Israel’s military warns residents to evacuate parts of Tehran ahead of fresh strikes
The Israeli military on Monday warned residents in parts of Tehran to evacuate ahead of a fresh round of air strikes on the Iranian capital. Iranian missiles struck Israel’s Tel Aviv and the port city of Haifa earlier in the day, killing at least 11 people. Follow our liveblog for all the latest developments.
Iran’s state broadcaster appeared to be hit by an air strike mid-broadcast after Israel’s defence minister announced that the Islamic republic’s state television and radio was “about to disappear”.
A video posted to X by BBC correspondent Nafiseh Kohnavard showed what seemed to be a live broadcast cut short by an explosion that filled the studio with dust and falling plaster.
Israel’s military had earlier warned residents in a portion of Tehran’s northern District 3 – where the broadcaster is based – to evacuate “immediately”, saying it intended to carry out air strikes there.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Monday that Iran’s state television and radio were “about to disappear”, after an evacuation warning was issued for the district in Tehran where the broadcaster is based.
“The Iranian propaganda and incitement megaphone is about to disappear,” he said in a statement. “Evacuation of nearby residents has begun.”
Israel’s military urged residents in a portion of the capital’s northern District 3 to evacuate “immediately” on Monday, saying it intended to carry out air strikes there.
The area marked for evacuation is an upmarket part of the Iranian capital home to at least four hospitals and medical centres, a major police building and state broadcaster IRIB.
Loud blasts were heard Monday in western Tehran, an AFP journalist said, as a rapidly escalating air war between Iran and Israel raged for the fourth consecutive day.
A large cloud of black smoke billowed over the area of the Iranian capital, the journalist said.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards called on the residents of Tel Aviv to evacuate as soon as possible, Iranian state media reported on Monday, shortly after Israel issued an evacuation warning for a designated area in Tehran.
Tehran has asked Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman to press US President Donald Trump to use his influence on Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire with Iran in return for Tehran’s flexibility in nuclear negotiations, two Iranian and three regional sources told Reuters on Monday.
Iran has been urgently signaling that it seeks an end to hostilities and resumption of talks over its nuclear programmes, sending messages to Israel and the United States via Arab intermediaries, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing officials.
Israel’s military urged residents of a northern district of Tehran to evacuate “immediately” on Monday, saying it intended to carry out air strikes there.
“In the coming hours, the (Israeli military) will operate in the area, as it has in recent days throughout Tehran, to strike military infrastructure of the Iranian regime”, the military said in a post on X in Persian, indicating a part of Tehran’s District 3 on a map and telling citizens to “evacuate the marked area” for safety.
Israel struck a military base in western Tehran, causing the air defence system to activate, Iran’s Fars news agency reported.
FRANCE 24 correspondent Saeed Azimi reports from Tehran on how people in the Iranian capital are enduring the first days of an escalating exchange of drone and missile attacks with Israel.
Putin, Erdogan urge ‘immediate’ end to Israel-Iran conflict in call
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Monday for an “immediate” end to fighting between Israel and Iran in a phone conversation, the Kremlin said.
“The leaders called for an immediate end to hostilities and the settlement of contentious issues, including those related to Iran’s nuclear programme, exclusively through political and diplomatic means,” the Kremlin said in its readout of the call.
The escalating conflict between the regional foes is set to overshadow talks at the G7 summit which will kick off in Canada’s Rocky Mountains this Monday.
Observers expect there could be a joint statement about the Iran-Israel war, which might call for de-escalation or could simply back Israel’s “right to defend itself” due to Iran’s contested nuclear work.
Pakistan has closed all its border crossings with neighbouring Iran for an indefinite period, provincial officials said on Monday, as Israel and Iran trade intense strikes and threaten further attacks.
“Border facilities in all five districts – Chaghi, Washuk, Panjgur, Kech and Gwadar – have been suspended,” Qadir Bakhsh Pirkani, a senior official in Balochistan province, which borders Iran, told AFP.
The EU on Monday said Russia had “zero credibility” as a potential mediator between Iran and Israel, after US President Donald Trump suggested Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin could play a role.
“There has been a recent Russia-Iran partnership agreement, which signals deepening co-operation across multiple areas, including foreign policy and defence. In light of such, Russia cannot be an objective mediator,” EU spokesman Anouar El Anouni said.
The head of the UN nuclear watchdog said Monday there was “no indication of a physical attack” on an underground section of Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment site following Israeli strikes that destroyed the plant’s above-ground part.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said that a key above-ground component of the Natanz site where Iran was producing uranium enriched to up to 60 percent – short of the 90 percent required to produce weapons-grade material – had been destroyed in the attacks.
Addressing an extraordinary board meeting on Monday, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said there has been “no additional damage” at the Natanz site since Friday.
Radioactivity levels outside the Natanz plant “remained unchanged and at normal levels, indicating no external radiological impact”, Grossi added.
Iran on Monday accused Israel of targeting a hospital in the country’s west, condemning it as a “war crime”.
“Farabi Hospital in the city of Kermanshah in western Iran was targeted by the Israeli regime’s aggressive attacks,” said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, adding that “attacking hospitals alongside attacks on residential areas is a gross violation of international law and a war crime”.
A previous media report said a workshop near the hospital was the target of the Israeli attack.
Iran says its rights under nuclear treaty are not respected, IRNA reports
Expectations that Iran continues its voluntary commitments to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) are “unjustified” when the country’s rights under the treaty are not respected and its nuclear facilities are freely targeted by a non-member, Iran’s mission to UN in Vienna said on Monday, according to state media.
Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, the city’s largest and most prominent marketplace, was closed Monday as fighting between Israel and Iran entered a fourth day, an AFP journalist reported.
The main gate of the bazaar was fully shut, with streets largely deserted and most shops across the capital also closed except for a few grocery stores, the journalist added.
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