Iran and Israel have been exchanging attacks after Tehran ruled out nuclear negotiations with US while it is facing “Israeli aggression”. Reports have suggested a nuclear facility site in Iran has been “targeted”. Listen to our Trump 100 podcast as you scroll.
Saturday 21 June 2025 07:24, UK
The situation in the Middle East is “perilous”, the UK’s foreign secretary has said as he urged Iran to negotiate with the US.
David Lammy flew from Washington to Geneva yesterday to meet Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi alongside his French and German counterparts.
“It is still clear to me, as President Trump indicated yesterday, that there is a window of within two weeks where we can see a diplomatic solution,” he said.
Urging Iran to “take that off ramp” and talk to the Americans, he said: “We have a window of time. This is perilous and deadly serious.”
The talks followed US President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would delay a decision on joining Israeli strikes against Iran for up to two weeks.
Iran has said it will not negotiate with the US as long as Israel continued to carry out airstrikes against the country.
A veteran Iranian commander has been killed in a strike, Israel’s defence minister has said.
Israel Katz said the commander was in Iran’s Quds Force – the overseas arm of the the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
He has been identified as Saeed Izadi, who led the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force.
He was killed in a strike in an apartment in Iran’s central city Qom, Katz said.
Iranian news outlets have been reporting that a building in the Iranian city of Qom was attacked in the early hours of this morning.
For context: The Quds Force built up a network of Arab allies known as the Axis of Resistance, establishing Hezbollah in Lebanon in 1982 and supporting the Palestinian militant Islamist group Hamas in Gaza.
But the network has suffered major blows over the last two years, as Israeli offensives since Hamas’ 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel have weakened both the Palestinian group and Hezbollah.
Iran and Israel have exchanged fresh attacks this morning after Tehran said it would not negotiate over its nuclear programme while under threat.
Iran’s Fars news agency said the Isfahan nuclear facility, one of the country’s largest, had been targeted.
It said the attack had not caused a hazardous waste leak.
A building in the Iranian city of Qom was also reportedly attacked, with Iranian media saying a 16-year-old boy had been killed.
The Israeli military said it had launched a wave of attacks against missile storage and launch infrastructure sites in Iran.
At around 2.30am local time, air raid sirens sounded across parts of central Israel as the military warned of an incoming missile barrage from Iran.
Interceptions were visible in the sky over Tel Aviv, with
explosions echoing across the metropolitan area as Israel’s air
defence systems responded.
Welcome back to our live coverage of the Israel-Iran conflict.
Last night, Donald Trump said it was “very hard” to as Israel to stop its attacks – something Iran has called on the US to do.
It came after Iran said it would not negotiate over its nuclear programme while under threat.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said there was no room for negotiations with the US “until Israeli aggression stops”.
But he arrived in Geneva on Friday for talks with European foreign ministers, who hope to establish a path back to diplomacy.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon has vowed his country “will not stop” attacks on Iran until the “nuclear threat is dismantled” and “its war machine is disarmed”.
Israel began attacking Iran on 13 June, saying its longtime enemy was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons.
Iran, which says its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes, retaliated with missile and drone strikes on Israel.
We’ll bring you all the latest updates throughout the day…
By Ben van der Merwe, Adam Parker, Kaitlin Tosh and Sophia Massam, Data & Forensics Unit
Flight tracking data shows extensive movement of US military aircraft towards the Middle East in recent days, including via the UK.
Fifty-two US military planes were spotted flying over the eastern Mediterranean towards the Middle East between Monday and Thursday.
That includes at least 25 that passed through Chania airport, on the Greek island of Crete – an eight-fold increase in the rate of arrivals compared to the first half of June.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations has vowed “we will not stop” attacks on Iran until the “nuclear threat is dismantled” and “its war machine is disarmed”.
The two countries traded angry accusations at the United Nations Security Council, as its secretary-general Antonio Guterres warned that expansion of the Israel-Iran conflict could “ignite a fire no one can control”.
Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon vowed: “We will not stop.
“Not until Iran’s nuclear threat is dismantled, not until its war machine is disarmed.”
By Michael Drummond, foreign news reporter
Deep beneath a mountain, hundreds of centrifuges spin, enriching Iran’s uranium that Israel suspects is destined for a nuclear weapon.
The Fordow plant is protected by tonnes upon tonnes of dirt and rock, far away from prying eyes – and foreign missiles.
But as Israeli warplanes fly unchecked above Tehran, with much of the Islamic Republic’s air defences turned to smoking ruins on the ground, attention has moved to the secretive facility.
Explosions have been heard in Iran’s city of Isfahan, Iranian media reports.
Isfahan is home to research facilities which are one of three key pieces of nuclear infrastructure in Iran.
It comes after Israeli military said it launched a fresh wave of attacks against Iran’s missile storage and launch infrastructure.
Iran isn’t sure it can trust the US in diplomatic talks after Israel attacked it just two days before a scheduled round of negotiations, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told Sky News’ US partner network NBC.
Araghchi suggested the US may have used talks as a “cover” for Israel’s air attack last week.
“So they had perhaps this plan in their mind, and they just needed negotiations perhaps to cover it up,” Araghchi said.
“We don’t know how we can trust them anymore. What they did was, in fact, a betrayal to diplomacy.”
Israel launched its first strikes against Iran two days before a sixth round of talks between Washington and Tehran.
Israel has launched a fresh wave of attacks in Iran against missile storage and launch infrastructure, its military has said.
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