Israel-Iran day 1 as it happened: Iran retaliates after Israel launches major attack; Trump warns Tehran of ‘even more brutal’ attacks without nuclear deal

Search and rescue operations were under way “in a number of locations” following the latest Iranian missile attacks against Israel, the country’s military said.

The Israel Defense Forces said “dozens” of missiles were launched towards Israel in the past hour, and that “some” were intercepted.

Search and Rescue forces are currently operating in a number of locations across the country in which reports of fallen projectiles were received.

The Israeli military said Iran has launched a further wave of missiles towards the country.

“Sirens sounded in several areas across Israel following the identification of missiles from Iran,” the Israel Defense Forces said.

The sounds of explosion, anti-aircraft fire and drones have been heard over Tehran in the past hour, according to reports within the city.

Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities destroyed an above-ground fuel enrichment plant at Natanz, International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Rafael Grossi said.

Natanz is Iran’s main site for uranium enrichment.

In a statement to the UN, Grossi said that Iran had reported attacks at two other major nuclear facilities — Fordow and Isfahan — but did not provide details of any damage at these.

Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization earlier said the underground facilities at Natanz and Fordow were not damaged.

Israel’s military said it had attacked and “destroyed” Iranian air force bases as well as “dozens” of targets belonging to its air defence system.

The Israel Defense Forces said it had attacked the Iranian air force military bases of Hamadan and Tabriz in western Iran, with the former site “destroyed as a result of the attack”.

Dozens of targets in Iran’s air defence system, including unmanned aerial vehicles and surface-to-surface missiles, had also been attacked and destroyed, the IDF said in a post on X.

Thirty-four people have been injured in rocket strikes on the Tel Aviv area, Israeli emergency services said.

One woman was in a critical condition after being trapped under rubble.

“We were dispatched to a scene of significant destruction caused by a rocket hitting a building,” paramedic Harel Sasson said in a statement shared by the Israeli emergency services.

Iran’s army says it has shot down two Israeli F-35 fighter jets, according to a statement from the military’s public relations department quoted by state television.

An Israeli official denied the reports and said they were “fake news”.

Local media in Iran also reported that at least one Israeli drone had been downed.

Fewer than 100 missiles were fired into Israeli territory by Iran as Tehran launched its retaliatory attack, according to Israel’s military.

Two barrages of surface-to-surface missiles were launched from Iran over a one-hour period, Israel Defense Forces said on Friday night. “Most were intercepted by air defense systems or failed to reach their targets.”

The IDF said: “There are a few impacts on buildings, some caused by interception debris.”

US stocks extended their sell-off as the conflict between Iran and Israel intensified, boosting oil prices while dragging down global equities.

Wall Street’s blue-chip S&P 500 ended Friday’s session down 1.1 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.3 per cent.

Brent crude, the international oil benchmark was last up 7.2 per cent at $74.36 a barrel.

The US military has been helping Israel shoot down incoming missiles from Iran, according to an American official.

Tehran launched a volley of missiles at Israel in retaliation for its major attack on Iran during the early hours of June 13.

No UK military forces were involved in the defence of Israel from retaliatory strikes by Iran on Friday evening, according to people familiar with the situation.

During Iran’s April 2024 missile and drone attacks against Israel, UK Typhoon jets based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus helped track incoming projectiles to provide early warning, though they were not directly involved in downing projectiles.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has urged diplomacy and has called for de-escalation in the Israel-Iran conflict, but has said Tehran’s nuclear programme is a threat to international security.

Vladimir Putin spoke to Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu and Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday evening, the Kremlin has said.

Russia’s president said Moscow condemned Israel’s attack on Iran and offered to be an intermediary if talks began to “avoid a further escalation of tensions”.

Russia is a crucial ally for Iran, which has backed Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine with supplies of drones and missiles.

Treasury bond yields rose on Friday as investors bet on higher inflation after Israel and Iran traded air strikes.

The 30-year Treasury yield, which is particularly sensitive to inflation, was up 0.07 percentage points to 4.9 per cent in afternoon trading in New York. Inflation expectations moved higher because the conflict in the Middle East threatens the region’s supply of oil, the price of which rose to multi-month highs.

Higher inflation expectations led to bets that the Federal Reserve may keep interest rates higher for longer. The two-year yield, which moves with interest rate expectations, was up 0.05 percentage points to 3.95 per cent.

“If Israel and Iran escalate you might see higher inflation expectations make their way through the market,” said Matthew Scott, head of core fixed income and multi-asset trading at AllianceBernstein. “You can see a world where that might sideline the Fed.”

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called on the Iranian people to stand up for their “freedom” as Iran launches retaliatory attacks on Israel.

“The time has come for the Iranian people to unite around its flag and its historic legacy, by standing up for your freedom from the evil and oppressive regime,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

He said that Israel’s military operation would also clear the path for the Iranian people to achieve their “freedom”.

“This is your opportunity to stand up and let your voices be heard,” Netanyahu said. “Israel’s fight is not against the Iranian people. Our fight is against the murderous Islamic regime that oppresses and impoverishes you.”

Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization stated that the underground facilities at the Natanz and Fordow enrichment sites, which were attacked by Israel on Friday, were not damaged.

“Fortunately, most installations [in Natanz] are underground and have not been affected,” said Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesperson for the organisation. “A small portion of equipment on the surface was damaged, but this did not cause any contamination.”

At the Fordow site, another underground enrichment facility, there were some “limited damages to certain parts, which technically are not considered serious”. In Isfahan, the attacks caused fires in several warehouses, he added.

“This was anticipated, and as a result, a significant amount of equipment and materials had been relocated beforehand,” Kamalvandi said, adding that there were no human casualties.

Israel’s defence minister said that Iran “crossed red lines” when it fired missiles at Israeli citizens and warned the regime would pay a “heavy price” for the attack.

“Iran crossed red lines when it dared to fire missiles at civilian population centres in Israel,” Israel Katz said in a statement. “We will continue to protect the citizens of Israel and ensure that the ayatollah regime pays a very heavy price for its criminal actions.”

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump spoke on Friday evening, a Downing Street spokesperson said, adding that they had “agreed” on the importance of diplomacy and dialogue.

Starmer reiterated the UK’s “grave concerns” about Iran’s nuclear programmes.

Downing Street said the “leaders looked forward to speaking again at the G7 in Canada next week”.

US stocks sank on Friday afternoon following reports that Iran had launched a retaliatory attack on Israel. 

The S&P 500 was down 1.2 per cent to the lowest level in more than a week, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.3 per cent, also at a session low, as traders moved out of riskier assets. 

As investors reduced their exposure to risk in the market, they fled to some safe-haven assets. Gold was 1.6 per cent higher on the day, while the dollar rose modestly, up 0.3 per cent. 

Treasury bonds, a traditional haven, were not bolstered by events in Iran and Israel. Instead yields moved higher, and prices lower, as investors bet that rising inflation would force the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates higher for longer. 

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says it has launched precision strikes against dozens of military sites and air bases in Israel in retaliation for Israeli attacks, which killed a number of top-ranking military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians early on Friday.

Iran’s supreme leader has threatened Israel with an overwhelming response, saying it will not be allowed to escape unscathed after provoking a war. 

“They should not assume that they hit [us] and it is over. No. They were the ones to start it and waged a war,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a pre-recorded televised message late on Friday. “We shall not let them escape unharmed from this huge crime.”

He said the Iranian armed forces would deliver “heavy blows to this wicked enemy” and assured the Iranian people that “no leniency will be shown” to Israel.

States of the Gulf Cooperation Council have not detected any abnormal radiation levels so far, the regional bloc’s Emergency Management Centre said.

“Environmental and radiological indicators remain within safe and technically permissible levels,” the centre said in a statement after Israel’s attacks on Iranian nuclear sites.

GCC countries have condemned the attacks, calling them a “clear violation of international law” and the UN charter. Jasem Albudaiwi, the bloc’s secretary-general, urged the international community and the UN Security Council to assume their responsibilities to “immediately halt this aggression and to avoid escalation that could ignite a broader conflict”.

Israeli military has claimed that it struck Iran’s nuclear site in Isfahan, according to the Israel Defense Forces spokesperson.

“I can now confirm that we struck the nuclear facility in Isfahan. The operation is still ongoing,” IDF spokesperson BG Effie Defrin.

Global stocks dropped on Friday as Israel’s attacks on Iran, while oil prices remained high on supply fears.

Stocks in Europe closed lower on Friday, with the regional Stoxx 600 down 0.9 per cent, the UK’s FTSE 100 down 0.4 per cent and Germany’s Dax down 1.1 per cent.

The decline in stocks was not limited to Europe: Wall Street’s S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were down 0.7 per cent during lunchtime trading in the US.

Crude continued to trade at higher prices, as Israel’s strikes threatened the supply of oil in the region. Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, was last up 6.5 per cent at $73.86 a barrel, down from a five month peak of $78.50.

Israel’s attacks on Iran in the early hours of June 13 were aimed at destroying ballistic missile production facilities and damaging nuclear facilities.

Israel said it had struck the Natanz facility, one of Iran’s two main nuclear plants, and “damaged” underground areas of the site, which it said contained a “multi-storey enrichment hall”, electrical rooms and supporting infrastructure.

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Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility has not been damaged, after its air defences shot down an Israeli drone, according to Tasnim news agency,

Columns of smoke have been reported in three spots near air defences in Qom that protect the nuclear facility.

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Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Israelis to expect retaliatory attacks after its strikes on Iran on Friday.

He said in his televised address:

There will be a price . . . there are no free wars, just like there are no free meals . . . we’re working to minimise it in various ways. 

We destroyed [Iran’s nuclear facility at] Natanz . . . We need to assume that there will be attacks against us, in very difficult waves.

Benjamin Netanyahu said in his televised address that attacks on Iran will last “for as long as necessary”:

It will last for as long as necessary, to distance and remove the threat as much as we can.

I can’t lay this out and I don’t want to lay this out, what all our options are. We need to take care of the maximum that we can take care of — in the nuclear programme and with the production of ballistic missiles. 

The goal of the operation is to take care of the future missiles. The next thousands of missiles and the next tens of thousands of missiles . . . all of these production facilities are above the ground.

The US was told in advance of Israel’s attacks “through many meetings”, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address.

American support — or at least America not opposing — is something we very much want. I said — Leave it to me and to minister [of strategic affairs Ron] Dermer . . . we were in touch with them through many meetings, some of them not known . . . 

America’s position I’ll leave to America. We informed them ahead of time. They knew about the attack. What they’ll do now, I leave to President Trump. He makes his decision independently. And I don’t intend to speak on his behalf. 

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the decision to attack Iran had been taken by November last year.

“It didn’t just happen now . . . it’s a directive that I gave the security chiefs from November 2024 to eliminate the Iranian nuclear programme,” he said in a pre-recorded television address on Friday evening.

He said Israel believed Iran would quickly prepare nuclear weapons after Israel’s assassination of Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut last September.

“It was clear to me . . . that Iran would move quickly to its nuclear programme. This is exactly what it did. It raced forward with militarisation . . . real atomic bombs, not just enriched material. There was a need to act.”

The US state department warned any US citizens in Iran to leave the country immediately.

“US citizens in Iran face serious, increasing dangers due to rising regional tensions,” the state department said in a notice published on Friday.

It warned any Americans unable to leave Iran to shelter in place with a supply of food, water and medicines.

Radiation levels outside Iran’s Natanz facility remained unchanged, International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Rafael Grossi said in a statement released at about 1830h Tehran time on Friday.

“The type of radioactive contamination present inside the facility, mainly alpha particles, can be managed with appropriate protective measures,” he said, according to a social media post by the IAEA.

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Unofficial estimates suggest that 78 people were killed and 329 injured in Israeli strikes targeting both military sites and residential areas in Tehran province on Friday.

Fars news agency, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, and Khabaronline, a reformist news website, which both gave the same figures for casualties, did not specify how many were civilians.

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog has said his country’s attacks on Iran represent “a battle for the values of the free world”. He said on social media:

Every delay of the Iranian nuclear threat, every Iranian missile intercepted, every drone neutralised, helps to defend and protect innocent lives — not only in Israel, but across the region and beyond . . . This is a struggle for the safety of the Middle East and the world. This is a battle for a more peaceful future in the Middle East. This is a battle for the values of the free world. Iran must not have nuclear capabilities.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has expressed “grave concerns” about Tehran’s nuclear programme and emphasised Israel’s right to self-defence, in comments following the Israeli strikes on Iranian facilities.

“We’ve long held concerns, grave concerns, about Iran’s nuclear programme, and we absolutely recognise Israel’s right to self-defence,” Starmer told Bloomberg.

The UK prime minister spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday morning, Downing Street said:

The leaders discussed the long-held grave concerns about Iran’s nuclear programme, and called on all sides to refrain from further escalation that could further destabilise the region.

The leaders reaffirmed Israel’s right to self-defence, and agreed that a diplomatic resolution, rather than military action, was the way forward.

Defence and oil companies were leading Wall Street on Friday morning, while travel stocks pulled the market lower. 

Oil stocks were the biggest gainers of the S&P 500, buoyed by the elevated crude price. Shares in Diamondback Energy and Halliburton rose 4 per cent and 3.8 per cent respectively. 

Defence stocks also gained. Lockheed Martin rose 3.5 per cent and Northrop Grumman climbed 2.6 per cent.

Airlines — which are set to suffer if oil prices stay high and drive up fuel costs — were some of the biggest losers in the market fallout. United Airlines fell 4 per cent when the market opened, and Delta shed 3.5 per cent. Marriott, a hotel operator with a significant Middle East presence, fell 2.4 per cent. 

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has confirmed that another one of its top commanders was killed in an Israeli strike early Friday. 

The guards said in a statement that Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of its aerospace force, together with a number of other aerospace officers were killed in an attack that targeted an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps centre, without elaborating.

Hajizadeh’s death is the third senior commander the Guards lost in Israel’s lightning attack today. The IRGC chief and another high-profile commander were also killed.

Donald Trump said on Friday that the US had been aware of Israel’s plans to launch an attack on Iran, and heralded the move as “great for the market”.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump suggested the US had known ahead of time that the strikes would occur. “It wasn’t a heads-up. It was we know what’s going on,” he said.

The US president said he thought the Israeli operation “should be the greatest thing ever for the market” and would stop Iran from having “a nuclear weapon that was a great threat to humanity”.

He added that he spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday and would speak with him on Friday.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s pre-eminent Shia Muslim cleric, has strongly condemned Israel’s air strikes on Iran. 

“This action highlights the danger posed by the Israeli regime and its aggressive conduct,” a statement from Sistani’s office said, adding a call for the international community to restrain Israel.

Sistani, a frequent critic of Iranian meddling in Iraq, commands huge support among Iraq’s majority Shia Muslim community and his comments could influence whether Iraq’s political and militia leaders join Iran in a response.

The chief executive of the world’s largest publicly listed oil tanker group has said his company and most other operators are currently not accepting new contracts to sail into the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz.

Lars Barstad, the head of Frontline, said the company already had multiple vessels in the Gulf region and it would sail them through the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway between Iran and Oman.

But he added “extremely few” owners were accepting contracts to enter the region.

“We’re not contracting to go into the Gulf,” Barstad said. “That’s
not happening now.”

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Barstad doubted that Iran would entirely shut the Strait of Hormuz because the country needed revenue from oil exports.

But he predicted Iran might struggle to export oil at its
normal rate. That could force importers such as China to turn to other markets for oil supplies, he said.

Turkish Airlines has cancelled all flights to Iran, Iraq,
Syria and Jordan until Monday, Turkey’s transport minister said, making it the latest airline to avoid much of the Middle East.

With Ukrainian and much of Russian airspace also closed due
to war, the Middle East region had been an important route for international flights between Europe and Asia.

With much of the Middle East airspace now also closed, data from flight tracker Flightradar24 showed air traffic funnelled into a tight channel over Turkey and on to Greece.

US stocks fell early on Friday as Israel’s air strikes against Iran and fears of further escalation across the Middle East sparked a sell-off across global equity markets.

The blue-chip S&P 500 slipped 0.8 per cent shortly after the opening bell in New York and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 1 per cent.

Of the S&P 500’s 11 sectors, only energy was in positive territory early on Friday. 

United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and cruise operator Carnival were among the worst performers, all down by more than 3 per cent.

Reported Israeli strikes in Tehran

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Iran is not immediately likely to revert to its previous tactics of harassing some ships entering the Gulf because of the range of other challenges facing the country, a leading maritime security expert has said.

Martin Kelly, head of advisory for EOS Risk Group, said he expected Iran to concentrate in the next 12 to 24 hours on the survival of its regime. He also expected there to be considerable constraints on any action it took after that initial period.

“I’m not sure Iran will respond in the maritime space in the next 12 to 24 hours because they’ve just got other priorities,” Kelly said.

If Iran did resume its previous tactics of detaining or harassing ships aligned with its enemies, Kelly said it would probably restrict itself to using drones.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has vowed to deliver a “wise, strong and resolute” response that will make Israel “regret its foolish action.”

“The Islamic republic will act resolutely to respond to the aggression and to defend the nation’s territorial integrity,” Pezeshkian said in a message on Friday.

Israel’s massive air strikes targeting Iran’s military facilities, which started overnight, continue in some cities including Tabriz and Hamedan, according to local media.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch backed Israel’s decision to strike Iran, saying it was vital to prevent the Islamic republic from developing nuclear weapons.

“We cannot have Iran getting nuclear weapons,” she said on the sidelines of the party’s Scottish conference in Edinburgh. Iran had attempted to carry out a terrorist attack on UK soil, she added.

She echoed prime minister Sir Keir Starmer’s call for de-escalation, but added that he “should not put his feet up and say we are all de-escalating because the country that will escalate is Iran and that would be disastrous for the entire world”.

“This is not an area we should be confused about whose side we are on,” Badenoch told reporters.

Israel’s energy ministry said it ordered a temporary shutdown of its natural gasfields for security reasons as the country prepares for possible Iranian retaliation.

Leviathan, the country’s biggest offshore field, is operated by Chevron, and is a key gas source for Egypt and Jordan as well as for Israel’s own supply.

London-listed Energean, an operator of Karish, another Israeli field, said on Friday it had received notice for “the temporary suspension of production and activities . . . following the recent geopolitical escalation in the region”.

As a member of the E3 Group, Germany was contact with the Iranian leadership and a meeting with Iran’s ambassador to Germany was planned on Friday, a spokesperson for the German foreign office said.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz separately held a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to discuss the Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites and Iran’s military response, according to another government spokesperson. They will “remain in close contact,” he said.