Israel-Iran latest: Ayatollah speaks on Israel strikes as one dead and dozens injured in bus stop ‘attack’
Israeli police investigating incident as a terror attack
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Iran’s supreme leader has said Israel’s attack “should not be exaggerated nor downplayed”, while stopping short of calling for retaliation.
The remarks from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday are the latest suggesting Iran is carefully weighing its response to the attack.
“It is up to the authorities to determine how to convey the power and will of the Iranian people to the Israeli regime and to take actions that serve the interests of this nation and country,” said Khamenei, who has the final say over all major decisions in Iran.
Israel claimed the attack, launched in three waves in the early hours of Saturday, was a “precise and targeted” response to the Iranian missile attack on the country on 1 October.
The comments come as one person was killed and dozens injured after a truck rammed into a bus stop at a major intersection near Tel Aviv on Sunday, in what police said they suspected was a terrorist attack.
The Israeli military, meanwhile, killed at least 36 Palestinians in a series of attacks in Gaza on Sunday, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
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Israel’s attack on Iran: Everything we know as IDF targets military sites in Tehran
Israel has launched air strikes on military targets inside Iran in retaliation for an Iranian missile attack earlier this month.
Iran’s foreign ministry has said that the country has a right to defend itself “against external aggressive acts”.
Here’s what else we know so far:
Why is Israel striking Iran? What we know as IDF targets military sites in Tehran
Iran has said the country has a right to defend itself after Israeli strikes
Dozens killed in Israeli air strikes on northern Gaza, says Wafa news agency
At least 40 Palestinians were killed and 80 others injured in Israeli air strikes on several houses in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya on Saturday, official Palestinian news agency Wafa said today, citing medical sources.
Iran demands urgent UN Security Council meeting over Israeli strikes
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to address Israel’s recent attacks against Iran, in a letter to UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres.
In a statement to state television, Mr Araghchi expressed doubts about the outcome, given the US’s position, stating, “With the US and certain other countries present, there is little hope for resolutions that could reduce tensions or curb the Zionist regime’s actions, yet we are still pursuing this.” He emphasised that such a session would allow Iran and regional allies opposed to the attacks to assert their stance.
Mr Araghchi criticised the US’s role in the conflict, describing America as “a partner in the crimes of the Zionist regime” and accused Washington of facilitating the attacks. “The Americans’ involvement is evident to us,” he said, alleging that the US “at the very least, provided Israel’s air force with an air corridor” for the recent strikes.
Israeli attacks kill six in Lebanon
Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed at least six people and injured one on Saturday evening, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. The fatalities occurred in the town of Jdeideh Marjayoun.
The agency reported that Israeli forces targeted several neighbourhoods in Beirut overnight, with airstrikes hitting Burj al-Barajneh, Haret Hreik and al-Hadath in the district of Dahiyeh. These areas, primarily residential and located in the southern suburbs, were reportedly heavily affected by the attacks.
Details regarding the condition of the injured individual remain unclear as local authorities respond to the aftermath of the strikes.
Iran vows 'certain' retaliation to Israeli attacks
Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, declared that Israel’s latest attacks against his country were ineffectual, contrasting them with Iran’s missile strikes earlier this month, and promised that Tehran would respond.
In an address aired at the start of a closed meeting, Mr Ghalibaf accused Israel of committing “genocide and the mass murder of defenceless children and women in Gaza and Lebanon” and argued that Israel “has no credibility on the international stage”, Al Jazeera reported.
Mr Ghalibaf, a former commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, asserted that under Article 51 of the UN Charter, Iran considered itself entitled to self-defence and would deliver a “certain” response in line with international law.
He also accused the US of being “the main partner in all the war crimes” committed by Israel, urging Washington to “rein in” Israel and push for a lasting ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon to prevent further civilian deaths.
Palestinian officials say Israeli strikes have killed 22 people in northern Gaza
Israeli strikes on northern Gaza have killed at least 22 people, Palestinian medical officials said.
The Gaza Health Ministry’s emergency service said that 11 women and two children were among those killed in the strikes late on Saturday in the northern town of Beit Lahiya.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
A Lebanese family was holding a Sunday gathering when an Israeli strike toppled their building
It was Sunday, family time for most in Lebanon, and Hecham al-Baba was visiting his sister. She insisted he and their older brother stay for lunch, hoping to prolong the warm gathering in stressful times.
The brother declined. Like many in Lebanon, he hadn’t been sleeping because of Israel’s intensifying airstrikes, so he left to take a nap.
The 60-year-old, on his annual visit from Germany to see his family in Lebanon, stayed. His sister Donize even convinced him to call an old flame over for coffee. He excitedly stepped into the bathroom to clean up before his visitor arrived.
Within seconds, a huge boom shook the basement apartment. Mr Al-Baba fell to the floor. Something hit him in the chest, knocking the breath out of him. He pulled himself up and reached for the door, screaming his sister’s name. A second explosion threw him back to the floor. The bathroom ceiling — and the whole building above it — collapsed on his back.
An Israeli air raid hit the six-story residential building in Ain el Delb, a neighborhood outside the coastal city of Sidon. The entire building tipped over down a hillside and landed on its face, taking with it 17 apartments full of families and visitors. More than 70 people were killed, and 60 injured.
Israel said the 29 September strike targeted a Hezbollah commander and claimed the building was a headquarters for the group. It could not be independently confirmed whether any of the residents belonged to Hezbollah.
In a video that surfaced online mourning one of the people believed to be residing in the building, he appeared in an old photo wearing military fatigues, a sign of affiliation with Hezbollah.
Satellite photos show Israel hit Iran former nuclear weapons test building
An American researcher said an Israeli airstrike on Saturday hit a building that was part of Iran’s defunct nuclear weapons development programme, and he and another researcher said facilities used to mix solid fuel for missiles also were struck.
The assessments based on commercial satellite imagery were reached separately by David Albright, a former UN weapons inspector, and Decker Eveleth, an associate research analyst at CNA, a Washington think tank.
They told Reuters that Israel struck buildings in Parchin, a massive military complex near Tehran. Israel also hit Khojir, according to Mr Eveleth, a sprawling missile production site near Tehran.
Reuters reported in July that Khojir was undergoing massive expansion.
Mr Eveleth said the Israeli strikes may have “significantly hampered Iran’s ability to mass produce missiles.”
The Israeli military said three waves of Israeli jets struck missile factories and other sites near Tehran and in western Iran early on Saturday in retaliation for Tehran’s 1 October barrage of more than 200 missiles against Israel.
Iran’s military said the Israeli warplanes used “very light warheads” to strike border radar systems in the provinces of Ilam, Khuzestan and around Tehran.
In posts on X, Mr Albright said commercial satellite imagery showed that Israel hit a building in Parchin called Taleghan 2 that was used for testing activities during the Amad Plan, Iran’s defunct nuclear weapons development program.
The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and US intelligence say Iran shuttered the program in 2003. Iran denies pursuing nuclear weapons.
Mr Albright, head of the Institute for Science and International Security research group, was given access to the program’s files for a book after they were stolen from Tehran by Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency in 2018.
On X, he said the archives revealed that Iran kept important test equipment in Taleghan 2.
Iran may have removed key materials before the airstrike, he said, but “even if no equipment remained inside” the building would have provided “intrinsic value” for future nuclear weapons-related activities.
Mr Albright told Reuters that commercial satellite imagery of Parchin showed Israel damaged three buildings about 320 m) from Taleghan 2, including two in which solid fuel for ballistic missiles was mixed.
He did not identify the commercial firm from which he obtained the images.
John Swinney calls for immediate ceasefire in Gaza
Scotland’s First Minister has called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, saying it is “at the heart” of reaching wider peace in the Middle East.
John Swinney was speaking on the first anniversary of the day Israeli forces began their ground invasion of Gaza, which came after Hamas launched its attack on Israel on 7 October last year.
Mr Swinney said that international recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine, as part of a two-state solution, is also a “fundamental pillar” upon which lasting peace could be built.
He also called for the unconditional release of all hostages.
Report:
John Swinney calls for immediate ceasefire in Gaza
The First Minister also wants to see the unconditional release of all hostages.
Five things to know about Israel's attack on Iran
Five things to know about Israel's attack on Iran
Israel delivered its long-expected response to Iranian missile attacks by carrying out a series of airstrikes against the Islamic Republic
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