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Here’s where things stand on Thursday 19 June 2025:
- Supreme Leader Khamenei says Iran won’t accept “imposed war”, “peace”, and warns any US strikes on its territory will have “serious irreparable consequences”.
- Israel says it has struck 40 sites in Iran today, including centrifuge production and weapons facilities, while Iran launched a swarm of drones at Israel.
- Iran rejects Trump’s claims that it sought meeting at the White House.
- The death toll from Israel’s attacks on Iran has risen to more than 240, including 70 women and children. More than 24 people have been killed in Iranian attacks on Israel.
- In Gaza, Israeli forces have killed at least 89 Palestinians, including 70 people seeking food aid in the city of Khan Younis.
Here’s what happened today
We will be closing the live page soon. Here’s a brief review of the day’s main events:
- Israel says it struck about 40 sites in Iran.
- Israel says 24 people have been killed in Iranian strikes, while more than 240 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Iran.
- Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei says Iran would not accept an “imposed war” and warned that US involvement in attacks on Iran would bring “irreparable consequences” as Trump continues to suggest that the US could enter the war against Iran.
- Israel has continued to carry out deadly attacks in Gaza, with 144 bodies brought to hospitals in the last 24 hours and at least 70 Palestinians killed after Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians waiting for food assistance near Khan Younis.
- Iran denied Trump’s claim that Iranian officials asked for a meeting at the White House, saying “the only thing more despicable than his lies is his cowardly threat to ‘take out’ Iran’s Supreme Leader”.
Israeli air force intercepts Iranian drone
The Israeli military said the unmanned aerial vehicle was downed in the north of the country a short time ago.
No details were provided regarding potential damage or casualties.
We will bring you more as information emerges.
Photos: Israelis shelter amid Iranian missile launches
UN Security Council to hold meeting on Friday
The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on the Israel-Iran conflict at 10am in New York (14:00 GMT) on Friday.
Earlier, we reported that Iran had requested the meeting after it said the situation “has dangerously escalated due to mounting and undeniable evidence of direct US involvement in this unlawful campaign”.
Iran’s request was supported by Russia, China, Pakistan and Algeria.
Trump’s latest remarks hint at degree of hesitancy to attack Iran
The most important thing in what President Donald Trump said there is that he is not looking for a ceasefire as he put it, he is looking for complete victory.
Complete victory, according to Trump, is an end to Iran’s nuclear programme. So he is continuing to push an Israeli line.
But at the same time, there is a degree of hesitancy there that perhaps hasn’t been seen quite as strongly in the past 48 hours.
Here, he’s making very clear no decision has been taken, he is still deciding what to do, he can go one way or the other … and the US is going to maintain its posture, which is absolute support for Israel but not slipping over into a tangible US involvement in that war against Iran.
We don’t know what the US president is thinking
We don’t know what Trump is talking about.
We don’t know if the president knows what the president is talking about, to be honest. These people spend day in and day out trying to decipher their president because they want to tell the influential elites of the US what their president is thinking, and they don’t know what he’s thinking. I don’t know what he’s thinking.
Now, part of it could be because he wants everyone to be guessing. And then he has a bit of an ego, and he likes the attention. Everyone wants to know what Trump wants to do, and Trump kind of revels in that.
But then there is the real tragedy: the war continues, there is no end in sight, we don’t know what is going to happen next, and everyone seems to think that the keys are in his hands, he just doesn’t know which door to open.
Bodies of Palestinians shot by Israeli forces left for five days in Gaza before recovery
Our colleagues on the ground in Gaza are reporting that the bodies of 20 people shot dead in northern Gaza by Israeli forces while waiting for aid trucks were left for five days before approval of coordination was given to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to allow paramedics to recover them.
Palestinian health officials have said that at least 72 Palestinians were killed by Israeli attacks since midnight on Wednesday, including at least 29 waiting for aid assistance.
In the last 24 hours, 144 people have been killed and 560 wounded.
Israeli army says it intercepted another drone in occupied Golan Heights
In a short statement, the military says the drone was intercepted in the south of the Israeli-occupied Syrian territory.
The statement did not say where the drone was fired from.
Israel has occupied the Golan Heights, located in the southwestern corner of Syria, since 1967.
Trump says no decision yet on attacking Iran’s Fordow site
Trump said the US is the only country capable of destroying Iran’s Fordow nuclear site, but he told reporters, “that doesn’t mean I’m going to do it”.
“We’ll see what happens. I’ve been asked about it by everybody, but I haven’t made a decision,” he told reporters from the Oval Office.
He reiterated his claim – without providing any evidence – that Iran was “weeks away” from a nuclear weapon.
As we’ve been reporting, Iran has denied seeking a nuclear weapon, and the UN nuclear agency has said it had no indication that the country was building one.
Trump again blamed Iran for failing to sign a nuclear deal. “Maybe that can still happen, I guess,” he said, adding, though that it’s “very late”.
Regime change in Iran ‘a strategic mistake’: French foreign ministry spokesman
France’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson has been speaking to Al Jazeera. Here are some of their translated comments:
- France’s President Macron has indicated that military regime change in Iran is a strategic mistake.
- The French position is clear and consistent and calls for an end to the extremely dangerous escalation in the region.
- Talks on the Iranian nuclear programme must resume, and the issue cannot be resolved militarily.
- European role in the Iranian nuclear issue is to call on Israel to adopt diplomacy.
- France’s position is to call for a halt to operations on both sides and a return to negotiations.
World Food Programme says violence against those seeking aid ‘completely unacceptable’
The WFP said in a statement that “far too many people have died” while seeking aid in Gaza. The statement comes as continuous Israeli attacks on people seeking assistance have killed dozens of Palestinians in the last several days.
“Any violence resulting in starving people being killed or injured while seeking life-saving assistance is completely unacceptable,” reads the statement, which also laments continued restrictions in aid entry into Gaza.
“Over the last four weeks, WFP has been able to dispatch just 9,000 metric tons of food aid inside Gaza – a tiny fraction of what a population of 2.1 million hungry people needs,” it says, noting that during a previous ceasefire it facilitated the entry of as many as 600 trucks per day into Gaza.
Iran frustrated UN nuclear agency yet to condemn Israeli attacks
Iran wants the IAEA to do its job but the agency is yet to issue a condemnation of Israel’s actions.
Under international law and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, attacking nuclear sites is banned. It is a violation of international law. That is the first thing Israel did – attack Natanz, Isfahan and now Tehran. These nuclear facilities are under constant attack.
The IAEA issued statements earlier today saying that the Tehran research nuclear reactor has been hit, and that facilities in Karaj, where parts of centrifuges are made, have come under attack.
There’s still no condemnation from the agency. When Russia invaded Ukraine, and there was fighting around Zaporizhzhia, one of the first things the agency did was condemn the attacks in the vicinity of the nuclear facility because it poses great risk. They have yet to condemn Israel.
Iran feels that there is very much this anti-Iran sentiment at the agency, and they have become very frustrated. As a result, I think we’re going to see a much different relationship between Iran and the agency now.
How ‘Trump walked into Israel’s trap’ by adopting ‘zero-enrichment fantasy’
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute, a US-based think tank, says Trump’s demand during Iran nuclear talks that the country could not enrich any uranium set off the chain reaction that led to the current conflict.
“The Israelis knew very well that Iran never would agree to such capitulation [at least short of war]. Predictably, and by design, this position led to a deadlock in the talks. This deeply frustrated the impatient Trump,” Parsi wrote on X.
Then, Israel “convinced Trump to give them a yellow/green light to bomb Iran in order to soften its negotiating stance”, he continued.
“Predictably, bombing Iran hardened their position and prompted Tehran to fight back by targeting Israel with missiles. Predictably, within 24-48h, the Israelis returned to Washington and insisted that the US needed to step in to finish the war.”
Parsi said that “much indicates that this was the Israeli plan from the outset”.
“Had Trump not walked into the Israeli trap and adopted zero enrichment, there would likely have been a framework nuclear deal by now,” he said.
Israel feeling confident that danger of attacks is decreasing
The Israeli army says it has significantly degraded Iran’s ability to fire weapons and missiles, and that’s why there are fewer getting through.
Of course, others would argue it could be tactical for the Iranians to not use all of the missiles they have.
The Israelis seem to think the situation is perhaps less critical than it was previously, because from this evening they’ve reduced the alert level in Israel to a place where you can have gatherings of up to 30 people.
Schools will remain closed, but there’s a suggestion as people go back to offices or shops where there is shelter provided should that be needed, that the Israelis seem to think it’s less dangerous and can reduce the threat level.
UN chief calls for immediate ceasefire
In a statement, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres says he remains “profoundly alarmed by the ongoing military escalation in the Middle East between Israel and Iran”.
“I reiterate my call for immediate de-escalation leading to a ceasefire. I strongly appeal to all to avoid any further internationalization of the conflict. Any additional military interventions could have enormous consequences, not only for those involved but for the whole region and for international peace and security at large.
“Diplomacy remains the best and only way to address concerns regarding Iran’s nuclear programme and regional security issues.”
Iran requests another Security Council meeting
In a letter, Iran’s mission to the UN says the situation “has dangerously escalated due to mounting and undeniable evidence of direct US involvement in this unlawful campaign”.
The mission denounced what it described as Trump’s “brazen threat” to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei, as well as threats to strike the country’s nuclear facilities.
That points “to coordinated complicity in acts of war and state-sponsored aggression and terrorism at the highest levels”, it said in the letter.
“These reckless and inflammatory statements, especially when issued by the Head of State of a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, constitute a grave and flagrant violation of international law,” it added.
The Security Council held an emergency meeting on Friday, just hours after Israel launched its first attacks against Iran. The Israeli and US representatives at the UN defended the Israeli military’s bombing of Iran, while many of the other council members urged de-escalation.
Bernie Sanders says US ‘must not’ be part of war with Iran
The leftist US senator says that Israel’s decision to start a war with Iran must be taken on alone.
“[Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu is not the President of the United States. He should not be determining US foreign and military policy,” Sanders said in a social media post.
“If the people of Israel support his decision to start a war with Iran, that is their business and their war. The United States must not be a part of it.”
Israeli strikes continuing across Tehran
I can still hear the sounds of explosions in a new round of which started a few minutes ago.
We heard reports about casualties. They’re saying that some people have been injured as a result of the recent Israeli attack, targeting one of the most important buildings related to the commander of the police.
We don’t have further details, but we see a continuation of Israeli strikes across the capital.
We have to keep in mind, this is not just happening in the capital. We hear reports from different cities being targeted by the Israeli strikes.
‘Growing number’ of Britons view Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide
A poll commissioned by the NGO Action for Humanity shows that 55 percent of UK respondents oppose Israel’s actions in Gaza, while only 15 percent support them.
The number is even higher among Labour voters, 68 percent of whom are against Israel’s actions and 78 percent of whom believe the UK should enforce an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The UK government is totally out of touch with the British public they are supposed to represent, and the Labour Party are even more out of touch with their own voters,” said Jonathan Purcell of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians.
Read about more of the poll’s insights here.
What is Iran’s Sejjil missile?
As we’ve been reporting, Iran’s IRGC says the country launched Sejjil missiles at Israel in its latest barrage.
According to the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in the US, the Sejjil is a “two-stage, solid-propellant, medium-range ballistic missile” designed and built in Iran.
Measuring 18 metres (59 feet) in length, the missile has a range of 2,000km (1,242 miles). It can deliver a payload of around 700kg (1,543lbs), according to the database.
For more on how ballistic missiles work, check out our explainer here.
Amnesty International urges Israel, Iran to protect civilians
The human rights watchdog said that civilians are paying the price of escalating strikes between Israel and Iran.
“As the number of deaths and injuries continue to rise, Amnesty International is urging both parties to comply with their obligations and ensure that civilians in both countries do not further pay the price of reckless military action,” Agnes Callamard, secretary-general of Amnesty International, said in a statement.
“Further escalation of these hostilities risks unleashing devastating and far-reaching consequences for civilians across the region and beyond.”
More from former British Ambassador Dalton: US likely ‘war-gaming’ Iran options
Dalton told Al Jazeera that US officials are likely “war-gaming” the potential use of their bunker-buster bombs on Iran’s Fordow, the heavily fortified underground facility that is a cornerstone of Iran’s nuclear programme.
Seriously damaging Fordow would require bombs to penetrate “scores of metres of rock and concrete,” said Dalton. “They [US officials] will be assessing their chances of achieving that difficult military technical feat.”
The White House will also be considering two other key factors, he said. First, “what Iran is capable of by way of retaliation against American lives, American facilities, American bases and America’s allies in the region,” and secondly, the potential blowback from Trump going back on his “commitment to the American people not to entangle the US in more wars”.
Iran’s IRGC says missile attacks will be ‘focused and continuous’
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says long-range Sejjil missiles have been used in a 12th wave of firings at Israel.
In a statement, the IRGC warned that the skies above “occupied lands” are open to Iranian missiles and drones.
“The missile attacks will be focused and continuous, and we have opened the gates of hell on the Zionists,” it said.
Iran’s defiant response exactly ‘what you’d expect’
Former British Ambassador to Iran, Richard Dalton, said he is not surprised by Iran’s fiery response to Trump’s demand for it to “surrender”.
“That is what you’d expect from any undefeated country and that is what you’d expect from Iran,” Dalton told Al Jazeera.
“These threats to its identity, to its continued existence, this damage to civilian facilities, not just military or potentially nuclear ones, has clearly enraged people in Tehran and not just supporters of the system of government in Iran,” he added.
“The unpredictability of the US is now a serious worry for the region and the rest of the world.”
How has Iran managed to pierce through Israel’s air defence systems?
Israel’s launch of air attacks against Iran on Friday prompted Tehran to fire a wave of retaliatory strikes on Israel, and some Iranian ballistic missiles have pierced through Israel’s missile defence systems and hit key targets.
So far, Iran has fired about 400 missiles and hundreds of drones, killing at least 24 people in Israel, wounding hundreds and forcing Israelis across the country to take cover in bomb shelters.
In recent history, Israel has successfully intercepted most aerial attacks coming its way through these systems, such as its signature Iron Dome.
So how are Iranian missiles making it past Israel’s air defences? Read our explainer here.
UN calls on Israel to stop killing Palestinians seeking aid in Gaza
The UN has called on Israel to cease attacks on Palestinians waiting for food aid in Gaza, which have become more frequent and more lethal in the last several days.
“The UN Human Rights office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory calls on the Israeli Defence Forces to immediately cease its use of lethal force around food distribution points in Gaza, following repeated instances of shooting and killing of Palestinians seeking to access food there,” the office said in a social media post.
On Tuesday, at least 70 people were killed and hundreds wounded when Israeli tanks, machine guns and drones opened fire on a crowd waiting for aid near Khan Younis.
At least 38 people were killed in similar incidents on Monday, mostly in the area near Rafah in southern Gaza.