Hello and welcome to this live blog. Here we will keep you updated on the rising tensions between Israel and Iran.
Iran warns US, UK and France not to help Israel in defense Iran has warned the US, UK and France that their bases and ships in the region will be targeted if they help stop Tehran’s attacks on Israel. This is reported by Iranian state media.
Pope calls on Israel and Iran to use ‘reason’ Pope Leo XIV has called on Iran and Israel to behave “responsibly and wisely”. “No one should ever threaten the existence of another,” he said on Saturday in St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.
Only a “sincere dialogue” can bring a safer world without nuclear threat closer, the Pope said. “It is the duty of all countries to work for peace and to choose the path of reconciliation and to propose solutions that guarantee the security and dignity of all.”
NYT: Iran expected major attack from Israel only after the weekend Iran was completely surprised by the major Israeli attack. Rulers in the country expected an attack, but not that it would come before planned consultations with the United States on the Iranian nuclear program on Sunday. That writes The New York Times based on conversations with six senior Iranian government officials and two members of the Revolutionary Guard.
As a result, Iran could not retaliate as hard as it wanted. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered a thousand ballistic missiles to be fired at Israel in retaliation. However, the Israeli attacks made it impossible to quickly move the missiles to launchers, the newspaper writes. In the end, Iran fired about a hundred missiles on Friday morning.
Iranian state television reports deaths in attack in Tehran Iranian state television reports that about sixty people have died in an Israeli attack on Tehran. Among the people are about twenty children. The numbers have not been independently verified. It is also unclear when the attack would have taken place.
In several places in Israel, the damage is being measured after the Iranian counter-attack. Among other things, suburbs of Tel Aviv were affected.
Israel kills two more Iranian commanders Two deputy commanders of the Iranian army have been killed in Israeli attacks. Iranian state media reported this on Saturday morning. It is not clear whether they died in the night from Friday to Saturday, or earlier.
Israel has already killed several senior military officials during the attack that started a day ago. Among them are Hussein Salami, the commander of the Revolutionary Guard, and Mohammed Bagheri, the chief of staff of the armed forces. The commander of the air force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard was also killed.
Iran calls nuclear talks “pointless” after Israeli attack In the period before the Israeli attack, Iran and the United States were indirectly in talks about a nuclear deal. In principle, a new conversation was planned for Sunday. But Iran calls the talks “pointless” after the attack by Israel.
“You cannot claim to be negotiating and at the same time allow the Zionist regime to attack Iranian territory,” said a spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Israel attacked Iranian air defenses with dozens of aircraft Israel has tried to “dismantle” the air defense in and around the Iranian capital Tehran, an air force spokesman said. Explosions were heard in several places in the Iranian capital in the night from Friday to Saturday. According to the spokesperson, Israeli fighter planes had not flown so deep into Iranian airspace before.
Mutual attacks also continued in the night from Friday to Saturday Iran and Israel attacked each other again with rockets in the night from Friday to Saturday, after the Israeli attack a night earlier. At least four people have died in Israel. A fire has broken out at an airport in Tehran. Read the state of affairs on Saturday morning here.