Closing summary
It’s just after 7.30am in Tehran, where a short while ago the Israeli air force said they had launched a wave of new strikes. We’re still waiting to hear Donald Trump’s decision on whether he will bring the US into Israel’s conflict with Iran, but tit-for-tat strikes between the two regional enemies show no sign of slowing down.
We’re going to pause our live coverage here, but will return when there are fresh updates to bring you.
You can read the latest from our correspondents in the region here.
Donald Trump told reporters that “a deal could still happen” and that he thinks “Iran was a few weeks away from having a nuclear weapon.” The news came shortly before several US media outlets reported that Trump approved plans to attack Iran on Tuesday, but has not yet given the final order to do so. US intelligence sources briefed US senators on Monday that Iran was not working to develop a nuclear weapon.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel had made a “huge mistake” by launching the war and warned the US against becoming involved, in his first comments since Friday. “The Americans should know that any US military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage,” he said in a statement read out by a presenter on state TV.
European leaders are pushing for diplomacy between Israel and Iran, with officials set to meet with Iran’s foreign minister in Geneva on Friday. The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain, as well as EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, will join the nuclear talks.
Israel’s military has warned people to evacuate the area around the Iranian city of Arak’s heavy water reactor. The warning came in a social media post and included a satellite image of the plant in a red circle. In the past week, Israel’s campaign has targeted Iran’s enrichment site at Natanz, centrifuge workshops around Tehran and a nuclear site in Isfahan.
Iran announced that it had fired ultra-heavy, long-range, two-stage missiles at Israel, while Israeli strikes hit targets across Iran, including the police central command building in Tehran. French president Emmanuel Macron has voiced concerns that Israeli strikes are “increasingly targeting sites unrelated to Iran’s nuclear and ballistic programs”, leading to “a growing number of civilian casualties”. So far, more than 224 people in Iran and more than 24 in Israel have been killed in the conflict. Rights groups suspect the death toll in Iran may actually be closer to 600.
Longtime supporters of Donald Trump have voiced their disapproval of the possibility that the president may seek to involve the United States in the Israel-Iran conflict, a rare break within the deeply loyal Make America Great Again coalition. Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon said “this is not something you play around with” while Republican senator Rand Paul told reporters that Trump would need congressional approval to bomb Iran. At the same time, some Trump allies voiced their support for the president, with Republican senator Ted Cruz saying the US could “quite reasonably” strike an underground nuclear facility in Iran, but that “there is zero possibility of American boots on the ground”.
Internet connection across all of Iran has slowed to a near halt. The reduction in internet speeds comes after an anti-Iranian government hacking group with potential ties to Israel claimed that it hacked Iran’s state-owned Bank Sepah. Fatemeh Mohajerani, a spokesperson for Iran’s government, said on X that officials in Tehran had restricted internet access to ward off additional cyberattacks.
Stock markets in Asia edged lower on Thursday, while safe havens such as gold gained as investors remained on edge over the possible entry of the United States into the Israel-Iran conflict.
US S&P 500 futures pointed 0.4% lower, although most US markets - including Wall Street and the Treasury market - are closed on Thursday for a national holiday.
“Market participants remain edgy and uncertain,” said Kyle Rodda, a senior financial markets analyst at Capital.com.
Speculation remains rife - fed probably strategically by the Trump administration - that the US will intervene ... Such a scenario would raise the risk of a greater regional conflict, with implications for global energy supply and probably economic growth.”
