Iraq, or hold elaborate religious rites at Shia mosques across Iran.

The death of Hussein is considered by the Shia community as a symbol of humanity’s sacrifice, as well as the struggle against injustice, tyranny and oppression.

Images posted on X by the Iranian Fars news agency showed the interior of the holy shrine of Imam Hussein in Karbala, as personnel made preparations for the occasion, which will continue until around July 25.

Muharram is also observed in other parts of the Middle East and Asia, where there are a significant number of Shia Muslims.

Translation: The holy shrine of Imam Hussein was covered with a red carpet ahead of the arrival of the month of Muharram 1447 AH.

Al Jazeera is reporting from Jordan because it has been banned in Israel and the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli army and the Israeli government have been very focused on the effects and the success of the American strikes.

At the same time, we’ve been hearing from the Israeli prime minister that Israel still hasn’t achieved all of their goals, while maintaining vagueness about what those goals actually are.

Netanyahu said that Israel will continue to bomb Iran, continue to bomb targets until all goals have been achieved.

So there is no indication – despite that success claimed by the Americans and the Israelis in these strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear sites, that the bombing will stop or that there is a path towards ending this.

Let’s bring you up to speed:

• Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has promised that the “punishment will continue” against “the Zionist enemy”, in his first statement on social media after the US joined the Israeli attacks on Iran.
• Israel’s military says it intercepted one ballistic missile from Iran, but Iranian media say the weapon was fired from Yemen.
• Explosions have also been heard in Iran’s capital, Tehran, while air defences were also activated in the cities of Karaj, Shiraz and Tabriz overnight.
• Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is in Moscow for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and says it is necessary for “more precise, serious and closer consultations” between the two nations following the US strikes.
• Iranian media say an Israeli drone hit an ambulance in central Iran, killing three people, including the driver and a patient. Another Israeli attack on Saturday killed a mother and her six-year-old child.
• Australia and Ukraine’s leaders have backed US attacks on Iran, while North Korea “strongly denounced” the assault.

Japan has called for de-escalation of the conflict in Iran and said US strikes demonstrated Washington’s determination to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Japan also said it was “extremely regrettable” that the situation between Israel and Iran had escalated into a cycle of retaliation, according to Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya.

“Japan continues to strongly hope that the path to dialogue will be reopened by efforts toward a resolution of Iran’s nuclear issue through talks between the US and Iran,” Iwaya said in a statement.

The Coswisdom Lake and South Loyalty, which are both capable of hauling about 2 million barrels of crude, have turned around in the Strait of Hormuz after US air strikes on Iran raised the risk of conflict in the region, according to Bloomberg.

The two empty freighters had entered the waterway on Sunday and then “abruptly changed course”, the report said, citing tracking data.

“The turning oil carriers offer the first signs of re-routing,” Bloomberg reported, and the move comes as “vessel owners and traders are closely watching for signs that the escalation in the Middle East will affect movements and flows”.

Iran has previously threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, which is the only marine entry into the Gulf. According to the US Energy Information Administration, about 20 percent of global oil consumption flows through the Strait, which the agency describes as the “world’s most important oil transit chokepoint”.

Politicians and state media in Iran have called for attacks on US bases in the Middle East following the bombings of the Iranian nuclear sites.

State television’s Channel 3 showed a map of US military bases across the region, including in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq, which are within range of Iranian missiles.

“It is now clearer than ever, not just for the Iranian nation but for the whole peoples of the region, that all US citizens and military personnel are legitimate targets. We were negotiating and progressing through a diplomatic path, but you chose to spill the blood of your soldiers. The US president in the Oval Office chose to take delivery of the coffins of up to 50,000 US soldiers in Washington,” the channel’s anchor Mehdi Khanalizadeh said.

Hossein Shariatmadari, the ultraconservative head of the Keyhan daily newspaper, who was appointed by Khamenei, wrote: “It is now our turn to immediately rain missiles down on the US naval force in Bahrain as a first measure.”

He also renewed his longtime call for Iran to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz and said Tehran must deny access to ships from the US, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.

Hamid Rasaei, one of the most hardline members of Iran’s parliament who is close to the Paydari (Steadfastness) faction led by Security Council member and failed presidential candidate Saeed Jalili, went one step further and said Iran must hit US bases in Saudi Arabia.

Read our full story here.

A spokesperson for North Korea’s Foreign Ministry says the attacks violate the UN Charter and blamed the tensions on Israel’s “ceaseless war moves and territorial expansion”, which are “accepted and encouraged by the West”.

The official said North Korea “strongly denounces the attack on Iran by the US which … violently trampled down the territorial integrity and security interests of a sovereign state”.

They also called on the international community to “raise the voice of unanimous censure and rejection against the US and Israel’s confrontational acts”.

Iran and North Korea have maintained warm ties and have been suspected of cooperating in developing military technology.

The Associated Press news agency is reporting that satellite images of Iran’s Natanz nuclear site appear to show at least one crater following the US’s attacks on Sunday.

The AP said a hole of about 5 meters (16 feet) could be seen in images taken by Planet Labs PBC and Maxar Technologies. It said that the hole sits directly over the underground portion of the site, which includes centrifuge halls.

Iran has offered no assessment of how much damage has been done at the site. Previous Israeli strikes destroyed an above-ground centrifuge hall, as well as all of the power equipment at the site, likely cutting its electrical supply.

Satellite images of the Fordow nuclear site, which also came under attack, also shows damage at three locations – two craters resulting from bunker-busting bombs, and a damaged air defence site designed to shield the nuclear reactor.

Iran’s Press TV and Fars news agency are reporting that an Iranian mother and her six-year-old son have been killed in an Israeli drone attack in the city of Hamil in the central province of Kermanshah.

Fars news reported that the attack took place on June 21, hitting a truck and a passenger car.

The father and another child were also wounded in the attack and taken to hospital for treatment, the report said, citing officials in Kermanshah.

Dozens of children have been reported killed in Iran since Israel’s military operation began on June 13.

Translation: On the afternoon of June 21, the Israeli regime carried out a drone attack on the city of Hamil in Kermanshah province, targeting a truck and a passenger car. The governor of Islamabad-e-Gharb said: “In this attack, a mother and her 6-year-old child, Yasin Molaei, were martyred, and their father and other child were transferred to medical centres.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has expressed support for the US strike on Iran and called for de-escalation and a return to diplomacy.

“The world has long agreed that Iran cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon, and we support action to prevent that,” Albanese told reporters in Canberra.

He said that “the information has been clear” that Iran had enriched uranium to 60 percent, and “there is no other explanation for it to reach 60, other than engaging in a programme that wasn’t about civilian nuclear power”.

“Had Iran complied with the very reasonable requests that were made, including by the IAEA, then circumstances would have been different,” Albanese added, referring to limitations on enrichment.

Iran insists its nuclear programme is solely for civilian purposes, and the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has also rejected Israeli claims that Iran was on the verge of making nuclear weapons.

The US has bombed Iran – and Iran says it reserves all options to respond.

Al Jazeera’s Virginia Pietromarchi looks at the options Iran has:

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South Korean acting Finance Minister Lee Hyoung-il has warned of heightened volatility in global financial and energy markets amid the escalating tensions in the Middle East, according to the official Yonhap news agency.

Lee made the remarks while presiding over a meeting on macroeconomic trends and risks, citing growing uncertainty after the US military involvement in Israel’s military operation against Iran.

Iran holds the second-largest gas reserves globally and is OPEC’s third-largest crude producer.

“Global oil prices have already opened 2 to 3 percent higher today, signalling increased volatility in international energy markets,” Lee noted.

Lee said the government must be on high alert and closely monitor international energy prices and supply-demand dynamics, while stressing the importance of a quick and coordinated response, Yonhap reported.

South Korea is the world’s 13th-largest economy and the fourth in Asia in terms of gross domestic product (GDP).

France is sending a military A400M aircraft to Israel to evacuate citizens from the country, the foreign and defence ministries have said.

The flights are meant to supplement the chartered civilian flights already operating, the ministries added. Those removed from Israel on the military flights will be brought to Cyprus.

About 250,000 French citizens live in Israel.

The US president will meet with his national security team at the Oval Office in the White House on Monday afternoon local time, according to media reports.

The meeting comes as the US assesses the damage from its strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and Trump warns Tehran of regime change if it does not change direction.

The CNN broadcaster, meanwhile, says that Trump was initially scheduled to depart for the NATO summit at The Hague on Monday, but will now be leaving on Tuesday.

It is paradoxical that Putin wants to play a role in resolving one conflict when he is fully engaged in another.

But putting that aside, I think he does have a role to play, if he wants to, or he is allowed to, if the Iranians insist on it, whereby he completes the symmetry, if you will, between the United States and Israel on the one side, and Iran and Russia on the other side.

And that could actually be a formula whereby a symmetry is created.

The United States is supposed to lean on Israel and Russia will lean on Iran, and hence, there is a bridging of some sort, a communication going. But so far, I think Trump is not interested in a symmetry. He’s much more interested in dominating and dictating to the Iranians what to do and allowing the Israelis to finish winning, as he put it.

The Columbia University graduate student, who the Trump administration is seeking to deport for his pro-Palestine activism, has spoken to supporters in New York after his recent release from federal immigration detention.

“The US government is funding this genocide, and Columbia University is investing in this genocide,” said Khalil, who spent more than 100 days in detention.

“This is why I was protesting. This is why I will continue to protest with you,” he said.

Khalil, who was released on Friday, is a legal permanent resident in the US who is married to a US citizen and has a US-born son.

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The Kremlin has confirmed the meeting between [Russian] President Vladimir Putin and the Iranian foreign minister on Monday. This comes as analysts say it’s highly likely that Iran will offer Trump a compromise, and wants Putin to get involved as a mediator.

The Kremlin has not yet officially commented on the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, but the Russian Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned them.

President Putin earlier said that Russia would not get involved in the conflict militarily, as Russia is conducting its own military operation in Ukraine. Plus, according to Putin, this conflict does not have a military solution at all.

Russia has been supporting Iran for many years, since the beginning of this round of hostilities, too. Russia’s rhetoric has been very cautious about Israel too, as more than a million and a half Russian-speaking people from the former Soviet Union and Russia live in Israel today. Putin even called Israel an almost Russian-speaking country.

Meanwhile, Russia’s former president and the current deputy chairman of the Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, has said the Americans have not achieved much with their strikes on Iran. He also said that Trump, who came as a peacemaker president, has now started a new round of war for the United States.

The US president is dismissing Iranian attempts to downplay the damage from Sunday’s strikes.

“Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images. Obliteration is an accurate term!” he wrote in a post on Truth Social.

“The biggest damage took place far below ground level. Bullseye!!!”

As we’ve been reporting, Iran has yet to reveal the extent of the damage caused to its nuclear facilities. Satellite images of the heavily fortified Fordow site, however, show damage at three locations: two craters resulting from bunker-busting bombs, and a damaged air defence site designed to shield the nuclear reactor.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told an emergency session of the UN Security Council earlier today that the real damage to Fordow, which is located deep underground, remains unknown.

Giorgio Cafiero, the CEO of Gulf State Analytics, says Iran is unlikely to target bases in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

“Many analysts have been pointing to the possibility of this scenario. But when we look at the strikes that the US carried out earlier today on the three Iranian nuclear facilities, none of those operations took place from any bases in GCC countries,” he said.

“At the same time, in recent years, Iran has put a lot of diplomatic energy into improving its relationships with countries in the GCC and vice versa. Countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE have also invested a lot in Iran,” Cafiero said.

“If Iran were to retaliate against US bases in the GCC countries, that would really undermine the progress that’s been made in the relations between Iran and the Gulf Arab monarchies,” he said.

Oil prices have surged in early trade today amid concerns of disruption to energy markets after US air strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites.

As trading opened, Brent and the main US crude contract WTI both jumped by more than 4 percent to hit their highest price since January, according to the AFP news agency.

They pared these gains, however, and at about 00:30 GMT, Brent was up 2.2 percent at $79.20 per barrel, and the WTI was 2.1 percent higher at $75.98.

Economists at the Japanese MUFG financial group told the AFP that the “high uncertainty of the outcomes and duration of this war” could pave the way for a possible oil price increase of $10 per barrel.

Iran is the world’s ninth-biggest oil-producing country, with an output of about 3.3 million barrels per day. It exports just under half of that amount and keeps the rest for domestic consumption.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has slammed Iran’s support for Russia’s war against Ukraine and offered tacit approval of the US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.

“New waves of ‘Shahed’ drones are in the skies over Ukraine. We all clearly remember where Russia got such weapons. Iran’s decisions to support Russia have brought massive destruction and devastating human losses to our country, and to many others. This truly must stop. And it must absolutely not be reinforced with nuclear weapons,” the Ukrainian leader said in his nightly address.

“There must be no proliferation of nuclear weapons in the modern world. This must be emphasised. It is important that there is American resolve on this, the resolve of President Trump.”

He added that diplomacy should be a priority going forward.

“Diplomacy has to start working. Working everywhere: in the Middle  East, in the Gulf region, and here in Europe – in Ukraine.”

Award-winning filmmaker Ashghar Farhadi and other Iranian artists have denounced the “brutal attack” carried out by Israel, and backed by the US, against their homeland.

In an open letter to UNESCO published in Iran’s Etemad Daily newspaper, Farhadi, who is a two-time Oscar winner, and the other signatories said, “These days and nights, our dear Iran is going through turbulent and sad conditions.”

They said that despite the “dangerous situation”, Iranian artists, film actors, directors and cinematographers are rallying behind and “fighting for Iran”.

The letter added that the “military aggression” is also threatening the country’s cultural and artistic heritage.

Other signatories include Iranian-American actor Peyman Moadi.

We have more reactions from legislators in the US.

Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin has issued a statement saying that Trump violated the limits of his power, as set forth in the US Constitution, by ordering the attacks on Iran.

“President Trump’s actions in bombing Iran puts the US on the brink of a wider war in the Middle East, all without constitutionally required Congressional approval,” he said.

Under the Constitution, only the US Congress can declare war, although presidents can take unilateral military action in some circumstances, notably to thwart an imminent threat.

While Democrats have led the condemnation, some members of Trump’s Republican party have also criticised the attacks. They include Representative Thomas Massie, who has urged colleagues to vote on a bill that would assert that any military action against Iran must be approved by Congress.

On Sunday, Trump took to Truth Social to criticise Massie as a “negative force” who does not represent the Republican base.

Massie responded by saying, “[Trump] declared so much War on me today it should require an Act of Congress”.

Following the US’s attacks on Iran, Trump told the world that “Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated”.

Iranian officials, however, have attempted to downplay the significance of the hits.

Speaking on state TV, Hassan Abedini, the deputy political director of Iran’s state broadcaster, said that the three nuclear sites had been evacuated “a while ago”, and that they “didn’t suffer a major blow because the materials had already been taken out”.

Trita Parsi, the executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, says it is likely Iran had taken precautionary measures ahead of the US attacks.

He said that Iran’s most valuable nuclear asset is its stockpile of enriched uranium, and that “as long as they continue to have that, they still actually have very much a nuclear programme that still could be weaponised”.

Parsi added, “And I think we are going to start to hear from the Israelis in rather short order, that this was not the type of successful strike Trump has claimed, but they are going to start making the case that there needs to be a more ongoing bombing campaign against Iran.”

Read our full story here.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong says Australia supports Trump’s decision to attack Iran, while also calling for de-escalation and a return to diplomacy.

“We support action that the US has taken to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” Wong told Australia’s 7News broadcaster. “Iran cannot be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon.”

The top diplomat also told reporters in Canberra that Australia does not want to see escalation.

“We do call for diplomacy, de-escalation and dialogue because the world does not want to see full-scale war in the Middle East,” she said.

Australia’s conservative opposition has also supported the US military action, though the smaller Greens Party has condemned it as a “blatant breach of international law”.

The Reuters news agency says there are about 2,900 Australians in Iran seeking to leave the country.

Over the past two hours, we have been hearing sounds of explosions, some of them really massive, here in the capital, Tehran. We also saw, moments ago, interceptions by the air defence system of flying objects in the skies over Tehran.

Also, we’ve got reports about Israeli strikes on Parchin, a military site located in the southeast of Tehran, though this is not yet confirmed.

The activation of air defence systems has also been reported in different cities, including Karaj, Shiraz and now Tabriz, an Iranian city located in the northeastern part of the country.

In terms of the public sentiment here, there’s a mix. People are increasingly angry, specifically after the US strikes targeting the three important nuclear facilities of the country. There’s also anger at the fact that previous strikes by the Israelis caused casualties among civilians. Many women and children were killed, and residential buildings were flattened.

We are also seeing a strong sense of solidarity among the people. We had a massive demonstration against the US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in Tehran. And also, it goes without saying, that there is this anxiety and concern about the future of the country among many citizens, as they are seeing the country being targeted.

Al Jazeera is reporting from Jordan because it has been banned in Israel and the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli military has said they’ve identified launches from Iran.

We actually were able to see some of those interceptions in the skies over Amman because those missiles have to pass through both Iraqi and Jordanian airspace to make their way into Israel.

This would be the 21st ballistic missile launch that the Iranians have sent to Israel since this all started 11 days ago, when Israel began attacking Iranian nuclear and military targets.

Now, earlier on Sunday, the Israeli military said that there had been at least 10 different impacts from the missiles that were launched by the Iranians. There were at least 80 people who were injured as a result of damage that was done in several parts of the country.

Since the conflict began, some missiles have bypassed Israel’s air defence.  This sophisticated weaponry that is being sent to Israel from the Iranians. You’re talking about hypersonic missiles, you’re talking about ballistic missiles that are precision-guided.

Earlier, we reported that Iran had shot down an Israeli Hermes 900 drone over central Iran.

According to Iran’s Shargh newspaper, the Hermes 900 was shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) over the province of Markazi just southwest of Tehran.

The IRGC deployed its “indigenous air defence system” to repel the attack, Shargh said in a post on X.

Last week, Iran released footage of a downed Hermes 900 drone after shooting it down over the province of Isfahan on the night between June 17 and 18. The Fars news agency reported that the air defence system was also activated over the Iranian capital and the western suburb of Karaj early on Monday.

There are questions about US President Donald Trump’s posting on Truth Social on Sunday suggesting that there may be nothing wrong with regime change in Iran – given that it is consistent with the statements made by the Israeli prime minister in advance of US strikes on Iran.

Netanyahu had said the Iranian people should rise up and that the Israeli operation could certainly result in regime change.

Analysts have said that this could lead to instability as well as a security vacuum, but there are even broader questions about why the US president is suggesting the possibility of regime change, given his own secretary of defence and his vice president have said the mission was about the exact opposite.

Meantime, there are new details about that US operation. US media is reporting that the president was in control, not the Pentagon, with a US official saying that this strike was not a Pentagon operation. It was a Donald Trump operation. He chose the plans. He chose the day.

Given there has been the strike by the United States, there is now concern about retaliation by Iran, specifically given the fact that there are 40,000 troops based in the region, and there are also concerns about attacks here in the US, perhaps on infrastructure, like cyber attacks on the banking system or even on energy grids.

That is why many on Capitol Hill are now demanding an intelligence briefing, something they say should have happened prior to the president taking action.

The Iranian foreign minister has arrived in Moscow for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Abbas Araghchi told reporters that Russia and Iran have “common concerns and common enemies”, and that he and the Russian leader will have “close consultations with each other to confront common challenges and threats”.

“In these new critical circumstances where the international system is actually under threat, our consultations with Russia can certainly be of great importance, and we are trying to coordinate each other’s positions,” he said.

“Now that special circumstances prevail in the region, it is necessary for Iran and Russia to have more precise, serious and closer consultations.”

The foreign minister also said that he hoped the UN Security Council would take “practical steps” in condemning the US attack, adding that he “appreciated” Russia’s position.

On Sunday, Russia joined China in pushing for a ceasefire in the fighting at an emergency UNSC meeting.

• US President Donald Trump hints at a possible regime change in Tehran, a day after attacking Iran’s nuclear sites, saying in a social media post: “If the current Iranian regime is unable to make Iran great again, why wouldn’t there be a regime change?”
• The Pentagon confirms it launched B-2 stealth bombers from the US to target the Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites with 14 bunker-buster bombs and some 75 precision-guided missiles.
• Israel continues attacks on Iran, carrying out another wave of air raids on Tehran and western parts of the country and claiming hits on missile launchers, satellite facilities and military radar sites.
• Iran has yet to reveal the extent of the damage caused to its nuclear facilities or outline its full response. But it launched a fresh barrage of missiles into Israel that wounded dozens and flattened buildings in Tel Aviv.
• The UN Security Council has been meeting on the situation in Iran, with China, Russia and Pakistan urging a vote on a draft resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.
• Israel also continues its attacks on Gaza, killing at least 37 Palestinians across the Strip on Sunday, including eight people who were seeking food aid.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the conflict between Israel and Iran, as well as Israel’s war on Gaza.

Stay with us for the latest updates, reactions and analysis.

You can find all our updates from Sunday, June 22, here.