Israel and Iran broaden strikes during third day of escalating war

Trump calls for end to conflict and warns Tehran against striking US targets in the region

Israel and Iran have broadened their strikes against each other on the third day of an escalating war that has killed and injured hundreds of people, as Donald Trump called for an end to the conflict and warned Tehran against striking US targets in the region.

G7 leaders flying to Canada for a summit that starts on Monday are likely to try to use their time with the US president to urge him to keep the US out of the conflict and use his influence with Israel to broker a ceasefire.

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Tehran accuses Israel of seeking to expand conflict after attack on gas facility

Dragging conflict into the Gulf is a strategic mistake, says Iran’s foreign minister after drone strike on coastal facility

Iran’s foreign minister has accused Israel of seeking to expand the war beyond Iran by attacking a major gas facility in Bushehr province on the Gulf coast.

Speaking to diplomats in his first public appearance since the initial Israeli strikes, Abbas Araghchi said: “Dragging the conflict into the Persian Gulf is a strategic mistake and its goal is to drag the war outside Iranian territory. Any military development in this region can affect the entire world.”

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How the dismantling of Iran’s regional proxies paved way for Israel’s attack

Netanyahu has been systematically and successfully weakening his regional foes, now Tehran is in the crosshairs

Israel’s offensive against Iran is the latest link in a chain of events triggered by the attack launched by Hamas from Gaza into Israel on 7 October 2023. All have successively weakened Tehran and, militarily at least, empowered Israel. Without each, it is difficult to see how the new offensive it launched directly against Iran on Friday might be possible.

The first was the Israeli offensive in Gaza. This has now killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, but within weeks had militarily degraded Hamas sufficiently for the Islamist militant organisation to no longer pose a significant current threat to Israeli citizens.

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Israel claims it has gained control of airspace over Tehran

Defence minister Israel Katz says Iranian capital ‘will burn’ if more missiles are fired at his country

Israel has claimed to have gained control of the skies over the Iranian capital and warned that “Tehran will burn” if more missiles are fired at its territory, but the Iranian leadership remained defiant, vowing a “more severe and powerful response” and threatened to widen the war by striking ships and bases of Israeli allies.

The mutual threats reflected the risks of a dramatic escalation in the conflict, as US-Iranian negotiations planned before the war in Oman were abandoned after Tehran said they would be “meaningless”, and Israel appeared to target Iran’s gas industry. Israeli rhetoric reflected its leaders’ growing confidence that they have gained the upper hand, and raised questions over whether Israeli war aims could go beyond the stated objective of crippling Iran’s nuclear programme.

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UK moves jets to Middle East as Starmer refuses to rule out defending Israel

Military assets to provide ‘contingency support’ as PM repeats call for de-escalation after Iran’s retaliatory strikes

The UK is moving jets and other military assets to the Middle East, Keir Starmer has said, refusing to rule out defending Israel from Iranian strikes despite Tehran’s threat that such an action could lead to British bases in the region being targeted.

Speaking to reporters on the plane to the G7 summit, Starmer reiterated his call for de-escalation, saying he had held a series of calls with other world leaders in the hours after Israel’s attack on Iran, including the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Donald Trump.

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Out of the shadows: drone-op claims show Israel’s Mossad leaning in to its legend

Footage purported to show spy agents launching missiles inside Iran is marked contrast to the intelligence service’s history of secrecy

Israelis were celebrating on Friday what many see as a stunning new success by their country’s foreign intelligence service, the Mossad.

Hours after launching 200 warplanes in a wave of strikes against Iran, Israeli officials released footage they said showed the Mossad agents deep inside Iran assembling missiles and explosive drones aimed at targets near Tehran.

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Trump scrambles to claim credit for Israel’s Iran attack he publicly opposed

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.

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Blasts heard in Tehran as Israel defence minister announces strikes on Iran – live

Explosions heard in capital Tehran as Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, says counter attack is expected

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has addressed the nation, saying the IDF had targted Iran’s leading nuclear scientists working on the Iranian bomb.

He said that Iran’s main enrichment facility in Natanz had been targeted.

This operation will continue for as many days as it takes … We are at a decisive moment in Israel’s history.

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Israel’s Iran threat is familiar, but it is unlikely to attack without US backing

Israel has threatened to destroy Tehran’s nuclear programme before, ultimately holding back in absence of Washington’s support

The withdrawal of non-essential US personnel from parts of the Middle East and the anonymously sourced US reports in the past 24 hours that Israel is on the brink of an all-out attack on Iran are all deeply alarming, but they are also familiar.

The Israeli government has approached the same precipice, of a war to destroy Tehran’s nuclear programme, several times in the past two decades, going as far as honing detailed plans and conducting practice air sorties.

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Keir Starmer faces Kemi Badenoch at PMQs ahead of government’s spending review – UK politics live

Prime minister faces Conservative party leader as chancellor to reveal how government plans to spend almost £1.4tn in 2026-27

Green party MPs and activists staged a protest outside parliament today saying the government should use the spending review to announce a wealth tax. In a post on social media, Adrian Ramsay, the party’s co-leader, said:

We expect the Chancellor to take another axe to public spending today: decline by design from a govt that refuses to tax wealth to properly fund our overstretched public services & support the most vulnerable. We need to invest in a secure & fairer future. #TaxExtremeWealth

Senior SNP figures held a secret meeting on Monday night to discuss removing John Swinney as party leader, The Herald has learned, following last week’s defeat in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse byelection.

One of the 25 attendees said the first minister had two weeks to come up with a new strategy on independence — or risk facing a leadership challenge at the SNP conference in October.

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UK sanctions two far-right Israeli ministers for inciting West Bank violence

Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich face travel bans and asset freezes as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway also impose measures

The UK has been joined by Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway in placing sanctions on two Israeli government ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, largely for inciting violence against Palestinians in their campaign to gain control of new settlements in the West Bank.

Ben-Gvir, the security minister in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, and Smotrich, the finance minister, will face travel bans and have any assets in the five countries frozen. It was stressed that they were being sanctioned in their personal capacity, placing no restrictions on the ministries they lead. Netanyahu has promised to retaliate.

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‘We did nothing wrong’: Greta Thunberg accuses Israel of kidnapping yacht crew

Swedish activist says ‘12 peaceful volunteers’ did not break laws during attempt to bring symbolic aid shipment to Gaza

Hours after being deported from Israel, Greta Thunberg accused the country of kidnapping her and her fellow activists in international waters, adding that she had refused to sign a document stating that she had entered Israel illegally.

Speaking to reporters at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, the Swedish campaigner stressed that she and others on a Gaza-bound ship intercepted by Israel on Monday had simply been attempting to bring much-needed aid to the war-torn territory.

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Australian universities hesitate on antisemitism definition amid academic freedom concerns

Peak Jewish groups accuse ANU of making campus ‘unsafe’ after board declines to adopt definition endorsed by Universities Australia

Months after the release of a new definition of antisemitism, a string of Australian universities are yet to adopt it amid concerns it may contravene academic freedom.

The academic board at the Australian National University (ANU) has declined to adopt the definition, paving the way for the university to become the first to reject the policy, while at least 11 other institutions have not yet made a decision.

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Israeli troops kill 17, say Gaza officials, as UN experts decry ‘obliteration’ of education

Palestinians reportedly killed while trying to reach food sites, while Israel accused of war crime in targeting schools

Israeli troops killed at least 17 Palestinians trying to reach food distribution sites on Tuesday, health authorities in Gaza said, as UN experts accused Israel’s military of committing war crimes including the “obliteration” of Gaza’s education system.

More than 130 people have been shot dead over the past two weeks in a series of brutally repetitive attacks on desperate crowds trying to access food handouts. Hundreds of others have been injured.

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Israeli forces take control of Gaza aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg

Crew of activists making symbolic attempt to deliver aid expected to be held in port until deportation hearings

A boat seized by Israel’s military as it tried to break the blockade on Gaza was towed into an Israeli port after sunset on Monday, with the crew of activists including Greta Thunberg expected to be held there in advance of deportation hearings.

The Madleen was attempting to bring a symbolic shipment of aid to Gaza, which faces a looming famine after more than 11 weeks of total siege and ongoing severe restrictions on food entering the territory.

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Gaza aid ship Madleen heading to Israel, says Israeli foreign ministry, after activists report army boarded vessel – live

Freedom Flotilla Coalition says ship’s communications were jammed after Israeli defence minister threatened to ‘take all necessary measures’ to prevent the humanitarian ship from reaching Gaza

Israel’s foreign ministry has said that the Madleen is “safely making its way to the shores of Israel.”

In a post on X, the ministry says “The passengers are expected to return to their home countries.”

While Greta and others attempted to stage a media provocation whose sole purpose was to gain publicity — and which included less than a single truckload of aid — more than 1,200 aid trucks have entered Gaza from Israel within the past two weeks, and in addition, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has distributed close to 11 million meals directly to civilians in Gaza.

There are ways to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip — they do not involve Instagram selfies.”

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IDF ordered to stop Gaza-bound aid ship carrying Greta Thunberg

Alarm briefly sounds on vessel Madleen amid interception fears after Israeli defence minister tells military to ‘take all necessary measures’ to block humanitarian ship

The Israeli defence minister has threatened to “take all necessary measures” to prevent a humanitarian ship carrying climate campaigner Greta Thunberg from reaching Gaza.

The Madleen says it is attempting to reach the shores of the territory to bring in a symbolic amount of aid and raise international awareness of the continuing humanitarian crisis.

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At least four killed by Israeli fire near Gaza food point, officials say

Shooting happened about a kilometre from distribution site in Rafah run by Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

At least four people have been killed and others injured by Israeli fire about a kilometre from a food distribution point in Gaza, Palestinian health officials and witnesses said, the latest casualties of a new system to provide supplies that critics say is unethical, chaotic and dangerous.

Palestinian witnesses said Israeli forces had opened fire on Sunday morning as people went to receive supplies from a site in Rafah run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an Israeli and US-backed group.

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Body of Thai hostage retrieved from Gaza, says Israeli defence minister

Nattapong Pinta had been seized in the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attack and killed, according to Israeli military

The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage, Nattapong Pinta, who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023, according to defence minister, Israel Katz. .

Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian militant group called the Mujahideen Brigades, and was retrieved from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.

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Conference to recognise Palestinian state to weaken scope of its ambition, diplomats say

UK, France and other western states will not recognise Palestine at New York meeting, instead focusing on agreeing steps towards it

A planned conference in New York this month that supporters of Palestine had hoped would push western governments to recognise a Palestinian state has weakened its ambition and will instead hope to agree on steps towards recognition, diplomats have said.

The change to the aims of the conference, due to be held between 17 and 20 June, marks a retreat from an earlier vision that it would mark a joint declaration of recognition of Palestine as a state by a large group of countries, including permanent UN security council members France and the UK.

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