Israel-Iran updates: Israel prepared for ‘long campaign’ against Iran

This live page is now closed. But before you go:

Read our explainer on whether divided European powers help end Israel’s war on Iran here.

You can also read our correspondent Maziar Motamedi’s Reporter’s Notebook about his experience of fleeing Tehran with his family here.

And, you can follow all our coverage of the Israel-Iran conflict here.

We are about to close this live page. Before we go, here’s a recap of the latest developments:

• Israel has continued its attacks on Iran, with its military stating its forces targeted the Isfahan nuclear facility as well as military infrastructure in southwestern Iran.
• About two hours ago, Iran announced the latest wave of attacks on Israel, with the Israeli army saying it had detected a new wave of drones launched by Iran.
• The US moved several B-2 stealth bombers to the Pacific, and President Trump held a meeting of his National Security Council, as he has yet to announce whether or not he will join Israel’s attacks on Iran.
• Earlier in the day, Iran fired at least 40 drones at Israel, with at least one of those infiltrating Israeli airspace. Fires were also caused by falling debris from intercepted drones.
• Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the large nuclear complex in Isfahan had been targeted for a second time during Israel’s attacks on Iran over the past nine days.
• Israel has continued its attacks on the Gaza Strip, with 41 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip today, according to medical sources.

Donald Trump has given another ominous signal that a military strike on Iran could be in the cards with a post on his social media platform, Truth Social.

The US president posted a Fox News clip of a discussion on whether he would join in Israel’s strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear programme, writing above the video: “Only time will tell!”

The post was made as Trump was set to hold a meeting with his National Security Council to consider his options over Iran.

Reports that US B-2 stealth bombers, capable of carrying so-called bunker buster bombs that could be used in attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities, have been relocated to the Pacific have added to speculation about an impending attack.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan has called for an immediate ceasefire and said that Israel’s unprovoked attacks on Iran constitute a clear violation of international law during remarks at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul, according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

The foreign minister condemned the “blatant Israeli aggressions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which undermine its sovereignty and security, constitute a clear violation of international laws and norms, and threaten the security and stability of the region”.

He likewise called for “the immediate cessation of military operations, the avoidance of escalation, and a return to the negotiation track between Iran and the international community”.

Mahmoud Khalil, the US student who was detained for three months in the US after being targeted for his pro-Palestine advocacy, is set to step up his activism on his release, the head of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says.

Nihad Awad, CAIR’s executive director, told Al Jazeera that Khalil, who became a symbol of the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism on campuses, was not bowed by his ordeal, and would be “expanding his mission to address the injustice by this administration” and raise awareness of the Palestinian plight.

“Mahmoud is free and he will continue to fight,” said Awad, whose organisation supported the 30-year-old student in his legal fight to be released from federal immigration detention.

He said Khalil was part of a “large movement that is awakening the conscience of this country and the world about the genocide that’s taking place”.

“This movement is awake,” he said, describing it as a rebirth of the student movement of the ’60s and ’70s that helped fight for civil rights and oppose the Vietnam War.

He said that despite his release, Khalil would continue to face legal challenges. The US permanent resident faces possible deportation, which he is challenging in separate proceedings in US immigration court.

But Awad said that Khalil’s release, despite the wishes of the Trump administration, showed that people in the US had the right to freedom of speech and thought.

Read more here.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi expressed his “total rejection” of Israeli attacks on Iran and emphasised the need for an immediate ceasefire during a phone call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier today, according to a statement from his government.

“The President expressed Egypt’s complete rejection of the ongoing Israeli escalation against Iran, given the threat it poses to the security and stability of the Middle East at a critical time, as the region is witnessing multiple and escalating crises,” a statement from the Egyptian president’s office reads.

“Ambassador Mohamed El-Shenawy, the official spokesperson, added that the President emphasized the importance Egypt attaches to an immediate ceasefire, allowing for the resumption of negotiations aimed at reaching a sustainable, peaceful solution to this crisis. He emphasized the importance of working to de-escalate the situation as much as possible and ensuring that the cycle of violence does not expand. He emphasized that there is no military solution to this crisis,” it adds.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Israeli forces have continued to conduct raids the village of Nazlat Sheikh Zeid near Jenin in the occupied West Bank for the sixth consecutive day.

Citing local sources, Wafa reports that Israeli forces have confiscated three homes, expelled the residents, and turned them into a base of operations in the area. Soldiers have been interrogating residents and searching homes and vehicles, with local health centres and shops shuttered.

Wafa previously reported that two Palestinians were also injured after being assaulted by Israeli forces during raids in the town of Attil, north of Tulkarm.

Al Jazeera is reporting from Amman, Jordan, because it has been banned from Israel and the occupied West Bank.

One of the criticisms that the Israeli government is receiving from the Israeli public is that they are diverting attention away from the war on Gaza and from the captives that are still being held there.

It’s important to note that the attacks on Iran that were conducted by the Israelis nine days ago come as Israel was coming under a lot of international pressure for their conduct in Gaza, for the catastrophic humanitarian situation that has unfolded, the controversy surrounding the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and for the hundreds of Palestinians who have been killed trying to seek this much needed aid.

The Israeli protesters are saying that despite the restrictions, despite the limitations on gatherings, they would still be taking to the streets to send a message to Netanyahu and his government that they have forgotten about their own citizens who are still being held captive in Gaza.

So the Hostage Families Forum said that they’ve organised several different rallies all over Israel, and they’ve also organised online campaigns.

The Associated Press has spoken to some of the thousands of Iranians injured in Israeli strikes across the country since it launched its assault on June 12.

Turning in pain as she spoke in Tehran’s Rasool Akram hospital, a patient named Nasrin described how she was in her apartment when she heard a noise that sounded like gunfire.

“My cat went toward the window, I grabbed her and tossed her aside. Then I was thrown across the room and hit the wall. It felt like my apartment was directly hit,” she said.

“I somehow dragged myself to the door. I have to thank my neighbours; they were packing to leave, but they called an ambulance, and it drove me here.”

She said she had had five surgeries. “It feels like inside my belly, everything was replaced. And my leg … I don’t even know. I just survived.”

Another patient, a delivery driver named Shahram Nourmohammadi, said he was making a delivery when “something blew up right in front” of him at an intersection.

“I realised my head was bleeding, I touched it and saw blood on my hand,” he told the AP. “Then, someone offered to take me to the hospital.”

Iran’s health ministry says at least 430 people have been killed and more than 3,500 injured in the Israeli strikes so far.

A large nuclear complex in Isfahan has been targeted for a second time during Israel’s attacks on Iran over the past nine days, Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has said.

The IAEA said in a statement that the site in central Iran was first hit on 13 June when four buildings were damaged: the central chemical laboratory, a uranium conversion facility, a reactor fuel manufacturing plant and an enriched uranium metal processing facility under construction.

It stated that six other buildings at the same site have also been attacked: a natural and depleted uranium metal production facility that had not yet begun operations, a fuel rod production facility, as well as several other buildings.

The facilities targeted today either contained no nuclear material or small quantities of natural or low-enriched uranium, meaning any radioactive contamination is limited to the buildings that were damaged or destroyed, it said.

“Based on our analysis of the nuclear material present, we don’t see any risk of off-site contamination”, Grossi was quoted in the statement as saying.

The US Constitution says quite starkly that the US Congress has the authority to declare war.

But in practice, the US has not declared war since World War II.

Of course, there have been numerous US military strikes against foreign actors in the time since issued by presidents of both parties, and Trump certainly is leaning on his presidential power to do the same and avoid having to go to Congress first.

However, that doesn’t mean everyone in Congress is happy about it, particularly Republican Representative Thomas Massie on X, who, noting this circumstance, said, “This is not our war.”

He is the co-crafter of a resolution that would seek to bar Trump from using military action without congressional approval.

Many are seeing, though, that this is unlikely to pass, and even if it does, the authority under which it operates only stipulates that the president needs to consult with Congress.

That consultation can happen after the president authorises a military strike.

Israeli protesters demanding that Netanyahu’s government end the war in Gaza and strike a deal to return captives held by Hamas say they fear the conflict with Iran is hindering their cause.

Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith, reporting from Amman, Jordan, says that the small groups of protesters that had returned to Israeli streets were asking: “Why Iran? What about the captives?”

Supporters and relatives of the captives rallied outside the headquarters of Netanyahu’s Likud party in Tel Aviv, carrying placards saying “Stop the war” and large pictures of those held by Hamas since an attack on October 7, 2023.

One protester, 61-year-old Tsipi Haitovsky, told Reuters that she did not know or care why Netanyahu had started a conflict with Iran.

“I care about one issue, and that’s the issue of the hostages,” she said.

“As far as I’m concerned, this issue is now neglected because the government of Israel and the entire world is now looking at what’s going on between Israel and Iran, and people have forgotten about the hostages.”

As president of the United States, Donald Trump has fairly broad authority to order military strikes if he believes that the US is being attacked, or is about to be attacked.

If conflict became sustained and substantial, then he would have to go to Congress and ask for their support in the form of an official war declaration.

But no one suggests you would need to go to Congress every time you order any sort of military strikes. Certainly, we’ve seen that kind of action carried out in the past by presidents from both parties.

What may be interesting is the question of international law on whether or not the US can carry out such attacks.

An imminent attack towards the US would give them cover under international law.

But as we heard from Tulsi Gabbard, the US director of national intelligence in March, it was the assessment of the US intelligence community that Iran was not building a bomb and the supreme leader had not decided to restart the nuclear weapons programme he had suspended years earlier.

That, of course, is an assessment that Donald Trump has just said in the past 24 hours is wrong.

Inspired by a recent call from the highest religious authority in the country, the march called on the Iraqi government to prevent Israel and its allies from using Iraqi airspace and soil to attack Iraq’s neighbours.

This comes amid escalating regional tensions and recent U.S threats against Iran’s leadership.

“We support the stance of our grand leader. We totally reject arrogance and aggression. We will win by God’s willing, not only in Iran but in Palestine, Gaza, Lebanon and Syria”, one protester told Al Jazeera.

“We call on other Arab and Muslim states to reject the aggression on the Islamic Republic of Iran. Where are they [during] this campaign against a Muslim nation? The Iranians are our neighbours and we stand by them”, said Haytham Al-Juburi, a Baghdad resident, whom we also spoke to.