DUBAI: Israel struck Iran’s state-run television station Monday during a live broadcast, forcing a reporter to run off camera following an explosion, after Iran fired a new wave of missiles at Israel that killed at least eight people.
In other developments, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli strikes have set Iran’s nuclear program back a “very, very long time.” He added that Israel is not attempting to topple the Iranian government, but said he would not be surprised if that happened as a result of the strikes.
“The regime is very weak,” Netanyahu told a news conference. He added that he is in daily touch with US President Donald Trump. As he spoke, large numbers of explosions were heard in Tehran.
Israeli air defence systems are activated to intercept Iranian missiles over the Israeli city of Tel Aviv amid a fresh barrage of Iranian rockets on June 16, 2025. (AFP)
Israel warned hundreds of thousands of people in the middle of the Iranian capital to evacuate ahead of the strike against the TV station, which the military said provided a cover for Iranian military operations.
The warning came on the fourth day of the conflict, when the Israeli military claimed it had achieved air superiority above the Iranian capital and could fly over the city without facing major threats.
The warning affected up to 330,000 people in a part of central Tehran that includes the country’s state TV and police headquarters. The military has issued similar evacuation warnings for civilians in parts of Gaza and Lebanon ahead of strikes.
Trump to depart the G7 early as conflict between Israel and Iran shows signs of intensifying
President Donald Trump is abruptly leaving the Group of Seven summit, departing a day early Monday as the conflict between Israel and Iran intensifies and the US leader has declared that Tehran should be evacuated “immediately.”
World leaders had gathered in Canada with the specific goal of helping to defuse a series of global pressure points, only to be disrupted by a showdown over Iran’s nuclear program that could escalate in dangerous and uncontrollable ways. Israel launched an aerial bombardment campaign against Iran four days ago.
At the summit, Trump warned that Tehran needs to curb its nuclear program before it’s “too late.” He said Iranian leaders would “like to talk” but they had already had 60 days to reach an agreement on their nuclear ambitions and failed to do so before the Israeli aerial assault began. “They have to make a deal,” he said.
Asked what it would take for the US to get involved in the conflict militarily, Trump said Monday morning, “I don’t want to talk about that.”
White House says US forces remain in ‘defensive posture’ in Middle East
US forces in the Middle East remain in a “defensive posture, and that has not changed,” the White House said Monday as Israel and Iran traded heavy strikes for a fourth day.
“We will defend American interests,” White House spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer added in a post on social media.
China tells citizens in Israel to leave ‘as soon as possible’
China’s embassy in Israel on Tuesday urged its citizens to leave the country “as soon as possible,” after Israel and Iran traded heavy strikes.
“The Chinese mission in Israel reminds Chinese nationals to leave the country as soon as possible via land border crossings, on the precondition that they can guarantee their personal safety,” the embassy said in a statement on WeChat.
“It is recommended to depart in the direction of Jordan,” it added.
Airports close across the Mideast as the Israel-Iran conflict shutters the region’s airspace
Israel has closed its main international Ben Gurion Airport “until further notice,” leaving more than 50,000 Israeli travelers stranded abroad. The jets of the country’s three airlines have been moved to Larnaca.
In Israel, Mahala Finkleman was stuck in a Tel Aviv hotel after her Air Canada flight was canceled, trying to reassure her worried family back home while she shelters in the hotel’s underground bunker during waves of overnight Iranian attacks.
“We hear the booms. Sometimes there’s shaking,” she said. “The truth, I think it’s even scarier … to see from TV what happened above our heads while we were underneath in a bomb shelter.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office warned Israelis not to flee the country through any of the three crossings with Jordan and Egypt that are open to the Israeli public. Despite having diplomatic ties with Israel, the statement said those countries are considered a “high risk of threat” to Israeli travelers.
Iran on Friday suspended flights to and from the country’s main Khomeini International Airport on the outskirts of Tehran. Israel said Saturday that it bombed Mehrabad Airport in an early attack, a facility in Tehran for Iran’s air force and domestic commercial flights.
Netanyahu suggests killing Iran’s supreme leader would end conflict
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday did not rule out plans to assassinate Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying it would “end the conflict” between the two arch-foes.
In a 20-minute interview with US network ABC News, the Israeli leader insisted his country’s deadly aggression to “defang” Iran was justified, and equated Khamenei to a “modern Hitler.”
But when asked about reports that US President Donald Trump vetoed an Israeli plan to kill the supreme leader out of concern it would escalate the Iran-Israel showdown, Netanyahu was dismissive.
“It’s not going to escalate the conflict, it’s going to end the conflict,” he said.
“The ‘forever war’ is what Iran wants, and they’re bringing us to the brink of nuclear war,” Netanyahu said.
Iran state TV, radio ‘about to disappear’: Israel defense minister
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Monday that Iran’s state television and radio were “about to disappear” after an evacuation warning was issued for the district in Tehran where the broadcaster is based.
“The Iranian propaganda and incitement megaphone is about to disappear,” he said in a statement. “Evacuation of nearby residents has begun.”
“In the coming hours, the (Israeli military) will operate in the area, as it has in recent days throughout Tehran, to strike military infrastructure of the Iranian regime,” the military said in a post on X in Persian.
Footage posted to social media appeared to show the strike hitting the building during a live broadcast.
READ MORE:Israel strikes Iran’s state broadcaster building
G7 has consensus on need for Middle East de-escalation, says UK’s Starmer
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday he believed there was a consensus at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Canada on the need for de-escalation in the Israel-Iran conflict.
“I do think there’s a consensus for de-escalation. Obviously, what we need to do today is to bring that together and to be clear about how it is to be brought about,” Starmer told reporters.
UN nuclear agency warns of possible contamination inside Iran's Natanz site after Israeli strikes
The head of the UNnuclear watchdog agency said that there is a possibility of both radiological and chemical contamination within Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz following Israeli strikes, although radiation levels outside the complex are presently normal.
The radiation poses a significant danger if uranium is inhaled or ingested, International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said.
The risk can be effectively managed with appropriate protective measures, such as using respiratory protection devices while inside the facilities, Grossi said.
“The level of radioactivity outside the Natanz site has remained unchanged and at normal levels, indicating no external radiological impact to the population or the environment from this event,” he said.
He said that the main concern inside the Natanz facility is the chemical toxicity of a gas called uranium hexafluoride, which is the result of fluorine mixed with the uranium during enrichment. It's extremely volatile, will quickly corrode, can burn the skin and is especially deadly if inhaled, experts say.
“Amid theses challenging and complex circumstances, it is crucial that the IAEA receives timely and regular technical information about the facilities and their respective sites,” Grossi said.
Without information, the UNagency “cannot accurately assess the radiological conditions and potential impacts on the population and the environment and cannot provide the necessary assistance.”
Grossi said that UNinspectors would remain present in Iran and inspect the nuclear facilities “as soon as safety conditions allow.”
He warned that “military escalation threatens lives, increases the chance of a radiological release with serious consequences for people and the environment and delays indispensable work towards a diplomatic solution for the long-term assurance that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon.”
‘It’s terrifying’: Israeli citizens describe the moment the Iranian missiles hit
Guydo Tetelbaun was in his apartment in Tel Aviv when the alerts came in shortly after 4 a.m. (0100 GMT).
“As usual, we went into the (shelter) that’s right across the street there. And within minutes, the door of the (shelter) blew in,” the 31-year-old chef said.
“A couple of people came in bloody, all cut up. And then when we came to the apartment, after it quietened down, we saw there wasn’t much of it... Walls are caved in, no more glass,” he added.
“It’s terrifying because it’s so unknown. This could be the beginning of a long time like this, or it could get worse, or hopefully better, but it’s the unknown that’s the scariest.”
The pre-dawn missiles also struck near Shuk HaCarmel, a popular market in Tel Aviv that typically draws large crowds buying fresh fruit and vegetables. A residential street in nearby Petah Tikva and a school in ultra-Orthodox Jewish city Bnei Brak were also hit.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the latest attack employed a new method that caused Israel’s multi-layered defense systems to target each other and allowed Tehran to successfully hit many targets, without providing further details.
The Israeli Defense Force did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strikes. There were no reports in Israel of interceptor missiles hitting each other. Israeli officials have repeatedly said its defense systems are not 100 percent and have warned of tough days ahead.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement: “The arrogant dictator of Tehran has become a cowardly murderer who targets the civilian home front in Israel to deter the IDF from continuing the attack that is collapsing his capabilities.”
“The residents of Tehran will pay the price, and soon.”
Katz later issued a separate statement saying that Israel had no intention of deliberately harming Tehran’s residents.
Iranian Parliament pens plan to leave Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
Iran said Monday its parliament was preparing a bill to leave the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), adding that Tehran remains opposed to developing weapons of mass destruction. Passing the bill could take several weeks.
Israel is presumed to have a sizable nuclear arsenal but neither confirms nor denies it. It is the only Middle East state that has not signed the NPT.
Democratic senator introduces legislation to prevent Trump from using military force against Iran without permission
A Democratic senator introduced legislation on Monday to prevent US President Donald Trump from using military force against Iran without Congress’s authorization, as an escalating battle between Israel and Iran raised fears of broader conflict.
Tim Kaine of Virginia has tried for years to wrest back Congress’s authority to declare war from the White House.
During Trump’s first term, in 2020, Kaine introduced a similar resolution to rein in Trump’s ability to wage war against Iran. That measure passed both the Senate and House of Representatives, winning some Republican support, but did not garner enough votes to survive the Republican president’s veto.
Kaine said his latest war powers resolution underscores that the US Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the sole power to declare war and requires that any hostility with Iran be explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for the use of military force.
“It is not in our national security interest to get into a war with Iran unless that war is absolutely necessary to defend the United States. I am deeply concerned that the recent escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran could quickly pull the United States into another endless conflict,” Kaine said in a statement.
Russia remains ready to act as a mediator Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. (FILE/AFP)
Russia ready to mediate on Iran, and to accept Tehran’s uranium, Kremlin says
Russia remains ready to act as a mediator in the conflict between Israel and Iran, and Moscow’s previous proposal to store Iranian uranium in Russia remains on the table, the Kremlin said on Monday.
Tehran says it has the right to peaceful nuclear power, but its swiftly-advancing uranium enrichment programme has raised fears in the wider West and across the Gulf that it wants to develop a nuclear weapon.
“This proposal remains on the table, it remains relevant. But, of course, with the outbreak of hostilities, the situation has become seriously complicated,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
US President Donald Trump expressed optimism on Sunday that peace would come soon and cited the possibility that Russian President Vladimir Putin could help.
The leaders spoke in favor of an immediate cessation of hostilities. (FILE/AFP)
Putin and Erdogan condemn Israeli actions against Iran in phone call, Kremlin says
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan condemned Israel’s “act of force” against Iran and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities when they spoke by phone on Monday, the Kremlin said.
“Both sides expressed the most serious concern about the ongoing escalation of the Iran-Israel conflict, which has already led to a large number of casualties and is fraught with serious long-term consequences for the entire region,” a Kremlin statement said.
“The leaders spoke in favor of an immediate cessation of hostilities and the settlement of contentious issues, including those related to the Iranian nuclear program, exclusively by political and diplomatic means.”
The two sides agreed to remain in close cooperation, the statement said.
Iran tells Qatar, Oman it won't negotiate ceasefire with US while under Israeli attack
Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on Sunday, killing and wounding civilians and raising concerns of a broader regional conflict, with both militaries urging civilians on the opposing side to take precautions against further strikes.
Israel warned that the worse is to come. It targeted Iran's Defense Ministry headquarters in Tehran and sites it alleged were associated with Iran's nuclear program, while Iranian missiles evaded Israeli air defenses and slammed into buildings deep inside Israel.
An Iranian health ministry spokesperson, Hossein Kermanpour, said the toll since the start of Israeli strikes had risen to 224 dead and more than 1,200 injured, 90 percent of whom he said were civilians. Those killed included 60 on Saturday, half of them children, in a 14-story apartment block flattened in the Iranian capital.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he hoped a meeting of the Group of Seven leaders in Canada on Sunday would reach an agreement to help resolve the conflict and keep it from escalating.
Iran has told mediators Qatar and Oman that it is not open to negotiating a ceasefire with the US while it is under Israeli attack, an official briefed on the communications told Reuters on Sunday. The Israeli military, which launched the attacks on Friday with the stated aim of wiping out Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, warned Iranians living near weapons facilities to evacuate.
