TEHRAN – More explosions were heard in and near the capital, Tehran, late on Friday afternoon.
The Israeli regime seemed to continue strikes against Iranian territory hours after several rounds of strikes were carried out inside Iran and as the Iranian Armed Forces prepared a response.
The targets of the new strikes were not immediately clear.
The Israeli regime began a series of military strikes on Iranian cities overnight on Friday, including on residential buildings in Tehran.
The Israeli military also carried out targeted strikes against Iran’s top military brass. Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri and Chief Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami were assassinated in Tehran.
So were Commander of the Aerospace Force of the IRGC Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh and Commander of Khatam al-Anbia Headquarters Major General Gholamali Rashid.
WARSAW, June 13 – A Russian aircraft was intercepted over the Baltic Sea by two British fighter jets on Friday after it flew two kilometres inside Polish airspace, the Polish armed forces said on Friday.
The planes intercepted and identified the Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft, which then left Polish airspace.
“This is another case of provocative testing of the readiness of NATO countries’ systems,” the Polish Armed Forces Operational Command wrote on social media platform X.
BEIJING, June 13 – Tropical storm Wutip slammed into southern China on Friday, pounding coastal regions with gales and heavy rainfall, National Meteorological Centre said.
Packing wind speeds of 108 km per hour near its centre, Wutip made landfall in Dongfang city on the resort island province of Hainan around 11 pm (1500 GMT) after disrupting transport services, shutting schools and closing tourist attractions in the wider area.
Wutip, the Cantonese word for “butterfly”, formed over the South China Sea this week and intensified into a tropical storm on June 11. It marked the fifth-latest start of the Pacific tropical cyclone season in recent times.
JERUSALEM, June 13 – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that Israel had informed the United States about its plans to attack Iran before carrying them out.
“I leave the American position to the Americans. We updated them ahead of time. They knew about the attack. What will they do now? I leave that to President (Donald) Trump. He makes his decisions independently,” Netanyahu said in a recorded video message.
“I am not going to speak for him (Trump). He does that very convincingly and assertively. He said that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons, they cannot have enrichment capabilities.”
People near a damaged building in the aftermath of Israeli strikes in Tehran, June 13, 2025. WANA via REUTERS
ISTANBUL – At least 86 people were killed and 341 others injured in large-scale Israeli airstrikes that targeted Iranian soil on Friday, according to Fars news agency.
In the capital Tehran, 78 people lost their lives, and 329 others sustained injuries.
Separately, at least eight people were killed and 12 others injured in Israeli strikes that targeted Tabriz in northwest Iran.
Israel launched a large-scale attack early Friday, deploying around 200 aircraft to target Iran’s nuclear program and long-range missile capabilities. Several senior Iranian military officials and nuclear scientists were killed in the strikes.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the “targeted” military operation will continue as long as necessary.
Iran has vowed “severe punishment,” and called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.
US President Donald Trump said on Truth Social he had given Iran “chance after chance to make a deal” and urged it to make one now “before it is too late.”
The escalation casts doubt over the future of nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington, which were being mediated by Oman. The sixth round of indirect talks, scheduled for Sunday, is now likely to be canceled, according to sources familiar with the matter.
TEHRAN – The Zionist regime launched a fresh strike on a military airport in Iran’s northwestern city of Tabriz. The attack took place at 12:30 pm local time on Friday.
Images released in the social networks show thick plumes of smoke rising into the sky from the airport near Tabriz.
The site that has been targeted is believed to be Shahid Fakuri military airbase that accommodates fighter aircraft.
The Israeli regime attacked a number of residential neighborhoods of Tehran and locations in other parts of Iran in the wee hours of Friday.
COPENHAGEN/LONDON, June 13 – Israel is shutting its embassies around the world and has urged citizens to stay alert and not display Jewish or Israeli symbols in public places, statements posted on embassy websites said on Friday after Israel launched large-scale attacks on Iran.
The statements said Israel would not be providing consular services and urged citizens to cooperate with local security services if faced with hostile activity.
No timeframe was given for how long the embassies would be closed. A person picking up the phone at the embassy in Berlin gave no further details, and Israel’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.
Israelis abroad were encouraged to fill out a form to update the foreign ministry on their location. This was also done after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel to coordinate the return of reservists and organise rescue flights.
“In light of recent developments, Israeli missions around the world will be closed and consular services will not be provided,” the statement said.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, said Germany was stepping up protection of Jewish and Israeli sites.
The area around the Israeli embassy in Berlin was largely quiet and empty except for some police and police cars.
Visible security was increased outside the Great Synagogue of Stockholm, with a police van and car parked near the building, a Reuters witness said.
Earlier, Israel said it had attacked nuclear facilities and missile factories in Iran and had killed a swathe of military commanders in what could be a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon.
U.S. President Donald Trump suggested that Iran had brought the attack on itself by resisting U.S. demands in talks to restrict its nuclear programme, and urged it to make a deal, “with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal”.
MEXICO CITY – A Mexican citizen died in a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center from undetermined circumstances, Mexico’s foreign ministry has said.
The death comes amid ongoing demonstrations in several US states, most prominently in California, against immigration enforcement raids launched by US President Donald Trump’s administration.
The man died on June 7 at an ICE facility in the southern state of Georgia, where he was being held after he was transferred from a state prison, the foreign ministry said in a statement Thursday.
US authorities notified the Mexican consulate in Georgia’s capital Atlanta of the death.
“Consular staff has established communication with local and ICE authorities, as well as with the individual’s family members, to clarify the facts, confirm the official cause of death, and provide legal advice and support to the family,” the ministry said.
Mexico’s foreign ministry said consular staff had not been notified to interview the detainee while he was in custody, despite regular visits to the facility to assist Mexican nationals.
“The consulate has requested an explanation from the (detention) center’s authorities,” the ministry said.
It also said it was examining legal options and maintaining communication with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the state’s independent investigative body.
An image published by Israeli media purports to show Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aircraft en route to an unknown location outside the occupied territories.
TEHRAN – Israeli media say the Tel Aviv regime’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been taken to an unknown location, possibly Greece, following strikes against Iran.
Israeli media had earlier published an image of Netanyahu’s aircraft, being escorted by two fighter jets, en route to an unknown location outside the occupied territories.
Israel’s Channel 12 later said the aircraft had landed at the Greek capital, Athens.
The Israeli regime began a series of military strikes in and near the Iranian capital, Tehran, as well as other Iranian cities overnight on Friday.
Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri, Chief Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami, and Commander of Khatam al-Anbia Headquarters Major General Gholamali Rashid were among the top brass assassinated in targeted strikes.
The Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces are preparing a response.
Clockwise (from the top left): Brig. Gen. Amirali Hajizadeh, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Baqeri, Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, Fereydoun Abbasi, Maj. Gen. Gholamali Rashid, and Mohammad-Mehdi Tehranchi.
TEHRAN – Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri, Chief Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami, and other military and civilian figures have been assassinated in Israeli strikes in Tehran.
Major General Baqeri and Major General Salami were assassinated in separate Israeli strikes overnight on Friday.
Commander of the Aerospace Force of the IRGC Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh was also assassinated in the Israeli strikes.
Commander of Khatam al-Anbia Headquarters Major General Gholamali Rashid was also killed.
Mohammad-Mehdi Tehranchi, a nuclear scientist and president of the Islamic Azad University, and Fereydoun Abbasi, also a nuclear scientist and former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran were also killed in separate strikes.
The Israeli regime began military strikes in and near the Iranian capital, Tehran, as well as other cities in Iran overnight on Friday.
Residential buildings were among the sites targeted in the capital. Eyewitnesses and reporters from the state TV said they saw the bodies of women and children among the victims.
TEHRAN, June 13 – A loud and “terrifying” sound was reported near Nojeh Air Base in Kabudar Ahang, located in Iran’s western province of Hamedan, the semi-official Mehr News Agency said on Friday.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
DUBAI, June 13 (Reuters) – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is alive and is being continuously briefed about the situation, a security source told Reuters, following an Israeli attack on Iran early on Friday.
Chief Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami
TEHRAN – Chief Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami and other military and civilian figures have been assassinated in Israeli strikes in Tehran.
Tasnim news agency reported on Friday morning that Major General Salami had been assassinated in an Israeli strike overnight on Friday.
No more information was immediately available.
The IRGC in a statement later on Friday confirmed Major General Salami’s death.
It said the IRGC and other branches of the Armed Forces, together with forces from the Islamic Umma, stood ready to give a strong response to the Israeli regime.
Tasnim also said that Mohammad-Mehdi Tehranchi, a nuclear scientist and president of the Islamic Azad University, and Fereydoun Abbasi, also a nuclear scientist and former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran were also assassinated in separate strikes.
Also according to Tasnim, Commander of Khatam al-Anbia Headquarters Major General Gholamali Rashid was assassinated in the Israeli strikes.
The strikes also targeted other locations in and near the capital, Tehran, as well as in other cities.
An unverified image purportedly showing smoke plumes in Tehran early on Friday.
TEHRAN – The Israeli regime has carried out strikes in and near the Iranian capital, Tehran, as well as other cities in Iran.
The strikes took place overnight on Friday, as unconfirmed images and footage began to appear on social media of Tehran’s skyline, with plumes of smoke seen rising to the sky on several locations.
Images showed damaged residential buildings in several locations in the capital. Eyewitnesses and reporters from the state TV said they saw the bodies of women and children among the victims.
The Times of Israel cited Israeli minister for military affairs Israel Katz as saying that the regime was conducting strikes on Iran. Katz simultaneously declared a state of emergency across Israel.
In recent days, and as reports emerged in U.S. and Israeli media about imminent strikes against Iran, Iranian officials warned that any aggression against Iranian territory would have devastating consequences.
The United States earlier began an evacuation of its non-essential embassy staff and their families from the region, as U.S. intelligence indicated that Israel was planning to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities.
In a statement later on Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel had taken “unilateral” action against Iran and that the United States had not been involved.
Chief Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami was assassinated in one of the Israeli strikes.
Smoke rises after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 13, 2025. Israel attacked Iran’s capital early Friday, with explosions booming across Tehran. AP
JERUSALEM – Israel attacked Iran’s capital early Friday, with explosions booming across Tehran as Israel said it targeted nuclear and military sites.
The attack comes as tensions have reached new heights over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. The Board of Governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency for the first time in 20 years on Thursday censured Iran over it not working with its inspectors. Iran immediately announced it would establish a third enrichment site in the country and swap out some centrifuges for more-advanced ones.
Israel for years has warned it will not allow Iran to build a nuclear weapon, something Tehran insists it doesn’t want — though official there have repeatedly warned it could build them. The US has been preparing for something to happen, already pulling some diplomats from Iraq’s capital and offering voluntary evacuations for the families of US troops in the wider Middle East.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an address on YouTube that the attacks will continue “for as many days at it takes to remove this threat.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel took “unilateral action against Iran” and that Israel advised the US that it believed the strikes were necessary for its self-defense.
“We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” Rubio said in a statement released by the White House.
Rubio also issued a warning to Iran that it should not target US interests or personnel. People in Tehran awoke to the sound of the blast. State television acknowledged the blast.
It wasn’t immediately clear what had been hit, though smoke could be rising from Chitgar, a neighborhood in western Tehran. There are no known nuclear sites in that area — but it wasn’t immediately clear if anything was happening in the rest of the country.
An Israeli military official says that his country targeted Iranian nuclear sites, without identifying them.
The official spoke to journalists on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing operation, which is also targeting military sites.
Benchmark Brent crude spiked on the attack, rising nearly 5 percent on the news. Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said that his country carried out the attack, without saying what it targeted.
“In the wake of the state of Israel’s preventive attack against Iran, missile and drone attacks against Israel and its civilian population are expected immediately,” he said in a statement.
The statement added that Katz “signed a special order declaring an emergency situation in the home front.”
“It is essential to listen to instructions from the home front command and authorities to stay in protected areas,” it said.
Both Iran and Israel closed their airspace.
As the explosions in Tehran started, President Donald Trump was on the lawn of the White House mingling with members of Congress. It was unclear if he had been informed but the president continued shaking hands and posing for pictures for several minutes.
Trump earlier said he was urging Netanyahu to hold off from taking action for the time being while the administration negotiated with Iran.
“As long as I think there is a (chance for an) agreement, I don’t want them going in because I think it would blow it,” Trump told reporters.
Indian media widely reported the survivor had been sitting in seat 11A, after videos shared on social media showed Vishwash Kumar Ramesh — in a bloodied t-shirt and limping, but walking toward an ambulance. AN – X/Screenshots
AHMEDABAD – The miracle report of a lone survivor from a London-bound passenger plane that crashed Thursday in the Indian city of Ahmedabad with 242 on board offered a glimmer of hope.
Indian rescue teams with sniffer dogs clawed through smoldering wreckage through the night searching for clues for what had caused the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for London’s Gatwick Airport to explode in a blazing fireball soon after takeoff from the western city of Ahmedabad.
Bodies from Air India’s flight 171 were lifted out of the torn fuselage, as well as being pulled out of the charred buildings of the medical staff hostel that the airplane smashed into, killing several there too.
But hours after police said that there “appears to be no survivor in the crash,” officials reported the initially seemingly impossible account that one man had walked out alive.
“One survivor is confirmed,” Dhananjay Dwivedi, principal secretary of Gujarat state’s health department, told AFP.
The person was being treated in hospital, he added without further details.
India’s Home Minister Amit Shah, who visited the crash site and then the hospital, said he was “pained beyond words by the tragic plane crash” in Ahmedabad, the main city in Gujarat state, where Shah is a lawmaker.
But he also told reporters he had heard the “good news of the survivor” and was speaking to them “after meeting him.”
Indian media widely reported the survivor had been sitting in seat 11A, after videos shared on social media showed a man — in a bloodied t-shirt and limping, but walking toward an ambulance.
He shared a boarding card that named him as Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a 40-year-old British national, one of 53 UK citizens on board.
AFP was not able to confirm the reports, but the BBC spoke to his cousin in the city of Leicester, Ajay Valgi, who reported that Ramesh had called his family to say he was “fine.”
Britain’s Press Association news agency also spoke to his brother, Nayan Kumar Ramesh, 27, also in Leicester.
“He said, I have no idea how I exited the plane,” his brother told PA.
But while Ramesh’s reported survival offered a chance of hope, stories also flooded in of heartbreaking loss: elderly parents going to visit children in Britain, or family returning home.
Air India is organizing relief flights — one from the capital New Delhi and another from financial hub Mumbai — to Ahmedabad for “the next of kin of passengers and Air India staff,” the information ministry said in a statement.
They will have to take part in the grim task of identifying the bodies, many of which were reported to have been badly burned.
The plane, which was full of fuel as it took off for a long-haul flight to London, exploded into a burst of orange flame, videos of the crash showed.
Dwivedi, the health official, said DNA collection facilities had been set up at BJ Medical College in Ahmedabad.
“DNA testing arrangements have been made,” he told reporters.
“Families and close relatives of the flight passengers, especially their parents and children, are requested to submit their samples at the location so that the victims can be identified at the earliest.”
CAPE TOWN, June 12 – The death toll from the devastating floods in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa has risen to 78, with only 21 bodies identified so far, a senior government official confirmed on Thursday.
“I can confirm that the death toll from the floods has risen to 78, as more bodies continue to be recovered. This means we are facing a serious crisis,” South Africa’s Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Velenkosini Hlabisa told the SABC News channel on Thursday evening.
The floods occurred after severe weather conditions hit multiple districts across the province on Monday, leaving hundreds of people displaced.
“As the water continues to subside, it’s likely that more bodies will be found. What is comforting is that we have sufficient personnel conducting search and rescue operations,” Hlabisa said.
NEW DELHI, June 12 – India’s federal minister Amit Shah said he has met the lone survivor in Thursday’s deadly air crash in the western state of Gujarat and said the crashed plane had 125,000 litres of fuel.
“This afternoon, Air India flight AI-171 crashed and many passengers are feared dead. The entire nation is grieving and is standing together with the bereaved families,” he told media. “There were 230 passengers and 12 crew members. There is some good news that one passenger survived the crash, and I have met him. The death toll will be announced after proper DNA verification.”
Shah said efforts to save people from the Air India plane crash failed as the temperature rose to extreme levels due to the burning of 125,000 litres of fuel on the aircraft.
Authorities so far have not released the figures of the death toll in the plane crash.
Police fire tear gas at supporters of former Bolivian President Evo Morales during clashes in the town of Vinto, Cochabamba, Bolivia, June 11, 2025. REUTERS
LA PAZ, June 12 – Clashes between anti-government protesters and authorities in Bolivia have left at least four first responders dead, the country’s justice minister said on Thursday.
Tensions have intensified in recent days as supporters of former President Evo Morales, who have strangled transportation by blocking highways across the Andean nation, skirmish with officials attempting to clear the roadblocks.
The demonstrations have gained momentum primarily in Bolivia’s rural areas, where Morales’ supporters have taken to the streets to express their frustration over the former president’s disqualification from running in upcoming elections and the country’s deteriorating economic situation.
“There are already four officers who have lost their lives,” Justice Minister Cesar Siles told reporters in La Paz, adding that some had been shot.
The deceased are three police officers and a firefighter, Bolivia’s state news agency reported.
“We can’t call these civilian protests anymore. We are talking about paramilitary groups, groups that carry weapons, and we have to respond firmly,” Siles said.
The government has deployed military tanks to Llallagua, where the most significant clashes between authorities and protesters have occurred, according to local media reports.
As the protests intensify and the number of casualties increases, local businesses have been severely affected.
“Nobody travels on these roads anymore, and nobody works normally. It really harms us,” restaurant owner Marlene Poma told Reuters.
