By JOSEPH KRAUSS, JON GAMBRELL and JULIA FRANKEL
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s supreme chief on Wednesday rejected U.S. requires give up within the face of extra Israeli strikes and warned that any army involvement by the People would trigger “irreparable injury to them.” European diplomats ready to carry talks with Iran on Friday.
The second public look by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei because the Israeli strikes started six days in the past got here as Israel lifted some restrictions on each day life, suggesting that the missile risk from Iran was easing.
Khamenei spoke a day after U.S. President Donald Trump demanded in a social media publish that Iran give up with out situations and warned Khamenei that the U.S. is aware of the place he’s however has no plans to kill him, “a minimum of not for now.”
Trump initially distanced himself from Israel’s shock assault on Friday that triggered the battle, however in latest days he has hinted at better American involvement, saying he needs one thing “a lot larger” than a ceasefire. The U.S. has additionally despatched extra army plane and warships to the area.
The Israeli Iron Dome air protection system fires to intercept missiles throughout an Iranian assault over Tel Aviv, Israel, early Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (AP Picture/Leo Correa)
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The Israeli Iron Dome air protection system fires to intercept missiles throughout an Iranian assault over Tel Aviv, Israel, early Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (AP Picture/Leo Correa)
Increase
Senior European diplomats had been set to carry nuclear talks with Iran on Friday in Geneva, in line with a European official accustomed to the matter.
The official, who was not approved to remark publicly and requested anonymity to debate issues freely, stated the assembly would come with high-ranking diplomats from Germany, France and the UK, in addition to the European Union’s prime diplomat.
In a video deal with to Israelis, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed appreciation for Trump’s assist within the battle, calling him “an important buddy of Israel” and praising U.S. assist defending Israel’s skies.
“We communicate always, together with final evening,” he stated Wednesday. “We had a really heat dialog.”
‘The Iranian nation isn’t one to give up’
Khamenei dismissed the “threatening and absurd statements” by Trump.
“Smart people who know Iran, its folks and its historical past by no means communicate to this nation with the language of threats, as a result of the Iranian nation isn’t one to give up,” he stated in a low-resolution video, his voice echoing.
“People ought to know that any army involvement by the U.S. will undoubtedly end in irreparable injury to them.”
Iran launched Khamenei’s assertion earlier than the video was aired, maybe as a safety measure. His location isn’t recognized, and it was unattainable to discern from the tight shot, which confirmed solely beige curtains, an Iranian flag and a portrait of Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Khamenei’s quick predecessor, who died in 1989.
An Iranian diplomat had warned earlier Wednesday that U.S. intervention would threat “all-out conflict.”
International Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei didn’t elaborate, however hundreds of American troops are primarily based in close by nations inside vary of Iran’s weapons. The U.S. has threatened a large response to any assault.
One other Iranian official stated the nation would preserve enriching uranium for peaceable functions, apparently ruling out Trump’s calls for that Iran surrender its disputed nuclear program.
In the meantime, Iranian state TV reported late Wednesday that it was below a cyberattack by Israel.
Social media customers reported that the common broadcast on state TV was briefly interrupted and changed with an anti-government video urging folks to take to the streets. After the conventional broadcast resumed, a message on the display screen stated, “In the event you see an irrelevant message on the display screen, it’s on account of a cyber assault by the Zionist regime.”
Strikes in and round Tehran
Israeli army spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin advised a information convention Wednesday that Israel launched three waves of aerial assaults within the final 24 hours, deploying dozens of warplanes to strike over 60 targets in Tehran and western Iran, together with missile launchers, weapon-production websites and a facility that he stated produced anti-tank missiles for Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group.
Israeli Protection Minister Israel Katz stated the army additionally struck the headquarters of Iran’s inner safety forces, with out specifying the company or location. The strike marks a shift towards focusing on Iran’s home safety equipment, which has lengthy cracked down on dissent and suppressed protests.
Iran’s police drive acknowledged the strike hours later, saying that Israel hit its central command buildings in Tehran and wounded some officers, with out saying what number of.
As well as, the U.N. nuclear watchdog company stated, Israel hit two centrifuge-production services in and close to Tehran.
Israel’s air marketing campaign has struck a number of nuclear and army websites, killing prime generals and nuclear scientists. A Washington-based Iranian human rights group stated a minimum of 585 folks, together with 239 civilians, have been killed in Iran and greater than 1,300 wounded.
In retaliation, Iran has fired some 400 missiles and lots of of drones, killing a minimum of 24 folks in Israel and wounding lots of. Some have hit house buildings in central Israel, inflicting heavy injury.
Israeli army officers stated their defenses intercepted 10 missiles in a single day and a number of other extra Wednesday night as Iran’s retaliatory barrages diminished. Air-raid sirens compelled Israelis to run for shelter. There have been no reviews of accidents.
Iran has fired fewer missiles because the battle has worn on. It has not defined the decline, however Israel has focused launchers and different infrastructure associated to the missiles.
By Wednesday, Israel eased a few of the restrictions that it had imposed on civilians when Iran launched its retaliatory assault, permitting gatherings of as much as 30 folks and letting workplaces reopen so long as there’s a shelter close by.
Faculties are closed, and lots of enterprise stay shuttered, however Israel’s resolution to reverse its ban on gatherings and workplace work indicators confidence that its assaults have restricted Iran’s missile capabilities.
Casualties mount in Iran
The Washington-based group Human Rights Activists stated it had recognized 239 of these killed in Israeli strikes as civilians and 126 as safety personnel.
The group, which additionally offered detailed casualty figures throughout 2022 protests over the loss of life of Mahsa Amini, crosschecks native reviews in opposition to a community of sources it has developed in Iran.
Iran has not been publishing common loss of life tolls through the battle and has minimized casualties previously. Its final replace, issued Monday, put the toll at 224 folks killed and 1,277 others wounded.
Web service, which has confronted repeated disruption in Iran over the previous six days, crashed on Wednesday. The web-monitoring group NetBlocks reported a “near-total nationwide web blackout.”
The Iranian Communications Ministry introduced that the federal government was limiting web entry to stop Israel’s “misuse of the nation’s communication community for army functions.”
Outlets have been closed throughout Tehran, together with in its famed Grand Bazaar, as folks wait in fuel traces and pack roads main out of the town to flee the onslaught.
Witnesses reported that greater than 10 highly effective explosions shook central Tehran round 8 p.m., sending white smoke into the air. Authorities in Iran provided no acknowledgement of the assaults, which have grow to be more and more frequent because the Israeli airstrikes have intensified.
At the least one strike appeared to focus on Tehran’s japanese neighborhood of Hakimiyeh, the place the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has an academy.
Iran says it can preserve enriching uranium
Israel says it launched the strikes to stop Iran from constructing a nuclear weapon, after talks between the US and Iran over a diplomatic decision made little seen progress over two months however had been nonetheless ongoing. Trump has stated Israel’s marketing campaign got here after a 60-day window he set for the talks.
Iran has lengthy insisted its nuclear program is peaceable, although it’s the solely non-nuclear-armed state to complement uranium as much as 60%, a brief, technical step away from weapons-grade ranges of 90%. U.S. intelligence companies have stated they didn’t imagine Iran was actively pursuing the bomb.
Israel is the one nation within the Center East with nuclear weapons however has by no means publicly acknowledged them.
Iran’s ambassador to Geneva, Ali Bahreini, advised reporters that Iran “will proceed to supply the enriched uranium so far as we’d like for peaceable functions.”
He rejected any discuss of a setback to Iran’s nuclear analysis and growth from the Israeli strikes, saying, “Our scientists will proceed their work.”
Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Related Press writers Amir Vahdat, Nasser Karimi and Mehdi Fattahi in Iran, Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Aamer Madhani in Washington and Isabel DeBre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, contributed to this report.
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