Media Report 2025.06.14
FPM Media Report Saturday June 14 2025
Iran launches barrage of missiles at Israel as Trump pushes Tehran to take nuclear deal
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-14/iran-israel-nuclear-strikes-donald-trump/103698520
In short:
Iran has sent “hundreds” of missiles towards Israel in response to Israel’s wave of bombings across Iran, which are believed to have killed a significant number of military leaders and nuclear scientists.
US President Donald Trump says he “tried to save Iran humiliation and death”, and insists a nuclear deal is still possible.
What’s next?
Talks between Iran and the US are still scheduled in Oman on Sunday, but it is not clear if they will go ahead.
Link copied
Iran has struck back at Israel over its attacks on Iranian military and nuclear targets, firing hundreds of ballistic missiles into the country, Iran’s state media says.
Warning sirens sounded around Israel and explosions were heard above Jerusalem and the capital, Tel Aviv, where huge plumes of smoke were seen rising above the city skyline just after 9pm on Friday, local time (4am Saturday AEST).
Israel said its Iron Dome defence system had intercepted many of the missiles. The US military also helped shoot down missiles headed towards Israel, two US officials told Reuters.
But paramedics said they were treating five people in Tel Aviv: one in a moderate condition, and four others with light injuries from shrapnel.
The rapidly escalating conflict has ignited global fears of a devastating new war in the region. The UN Security Council convened an emergency meeting at Tehran’s request.
The missile barrage was the second retaliatory attack since Israel struck more than 200 sites across Iran on Friday, including the country’s two major nuclear facilities, killing military leaders and nuclear scientists. Iran said the strikes represented a declaration of war.
The first wave of retaliatory attacks saw Iran launch more than 100 drones towards Israel, though most were intercepted well before they entered Israeli airspace.
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Israel had started a war, and it would not be allowed to do “hit and run” attacks without grave consequences.
“The Zionist regime [Israel] will not remain unscathed from the consequences of its crime,” he said in a statement. “The Iranian nation must be guaranteed that our response will not be half-measured.”
The United States has been urging Iran to come back to the negotiating table after Friday’s strikes, which US President Donald Trump said America had prior knowledge of, but no involvement in.
“We knew everything, and I tried to save Iran humiliation and death,” he told the Reuters news agency.
“I tried to save them very hard because I would have loved to have seen a deal worked out.
“They can still work out a deal however, it’s not too late.”
US special envoy Steve Witkoff is scheduled to meet an Iranian delegation for talks in Oman on Sunday. It would be the sixth round of negotiations over a possible deal to halt Iran’s progress towards building a possible nuclear weapon.
But Mr Trump told Reuters he was now unsure if they would take place.
He said it was unclear if Iran still had a nuclear program after Israel’s strikes on the country, and he was not concerned about a regional war breaking out.
Later on Friday, a White House official said Mr Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had spoken amid the escalating conflict.
Strikes follow nuclear warning
Israel’s initial strikes blasted Iran’s huge underground nuclear site, wiped out its entire top echelon of military commanders and killed nuclear scientists in the biggest ever direct attack between the foes.
Iran said “the gates of hell will open” in retaliation, while Mr Netanyahu said the strikes were only the start of Israel’s campaign.
“Moments ago, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival,” Mr Netanyahu said early on Friday in a televised address that invoked the failure of the world to prevent the Holocaust in World War Two.
Israel’s operation “will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat,” he said. “Generations from now, history will record our generation stood its ground, acted in time and secured our common future.”
Iranian media reported that an Israeli fighter jet was downed during the strikes, and its pilot was detained. The Israeli military denied the report.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, confirmed the strikes hit both Iran’s main nuclear sites — the Natanz nuclear facility, in Isfahan province, and the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.
He said there was radiological and chemical contamination at the Natanz plant, but it was manageable, and its underground enrichment halls hadn’t been affected.
Shortly after the strikes, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel acted alone, without US involvement. “Israel took unilateral action against Iran,” Mr Rubio said.
Mr Trump had earlier said such strikes were likely, but they he did not want Israel to take military action while the US was trying to negotiate a deal with Iran.
The strikes followed a UN watchdog finding that Iran was not complying with its “non-proliferation” obligations, designed to prevent it building nuclear weaponry. Iran has long insisted its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only.
French president Emmanuel Macron said Iran bore a “very heavy responsibility for the destabilisation of the region”, and warned there was now a “risk of uncontrolled escalation”.
Military decapitation
Two regional sources said at least 20 Iranian military commanders were killed in Israel’s strikes. That would be a stunning decapitation of the military, reminiscent of Israeli attacks that swiftly wiped out the leadership of Lebanon’s once-feared Hezbollah militia last year.
Among the generals killed on Friday were the armed forces chief of staff, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, and the Revolutionary Guards chief, Hossein Salami.
Majr General Mohammad Pakpour, who was swiftly promoted as Guards commander, vowed retaliation in a letter to the Supreme Leader read out on state television: “The gates of hell will open to the child-killing regime.”
Anti-Israel protest
The strikes prompted an anti-Israel demonstration on Tehran’s streets. (Majid Asgaripour/West Asia News Agency via Reuters)
Twenty people Reuters spoke to inside Iran described an atmosphere of fear and anger, with some people rushing to change money and others seeking a way out of the country to safety.
“People on my street rushed out of their homes in panic, we were all terrified,” said Marziyeh, 39, who was awakened by a huge blast in Natanz, a city that houses the huge underground facility where Iran purifies the uranium that Israel said could be used to make a nuclear bomb.
Soldiers and scientists the faces of the dead after Israel’s strike on Iran
Scientists and military chiefs linked to Iran’s nuclear program are the only victims so far named after lethal air strikes by Israel.
While some Iranians quietly hoped the attack would lead to changes in Iran’s hardline clerical leadership, others vowed to rally behind the authorities.
“I will fight and die for our right to a nuclear program. Israel and its ally America cannot take it away from us with these attacks,” said Ali, a member of the pro-government Basij militia in Qom.
Iranian media showed images of destroyed apartment blocks, and said nearly 80 civilians were killed in attacks that targeted nuclear scientists in their beds and wounded more than 300 people.
Israel said that Iran had launched around 100 drones towards Israeli territory in retaliation on Friday. But Iran denied this and there were no reports of any drones reaching Israeli targets.
Iran said in a letter to the UN Security Council that it would respond decisively and proportionally to Israel’s “unlawful” and “cowardly” acts.
Australia has called on “all parties to refrain from actions and rhetoric that would further exacerbate tensions”.
“We all understand … the threat of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong said shortly after the initial Israeli strikes. “It represents a threat to international peace and security and we urge the parties to prioritise dialogue and diplomacy.”
Iran’s ability to retaliate with weapons fired by its regional proxies has been degraded over the past year, with the downfall of its ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria and the decimation of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
Reuters/ABC
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Netanyahu’s long ambitions to strike Iran’s nuclear sites could come at a cost
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-13/israel-iran-netanyahu-strike-nuclear-sites/105414830
By Middle East correspondent Matthew Doran
Hours before Israel launched strikes on Iran, Benjamin Netanyahu made a visit to one of Jerusalem’s most sacred sites.
At the Western Wall, the foundations of what the Jewish faith believes was the site of the Second Temple, the prime minister placed a note between the massive and ancient blocks of limestone.
“A people rises like a lioness, and lifts itself up like a lion,” the note read, quoting a passage from the Bible.
And so, the scene was set for what the Israeli authorities are labelling Operation Rising Lion.
One of the most frequently uttered phrases by Netanyahu and senior officials in his government and military ranks is that Israel is at war on “seven fronts”.
The prime minister sees threats in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, the West Bank — and believes much of it is fuelled from front number seven, Iran.
It’s that mentality which goes part of the way to explaining why Israel has launched massive strikes against Iran, in a major military escalation — an offensive which is still playing out.
Major escalation
The two nations are staunch enemies. The anti-Israel rhetoric spouted by Iranian leaders has been clear ever since the declaration of the Islamic Republic in 1979, and Israeli threats of action against Tehran have been readily made.
But these strikes are also part of Netanyahu’s own brand.
In an address to the nation, and to the world given he spoke in English rather than Hebrew, Netanyahu laid out the rationale.
“When enemies vow to destroy you, believe them,” he said.
“When enemies build weapons of mass death, stop them.
“As the Bible teaches us, when someone comes to kill you, rise and act first.”
It’s a major escalation many had feared, in the wake of Hamas’ deadly attacks against Israel on October 7 2023.
But it hadn’t appeared. Until now.
No longer pumping the brakes
Netanyahu has made no secret of his ambition to target Iran, and to escalate any attacks hitting the nation’s nuclear program.
In his remarks to the world, he said Iran was closer than ever to having a nuclear weapon.
But until recently, it had appeared he had been forced to pump the brakes.
The one person who seemed able to influence Netanyahu, the US President Donald Trump, had wanted to pursue negotiations with Iran on curbing its nuclear enrichment program rather than giving the go ahead to military strikes.
Israel’s leader was frustrated at that approach, thinking Iran was just buying itself time.
And someone who had described himself as the “best president in the history of Israel” was holding him back.
The talks had shown promise, according to the White House. A few rounds of indirect negotiations in Oman and Italy had brought the parties closer than they had been for some years.
But then, something changed. The US president himself started to publicly doubt whether a deal was within reach.
On Monday, there was a reportedly tense phone call between Trump and Netanyahu.
If the US president left the door even slightly ajar for Netanyahu to make a call to strike Iran, the prime minister kicked it open.
Although even after the strikes, Trump wanted talks with Tehran to continue.
“Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb and we are hoping to get back to the negotiating table,” he told Fox News.
“We will see. There are several people in leadership that will not be coming back.”
Residents in Tehran assess damage from Israel’s strikes
How will Iran respond?
The scale of the Israeli attack is still becoming clear, but details of the toll on Iran and some of its top brass have trickled out.
The head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the Iranian army and a senior adviser to the Supreme Leader are among the dead, while the Natanz nuclear facility has been hit.
Iran had been weakened after the last attack by Israel in October 2024 — a smaller scale series of strikes, targeting missile manufacturing facilities and air defences.
Its proxies across the region have also been hit hard — Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and the former Assad regime in Syria.
That will affect what the response to Israel’s attacks are — although Ayatollah Ali Khamanei has already threatened that Israel “has prepared for itself a bitter, painful fate, which it will definitely see”.
What do we know about Israel’s strikes on Iran and what might happen next?
Israel has launched strikes on dozens of targets in Iran, killing members of the country’s elite paramilitary unit and nuclear scientists. Here’s what we know so far.
The IDF revealed Iran had fired more than 100 drones at Israel soon after.
The United States argued Israel launched these strikes “unilaterally”, according to the Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” Rubio posted on social media platform X.
Support for Israel politically and diplomatically did not extend to military assistance in this morning’s strikes, it seemed.
Although it’s unlikely the Iranian regime will see it that way — particularly with the US moving to pull non-essential staff from the region.
The US will also be forced to defend Israel when Iran strikes back — and if US assets in the region are targeted, that response will only grow.
“Let me be clear: Iran should not target US interests or personnel,” Rubio said.
In some ways, what we’ve been seeing in downtown Los Angeles feels like an almost inevitable
While bombing raids may be a distant and difficult concept for populations in relatively safe corners of the world to comprehend, the scenes of children jostling and screaming in fear and desperation for whatever morsels of food are available have hit home.
Netayahu’s strongman brand
Netanyahu’s own mindset is important here.
The self-styled “Mr Security” took a battering after Hamas’ deadly attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023 caught the establishment not only on the back foot, but fast asleep.
His belligerence and stubbornness since has frustrated many around the world — believing his military has gone far beyond self-defence on a number of those “seven fronts”.
Protecting Israel is Netanyahu’s brand, and being a strong man is something he wants to project to his constituents.
While he may have lost support amongst the population for his continuation of the war in Gaza, and his inability so far to bring all of the remaining hostages held by Hamas home, that’s one conflict.
This, with Iran, is an entirely different equation.
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Iran launches barrage of missiles at Israel as Trump pushes Tehran to take nuclear deal
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-14/iran-israel-nuclear-strikes-donald-trump/103698520
Topic:World Politics
4 hours ago
In short:
Iran has sent “hundreds” of missiles towards Israel in response to Israel’s wave of bombings across Iran, which are believed to have killed a significant number of military leaders and nuclear scientists.
US President Donald Trump says he “tried to save Iran humiliation and death”, and insists a nuclear deal is still possible.
What’s next?
Talks between Iran and the US are still scheduled in Oman on Sunday, but it is not clear if they will go ahead.
Link copied
Iran has struck back at Israel over its attacks on Iranian military and nuclear targets, firing hundreds of ballistic missiles into the country, Iran’s state media says.
Warning sirens sounded around Israel and explosions were heard above Jerusalem and the capital, Tel Aviv, where huge plumes of smoke were seen rising above the city skyline just after 9pm on Friday, local time (4am Saturday AEST).
Israel said its Iron Dome defence system had intercepted many of the missiles. The US military also helped shoot down missiles headed towards Israel, two US officials told Reuters.
But paramedics said they were treating five people in Tel Aviv: one in a moderate condition, and four others with light injuries from shrapnel.
The rapidly escalating conflict has ignited global fears of a devastating new war in the region. The UN Security Council convened an emergency meeting at Tehran’s request.
The missile barrage was the second retaliatory attack since Israel struck more than 200 sites across Iran on Friday, including the country’s two major nuclear facilities, killing military leaders and nuclear scientists. Iran said the strikes represented a declaration of war.
The first wave of retaliatory attacks saw Iran launch more than 100 drones towards Israel, though most were intercepted well before they entered Israeli airspace.
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Israel had started a war, and it would not be allowed to do “hit and run” attacks without grave consequences.
“The Zionist regime [Israel] will not remain unscathed from the consequences of its crime,” he said in a statement. “The Iranian nation must be guaranteed that our response will not be half-measured.”
The United States has been urging Iran to come back to the negotiating table after Friday’s strikes, which US President Donald Trump said America had prior knowledge of, but no involvement in.
“We knew everything, and I tried to save Iran humiliation and death,” he told the Reuters news agency.
“I tried to save them very hard because I would have loved to have seen a deal worked out.
“They can still work out a deal however, it’s not too late.”
US special envoy Steve Witkoff is scheduled to meet an Iranian delegation for talks in Oman on Sunday. It would be the sixth round of negotiations over a possible deal to halt Iran’s progress towards building a possible nuclear weapon.
But Mr Trump told Reuters he was now unsure if they would take place.
He said it was unclear if Iran still had a nuclear program after Israel’s strikes on the country, and he was not concerned about a regional war breaking out.
Later on Friday, a White House official said Mr Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had spoken amid the escalating conflict.
Strikes follow nuclear warning
Israel’s initial strikes blasted Iran’s huge underground nuclear site, wiped out its entire top echelon of military commanders and killed nuclear scientists in the biggest ever direct attack between the foes.
Iran said “the gates of hell will open” in retaliation, while Mr Netanyahu said the strikes were only the start of Israel’s campaign.
“Moments ago, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival,” Mr Netanyahu said early on Friday in a televised address that invoked the failure of the world to prevent the Holocaust in World War Two.
Israel’s operation “will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat,” he said. “Generations from now, history will record our generation stood its ground, acted in time and secured our common future.”
Iranian media reported that an Israeli fighter jet was downed during the strikes, and its pilot was detained. The Israeli military denied the report.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, confirmed the strikes hit both Iran’s main nuclear sites — the Natanz nuclear facility, in Isfahan province, and the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.
He said there was radiological and chemical contamination at the Natanz plant, but it was manageable, and its underground enrichment halls hadn’t been affected.
Shortly after the strikes, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel acted alone, without US involvement. “Israel took unilateral action against Iran,” Mr Rubio said.
Mr Trump had earlier said such strikes were likely, but they he did not want Israel to take military action while the US was trying to negotiate a deal with Iran.
The strikes followed a UN watchdog finding that Iran was not complying with its “non-proliferation” obligations, designed to prevent it building nuclear weaponry. Iran has long insisted its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only.
French president Emmanuel Macron said Iran bore a “very heavy responsibility for the destabilisation of the region”, and warned there was now a “risk of uncontrolled escalation”.
Military decapitation
Two regional sources said at least 20 Iranian military commanders were killed in Israel’s strikes. That would be a stunning decapitation of the military, reminiscent of Israeli attacks that swiftly wiped out the leadership of Lebanon’s once-feared Hezbollah militia last year.
Among the generals killed on Friday were the armed forces chief of staff, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, and the Revolutionary Guards chief, Hossein Salami.
Major General Mohammad Pakpour, who was swiftly promoted as Guards commander, vowed retaliation in a letter to the Supreme Leader read out on state television: “The gates of hell will open to the child-killing regime.”
Anti-Israel protest
The strikes prompted an anti-Israel demonstration on Tehran’s streets. (Majid Asgaripour/West Asia News Agency via Reuters)
Twenty people Reuters spoke to inside Iran described an atmosphere of fear and anger, with some people rushing to change money and others seeking a way out of the country to safety.
“People on my street rushed out of their homes in panic, we were all terrified,” said Marziyeh, 39, who was awakened by a huge blast in Natanz, a city that houses the huge underground facility where Iran purifies the uranium that Israel said could be used to make a nuclear bomb.
Scientists and military chiefs linked to Iran’s nuclear program are the only victims so far named after lethal air strikes by Israel.
While some Iranians quietly hoped the attack would lead to changes in Iran’s hardline clerical leadership, others vowed to rally behind the authorities.
“I will fight and die for our right to a nuclear program. Israel and its ally America cannot take it away from us with these attacks,” said Ali, a member of the pro-government Basij militia in Qom.
Iranian media showed images of destroyed apartment blocks, and said nearly 80 civilians were killed in attacks that targeted nuclear scientists in their beds and wounded more than 300 people.
Israel said that Iran had launched around 100 drones towards Israeli territory in retaliation on Friday. But Iran denied this and there were no reports of any drones reaching Israeli targets.
Iran said in a letter to the UN Security Council that it would respond decisively and proportionally to Israel’s “unlawful” and “cowardly” acts.
Australia has called on “all parties to refrain from actions and rhetoric that would further exacerbate tensions”.
“We all understand … the threat of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong said shortly after the initial Israeli strikes. “It represents a threat to international peace and security and we urge the parties to prioritise dialogue and diplomacy.”
Iran’s ability to retaliate with weapons fired by its regional proxies has been degraded over the past year, with the downfall of its ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria and the decimation of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
Reuters/ABC
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Middle East live updates: Iran launches missiles towards Israel, calls IDF strikes ‘declaration of war’
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-14/israel-launches-fresh-strikes-iran/105416104
By Patrick Martin, Joshua Boscaini, Tessa Flemming, and Rachel Wearmouth
Topic:Unrest, Conflict and War
4h ago
4 hours ago
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The Israel Defense Forces says Iran has fired missiles towards Israel, with warning sirens ringing out across the country.
It is the second retaliatory attack in the hours since Israel struck more than 200 sites across Iran, including two of the country’s nuclear facilities.
Iran said it views Friday’s air strikes as a “declaration of war”, and Islamic Revolutionary Guard chief Mohammad Pakpour vowed to open “the gates of hell”.
Follow developments in our live blog below.
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Israel’s defence force says it has struck a further 200 targets in Iran, with one of those sites a nuclear facility in Isfahan.
The military says the strike, conducted by Israeli Air Force jets, “dismantled” the Isfahan facility’s ability to reconvert enriched uranium.
In response, Iran launched hundreds of ballistic missiles towards Israel, according to Iranian state media, plunging Israel into a state of alert.
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, says that Israel initiated a war, adding it will not be allowed to do “hit and run” attacks without grave consequences.
Warning sirens have rung out across Israel and the country’s air defence systems have sprung into action as explosions rocked Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Paramedics from the Magen David Adom say they are treating people for injuries after rockets hit Tel Aviv.
11m ago
Iran could have made enough fissile material for multiple bombs within days, Israel tells UN
By Joshua Boscaini
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, has told the UN Security Council that his country’s strikes on Iran were “an act of national preservation”.
Danon says intelligence confirmed, that within days, Iran could have produced enough fissile material for multiple bombs.
He says Israel conducted the strikes alone.
“We waited for diplomacy to work, we watched negotiations stretch on as Iran made false concessions or refused most fundamental conditions,” Danon says.
21m ago
Air defences activated in Tehran: Iranian state media
Tessa Flemming profile image
By Tessa Flemming
Air defences in Iran’s capital, Tehran, have been activated to intercept fresh Israeli strikes, Iranian state media IRNA is reporting.
Reporting with Reuters
Key Event
28m ago
Iran envoy to UN says 78 killed, 320 injured in Israeli strikes
By Joshua Boscaini
Iran’s envoy to the United Nations Amir-Saeid Iravani says 78 people, including senior military officials, were killed in Israel’s strikes, while 320 people, mostly civilians, were injured.
Iravani accused the US at the UN Security Council of providing intelligence and political support for Israel’s strike on Iran.
The Iranian envoy says the US is complicit in the strikes.
“By aiding and enabling these crimes, they share full responsibility for the consequences,” Iravani says.
35m ago
US says Iran would face ‘dire’ consequences if it attacks American interests
Joshua Boscaini profile image
By Joshua Boscaini
Let’s go back to the UN Security Council now where an emergency meeting is taking place to discuss the events in the Middle East.
The United States envoy McCoy Pitt told the UN Security Council that the US was advised of Israel’s strikes ahead of time but that it wasn’t militarily involved.
“Israel advised us this action was necessary for its self-defense. Every sovereign nation has the right to defend itself and Israel is no exception,” Pitt says.
Pitt warned there would be “dire” consequences for Iran if it attacked American citizens, bases or other US infrastructure.
The US says it will continue to seek a diplomatic resolution to ensure Iran will never get a nuclear weapon or pose a threat to stability in the Middle East.
39m ago
Trump and Starmer discuss military action in the Middle East
By Joshua Boscaini
UK’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump have spoken over the phone about the situation in the Middle East.
A readout from Starmer’s office says the pair agreed on the importance of diplomacy and dialogue.
“The leaders discussed the military action in the Middle East overnight and agreed on the importance of diplomacy and dialogue,” the UK readout says.
“The prime minister reiterated the UK’s grave concerns about Iran’s nuclear programmes.”
Starmer’s office says the pair looked forward to speaking again at the G7 summit in Canada next week.
Key Event
49m ago
Calls for restraint ‘unjustified’: Iranian foreign minister
By Tessa Flemming
Calls for restraint from Iran in the face of Israel’s attack are “unjustified”, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has told his British counterpart David Lammy.
The exchange reportedly came during a phone call on Friday, local time.
Araghchi emphasised that Iran’s response to the Israeli attacks will be “decisive and definite based on the United Nations Charter”.
A man with a close up beard
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi talked to his British counterpart. (Reuters: Mohamed Azakir)
58m ago
In pictures: Missiles strike Tel Aviv
By Tessa Flemming
An explosion and puffs of cloud near apartments
Key Event
1h ago
IDF says it destroyed Hamadan and Tabriz military air bases
By Joshua Boscaini
Israel’s military says it has attacked and destroyed Iranian air force military bases in Hamadan and Tabriz.
The military says it is prepared to continue operations as long as necessary.
Iran’s air defence array has also been destroyed, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
Key Event
1h ago
People trapped in buildings in Tel Aviv, Israeli firefighters say
Joshua Boscaini profile image
By Joshua Boscaini
Israel’s firefighting service says it is rescuing people trapped in a high-rise building in Tel Aviv following Iran’s missile attack.
Firefighters say most of the “major incidents” are focused around the Dan area of the city.
“Firefighters are working in a high-rise building to rescue trapped individuals and extinguish a fire, as well as responding to two additional destruction sites,” a statement from the firefighting service says.
Rescuers in yellow in fron of a destroyed home
Rescuers search destroyed buildings in Ramat Gan, Israel. (Reuters: Itai Ron )
1h ago
Iran fires less than 100 missiles, Israeli military says
By Joshua Boscaini
The Israeli military says Iran fired less than 100 missiles on Israel in the latest round of strikes.
Military spokesperson Avichay Adraee says most of the missiles were intercepted or fell short.
“A limited number of buildings were affected, some of them as a result of shrapnel from the interception operations,” Adraee said in a post on X
Some of the strikes hit areas in Tel Aviv and injured residents, according to Magen David Adom.
Key Event
1h ago
‘I’m with you’: Benjamin Netanyahu addresses Iranians
By Tessa Flemming
A little while ago, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu released a filmed address, specifically addressing the Iranian people.
In it, he emphasised his desire for Iranians to stand up against “the Islamic regime which has oppressed you for nearly 50 years”.
He said his military objectives cleared the way to do so.
“The time has come for you to unite around your flag … by standing up for your freedom from an evil and oppressive regime,” he said.
“It has never been weaker.
“This is your opportunity to stand up and let your voices be heard.”
He ends by imploring Iranians to “defeat the darkness”.
“I’m with you, the people of Israel are with you.”
Key Event
1h ago
Radiological contamination detected at Natanz nuclear facility: IAEA chief
Joshua Boscaini profile image
By Joshua Boscaini
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, has just provided an update on the situation in Iran to the UN Security Council.
Grossi says the Natanz nuclear facility, in Isfahan province, has been destroyed and there is radiological and chemical contamination at the plant.
He says the contamination is manageable with appropriate action, and that it appears the underground enrichment halls haven’t been affected.
He’s also confirmed the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant has been hit.
Key Event
2h ago
US military helps shoot down Iranian missiles: officials
By Tessa Flemming
The US military also reportedly helped shoot down Iranian missiles that were headed toward Israel, two US officials have told Reuters.
The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, didn’t provide further information, including whether fighter jets or warships carried out the operation.
Reporting with Reuters
2h ago
Trump speaks with Netanyahu, finishes security briefing
By Tessa Flemming
There’s a lot of moving parts this morning.
We’ve just heard US President Donald Trump has wrapped up a meeting with national security aides.
White House officials haven’t given details as to how that meeting went.
Howeer, a White House spokeperson did say Trump spoke to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, local time.
Key Event
2h ago
ABC team captures footage of missiles near Jerusalem
By Middle East correspondent Matthew Doran
ABC’s own bureau in Jerusalem has also captured video of missiles over the hills east of the city.
Here’s a look:
2h ago
Missiles seen as far away as Beirut
By Tessa Flemming
This evening, Iranian missiles could be seen from as far away as Beirut, leaving behind yellow streaks like comets as they descended on Israel.
In other videos posted on social media, the missiles burned fast above Jerusalem’s Old City.
Associated Press journalists have also reported the rumbling of explosions sounding like a thunderstorm.
Reporting with AP
2h ago
Tel Aviv footage shows missiles striking and being intercepted
By Tessa Flemming
To give you a better picture of what Tel Aviv looks like right now, Middle East correspondent Matthew Doran has posted some Reuters video of Iranian missiles being intercepted and it appears hitting sites.
Key Event
2h ago
Third wave of missiles reportedly launched into Israel
By Tessa Flemming
It’s about 10 pm in Tel Aviv, and we’re just receiving reports from Iranian state television that a third wave of missiles has been launched towards Israel.
Key Event
2h ago
BREAKING: Injuries in Tel Aviv
By ABC’s Middle East Correspondent Matthew Doran
Paramedics in Tel Aviv say they are treating five people for injuries following Iran’s missile attack.
The Magen David Adom say one person is in a moderate condition and four others have light injuries from shrapnel.
They released this image on their WhatsApp channel.
Israeli authorities have not yet confirmed the nature of the damage in the city.
Emergency workers walk through a street lined with damaged cars after an air strike in a suburban city area
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Israel-Iran crisis latest: Explosions rain on Tel Aviv as Iran fires ‘hundreds’ of retaliatory missiles at Israel
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/israeliran-crisis-latest-donald-trump-warns-iran-of-more-brutal-attacks/live-coverage/4319df87f5b3900a13b529ecb84e1ccd
Lydia Lynch
Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept missiles over Tel Aviv. Picture: AP
Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept missiles over Tel Aviv. Picture: AP
38 Comments
7 hours ago.
Updated less than a minute ago
Welcome to The Australian’s rolling coverage of Israel’s military strike on Iran.
Highlights
Jun 14, 2025
5:34 AM
Iran targeted ‘civilian areas’: Israel defence chief
4:42 AM
Khamenei vows revenge as Iran launches barrage of missiles
1:31 AM
Iran will open ‘the gates of hell’
1:07 AM
Israel continues strikes on Iran
12:25 AM
Israel shuts global embassies
4:11 AM
Jun 14, 2025
What has happened overnight?
Lydia Lynch
Israel’s military said it had detected dozens of missiles launched from Iran and was working to intercept them. Video…
Iran has launched “hundreds” of ballistic missiles towards Israel as Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei vowed to inflict “heavy blows” to bring Israel “to ruin”.
Residents have been told they can leave bomb shelters but stay nearby.
It comes after Israel unleashed a fresh wave of attacks on Iran with army chief Eyal Zamir saying the country would continue its assault with “full force, at a high pace”.
Blasts were been heard in Tehran, and Iranian media reported two loud explosions were also heard near the Fordow nuclear site. Israel says it has destroyed the Isfahan nuclear power plant in central Iran.
It follows a surprise attack early on Friday, where Israel struck military and nuclear targets across Iran.
Yemen also fired a missile at Israel overnight, which fell in the West Bank. No interceptors were launched to neutralise the missile and the Red Crescent said three Palestinian children were injured by falling shrapnel.
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25 minutes ago
Trump, Qatar emir, Saudi’s MBS discuss how to de-escalate conflict
Anne Barrowclough
Iran has launched retaliatory strikes against Israel following what Tel Aviv described as pre-emptive attacks on Iranian…
Donald Trump has discussed the need to de-escalate the conflict between Israel and Iran in phone conversations with Saudi crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman and Qatar’s Emir Tamim, according to readouts from Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
In his conversation with MBS, the pair discussed the “need for deescalation, and resolving all disputes through diplomatic means,” according to the Saudi state news agency.
Mr Trump also held his second call in two days with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House has confirmed.
The White House hasn’t released a readout of their call
35 minutes ago
IDF destroys major air bases including Tabriz
Anne Barrowclough
The IDF has destroyed Tabriz air base. Picture: Israel Defence Forces
The Israeli military has attacked and destroyed dozens of Iranian military targets, including the Tabriz air base, the Israeli Defence Forces have announced.
Additional targets included the Hamadan air base and the regime’s air defence system, unmanned aerial vehicles, and surface-to-surface missile launchers, the IDF said.
Manwhile the majority of Iran’s two barrages of missiles have been intercepted or destroyed, IDF spokesman Brigadier-General Effie Defrin said. General Defrin said each barrage consisted of 100 missiles.
41 minutes ago
At least 41 injured, 2 critically
Staff writers
At least 41 people have been wounded, two critically, in Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel, according to Israeli media.
A woman sustained a minor head injury from fallen shrapnel while four other people were moderately hurt. The rest were lightly injured or suffering acute anxiety.
52 minutes ago
Netanyahu calls on Iranians to unite against ‘evil regime’
Lydia Lynch
Benjamin Netanyahu has appealed to the Iranian people, calling on them to “stand up against” their Islamic regime as he warned “more is on the way”.
“This is your opportunity to stand up and let your voices be heard,” he said to the Iranian people.
The Prime Minister said Israel was engaged in one of the greatest military operations in history.
“In the past 24 hours we have taken out top military commanders, senior nuclear scientists, the Islamic regime’s most significant enrichment facility and a large portion of its ballistic missile arsenal,” he said.
5:58 AM
Jun 14, 2025
Lydia Lynch
Tel Aviv has been impacted by ballistic missiles fired from Iran in the past hour. Israel’s ambulance service says at least five people have been injured.
Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency said “hundreds” of missiles were launched, though Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system intercepted many.
An explosion is seen during a missile attack in Tel Aviv. Picture: AP/Tomer Neuberg
5:39 AM
Jun 14, 2025
US military is helping intercept missiles
Agency writers
US Navy destroyer USS Thomas Hudner, capable of defending against ballistic missiles, was ordered to the eastern Mediterranean. Picture: AP /Mary Schwalm
The US military is helping intercept missiles that Iran fired in retaliation at Israel, a US official says.
The US has been moving assets nearer to Israel to assist in missile intercepts and to provide better protection of its bases in the region.
While the official did not say how the US provided assistance, both US Air Force fighter aircraft and destroyer-based missile defenses have intercepted missiles in previous attacks.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing operations.
Iran targeted ‘civilian areas’: Israel defence chief
Lydia Lynch
Fire and smoke rise from a building, reportedly hit by a missile fired from Iran, in central Tel Aviv. Picture: AFP
Israel’s defence chief has warned Iran “crossed a red line” by firing missiles at populated civilian areas, and said the Ayatollah regime would pay “a very heavy price for its heinous actions”.
The conflict between the two countries has intensified, with Israel’s fire service has said it was responding to “major’” incidents from Iran missile attack.
Iranian state media has also reported that at least two Israeli fighter jets had been shot down over Iran.
4:42 AM
Jun 14, 2025
HIGHLIGHT
Khamenei vows revenge as Iran launches barrage of missiles
Agency writers
Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed revenge for Israeli attacks in a recorded message to the nation delivered as Iranian missiles flew toward Israel.
Khamenei said the military was prepared to counterattack. “Don’t think that they hit and it’s over. No. They started the work and started the war. We will not allow them to escape safely from this great crime they committed.”
The rumble of explosions could be heard throughout Jerusalem, and Israeli TV stations showed plumes of smoke rising in Tel Aviv after an apparent missile strike. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The army said dozens of missiles were launched and ordered residents across the country to move into bomb shelters.
4:19 AM
Jun 14, 2025
Iran fires missiles into Israel
Lydia Lynch
Iran has launched missiles towards Israel, with residents ordered to seek shelter.
The Israeli military said: “A short while ago, the IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel”.
“The defense systems are working to intercept the threat. You must enter the protected areas and remain there until further notice,” it said in a statement.
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Why Netanyahu is going for broke: six things to watch out for
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/why-netanyahu-is-going-for-broke-six-things-to-watch-out-for/news-story/be73924931434c3967ff9bca07bd62e5
Israel had no option but to mount these strikes, and Iran’s military leadership was caught sleeping. Here are six things to watch for in the coming days.
Peter Jennings
Israel judged that it had one decisive opportunity to break Iran’s capacity to orchestrate violence against it. Artwork: Geordie Gray
Israel judged that it had one decisive opportunity to break Iran’s capacity to orchestrate violence against it. Artwork: Geordie Gray
Israel’s military strikes against Iran are broader than nuclear facilities, air defence and missile sites. Israel has also successfully targeted and killed potentially seven senior generals of the Iranian military and Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Moreover, it appeared the strikes were in waves, six at the time of writing. This is not a case of one big strike, then wait (literally) for the smoke to clear, assess the damage and strike again if necessary. Israel judges that it has one decisive opportunity to break Iran’s capacity to orchestrate violence against it. Benjamin Netanyahu is going for broke.
That means this conflict will last for some days. Iran is launching limited drone strikes in retaliation, but it remains to be seen if it has sufficient capability to launch a major co-ordinated strike against Israel.
Israel’s destruction of Iranian missiles and air defence capabilities last October, of Hezbollah and IRGC assets in Syria after Bashar al-Assad’s fall in December, and the current strikes have reduced Iran to the point that its response is ineffective.
It’s remarkable that, after so much speculation about military action, Iran’s military leadership was caught sleeping. I see nothing in current reporting suggesting that even a token air defence effort was mounted to complicate Israel’s operations
Right now, however, we are deep in the fog of war. It’s impossible to judge with any precision how things will develop. So I offer instead six pointers to watch in coming days.
First, look for indications of repeated strikes against Iran’s key nuclear facilities at Nantaz and Tabriz. It’s often reported that bunker-busting bombs can’t dig deep enough to hit the most secure facilities. I’m not so sure. Israel will keep hitting them to make certain they can’t be brought back online.
Israel launches barrage of strikes on Tehran
Israel says it has decapitated the “head of the snake” of Iran’s military, as Tehran confirms the barrage of strikes from the Israeli…
Second, major Israeli offensive cyber operations will be under way, which probably explains why Iran is not offering a co-ordinated response from working command-and-control facilities. How long will it take Iran to overcome this and get organised?
Third, watch the US Navy operating near the eastern Mediterranean. The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson is in the Arabian Sea along with the cruiser USS Princeton and a destroyer squadron. It’s not clear from public reporting what other US Navy assets are close enough to assist with anti-missile and drone defence against a likely Iranian strike, but something will be in place because this will be essential for Israel to defeat any large-scale retaliation.
Point four, the US has been quick to say it is not involved in the Israeli strike. That may be true as far as air operations are concerned but the US will be playing an important role in targeting, battle damage assessment, real-time intelligence, logistic support and air defence. That will become clearer in coming days.
The Australian’s Paige Taylor on the ground in Jerusalem as sirens sound across the city.
Point five, I expect Arab countries to stay out of this fight. They will be willing Israel on to succeed by destroying an Iranian nuclear threat to the whole region. Hamas will worry about losing its principal backer, so it will do what it can from Gaza to cause damage and distraction.
Point six: Watch the streets in Tehran. We may see young Iranians once again organising to challenge the theocratic regime. It would be foolish to predict the demise of the regime, but it is looking fragile.
Tehran made a massive strategic mistake to not keep the Trump administration hoping for a peace settlement. Remember that in 2019 Donald Trump abandoned nuclear negotiations with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. Trump never looked back once he realised that “Little Rocket Man” wasn’t serious about a deal.
Kim didn’t get a deal with Trump, but he already had nuclear weapons. The Iranians made the mistake of failing to keep the Americans engaged in talks without the security of actually possessing nuclear weapons.
Could it be that the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, will go the way of Saddam Hussein of Iraq and Muammar Gaddafi of Libya? Both squandered their nuclear programs before reaching the absolute security of possessing the bomb. Both lost power and met ugly deaths.
My view is that Israel had no option but to mount these strikes. Netanyahu was right to give the Americans the time to discover that Tehran was not a sincere negotiator, but, come what may, Israel had to destroy the weapons program.
If Israel is successful it will emerge as the unparalleled dominant military power in the Middle East. This may create a basis for returning to talks with Saudi Arabia as a potential signatory of the Abraham Accords. That outcome further marginalises the position of Hamas, and whatever is left of Hezbollah.
I’m not sure the current Iranian regime can survive though this, but a regime fighting for survival becomes even more desperate and deadly. Options might range from an IRGC coup and a brutal crackdown on the population or a popular revolution leading to a new political system.
In the face of such high-stakes strategic developments, it is noteworthy that Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s contribution to the debate on Friday was to be “alarmed by the escalation” and to “call on all parties to refrain from actions and rhetoric that would further exacerbate tensions”.
The Labor government’s preference is to wish for yesterday and pretend that today isn’t happening. Calling for restraint at this point helps Iran and hinders Israel doing tough but necessary work in the interests of all peace-loving countries.
Peter Jennings is director of Strategic Analysis Australia and an adjunct fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs. He is a former deputy secretary for strategy in the Defence Department
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This war has been a long time coming. Now it’s here
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/this-war-has-been-a-long-time-coming-now-its-here/news-story/9a8c1d10b43b6a5f215a123acc84e02b
Operation Rising Lion definitively brings to a close a 40-year period in which Israel and the Islamic Republic of Iran were engaged in war by proxy and by means other than direct, conventional confrontation.
The goal of the destruction of Israel was written on banners during the Islamic Revolution in 1979, and this objective has formed a key element in the effort at regional domination in which the regime in Tehran has been engaged throughout its existence.
This goal was pursued in subsequent decades via three main processes: Tehran created or sponsored existing political-military organisations on Israel’s borders to wage a long war of attrition against the Jewish state. The Lebanese Hezbollah group, which fought a successful insurgency against Israel in south Lebanon in the 1985-2000 period, was the prototype of these groups, and the most successful of them. Hamas and Islamic Jihad, among the Palestinians, are also component parts of this project.
Alongside this effort, Iran has for at least a quarter century been engaged in a clandestine program intended to bring it a nuclear weapons capacity. This project has been very close to fruition for some time, with Tehran possessing sufficient enriched uranium to produce eight to 10 nuclear bombs within weeks, should it choose to do so.
Iran’s extensive ballistic missile and now drone program formed the third component in its effort to project power across the region. Tehran has the largest and most diverse missile arsenal in the Middle East. Its deployed missile array includes the Shihab 3 system, with a range of up to 2000km, and a number of shorter range systems, including the medium range Fattah-1 system. The long proxy and clandestine war between Israel and Iran became more intense after October 7, 2023. Tehran attempted a partial mobilisation of its proxy forces in the period following Hamas’s surprise assault on Israel.
First Lebanese Hezbollah, then the Yemeni Houthis and the Iraqi Shia militias entered the arena, carrying out attacks on Israel and its allies. Finally, in April 2024, for the first time Iran itself carried out a direct attack on Israel using ballistic missiles and drones. Israel carried out a limited retaliation. A second attack came in October 2024, even as Israel’s war against Hamas and Hizballah raged. This time Israel’s response was much larger, crippling Iranian air defences. Iran promised retaliation.
But the momentum in this conflict has been with Israel for the last nine months. Hamas in Gaza has been decimated. Isolated groups of fighters continue to operate. But no ability for large-scale strikes on Israel remains. Hezbollah, too, suffered severe blows at Israel’s hands, and is a shadow of its former self. The Iraqi Shia militias chose to abandon the field. The Assad regime, enfeebled and isolated by the weakening of its allies, was devoured by its Sunni Islamist opponents in December 2024. The result: a window of opportunity emerged in which the Iranian regime looked particularly vulnerable, even as its maximalist goals and its closeness to nuclear capacity remained.
It therefore appears that with Iran and its allies temporarily weakened, Jerusalem has chosen to press forward its advantage, looking to severely and permanently weaken the regime in Tehran or, preferably, to bring about its fall. The result is that after four decades of feint and parry, stratagem and counter stratagem, the Jewish State of Israel and the Islamic Republic of Iran now stand four square against one another in open war. It’s been a long time coming. Now it’s here.
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Israel vs. Australia: differences highlight some home truths
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/israel-vs-australia-differences-highlight-some-home-truths/news-story/2f26b6b8afe83fe7c0e433b418166ac6
Labor should stop attempting to portray Israel as a pariah state and instead take note of its strong sense of purpose.
Chris Kenny
The sun rises over Jerusalem and its landmark Dome of the Rock mosque on Friday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement that a military operation was launched against Iran and would ‘continue for as many days as it takes’. Picture: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP
The sun rises over Jerusalem and its landmark Dome of the Rock mosque on Friday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement that a military operation was launched against Iran and would ‘continue for as many days as it takes’. Picture: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP
Even as Israel fights again for its very existence, Australia seeks to demonise it over Gaza when we would do better to learn from Israel. A comparison between our two liberal democracies is a study in contrasts – purpose versus ambivalence, progress versus atrophy, and confidence versus self-doubt.
Travelling the length and breadth of Israel in May, it struck me there were many similarities, even beyond the landscape and climate that are almost identical to my former state of South Australia, with Israel’s imported eucalypts completing the picture. The casual social habits, robust political debate and apparent egalitarianism are all of a piece with Australia, too.
But it is the contrasts that hold the potential lessons. If, for just a few moments, we stopped banning Israeli visitors, sanctioning Israel’s politicians and criticising its efforts to defend itself, we might learn from that nation’s resilience.
Steeled by the imperative of fighting for survival, the resolve and patriotism of Israelis are anathema to our carefree attitudes. They argue fiercely about everything – especially politics – which is why their Knesset is a place of diverse representatives and complicated coalitions.
It is an affront that Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong have joined other nations in sanctioning two hard-right government ministers. These Israeli politicians are democratically elected fringe-dwellers in a country that operates under the rule of law.
Their sanctioning was activist grandstanding by Labor, attempting to portray Israel as a pariah state, further damaging bilateral relations with Jerusalem and Washington, and raising questions about why the Prime Minister and his Foreign Minister have not sanctioned Chinese hardliners or extreme politicians in Europe, South Asia or Africa.
Still, for all their robust politics, Israeli politicians tend to agree on one point: they coalesce around the central idea of their country. It is one hell of a unifying principle, just the visceral understanding that their country must exist and they need to ensure it does.
This simple concept, front of mind in Israel for obvious reasons, does not seem to be so firmly held any longer in Western countries such as ours.
We constantly apologise for our history, visit the sins of the past upon the present and raise questions about our own legitimacy.
In Israel, compulsory military service is a fact of life that is embraced by all (except, controversially, ultra-Orthodox Jews) and has a major impact on Israelis in their formative years. Young Israelis told me that on first dates they did not ask each other which school or university they went to but which unit of the Israel Defence Forces they served in.
Left and right, young and old, recent immigrants and indigenous, black-skinned, brown-skinned and white, Israelis are a diverse lot who love to disagree. But they agree on a future for their nation, because if they did not it would be gone. With existential threats surrounding Israel since its inception, there has never been an opportunity for complacency. This is the antithesis of the modern Australian experience.
Fortitude, innovation and stoicism dominated our story from settlement until the post-war era and beyond.
But in recent decades our good fortune has invited indolence. How else can we explain our current lack of defence preparedness, backsliding on economic productivity, energy self-harm and widespread policy self-indulgence in immigration, education and foreign affairs? As a country we are busy making ourselves economically and strategically vulnerable, kowtowing to China and the UN while we lecture Israel and even thumb our nose at our major alliance partner, the US.
Our natural bounty leaves Israel in the shade. We have all the land and resources the tiny Middle Eastern nation does not, with more than twice the population and our own vast continent without a single shared land border.
Israel repeatedly has repelled military attacks from all its neighbours, and others, since immediately after it was formed as a modern state under the UN in 1948. In the past year it has been attacked by Hamas in the south, Hezbollah in the north, the Houthis from the east, and Iran as well last April, before this week’s long-anticipated pre-emptive strike at Iran’s nuclear facilities, which, according to Iran’s own leadership, loomed as an existential threat to Israel.
Relaxed and comfortable, Israel has never been. Existential threats mean there can be no arguments about what defence spending is required; they need to spend what is needed when it is needed.
By contrast, every reputable expert talks up the strategic risks in our region, but we indulge in a game of procrastination, considering spending more, sometime. Our luck may hold out. Or we could get caught out, badly.
Starved of energy, mining and agricultural resources, Israel makes the most of what it has and focuses heavily on its human capital. Its tech-led industries have become legendary, creating jobs and wealth to help secure the nation
According to Statistica, Israel has the highest proportion of workers in hi-tech industries, which make up 20 per cent of its GDP and close to 50 per cent of its exports. It is a top-three country globally for per capita investment in venture capital, has the second highest number of start-ups after the US, third highest number of Nasdaq-listed companies after the US and China, and it hosts research and development centres for companies such as Intel, Microsoft, Apple and hundreds of others.
This is the digital and AI world that Australia talks about joining but Israel is helping to drive. We need to get cracking.
If you want a dynamic economy and a secure nation, you cannot afford to make your energy expensive and unreliable. Israel does not have the luxury of being able to make those mistakes, which is another key lesson for us.
We are taking our economic and strategic security for granted. Perhaps the best place to start a rebuild is around that sense of national purpose, or cohesion – we might even call up the old-fashioned concept of national pride.
Our children are taught that our country has been unfair to Indigenous people, women, successive waves of immigrants and those who have arrived illegally. This negative read of history overshadows what should be pride in our unequalled immigrant and social success story. Students also are taught that we have raped the environment and pollute the world.
Again, this puts the proud reality in the shade: the agricultural innovation, irrigation, conservation and productive developments that have created opportunities and prosperity for all-comers.
Our national flag is shunned, or lost in a sea of others, and welcomes to country are overdone, fuelling resentment. Activists and politicians refer to our land being “unceded” – effectively declaring our country illegitimate – so we undermine the idea of Australia.
We have squandered something precious, and we need to reclaim it. We do not need jingoistic patriotism; that has never been our way. We just need to embrace the shared project of our nation.
Penny Wong in Canberra on Wednesday. Inset: Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. Picture: AAP
The sharp contrast with Israel struck me when I joined an emotional discussion with Vicki Cohen in Tel Aviv in May. Her son, Nimrod, is aged 20 and was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023, 615 days ago at the time of writing, when his IDF unit tried to block the Hamas invasion.
This distressed mother shared memories of losing her son for just a few minutes at the zoo when he was a toddler, a panic most of us have experienced, and compared it, heartbreakingly, with the ongoing panic of her current trauma.
Cohen was vitriolic in her criticism of Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu, slamming his actions and perceived motives, and she stridently demanded the government do more to free hostages.
Yet she told us her eldest son, Yotam, had served in Gaza and only a few months after Nimrod was taken hostage his twin sister Romi was called up for her military service.
I asked Cohen how she dealt with this strain, and she replied, resolutely, that she was proud both her sons and her daughter were doing their duty for Israel.
And there it was – personal cost, incalculable risk, animosity towards the political leadership, railing against the government, yet commitment to the country.
For me it was a gut-wrenching moment of human hardship and inspiration. We may have become an entitled lot in the lucky country. We may have forgotten that no one else owes us a living or owes us a security umbrella.
We may want to make sure we can defend ourselves, power ourselves and pay for ourselves, lest we are tested in the future. A first step towards pursuing those aims may be just agreeing that the idea of Australia as a free and democratic country is a bloody good one, for everyone.
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Israel’s strike on terror snake Iran signals long Middle East war
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/israels-strike-on-terror-snake-iran-signals-long-middle-east-war/news-story/74d71ad510930c705549078827014eb1
Greg Brown and Jack Quail
The Middle East faces a protracted war that could reshape the power balance of the region, after Iran launched its first wave of attacks in retaliation to Israel’s pre-emptive strike to destroy the head of its military and the heart of Tehran’s nuclear weapons program.
The US rejected Iran’s claim it was involved in the missile strikes that killed nuclear scientists and the military’s highest-ranking officials, and some experts warned that a regional conflict could be sparked if Tehran struck at US bases in the Persian Gulf as part of its response.
Israel’s strikes came after its spy agency, Mossad, conducted a “years”-long operation within Iran preparing for the attack. This included setting up a drone base near Tehran to shoot down missile launchers aimed at Israel, as well as smuggling weapons systems into the country that took out Iran’s air defences.
Israel’s missile defence systems are likely to face their biggest test in coming days. The Jewish state was able to neutralise the first wave of more than 100 drones that Iran launched on Friday as Israeli forces initiated a fresh wave of attacks on the cities of Tabriz and Shiraz.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a national state of emergency as Iran vowed “severe punishment” while claiming the “Zionist regime has brought a bitter and painful fate upon itself”.
Mr Netanyahu approved the deployment of 200 fighter jets in an aerial bombing campaign targeting nuclear sites in Iran, with the strikes aimed at preventing its near neighbour from producing a nuclear weapon.
Israeli missiles severely damaged the Natanz nuclear facility, Iran’s largest uranium enrichment site, while the attacks also decapitated the “head of the snake” of Iran’s military with a direct hit on the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, killing its commander-in-chief Hossein Salami and major generals Mohammad Bagheri and Gholam Ali Rashid, according to Iranian state media.
Mossad reportedly conducted operations that thwarted Iran’s capacity to launch retaliatory ground-to-ground missiles at Israel.
Mr Netanyahu said Israel was at a “decisive point” in its history, and invoked the lessons of the Holocaust – declaring “‘never again’ is now” and said the airstrikes were necessary to stop the existential threat of Iran’s nuclear weapons.
“We can’t leave these threats for the next generation,” Mr Netanyahu said, “because if we don’t act now, there will not be another generation. If we don’t act now, we simply won’t be here.”
Declaring he believed regime change was coming in Tehran, Mr Netanyahu directly appealed to the Iranian people by declaring “we do not hate you”.
“We have a common enemy: a tyrannical regime that tramples you,” he said. “I have no doubt that your day of liberation from this tyranny is closer than ever.
“And when that day comes, Israelis and Iranians will renew the alliance between our two ancient peoples. Together, we will build a future of prosperity, a future of peace, a future of hope.”
The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency this week passed a resolution finding Iran was not complying with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iran reportedly responded by expanding its capabilities to avoid nuclear-weapon detection.
Despite this, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres expressed concern over Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
US President Donald Trump said Iran still had time to reach an agreement “before there is nothing left”, and hinted that more severe attacks were already planned if Tehran failed to comply.
“I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the world, by far, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come – and they know how to use it,” Mr Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Friday night urged Australians not to travel to Israel, warning there was an “ongoing threat of missile and rocket attacks”.
Anthony Albanese said he was concerned by the military escalation in the region, although he declared Australia was “very conscious of the threat of Iran becoming a nuclear state”. Speaking in Fiji ahead of attending the G7 in Canada, the Prime Minister said the US had “been playing an important role” in pursuing peace between Israel and Iran.
“We want to see a dialogue,” Mr Albanese said. “We of course are very conscious of the threat that Iran becoming a nuclear state would represent to peace and security in the region as well.”
After the Iranian Foreign Ministry accused the US of assisting with Israel’s attack, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday (AEST): “We are not involved in strikes against Iran.”
“Our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” he said. “Israel advised us that they believe this action was necessary for its self-defence.”
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, accused Israel of having “opened its wicked and bloodstained hand to a crime in our beloved country”.
“By God’s will, the powerful arm of the Islamic Republic’s armed forces will not let it go unpunished,” he said several hours after the Israeli strikes on Iran.
“In the enemy’s attacks, a number of commanders and scientists were martyred. Their successors and colleagues will immediately continue their duties, God willing.
“With this crime, the Zionist regime has brought a bitter and painful fate upon itself, and it will certainly face it.”
Israel Defence Forces chief of staff Eyal Zamir said the military was mobilising “tens of thousands” of troops along its borders in anticipation of retaliatory attacks, declaring any strikes against Israel would come at a “heavy price”.
“People of Israel, I can’t promise absolute success,” he said in a televised address. “The Iranian regime will attempt to attack us in response. The expected cost will be different from what we are used to. We have been preparing this operation for a long time; unprecedented efforts have been made across all branches and directorates to achieve readiness against the tangible and present threat.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was among world leaders to call for “all parties to step back and reduce tensions urgently”.
US-based National Defence University professor Gawdat Bahgat said there was a risk the conflict could spread. “One option Iranian military leaders made it clear that they would consider is to attack US military bases in Gulf states,” Professor Bahgat said.
“If this happens, the whole Middle East, the whole Gulf region, will be in war and (there will be a) great deal of instability.”
Additional reporting: Mohammad Alfares, Sarah Ison
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In twist, US diplomacy served as cover for Israeli surprise attack
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/the-wall-street-journal/in-twist-us-diplomacy-served-as-cover-for-israeli-surprise-attack/news-story/c4214f1765d343bbb488a703ddd8eaff
Michael R. Gordon
US negotiations with Iran aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear program were widely seen as an important way to preserve regional peace. They ended up being the perfect cover for a surprise Israeli attack.
With a sixth round of talks between Trump administration envoy Steve Witkoff and his Iranian counterparts set for Sunday in Oman, Israeli and US officials warned of military action if Iran didn’t agree to end its production of fissile material that can be used in nuclear weapons.
Instead, Israel hit first, achieving tactical surprise for a devastating series of blows that killed three top Iranian generals and key nuclear scientists and hit sites linked to the country’s nuclear programs.
On Friday morning, President Trump, in a social-media post, wrote, “I gave Iran a chance to make a deal” but “they just couldn’t get it done.” He said the Israeli strikes were carried out because of Tehran’s intransigence and urged the Iranians to reach a deal “before there is nothing left.”
For months, Trump had regularly signalled his desire to give diplomacy a chance to succeed before any turn to military force, and Sunday’s planned meeting in Muscat was to be another step on a high-stakes journey.
Iran had been expected to respond then to a Witkoff proposal for a framework to resolve the standoff over Tehran’s nuclear efforts. The two sides were at loggerheads — the US insisted that Iran would eventually have to stop enriching uranium, which Tehran refused to do. But even amid signals that an Israeli strike was growing more likely, the expectation was that talks would continue.
On Thursday, Trump said he didn’t think an Israeli attack was imminent, “but it is something that could very well happen.” He also said Washington and Tehran were “fairly close to a pretty good agreement” but that Iran would need to make further compromises to avoid conflict.
Hours later, Israel launched hundreds of warplanes in several waves to hit targets across Iran.
“There is no question that the Witkoff mission was a major contributor to the surprise,” said Dennis Ross, who served as a senior official on Middle East issues during
Israel launched unprovoked widescale strikes against Iran on Friday, saying it targeted nuclear facilities, ballistic missile…
Democratic and Republican administrations. “The Iranians would have assumed that Israel would not attack while the talks were under way and a meeting was about to take place.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had raised possible attacks on Iran in a call with Trump on Monday, two US officials said. Soon after, the US began moving some diplomats and military dependants out of the Middle East. Trump administration officials told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that Israel was prepared to strike Iran within days.
Trump administration officials insisted Thursday night that Witkoff was still planning to attend the Sunday talks. But the possibility of a meeting with his Iranian interlocutor appeared uncertain with Tehran vowing to retaliate against Israel and some hard-line Iranian officials accusing Washington of being complicit in the Israeli attack.
US officials didn’t respond Thursday night to questions about when the White House first learned that Israel intended to strike before Witkoff’s Sunday meeting in Oman.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that the US wasn’t involved in Israel’s strike. But he didn’t rule out a US role in helping Israel defend itself against Tehran’s retaliation, a scenario that could draw Washington into the conflict and impel the Pentagon to rush more forces to the Middle East.
In a Truth Social post President Trump said he warned Iran during negotiations that Israel would strike. “It will only get worse!”…
The possibility that Israel might take military action against Iran has long been a concern for US administrations, which shared the Israelis’ anxieties about Iran’s growing nuclear efforts and the potential that they might eventually enable Tehran to field a nuclear weapon.
A major worry was that Israel’s air strikes could damage but not destroy Iran’s nuclear program because much of it was buried and dispersed. That might allow Iran to continue its nuclear program covertly. Another longstanding fear was that Iran might respond to an Israeli strike by lashing out at US bases in the region, Washington’s Arab allies and oil shipments in the Persian Gulf, which would draw the US military into the fray.
In pressing for nuclear talks with Iran earlier this year, Trump initially suggested a two-month time frame for negotiations to succeed. That deadline was reached on Thursday. The Israelis feared that the talks could drag on as Iran’s nuclear efforts advanced.
But there had also been more hopeful speculation for weeks that the threat of Israeli or American military action might enable Witkoff’s diplomacy by pressuring Tehran to yield to demands that it scale back its nuclear program and stop enriching uranium.
A man loads groceries in the back of his car as he stocks up with supplies in Tel Aviv on June 13, 2025. Iran called Israel’s wave of strikes on June 13 a declaration of war, while US President Donald Trump warned Tehran of
A man loads groceries in the back of his car as he stocks up with supplies in Tel Aviv on June 13, 2025. Iran called Israel’s wave of strikes on June 13 a declaration of war, while US President Donald Trump warned Tehran of “even more brutal” attacks if it does not make a deal on its nuclear programme. (Photo by MAYA LEVIN / AFP)
Yet after five rounds of talks in which the two sides appeared to remain far apart, it was the diplomatic process that enabled Israel’s military campaign
Taking a page from its campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel put a premium on strikes to decapitate its adversary’s military leadership even as it targeted key nuclear facilities. But doing that successfully required a surprise, and Israeli officials had to confront the challenge that they had long telegraphed their punch. Striking before Witkoff’s coming meeting in Oman offered a way out.
Trump has said repeatedly that he favoured solving the Iran nuclear issue diplomatically. “We remain committed to a Diplomatic Resolution to the Iran Nuclear Issue!” Trump wrote Thursday on Truth Social before the Israeli strikes were under way.
But Iran’s conspiracy-minded hardliners are already inclined to see an American hand in Israel’s military operations. And some former US officials say it won’t be easy for Trump to distance himself from Israel’s military operation.
Aaron David Miller, the former US Middle East peace negotiator, said that there are no indications the White House was so opposed to an Israeli military strike that it was prepared to put the US-Israeli relationship on the line. Israel, he said, was given a “plausible denial green light.”
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Australia calls for calm as Iran-Israel conflict erupts
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8991324/australia-calls-for-calm-as-iran-israel-conflict-erupts/
By Tess Ikonomou and Jacob Shteyman
Australia is calling for urgent talks amid escalating conflict in the Middle East as Israel and Iran trade strikes.
Iran has retaliated with drone attacks after Israel struck nuclear and military targets in the Iranian capital Tehran.
Israel hit dozens of sites on Friday as tensions soared after a United Nations agency found Iran was not complying with its nuclear non-proliferation obligations.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said any escalation in the region was concerning.
“We, of course, are very conscious of the threat that Iran becoming a nuclear state would represent to peace and security in the region as well,” he told reporters in Fiji.
“We want to see these issues resolved through dialogue and the United States have been playing an important role there.”
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the conflict risked further destabilising a volatile region.
“We call on all parties to refrain from actions and rhetoric that … would further exacerbate tensions,” she said.
The federal government’s Smartraveller website was updated on Friday with a “do not travel” warning for Iran.
Iran halted flights at Imam Khomeini International Airport outside of Tehran, the country’s main airport, Iranian state TV said.
Tensions had been building in the region as US efforts to reach a nuclear deal with Iran appeared to be deadlocked.
US intelligence previously indicated Israel was preparing for a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, as part of ongoing efforts to stop Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon.
US President Donald Trump on Thursday warned there was a “chance of massive conflict” involving Iran as Washington began pulling out diplomats from the Middle East.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has urged Iran and Israel to prioritise dialogue and diplomacy. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has urged Iran and Israel to prioritise dialogue and diplomacy. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)
Jessica Genauer, senior lecturer in international relations at Flinders University, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to attack Iran was likely driven by domestic concerns.
“Netanyahu faces political dissatisfaction with his handling of the Hamas-Israel war,” she said.
“Recent suggestions that Trump is turning away from a close friendship with Netanyahu is further eroding Netanyahu’s popularity.
“By attacking Iran, Netanyahu hopes to reinforce the fear of an external threat to Israel – and support for his government as competent and tough on security.”
The Iranian regime has been greatly weakened by domestic unrest, economic sanctions and the dismantling by Israel of proxy forces in the region – including Hamas, Hezbollah and Iranian supply routes in Syria.
But not responding to the attack would undermine the regime’s legitimacy, Dr Genauer said.
“So, we can expect Iran to respond … with drone and missile attacks against Israel,” she said.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned of “severe punishment” for Israel, accusing it of revealing “its malicious nature even more than before by targeting residential areas”, in a post on X.
Israel’s ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon said the “pre-emptive” strike was necessary to neuter Iran’s nuclear program.
“A nuclear-armed Iran poses an existential threat to the State of Israel and a grave danger to regional and global stability,” he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Senator Wong announced Australia would provide an extra $10 million to help with the distribution of urgent medical and food supplies to Gaza.
“The situation for the people of Gaza is catastrophic,” she said.
“Civilians killed by the thousands, people starving, children going without food and medical supplies, schools, hospitals and homes destroyed.”
Australia has contributed more than $110 million in humanitarian assistance for civilians affected by conflict in Gaza and Lebanon since Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel in 2023.
Australian Associated Press
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‘Avoid escalation’: World reacts to Israel strike on Iran
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/avoid-escalation-world-reacts-to-israel-strike-on-iran/news-story/3dbad282c03db7fc0fcd5d7968fea3f6
AFP
Rescue teams work outside a building targeted by an Israeli strike in the Iranian capital Tehran
Rescue teams work outside a building targeted by an Israeli strike in the Iranian capital Tehran
World leaders urged restraint on Friday after Israel pounded Iran, striking 100 targets including nuclear and military sites, and killing senior figures.
Here is a roundup of key reactions:
– ‘Cannot have nuclear bomb’: United States –
“There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end,” US President Donald Trump said on his Truth Social platform, adding that Israel has a lot of weapons thanks to the United States and “they know how to use it”.
Earlier in the day, Trump told Fox News that “Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb and we are hoping to get back to the negotiating table.”
– ‘Maximum restraint’: UN –
UN chief Antonio Guterres asked “both sides to show maximum restraint, avoiding at all costs a descent into deeper conflict, a situation that the region can hardly afford,” according to a spokesperson.
Guterres was “particularly concerned” by Israel’s strikes on nuclear installations amid the ongoing US-Iran negotiations.
– ‘Unacceptable’ and ‘unprovoked’: Russia –
“Russia is concerned and condemns the sharp escalation of tensions,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state news agencies, calling the strikes “unacceptable” and “unprovoked”, while the Russian embassy in Tel Aviv urged Russians in Israel to leave the country.
– ‘Deeply worried’: China –
“The Chinese side… is deeply worried about the severe consequences that such actions might bring,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said, calling “on relevant parties to take actions that promote regional peace and stability and to avoid further escalation of tensions”.
– ‘Diplomacy best path forward’: EU –
“The situation in the Middle East is dangerous. I urge all parties to exercise restraint and prevent further escalation. Diplomacy remains the best path forward, and I stand ready to support any diplomatic efforts toward de-escalation,” said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
– ‘Right to defend itself’ : France –
“France reaffirms Israel’s right to defend itself and ensure its security,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in English on X, calling “on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and to de-escalate” and “avoid jeopardising the stability of the entire region”.
– Avoid ‘further escalation’: Germany –
Germany, which for years expressed concerns about Iran’s “advanced nuclear weapons programme”, said it was “ready to use all diplomatic means at our disposal to influence the parties to the conflict. The goal must remain that Iran does not develop nuclear weapons”.
– ‘Dangerous escalation’: Hamas –
“This aggression constitutes a dangerous escalation that threatens to destabilise the region,” said the Iran-backed, Palestinian militant group Hamas, whose October 2023 attack on Israel sparked the Gaza war.
– Threaten to ‘ignite the region’ : Hezbollah –
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, long seen as the Iran-led axis’s most powerful group, said of Israel: “This enemy adheres to no logic or laws and knows only the language of killing, fire, and destruction,” adding that the “brutal” strike threatened to “ignite the region”.
– ‘Threat to international peace’: Iraq –
Iraq strongly condemned the attacks, saying: “This act represents a blatant violation of the fundamental principles of international law and the Charter of the United Nations, and constitutes a serious threat to international peace and security.”
– No ‘battleground’: Jordan –
“Jordan has not and will not allow any violation of its airspace, reaffirming that the Kingdom will not be a battleground for any conflict,” a government spokesperson told AFP after Jordan closed its airspace.
– ‘Dangerous approach’: Oman –
Nuclear talks mediator Oman said “calls on the international community to adopt a clear and firm position to put an end to this dangerous approach, which threatens to rule out diplomatic solutions and jeopardise the security and stability of the region”.
– ‘Strong condemnation’: Qatar –
Gaza mediator Qatar expressed “its strong condemnation and denunciation of the Israeli attack,” the Gulf state’s foreign ministry said, adding that the “dangerous escalation threatens security and stability of the region and hinders efforts to de-escalate and reach diplomatic solutions”.
– ‘Aggressive actions’: Turkey –
“Israel’s attacks on our neighbor Iran are a clear provocation that disregards international law,” said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a vocal critic of Israel and a fervent advocate of the Palestinian cause, urging the international community to “put an end to Israeli banditry”.
– ‘Reduce tensions urgently’: UK –
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “The reports of these strikes are concerning and we urge all parties to step back and reduce tensions urgently. Escalation serves no one in the region.”
– ‘Legitimate right to defend itself’: Yemen’s Huthis –
Tehran-backed Huthi rebels said they backed “Iran’s full and legitimate right to… develop its nuclear programme” and that “we strongly condemn the brutal Israeli aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran and affirm its full and legitimate right to respond by all possible means”.
Australians trapped in Israel as Iran attacks
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/middle-east/israeliran-strikes-iran-vows-strong-response-after-deadly-israeli-air-strikes/live-coverage/c172c7a6d5249f016203fb370e3d0da5
A contingent of high-profile Australians including Nova Peris are sheltering in a “tense and frightening” situation in Israel as calls to the embassy go unanswered and Iranian missiles rain down.
Desperate Australians trying to flee Israel have lashed out at the Australian Embassy, furious that it is closed while the country is under attack and say they have been provided with no plans to try and bring them home.
Iran launched hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel on Friday (Saturday AEST) and a cohort of Australians remain trapped in the war-torn region, trying to get assistance to come home.
Among those in Israel includes former Olympian Nova Peris who is bunkered down in Jerusalem and due to take part in a reception by the Israel-Australia, New Zealand & Oceania Chamber of Commerce on Sunday in Tel Aviv.
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says there are between 10,000 and 12,000 Australians living in Israel.
Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv is shut to all arrivals and departures until further notice.
There is also an Australian cohort of political representatives hosted by the Israeli Embassy in Canberra who have been in the Middle East for the past week and are also bunkered down in bomb shelters and safe rooms across Israel.
Former Sydney radio host Erin Molan is among the Australians in Israel unable to come home and said she “tried to register with the embassy this morning and they wouldn’t take our names”.
Australia’s Smarttraveller website has warned Australians in its latest travel advice not to travel to the Middle Eastern region.
“Due to the deteriorating security situation, we’ve raised our level of advice and now advise, do not travel to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories due to the volatile security situation, armed conflict, civil unrest and terrorism,” the website warns.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has been contacted for comment.
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Israel strikes Iran’s nuclear sites and top commanders as fears grow of all-out war
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/middle-east/israel-claims-attack-on-iran-as-explosions-ring-out-in-tehran-20250613-p5m76f.html
Dubai: US President Donald Trump has urged Iran to accept a nuclear deal to avoid further attacks in a series of comments that came hours after Israel bombed the Islamic Republic’s atomic facilities and killed some of its top commanders.
In an interview with ABC News, Trump called the Israeli strikes “excellent” and said there were “more to come”.
“I think it’s been excellent. We gave them a chance [to do a nuclear deal] and they didn’t take it,” Trump said. “They got hit hard, very hard. They got hit about as hard as you’re going to get hit. And there’s more to come, a lot more.”
Trump later claimed on his social media site that Iran had been given a 60-day deadline to sign up to a new nuclear deal. “They should have done it! Today is day 61,” he posted.
How Israel’s pre-dawn assault on Iran unfolded, moment by moment
Israel carried out a wave of airstrikes across Iran on Friday, targeting Iranian nuclear sites and senior military leaders, and raising fears of all-out war between two of the most powerful militaries in the Middle East.
At least four top Iranian generals, including the commander in chief of the army and the head of the Republican Guard, and six nuclear scientists were killed in the strikes, according to Iranian state television.
Explosions rang out across the capital, Tehran, on Friday morning, prompting Iran to scramble military jets to intercept Israeli warplanes.
Israel’s military said about 200 aircraft were involved in the initial attack on about 100 targets. Iran had launched over 100 drones at Israel in retaliation, it said.
“All the defence systems are acting to intercept the threats”, Israel’s chief army spokesman, Brigadier General Effie Defrin said.
Israel attacks Iran as it happened: IDF says Iran has launched more than 100 drones towards Israel; Iran’s top 3 military targets confirmed dead in strikes on Tehran
In neighbouring Jordan, air raid sirens sounded over the capital, Amman, as Iranian drones headed towards Israel. Jordanian state media said the country’s Air Force was intercepting missiles and drones in its airspace, the Associated Press reported.
Earlier, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Israel would face “severe punishment” for the strikes, which had revealed the country’s “vile nature”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the Israeli public that they may have to spend prolonged periods in bomb shelters ahead of an anticipated Iranian counterstrike. Schools in Israel were closed, as was Israeli airspace, and air-raid sirens were tested across the country.
But around 6pm AEST, Israeli media said an order to citizens to remain near protected areas had been lifted, suggesting that most or all of the drones had been neutralised.
Netanyahu said Friday’s strikes had targeted Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility, Natanz, and scientists working on a nuclear bomb, as well as Iranian commanders and its ballistic missile program, which he described as an existential threat.
“I told our security leadership: We have no alternative but to act swiftly,” he said. “We can’t leave these threats for the next generation. If we don’t act now, there won’t be a next generation.”
An Israeli security source said Mossad commandos had been operating deep inside the Islamic Republic before the attack and the Israeli spy agency and military had mounted a series of covert operations against Iran’s strategic missile array. Israel also established an attack-drone base near Tehran, the source added.
In an earlier video message, Netanyahu described the operation as “a decisive moment in Israel’s history” that would take “as long as is needed to complete the task of fending off the threat of annihilation”.
The head of Iran’s armed forces Hossein Bagheri, pictured with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in 2019.
The head of Iran’s armed forces Hossein Bagheri, pictured with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in 2019.Credit: AP
The Israeli military said Iran’s nuclear program had “accelerated significantly” in recent months, bringing Tehran significantly closer to obtaining a nuclear weapon.
The head of Iran’s armed forces, General Mohammad Bagheri and his deputy, General Gholamali Rashid, were killed in the attack, Reuters reported, citing Iranian state media, along with the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, General Hossein Salami. Israel also said it killed General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who oversees the Revolutionary Guard’s ballistic missile arsenal.
Two sources in the region said at least 20 senior commanders were dead.
The Revolutionary Guard, created after the 1979 revolution to protect the Islamic regime, is one of Iran’s main power centres and controls the country’s missiles. Iran has twice used medium-range missiles to attack Israel during the ongoing Israeli offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
In Washington, Trump said he was told of Israel’s plans in advance, but that the US military had played no role in the operation.
He expressed hope that Iran would continue negotiations over its nuclear program, which the US wants dismantled.
“Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb, and we are hoping to get back to the negotiating table. We will see,” he told Fox News.
Trump later suggested Iran had brought the attack on itself by resisting US demands in the talks, and urged it to make a deal “before there is nothing left”.
The aftermath of an Israeli attack on northern Tehran on Friday.
The aftermath of an Israeli attack on northern Tehran on Friday.Credit: AP
“I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal,” he posted on Truth Social, his social network. “I told them, in the strongest of words, to ‘just do it’, but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done.
“I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come – and they know how to use it.”
Trump said Iranian hardliners who resisted his call for a deal “didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now,” he posted, appearing to lead to Iranian military leaders killed in the strike.
“There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end.”
Elsewhere, Turkey condemned the attack “in the strongest terms”, calling it a provocation that violates international law and risks further escalation in the region.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said the attack showed Israel “does not want issues to be resolved through diplomatic means” and urged it to halt “aggressive actions that could lead to greater conflicts.”
Calling for “maximum restraint”, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites while talks with the US were under way.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi joined global calls for de-escalation and accused Israel of violating international law.
“At an extremely critical time when the US was negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran that would save the whole region and the world, a new vicious escalation,” he said on X.
The international atomic watchdog, the IAEA, said it was in contact with Iranian authorities and there had been no increase in radiation levels at Natanz. It added that the Bushehr nuclear power plant was not targeted.
Multiple sites in Tehran and other cities were hit in the attack, and the Revolutionary Guard’s headquarters in the capital was reported to be ablaze.
Flights at Tehran’s main airport were grounded, and flight tracking data showed commercial aircraft rerouting to avoid Iranian airspace.
Nuclear threat
The strikes come a day after Iran said it would expand its nuclear program, and the United States began pulling staff out of its Iraqi embassy, amid threats from Iran that it would strike American assets if it were attacked.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described Israel’s strikes as “unilateral action” and said Washington’s top priority was protecting American forces in the region.
“Let me be clear: Iran should not target US interests or personnel,” he added.
The US military was planning for the full range of contingencies in the Middle East, including the possibility that it might have to help evacuate American civilians, a US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced a “special situation” in Israel after the strikes and warned Israelis to expect retaliatory drone and missile strikes.
Trump and Netanyahu have disagreed for months over how to handle Iran, with Netanyahu wanting to use military force to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions and Trump pushing for a diplomatic solution,
‘Cat and mouse’: What we know about Iran’s secretive nuclear program
The president had been seeking a new nuclear deal to place limits on Iran’s disputed uranium enrichment activities, but the talks appeared to have hit an impasse.
Oil surged following reports of the strike. Brent rose as much as 13 per cent, jumping above $73 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate also rallied.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia was alarmed by the strikes.
“This risks further destabilising a region that is already volatile. We call on all parties to refrain from actions and rhetoric that will further exacerbate tensions.
“We all understand the threat of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program represents a threat to international peace and security, and we urge the parties to prioritise dialogue and diplomacy.”
Why is Israel attacking Iran?
Israel has warned for years that it would not allow Iran to build a nuclear weapon, something Tehran insists it doesn’t want, although officials there have repeatedly warned it could build them.
One Israeli official said Iran now had enough material to make 15 nuclear bombs within days.
The day before the strikes, Iran said it would inaugurate a new uranium-enrichment facility in response to a decision by the IAEA to censure the country over its nuclear program because it was not working with its inspectors.
Middle East at war
Netanyahu knew the lethal risk of striking Iran. But he did it anyway
Rodger Shanahan
Middle East and security analyst
Uranium must be enriched in centrifuges to produce explosive material for nuclear weapons. The process is complicated and requires dedicated, specialised facilities as well as technical expertise.
Iran and Israel have been locked in a shadow war for decades, with Iran, which doesn’t recognise Israel due to its occupation of Palestinian territory, using proxy forces such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen to attack Israel.
Israel has, in turn, been accused of being behind a series of assassinations and covert attacks on Iranian soil, many of them targeting nuclear scientists.
The two countries exchanged direct fire for the first time last year after tensions surged following the October 7, 2023, attacks. The most recent strikes were in October 2024, when Israel struck Iranian air defences and a missile factory in retaliation for strikes from Tehran.
AP, Reuters, Bloomberg
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Israel strikes Iran
The Age (& Sydney Morning Herald) / AP, Reuters, Bloomberg | 14 June 2025
https://edition.theage.com.au/shortcode/THE965/edition/9bed4d37-b04f-6fa8-b1c9-c7998354a513?page=b4fa8e69-b6b3-00a7-6aec-875c80dc5ea1&
Israel carried out a wave of airstrikes across Iran yesterday, targeting its nuclear sites and senior military leaders, raising fears of all-out war between two of the most powerful militaries in the Middle East.
Three senior Iranian generals, including the commander in chief of the army and the head of the Republican Guard, and six nuclear scientists were killed in the strikes, according to Iranian state television.
Explosions rang out across the capital, Tehran, yesterday morning, prompting Iran to scramble military jets to intercept Israeli warplanes.
The Israeli military said Iran had launched more than 100 drones at Israel in retaliation. “All the defence systems are acting to intercept the threats”, Israel’s chief army spokesman, Brigadier General Effie Defrin, said.
In neighbouring Jordan, air raid sirens sounded over the capital, Amman, as Iranian drones headed towards Israel. Jordanian state media said the country’s air force was intercepting missiles and drones in its airspace, the Associated Press reported.
Earlier, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Israel would face “severe much closer to obtaining a nuclear weapon. punishment” for the strikes, which had revealed the country’s “vile nature”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the Israeli public that they may have to spend prolonged periods in bomb shelters ahead of an anticipated Iranian counterstrike.
Schools in Israel were closed, as was Israeli airspace, and air raid sirens were tested across the country.
Netanyahu said yesterday’s strikes had targeted Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility, Natanz, and scientists working on a nuclear bomb, as well as Iranian commanders and its ballistic missile program, which he described as an existential threat.
“I told our security leader ship: We have no alternative but to act swiftly,” Netanyahu said. “We can’t leave these threats for the next generation. If we don’t act now, there won’t be a next generation.”
In an earlier video message, he described the operation as “a decisive moment in Israel’s his tory” that would take “as long as is needed to complete the task of fending off the threat of annihilation”.
The Israeli military said Iran’s nuclear program had “accelerated significantly” in recent months, bringing Tehran
The head of Iran’s armed forces, General Mohammad Bagheri, and his deputy, General Gholamali Rashid, were killed in the attack, Reuters reported, citing Iranian state me dia, along with the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, General Hossein Salami.
The Revolutionary Guard, created after the 1979 revolution to protect the Islamic regime, is one of Iran’s main power centres and controls the country’s missiles. Iran has twice used medium-range missiles to attack Israel during the ongoing Israeli offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
In Washington, US President Donald Trump said he was told of Israel’s plans in advance, but that the US military had played no role in the operation. He ex pressed hope Iran would continue negotiations over its nu clear program, which were due to resume this weekend.
“Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb, and we are hoping to get back to the negotiating table. We will see,” Trump told Fox News.
“There are several people in leadership that will not be coming back,” he said, noting that the US had confirmed the deaths of a number of Iranian officials.
Turkey condemned the at tack “in the strongest terms”, calling it a provocation that violates international law and risks further escalation in the region.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said the attack showed Israel “does not want issues to be re solved through diplomatic means” and urged it to halt “aggressive actions that could lead to greater conflicts.”
Calling for “maximum restraint”, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites while talks with the US were under way.
The international atomic watchdog, the IAEA, said it was in contact with Iranian authorities regarding radiation levels at Natanz, adding that the Bushehr nuclear power plant was not targeted.
Multiple sites in Tehran and other cities were hit, and the Revolutionary Guard’s headquarters in the capital was reported to be ablaze.
Flights at Tehran’s main airport were grounded, and flight tracking data showed commercial aircraft rerouting to avoid Iranian airspace.
The strikes come a day after Iran said it would expand its nuclear program, and the United States began pulling staff out of its Iraqi embassy, amid threats from Iran that it would strike American assets if it were attacked.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described Israel’s strikes as “unilateral action” and said Washington’s top priority was protecting American forces in the region.
“Let me be clear: Iran should not target US interests or personnel,” he added.
The US military was planning for the full range of contingencies in the Middle East, including the possibility that it might have to help evacuate American civilians, a US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced a “special situation” in Israel after the strikes and warned Israelis to expect retaliatory drone and missile strikes.
Trump and Netanyahu have disagreed for months over how to handle Iran, with Netanyahu wanting to use military force to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions and Trump pushing for a diplomatic solution, saying repeatedly that he did not want Israel to strike.
The president had been seeking a new nuclear deal to place limits on Iran’s disputed uranium enrichment activities, but the talks appeared to have hit an impasse.
Oil prices surged following reports of the strike. Brent rose as much as 13 per cent, jumping above $73 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate also rallied.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia was alarmed by the strikes.
“This risks further destabilising a region that is already volatile. We call on all parties to refrain from actions and rhetoric that will further exacerbate tensions.
“We all understand the threat of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program represents a threat to international peace and security, and we urge the parties to prioritise dialogue and diplomacy.”
Israel has warned for years that it would not allow Iran to build a nuclear weapon, something Tehran insists it doesn’t want, although officials there have repeatedly warned it could build them.
One Israeli official said Iran now had enough material to make 15 nuclear bombs within days.
The day before the strikes, Iran said it would inaugurate a new uranium-enrichment facility in response to a decision by the IAEA to censure the country over its nuclear program because it was not working with its inspectors.
Uranium must be enriched in centrifuges to produce explosive material for nuclear weapons. The process is complicated and requires dedicated, specialised facilities as well as technical expertise.
Iran and Israel have been locked in a shadow war for decades, with Iran, which doesn’t recognise Israel due to its occupation of Palestinian territory, using proxy forces such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen to attack Israel.
Israel has, in turn, been accused of being behind a series of assassinations and covert at tacks on Iranian soil, many of them targeting nuclear scientists.
The two countries exchanged direct fire for the first time last year after tensions surged following the October 7, 2023, at tacks. The most recent strikes were in October 2024, when Israel struck Iranian air de fences and a missile factory in retaliation for strikes from Tehran.
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The Age (& Sydney Morning Herald) / Reuters | Francois Murphy | 14 June 2025
https://edition.theage.com.au/shortcode/THE965/edition/9bed4d37-b04f-6fa8-b1c9-c7998354a513?page=0cef19b6-5c42-6ef1-7dc7-732d797e7169&
Israel early yesterday said it had struck Iranian nu clear targets to block Tehran from developing atomic weapons, and Iranian media and witnesses reported explosions, including at the country’s main uranium enrichment facility.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes were aimed at hurting Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, ballistic missile factories and military capabilities.
Where are Iran’s nuclear facilities?
Iran’s nuclear program is spread over many locations. While the threat of Israeli airstrikes has loomed for decades, only some of the sites have been built underground.
Does Iran have a nuclear weapons program?
The US and the UN nuclear watchdog believe Iran had a coordinated, secret nuclear weapons program that it halted in 2003. The Islamic Republic denies ever having had one or planning to have one.
Iran agreed to restrictions on its nuclear activities in ex Natanz change for relief from international sanctions under a 2015 deal with world powers.
That pact fell apart when Donald Trump – then serving his first term as US president pulled the US out in 2018, and Iran started abandoning the re strictions the following year.
Is Iran increasing its uranium enrichment?
Yes. Iran has been expanding its uranium enrichment program ever since the pact broke down, reducing the so-called “breakout time” it would need to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for a nuclear bomb to days or little more than a week from at least a year under the 2015 deal.
Actually making a bomb with that material would take longer. How long is less clear and is the subject of debate.
Iran is now enriching uranium to up to 60 per cent fissile purity, close to the 90 per cent of weapons-grade, at two sites, and in theory it has enough material enriched to that level, if enriched further, for six bombs, according to a yardstick of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN watchdog.
Natanz
Netanyahu yesterday said that Israel had targeted Natanz, a complex at the heart of Iran’s enrichment program on a plain-abutting mountains outside the Shiite Muslim holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, as part of its attack.
Natanz houses facilities including two enrichment plants: the vast, underground Fuel Enrichment Plant and the above-ground Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant. An exiled Iranian opposition group revealed in 2002 that Iran was secretly building Natanz, igniting a diplomatic stand-off between the West and Iran over its nu clear intentions that continues today.
The FEP was built for enrichment on a commercial scale, able to house 50,000 centrifuges. About 16,000 centrifuges are currently installed there, about 13,000 of which are in operation, refining uranium to up to 5 per cent purity.
Diplomats with knowledge of Natanz describe the FEP as being about three floors below ground. There has long been debate about how much damage Israeli airstrikes could do to it. Damage has been done to centrifuges at the FEP by other means, including an explosion and power cut in April 2021 that Iran said was an attack by Israel.
The above-ground PFEP houses only hundreds of centrifuges but Iran is enriching to up to 60 per cent purity there.
Fordow
On the opposite side of Qom, Fordow is an enrichment site dug into a mountain and therefore probably better protected from potential bombardment than the FEP.
The 2015 deal with major powers did not allow Iran to enrich at Fordow at all. It now has about 2000 centrifuges operating there, most of them advanced IR-6 machines, of which up to 350 are enriching to up to 60 per cent.
The US, Britain and France announced in 2009 that Iran had been secretly building Fordow for years and that it had failed to inform the IAEA. US president Barack Obama said then: “The size and configuration of this facility is inconsistent with a peaceful program.”
Isfahan
Iran has a large nuclear technology centre on the outskirts of Isfahan, its second-largest city.
It includes the Fuel Plate Fabrication Plant and a uranium conversion facility that can process uranium into the uranium hexafluoride that is fed into centrifuges. Iran also stores enriched uranium at Isfahan, diplomats say.
There is equipment at Isfahan to make uranium metal, a process that is particularly proliferation-sensitive since it can be used to devise the core of a nuclear bomb.
The IAEA has said there are machines for making centrifuge parts at Isfahan, describing it in 2022 as a “new location”.
Khondab
Iran has a partially built heavy water research reactor originally called Arak and now Khondab. Heavy water reactors pose a nuclear proliferation risk because they can easily produce plutonium which, like enriched uranium, can be used to make the core of an atom bomb.
Under the 2015 deal, construction was halted and the reactor’s core was removed and filled with concrete to make it unusable.
The reactor was to be re designed “to minimise the pro duction of plutonium and not to produce weapon-grade plutonium in normal operation”.
Iran has informed the IAEA that it plans to start operating the reactor in 2026.
Tehran research centre
Iran’s nuclear research facilities in Tehran include a research reactor. Bushehr Iran’s only operating nuclear power plant, on the Gulf coast, uses Russian fuel that Russia then takes back when it is spent, reducing the proliferation risk
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The Age (Sydney Morning Herald)| Mostafa Rachwani | 14 June 2025
https://edition.theage.com.au/shortcode/THE965/edition/9bed4d37-b04f-6fa8-b1c9-c7998354a513?page=47e274b7-000e-c4b9-0a40-fa26b05b912b&
Dr Ayman Alattar didn’t sleep much during his time in Gaza. The emergency doctor from the Illawarra, south of Sydney, spent four weeks there as part of a medical mission organised by the Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association (PANZMA), a voluntary organisation.
In that time, he only spent a few nights at the association run safe houses. Instead, he mostly slept within the bombed-out remains of al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza.
It was both unsafe and un wise to travel most nights, so the doctors on the mission remained where they worked, struggling to sleep on hospital beds amid the shelling and drone strikes.
Every morning, Alattar would wake up and have a light break fast and black coffee before giving local doctors a lecture: it is routine for doctors on the association’s medical missions to provide training to the remaining medical staff at al Shifa.
“Everyone there is in a much “We didn’t have notes or forms. I wrote information on people’s bodies, like their names and conditions,” he says. “We saved lives, but I watched so many people die from easily remedied situations. I watched people, kids, die because we didn’t have operating equipment or antibiotics. more senior position than they should be,” Alattar says. “Everyone there is doing procedures and work that is far be yond their level of expertise because they have to. Because everyone else is dead.”
Alattar was part of the most recent medical mission organised by PANZMA, which has sent doctors into Gaza every four weeks for the past 18 months.
The missions involve sending Australian doctors via Jordan, as part of the World Health Organisation’s Emergency Medical Teams (EMT) initiative. The doctors gain access to the Gaza Strip via a United Nations convoy.
Once in Gaza, they are put to work at one of the few remaining hospitals in the enclave. Alattar keeps his voice steady as he attempts to de scribe navigating multiple mass-casualty events a day.
He describes a young mother losing her children, working out where to send the recently orphaned, designating who was and wasn’t worth saving, and how he did what he could with what little equipment he had.
“I sent people away to die on painkillers because we couldn’t help them. Kids with brain mat ter hanging out of their heads, with organs outside their bodies.”
He pauses for a moment, shaking his head, before de scribing the “waves of horror” that would come with mass-casualty incidents, attempting crowd control in parts of the hospital not designed to be an emergency department.
“It was chaos at all times, almost always very emotionally charged. And it didn’t have doors we could close, or ways to control who comes in and out,” he says.
“People would bring their loved ones on their shoulders. They would be brought in piled up in trucks. Sometimes people were brought in on the backs of donkeys. “And you try and talk to them and process them, but, at times, these are the minutes before their loved one dies in their hands. So you just do what you can.”
PANZMA was founded by a group of Australian-Palestinian medical professionals in Melbourne in 2020.
At first, it focused on education and sending medical sup plies into Gaza. But after Israel began its offensive in the territory in response to the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, it shifted to finding a way to send doctors from Australia to support local emergency departments.
After working through mountains of bureaucracy to gain the credentials to join the WHO’s EMT missions, the association was finally registered in April 2024, and sent its first doctors to Gaza the following month.
It is the only Australian organisation registered under the program, and has organised 14 missions, including 10 this year.
Professor Mohammad Irhimeh, PANZMA’s recently elected president, who has acted as a director of its medical missions, says the only way his organisation has been consistently allowed into the Gaza Strip is through its persistence and narrow focus.
“We don’t engage in politics, we don’t do humanitarian work, we don’t do anything else, and that is how we have consistently been able to get seats in the WHO’s program,” he says.
He manages every stage of a mission – preparation, management and returns – personally, involving himself in as many details as possible.
In preparing doctors, Irhimeh organises planning sessions, psychological support and security checks. He person ally vets applicants, combing through their social media profiles and even their bags as they pack, to ensure they will not be rejected by Israel’s stringent vetting process.
“I force the doctors to film themselves packing in Australia, and then again in Jordan, when they leave for Gaza,” he says.
Because they are deployed into an active war zone, every movement must be registered with the Israel Defence Force, which means Irhimeh is in constant contact with both the doc tors and military officials.
He has to apply for every movement, including morning and evening commutes. Food, water, supplies, housing, electricity and even finances are all organised by Irhimeh. The doc tors are allowed only 1000 shekels (about $439) at entry.
That means PANZMA has had to hire logistics officers based in Gaza, who scrounge for supplies and food, and drive its doctors to and from the hospitals.
While Irhimeh is thankful that so far every mission has been a success, with no incidents or injuries, it has left the doctor with frayed nerves.
“I am exhausted,” he says. “I have been doing this for a year and a half, every micro issue managed. And to go from no missions to a mission a month has been excruciating. “I am so tired, but I can’t stop. Because this is my duty, this is what I need to do.”
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Netanyahu knew risk of striking Iran
The Age | Rodger Shanahan | 14 June 2025
https://edition.theage.com.au/shortcode/THE965/edition/9bed4d37-b04f-6fa8-b1c9-c7998354a513?page=6661eab0-379e-dc9b-ded9-2d72acc9b5a2&
The attack without warning by Israel against a range of targets across Iran is unprecedented, even by the new standards of behaviour established since the April 2024 Iranian strike against Israel. That attack, in turn, was carried out in response to Israel’s strike against Iranian military personnel in Iran’s diplomatic compound in Damascus.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has characterised it as a necessary action to forestall the existential threat posed to his country by Iran’s desire to weaponise its stockpiles of enriched uranium. Yet only a few months earlier, US President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, testified before the Senate intelligence committee that the intelligence community assessed Iran was not actively pursuing nuclear weapons and nor had its supreme leader allowed such a program to be commenced.
If they weren’t reacting to an imminent threat, then why choose to bomb Iranian targets now? The answer is because they could. Or more particularly because the environment that would allow them to do so would not be any better in the future. They had long wanted to conduct such an attack, but the political and military conditions have not allowed them to. That has changed.
To begin with, Iran’s air de fences were significantly de graded as a result of Israel’s October 2024 air attack. It takes some time to rebuild such a capability, and the longer Israel waited, the more likely it would be that Iran could mount some sort of air defence against an attack. In addition, Tehran’s “Axis of Resistance” had been significantly degraded over the past 18 months – in particular, Lebanese Hezbollah has suffered leadership decapitation and significant personnel and materiel losses.
Its resupply routes through Syria have also been significantly compromised with the fall of the Assad regime. In the past, such an attack by Israel could be expected to elicit a robust response from Hezbollah against northern Israel; today the group is both able to respond but also must determine whether its priority is to rebuild domestically or to support its Iranian ideological and financial sponsor.
And for all its public signalling, there are many in the Trump administration who support the attack against Iran. Trump has cast himself as the master deal maker and as someone who wants to avoid war. He has described the Iranians as tough negotiators and claimed they were close to a deal. But Netanyahu accused the Iranians of stalling and dragging out the talks with no prospect of acceding to Washington’s non-negotiable demand to stop processing any uranium.
Trump denied any US involvement in the attack, but Netanyahu was quick to praise him in his televised address following the attack. Trump is playing coy. While the next round of talks with Iran were to be held on Sunday, there is virtually no chance of them going on while Iran is being attacked. Diplomacy is a slow process, and there is a feeling that the diplomatic track had by no means been exhausted. Iran will feel it has no choice but to retaliate. It has a number of military and non-military ways it can respond.
From what we know so far, Israel’s targets have been wide ranging but largely confined to military and nuclear facilities in Iran, as well as senior military and government officials and scientists. Iran’s response will largely seek to target the same, using the assets at its disposal. It won’t have gone unnoticed that Iran is a large-scale producer of drones that it exports to Russia, and the war in Ukraine has shown just how difficult swarms of these weapons can be to stop, even if the dam age they cause is relatively limited.
And Iran will have learnt lessons from its rocket and missile attacks in April and October last year, in the same way Israel learnt defensive lessons from those assaults. Attacks against senior Israeli military and perhaps other government or research officials will also be seen as an appropriate tit-for-tat response.
Tehran could also close off all its nuclear facilities to outside inspections, and potentially pull out of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. This would give it the same status as Israel, which is not a signatory. And most worryingly, Iran could make the strategic decision to forgo any future attempts at negotiation and, instead, accelerate research into and development of nuclear weapons.
This was always the strongest argument against an Israeli military strike against Iran. It lacked the ability to stop Iran’s nuclear program on its own, and it could only set back its development for a limited period. But by damaging it, Tehran might then decide to proceed with a program that it had com mitted to before it was bombed.
The region is now in un charted territory. What started as a bloodthirsty terrorist attack by Hamas against Israel 18 months ago has morphed into a fight between a nuclear power led by an antagonistic prime minister, Netanyahu, allied with far-right extremists and fighting for his own political survival at home, against a repressive theocratic regime that denies the right of Israel to exist. Unless wiser heads prevail, it will be increasingly difficult to pull the region back from the brink of war.
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Why Israel defied Trump to risk a major war by striking Iran – and what happens next
https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/middle-east-news/2025/06/13/israel-iran-what-next?ahe=a47c861579f6328c8a394cb63e0e4dbd710104b9c0d454579453e3c8a9fc90c8&acid=4618023&utm_campaign=Saturday%20News%20-%2020250614&utm_medium=tnd_newsletter&utm_source=tnd_email&lr_hash=b48870faf4a20582bd2bbc833b989aaf
Amin Saikal
Jun 13, 2025, updated Jun 14, 2025
Netanyahu has taken the military approach to thwart Iran’s nuclear program.
Netanyahu has taken the military approach to thwart Iran’s nuclear program. Photo: X
Alarmed by an intelligence assessment that Iran will be able to produce nuclear weapons within months if not weeks, Israel launched a massive air campaign aiming to destroy the country’s nuclear program.
Israel’s air strikes hit Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz, as well as its air defences and long-range missile facilities.
Among the dead are Hossein Salami, the chief of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards Corps; Mohammad Bagheri, the commander-in-chief of the military; and two prominent nuclear scientists.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei promised “severe punishment” in response. And early Saturday, Iran launched retaliatory air strikes at Israel, with explosions heard in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, the country’s two biggest cities.
Iran could also potentially target Israel’s own nuclear sites and US bases across the Persian Gulf. Israel claimed Iran launched 100 drones towards it just hours after the attack.
The Middle East is yet again on the precipice of a potentially devastating war with serious regional and global implications.
Stalled nuclear talks
The Israeli operations come against the backdrop of a series of inconclusive nuclear talks between the United States and Iran. These negotiations began in mid-April at President Donald Trump’s request and aimed to reach a deal within months.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposed the talks, pressing for military action instead as the best option to halt Iran’s nuclear program.
The diplomatic efforts had stalled in recent weeks over Trump’s demand that Iran agree to a zero-uranium enrichment posture and destroy its stockpile of some 400 kilograms of enriched uranium at a 60 per cent purity level. This could be rapidly enriched further to weapons-grade level.
Tehran refused to oblige, calling it a “non-negotiable”.
Netanyahu has long pledged to eliminate what he has called the Iranian “octopus” – the regime’s vast network of regional affiliates, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the regime of former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, and the Houthi militants in Yemen.
Following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7 2023, Israel’s military has considerably degraded these Iranian affiliates, one by one. Now, Netanyahu has now gone for beheading the octopus.
Trump keeping his distance
Netanyahu has in the past urged Washington to join him in a military operation against Iran.
However, successive US leaders have not found it desirable to ignite or be involved in another Middle East war, especially after the debacle in Iraq and its failed Afghanistan intervention.
Despite his strong commitment to Israel’s security and regional supremacy, Trump has been keen to follow this US posture, for two important reasons.
He has not forgotten Netanyahu’s warm congratulations to Joe Biden when he defeated Trump in the 2020 US presidential election.
Nor has Trump been keen to be too closely aligned with Netanyahu at the expense of his lucrative relations with oil-rich Arab states. He recently visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on a trip to the Middle East, while bypassing Israel.
Indeed, this week, Trump had warned Netanyahu not to do anything that could undermine the US nuclear talks with Iran. He has been keen to secure a deal to boost his self-declared reputation as a peace broker, despite not having done very well so far on this front.
But as the nuclear talks seemed to be reaching a dead end, Netanyahu decided now was the moment to act.
The Trump administration has distanced itself from the attack, saying it had no involvement. It remains to be seen whether the US will now get involved to defend Israel if and when Iran retaliates.
What a wider war could mean
Israel has shown it has the capacity to unleash overwhelming firepower, causing serious damage to Iran’s nuclear and military facilities and infrastructure. But the Iranian Islamic regime also has the capability to retaliate, with all the means at its disposal.
Despite the fact the Iranian leadership faces serious domestic issues on political, social and economic fronts, it still has the ability to target Israeli and US assets in the region with advanced missiles and drones.
It also has the capability to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20–25 per cent of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments flow. Importantly, Iran has strategic partnerships with both Russia and China, as well.
Depending on the nature and scope of the Iranian response, the current conflict could easily develop into an uncontrollable regional war, with none of the parties emerging as victor.
The Natanz nuclear facility in Iran as of January 2025. Photo: Maxar Technologies
A major conflict could not only further destabilise what is already a volatile Middle East, but also upend the fragile global geopolitical and economic landscape.
The Middle East cannot afford another war. Trump had good reasons to restrain Netanyahu’s government while the nuclear negotiations were taking place to see if he could hammer out a deal.
Whether this deal can be salvaged amid the chaos is unclear. The next round of negotiations was due to be held on Sunday in Oman, but Iran said it would not attend and all talks were off until further notice.
Iran and the US, under Barack Obama, had agreed a nuclear deal before – the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Although Netanyahu branded it “the worst deal of the century”, it appeared to be holding until Trump, urged by Netanyahu, unilaterally withdrew from it in 2018.
Now, Netanyahu has taken the military approach to thwart Iran’s nuclear program. And the region – and rest of the world – will have to wait and see if another war can be averted before it’s too late.The Conversation
Amin Saikal is Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies at Australian National University.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. .
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Trump scrambles to claim credit for Israel’s Iran attack he publicly opposed
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/13/trump-iran-israel-attacks-response
Andrew Roth in Washington
Analysis
Discordant US response as president says he was fully aware of plans for what Marco Rubio called a ‘unilateral action’
Donald Trump is walking a tightrope as he claims that he was fully aware of Israel’s plans to launch massive airstrikes against Iran while continuing to distance the US from those strikes and deny Washington took any active role in the preparations.
The White House’s messaging has shifted quickly from Marco Rubio’s arms-length description of the Israeli attack as a “unilateral action”, to Trump claiming on Friday morning that he was fully in the loop on the operation and that it came at the end of a 60-day ultimatum he had given Iran to “make a deal” on its nuclear programme.
“Today is day 61,” he wrote on Truth Social. “I told [Iran] what to do, but they just couldn’t get there.”
Trump’s framing presents a good cop-bad cop dynamic of his approach with Benjamin Netanyahu, the embattled Israeli leader with whom he has a notoriously combative relationship. The US president has scrambled to now present the Israeli strikes, which he publicly claimed he did not want on Thursday, as a means of continuing his efforts to convince Iran to negotiate.
People look over damaged buildings in Tehran
UK government says it gave no military support for Israel’s attack on Iran
“They should now come to the table to make a deal before it’s too late,” he said.
But the discordant US response from to the strikes, including Rubio’s Thursday evening statement, a hasty evacuation of some US personnel from the region and ambiguity over whether the US provided intelligence or would actively take part in Israel’s defence from a likely counterattack, has raised questions over whether Israel may have moved ahead of the Trump administration as a way to present Washington with a fait accompli.
“They made a bet on President Trump,” said Elliott Abrams, a former diplomat and senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, suggesting that Israel had pushed harder for strikes while the Trump administration had sought to maintain a diplomatic route. “The Israelis struck and then today Trump called it ‘excellent’.”
While Israel had clearly given the United States advanced warning of the strike, claims that it was fully coordinated in Israeli state media have been subject to speculation: was Trump actually on board or was he repositioning himself on Friday in order to present the strikes as part of a coherent strategy.
On Thursday, in remarks from the White House’s East Room, Trump said that strikes on Israel could “blow up” his diplomatic efforts to negotiate with the Iranian leadership and said he “didn’t want them going in”. He defended his decision to begin evacuating personnel because a strike “could well happen”.
“The US started evacuating voluntarily non-essential personnel on Wednesday, barely 24 hours ahead of time, not enough time to really get people out of harm’s way,” said Rosemary Kelanic, the Middle East director for Defense Priorities, a thinktank that pushes for a more restrained US foreign policy. “So the question for me is what did the president know and when did he know it?”
On Friday, Trump told the Wall Street Journal that he was not caught unaware by the strike: “Heads-up? It wasn’t a heads-up. It was, we know what’s going on.” And he indicated that he had been apprised of future Israeli plans, writing that the “next already planned attacks” would be “even more brutal”.
Senior Israeli officials also began to brief media that Trump had only pretended to oppose an Israeli attack and that they in fact had a “green light” for the attack. But Kelanic and others noted that Israel may be seeking a means to “entrap” the US into a war.
In either case, it is doubtful that Israel could have prepared the attack in the past week without US knowledge.
Officials at the Defense Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies would have seen the preparations for the airstrike – involving more than 200 Israeli fighter jets striking more than 100 targets across Iran – and probably understood that Israel was planning a major attack against Tehran.
Late on Thursday, administration officials told Fox News that the US had replenished missiles for Israel’s Iron Dome anti-air batteries in recent weeks in preparation for an expected counterattack.
And the US in recent weeks had deployed B-52 bombers to its airbase on the remote Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, where multiple B-2 bombers have also been stationed since late March. B-2s stationed at the base took part in airstrikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen earlier this year, but the base would also serve as a launching point for airstrikes against Iran if the US were to join the conflict.
But there are other explanations for the resupply of anti-air missiles to Iron Dome, particularly following the unprecedented barrage of ballistic missiles launched by Iran against Israel last year.
And the US could have employed those B-2s and B-52s to strike the Fordow uranium enrichment centre, which is located deep underground and was not apparently struck in Friday morning’s strikes. Still intact, it represents an important element in Iran’s nuclear program that was not eliminated – at least in the first round of the Israeli attacks.
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Iranian missiles hit Tel Aviv as Netanyahu warns attack on Iran ‘just the beginning’
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/13/israel-says-attack-on-iran-just-the-beginning
Israel says Iran has fired up to 100 missiles in retaliation for surprise assault as both sides threaten escalating hostilities
Emma Graham-Harrison in Tel Aviv and Julian Borger in Jerusalem
Sat 14 Jun 2025 06.25 AEST
Iranian missiles have rained down on Tel Aviv in retaliation to Friday morning’s surprise aerial assault by Israel, as Tehran vowed to open the “gates of hell”.
Benjamin Netanyahu warned “more is on the way” and said Israel’s attempt to destroy Iran’s nuclear programme was just beginning. Residents in northern Tehran reported a fresh round of relentless explosions late on Friday, as the IRNA state news agency reported more Israeli attacks.
An Israeli military spokesperson said that Iran had fired up to 100 missiles in waves earlier in the evening, and that most had been intercepted or missed their intended target, but several appeared to penetrate Israel’s multi-tiered defences.
At about 9pm in Tel Aviv, sirens sounded and phones buzzed with urgent alerts. Half an hour later the city echoed with the mid-air explosions of the Arrow missile defence systems taking out some of the Iranian arsenal, debris smashing into the ground and the blasts of several Iranian warheads that struck their targets.
Smoke from one impact site rose up in columns so thick they obscured the city skyline including nearby skyscrapers, as bright fragments of intercepted missiles arced above. One missile hit a high-rise residential building near the heart of Tel Aviv, shattering windows down most of the facade, and reducing the worst-hit areas to a tangle of exposed, twisted steel bars.
On the ground floor, fire fighters picked their way through the rubble beside the crumpled remains of a car caught in the blast, a report on Israeli TV showed.
At least two people were critically injured.
Emergency services said they were called to at least five impact sites, and by 10pm there were reports of 15 people wounded in the Tel Aviv area.
The barrage began after a televised address from Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who pledged: “The armed forces of the Islamic republic will inflict heavy blows upon this malevolent enemy.” He warned the consequences of Israel’s attack “will bring it to ruin”.
Earlier, the new head of the Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Pakpour – hastily appointed after his predecessor was killed in Israel’s attack – threatened to open “the gates of hell” in retaliation, as the Middle East faced the prospect of a full-scale war of uncertain duration.
Israeli troops and first responders at a Tel Aviv building hit by a missile from Iran.
Israeli troops and first responders at a Tel Aviv building hit by a missile from Iran. Photograph: Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP/Getty Images
Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, accused Iran of crossing “red lines” by attacking civilian areas, although some of Israel’s own strikes earlier in the day hit residential parts of Iranian cities.
“We will continue to defend the citizens of Israel and ensure that the Ayatollah regime pays a very heavy price for its heinous actions,” Katz said.
Crowds carrying Iranian flags at an anti-Israel protest in Tehran on Friday after the strikes.
The Israeli pre-dawn strikes hit more than 100 targets in Iran, including nuclear facilities and missile sites, and killed senior military commanders and scientists in what Tehran said was a “declaration of war”.
Iran’s envoy to the UN security council, Amir Saeid Iravani, said 78 people including senior officials had been killed in the Israeli attacks, and that more than 320 were injured, most of them civilians.
In a video statement on Friday night, Netanyahu said: “In the past 24 hours, we have taken out top military commanders, senior nuclear scientists, the Islamic regime’s most significant enrichment facility and a large portion of its ballistic missile arsenal. More is on the way. The regime does not know what hit them, or what will hit them. It has never been weaker.”
Footage captures moment Iran’s Natanz nuclear site is hit by Israel – video
More explosions were reported in Iran on Friday evening, suggesting a secondary phase of Israeli attacks was already under way, in the early stages of a war that has been brewing for a quarter of a century, ever since Iran’s secret underground uranium enrichment facilities were first exposed, and the US and Israel insisted the country would not be allowed to build a bomb.
The focus of much of the Israeli munitions on Friday was the mostly subterranean uranium enrichment plant at Natanz. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, told the UN security council that the above-ground pilot enrichment plant at Iran’s main nuclear facility in Natanz had been destroyed, although he said the level of radioactivity outside the plant remained unchanged.
Officers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) made clear their war aims were to seize the opportunity offered by Iran’s flattened air defences to wreak lasting, crippling damage on Iran’s nuclear programme.
“That’s the goal, to remove the threat and to make sure they don’t have a nuclear bomb and that there is not an active existential threat on the Israeli people,” an IDF officer said.
Among the uncertainties hanging over the region was how much of Iran’s arsenal of ballistic and cruise missiles were still usable, and whether Tehran would take revenge on the US as well as Israel.
The US role in the attack remained murky. In the run-up to the Israeli 200-plane attack, Donald Trump had publicly urged Israel to give diplomacy more of a chance, before US-Iranian talks that were planned for Sunday. On Friday, the US president insisted he had been well informed of Israel’s plans, and described the Israeli attack as “excellent”.
Asked by the Wall Street Journal what kind of heads-up the US had been given, Trump responded testily: “Heads-up? It wasn’t a heads-up. It was, we know what’s going on.”
Speaking separately to ABC News, he praised the attacks and linked the timing to a 60-day ultimatum he had given Tehran in the spring, to negotiate a deal. “I think it’s been excellent. We gave them a chance and they didn’t take it. They got hit hard, very hard. They got hit about as hard as you’re going to get hit. And there’s more to come. A lot more,” Trump said.
On his own Truth Social online platform, Trump urged Iran to make a deal or face further planned attacks that would be “even more brutal”.
ABC quoted a “source familiar with the intelligence” as saying the US had provided “exquisite” intelligence and would help defend Israel as needed.
Iravani told the UN security council that the US was complicit in the attack, saying “by aiding and enabling these crimes, they share full responsibility for the consequences”.The US website Axios quoted two Israeli officials as suggesting the apparent disagreement with Israel had been a ploy, aimed at convincing Iran that no attack was imminent so the generals and scientists on the target list would not move to new locations. “We had a clear US green light,” one of the officials said.
Israel’s first wave of airstrikes took place soon after 8am Iranian time. About 200 Israeli warplanes hit 100 wide-ranging targets.
In a televised address recorded in English for the benefit of foreign audiences, Netanyahu declared: “We struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme. We struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear weaponisation programme. We targeted Iran’s main enrichment facility in Natanz. We targeted Iran’s leading nuclear scientists working on the Iranian bomb. We also struck at the heart of Iran’s ballistic missile programme.”
Iranian state media said the head of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), Gen Hossein Salami, the army chief of staff, Maj Gen Mohammad Bagheri, and the commander of the Khatam al-Anbia joint forces headquarters, Maj Gen Gholam Ali Rashid, were killed in the strikes, as well as six nuclear scientists, including Fereydoun Abbasi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization from 2011 to 2013.
Israel said its assault had killed most of the senior leadership of the IRGC’s air force.
IDF officers said that operation, codename Rising Lion, had involved the infiltration of Mossad commandos before the strikes, as well as drones, to target air defences and Iran’s ballistic missiles.
Footage released by the Mossad claims to show Israeli agents in Iran – video
Later in the day, the Mossad released grainy footage that it said showed agents on Iranian soil. Another video showed what the agency said was an attack on an Iranian defence system, while a third appeared to show an Iranian long-range missile being targeted.
Iranian civilians described a night of terrifying explosions. Golnar, a resident of Saadat Abad, in northern Tehran, said she woke to loud explosions just after 3am.
“I woke up to the first explosion and rushed to the windows to check. Then, minutes later, back to back I heard four explosions. The windows were shaking and people in the building started screaming,” she said. “Everything happened so quickly. We were scrambling for information on whether this was an attack or a natural disaster. This morning there’s debris all over the explosion site and surrounding streets.”
Ahmad Moadi, 62, said: “How much longer are we going to live in fear? As an Iranian, I believe there must be an overwhelming response, a scathing response.”
Additional reporting by Deepa Parent
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