US imposes sanctions on companies with ties to Iran The United States is imposing new sanctions on companies and individuals with ties to Iran, the Treasury Department reports. It concerns twenty companies, three ships and five people. Of the five people, four come from Yemen and one from China. A few of the companies also come from those countries. The US has been imposing sanctions on Iran and on companies doing business with Iran for years. The Americans want to increase the pressure on the Iranian regime in order to agree to a deal on the nuclear program.
Dutch embassy in Tel Aviv will partially reopen The Dutch embassy in Tel Aviv will reopen for part of the day to issue passports and urgent consular matters, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports. Passports can be picked up between 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM.
The embassy closed last Friday. The night before, Israel attacked Iran. “At the direction of the Israeli Home Front Command (HFC), only essential facilities were allowed to be open, such as hospitals and supermarkets,” the ministry writes. “That guideline is now being slightly relaxed: workplaces with protected areas may partially resume their activities.”
The number of injured as a result of the Iranian attacks earlier today has now risen to seventeen. Nothing is yet known about fatalities.
Iranian Foreign Minister: Attack on nuclear power plant is a war crime Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi also said in the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that the Israeli attacks on nuclear facilities are a serious war crime. Israel is bombing them because it claims that Iran wants to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran has been denying this for years and says it is only carrying out nuclear research and wants to use nuclear energy.
According to the minister, Iran was close to an agreement with the US when the Israelis attacked a week ago. He called that “an Israeli betrayal” of American diplomacy.
Israeli attack is according to Iranian Foreign Minister ‘historic moment’ The Israeli attack on Iran is, according to the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, a “historic moment for human civilization”. In a speech to the UN Human Rights Council, Abbas Araghchi said that Israel attacked his country “in the midst of an ongoing diplomatic process” with the US over Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
Araghchi spoke prior to talks with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom, France and Germany, intended to de-escalate the conflict between Iran and Israel and to resume diplomatic negotiations on Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
According to the BBC, at least two Israelis were injured in the latest Iranian missile attack. One of them is a sixteen-year-old boy who is in serious condition with shrapnel in his upper body. The other victim is a 54-year-old man with shrapnel in one of his legs.
New wave of rockets from Iran to Israel Iran fired a new series of rockets at various targets in Israel on Friday. The air raid siren sounded again throughout the country, says the IDF. The air force has intercepted several rockets and emergency services are reporting to locations where impacts have been reported. Among other places, a large cloud of smoke is said to be visible above Haifa. The population is now allowed to leave the shelters again. Nothing is yet known about casualties.
UvA will temporarily not enter into new collaborations with Israeli organizations The University of Amsterdam (UvA) will temporarily not enter into new collaborations with Israeli organizations via the Horizon Europe research and innovation program. The executive board is awaiting the results of European research into compliance with the association agreement with Israel. With this, the UvA is taking “an extra step because of the persistent and large-scale violence in Gaza”. By not entering into new collaborations now, the UvA is preventing these from being difficult to terminate later, should that prove necessary.
Many thousands of Iranians will take to the streets on Friday to protest against Israel. According to a presenter on Iranian state television, it is “a day of solidarity with the resistance of the Iranian nation.” Demonstrators are showing portraits of prominent Iranian officials who have died in Israeli attacks.
UNHCR takes into account large numbers of Iranian refugees Due to the escalating conflict, the UN refugee organization is drawing up contingency plans for displacements within Iran and in neighboring countries. According to UNHCR director Filippo Grandi, there are unconfirmed reports of Iranians who have already fled to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.
So far, no country has asked the UNHCR for help, Grandi reports. He emphasizes that Iran is hosting more refugees than any other country, including 3.5 million Afghan migrants.
Ship with fifteen hundred Israelis stranded abroad arrived in Ashdod A ship with fifteen hundred Israelis stranded abroad by the war with Iran has arrived in the Israeli port city of Ashdod. Due to the Iranian attacks, civil aviation to and from Israel has virtually come to a standstill. As a result, many Israelis were unable to return to their home country.
The ship had departed from Cyprus. That EU member state is about 350 kilometers from Ashdod. According to Israeli media, another 6,500 people are waiting in Cyprus to return to Israel.
Israel will attack more Iranian government targets in Tehran Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has ordered the army to intensify attacks on “symbols of the regime” in the Iranian capital, Tehran. The aim of this is to destabilize the Iranian regime, he says.
“We must attack all symbols of the regime and the mechanisms of oppression of the population,” Katz said in a statement. According to him, this also includes the Revolutionary Guard. Prime Minister Netanyahu has previously indicated that the fall of the regime is not the goal of the war, but could be the result of the attacks.
Major destruction in the building of the Iranian state broadcaster IRIB. An Israeli rocket hit there three days ago during a live broadcast.
In Be’er Sheva, in southern Israel, a crater was created by the impact of an Iranian ballistic missile.
Kremlin: Putin offers his services as a mediator Putin is willing to take on a mediating role in the war between Iran and Israel, the Kremlin has announced. “But it is difficult to say whether his offer will be accepted,” says spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Earlier, Trump had also suggested that the Russian president should mediate. The EU immediately rejected that proposal.
According to Peskov, the Middle East is plunging into an “abyss of instability and war”. According to the spokesman, the situation in the region is also potentially dangerous for Russia. Moscow has close ties with Iran, but is also “in dialogue” with Israel.
Germany wants to continue talks if Iran is ‘serious’ about nuclear guarantees Germany is willing to hold more talks with Iran, provided that the country is “serious” when it comes to limiting nuclear enrichment. This is according to the German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Johann Wadephul. “This requires Iran to be prepared to forgo any enrichment of nuclear material, which could lead to the development of nuclear weapons.”
A meeting is scheduled today in Geneva between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Iran.
Iran sees no room for negotiations as long as Israel attacks Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi sees no room for negotiations “with anyone” as long as Israel attacks his country. “We will not hold talks with the US because it is a partner in Israel’s crime against Iran,” the minister told Iranian state television.
In principle, despite his statements, Araghchi will be talking to his British, French and German counterparts in Geneva, Switzerland today. The three European countries had requested that consultation. Araghchi confirmed his participation on Thursday.
Emergency services are massively on site in Be’er Sheva, where an Iranian rocket hit a building complex where apartments are also located early this morning. Seven people were slightly injured, reports The Jerusalem Post.
Top advisor to Khamenei who was declared dead is still alive Iranian state media are now reporting that Ali Shamkhani, a top advisor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is still alive. Earlier this week, Iranian media reported that Shamkhani had died from injuries sustained in an Israeli attack.
The top advisor and former Minister of Defense of Iran is currently in stable condition, Reuters writes based on Iranian state media.
Countries close embassies in Tehran due to war with Israel Several countries are closing their embassies in Tehran. Australia has ordered all its embassy staff to leave Iran due to the unsafe situation. “We do not take this decision lightly. It is a decision based on the deteriorating security situation in Iran,” says Minister of Foreign Affairs Penny Wong.
In addition, the Czech Republic, Portugal, New Zealand and Slovakia, among others, have closed their embassies due to the ongoing Israeli airstrikes on the Iranian capital.
The Netherlands also has an embassy in Tehran. It is closed to the public, but the embassy staff are still at work. “Especially in these kinds of situations, it is important that the Netherlands remains present with a team that represents our interests on the ground,” reads a message on the embassy website.
Israel warns Hezbollah not to interfere in the war Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warns Hezbollah not to interfere in the war between Israel and Iran. Katz said that Israel’s patience with “terrorists” is running out.
Hezbollah said yesterday that it would intervene around the “brutal Israeli-American aggression against Iran.” Hezbollah is a major ally of the Iranian regime.
US involvement in conflict would cause ‘hell’ according to Iran Should the United States get involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran, that would mean “hell for the entire region.” That is according to a senior diplomat within the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in conversation with BBC News.
According to him, the conflict is “not America’s war”. If President Trump decides to get involved anyway, he will always be remembered as “the president who went to war that was not his business,” the diplomat states.
Trump said last night that he will make a decision within two weeks about American involvement in the conflict.
Among others BBC News and CNN report that during attacks on Be’er Sheva a rocket has landed on a building complex where Microsoft offices are also located. The British broadcaster reports that six injured have been taken to a nearby hospital.
In Tel Aviv, ordinary life continues, as far as that is possible. Every day people flock to the beach of the Israeli city to relax and sunbathe. This Israeli soldier plays a game of volleyball with a beachgoer at sunset.
British, German, French and Iranian Foreign Ministers talk in Geneva Today, the British, German, French and Iranian Ministers of Foreign Affairs meet in Geneva, Switzerland. They hope to end the conflict between Israel and Iran with negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program.
The talks are aimed at finding a “diplomatic solution” for the Iranian nuclear program. British Minister David Lammy emphasized that the United Kingdom believes that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon, but that no one benefits from “escalation” in the Middle East.
Iranian death toll at 639, Israel reports dozens of civilian deaths The American organization Human Rights Activists News Agency reports that 639 deaths have now been recorded on the Iranian side due to the hostilities. Among them are mainly civilians. More than 1,300 people have been injured so far.
Israeli authorities have so far reported “several dozen” civilian deaths.
Again nightly air strikes back and forth Also last night, Israel and Iran bombarded each other back and forth with rockets. The Israeli army reports that it carried out attacks last night on dozens of military targets in Iran, including on the Organization for Defensive Innovation and Research. According to the army, that is involved in the development of nuclear weapons.
In various places in Israel, the sirens of the air raid alarm sounded due to Iranian attacks. In the southern city of Be’er Sheva, buildings were on fire after attacks, according to CNN.