Fire and smoke from an Israeli attack on the Sharan Oil depot near Tehran, Iran, June 15, 2025 (Reuters)

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UPDATE 2011 GMT:

The International Atomic Energy Agency says Israeli strikes hit Iran’s Khondab Heavy Water Research Reactor at Arak, a project under construction that had not begun operating, and damaged the nearby plant that makes heavy water.

Israel has struck several nuclear facilities in Iran since Friday.

Arak is a civilian reactor. It initially had the protential to produce plutonium by-product which could be put to military use. However, under the 2015 nuclear deal with the 5+1 Powers, it was redesigned to reduce the proliferation risk, and its core was removed and filled with concrete.

Iran had informed the IAEA that the reactor would start operation in 2026. The Agency said:

IAEA has information that the Khondab [former Arak] heavy water research reactor, under construction, was hit. It was not operational and contained no nuclear material, so no radiological effects.

While damage to the nearby Heavy Water Production Plant was initially not visible, it is now assessed that key buildings at the facility were damaged, including the distillation unit.

UPDATE 1920 GMT:

Donald Trump has apparently stepped back from an imminent decision on US strikes alongside Israel on Iran.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt relayed a message from Trump:

Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.

Leavitt added, in contrast to Trump’s shout of “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”, that “correspondence has continued with Iran”.

Trump denied a report in the Wall Street Journal that he has approved US plans to attack Iran.

The outlet said that before giving a final decision, Trump wanted to confirm the effectiveness of US “bunker buster” bombs in reaching Iran’s Fordoo uranium enrichment complex, buried deep inside a mountain.

Trump posted on social media “The Wall Street Journal has No Idea what my thoughts are concerning Iran!”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hedged the earlier comment by his Defense Minister Israel Katz that Iran’s Supreme Leader should “cease to exist”.

The matter of changing the regime or the fall of this regime is first and foremost a matter for the Iranian people. There is no substitute for this. And that’s why I didn’t present it as a goal. It could be a result, but it’s not a stated or formal goal that we have.

UPDATE 1440 GMT:

Israel’s emergency services report no strikes in populated areas or injuries in Iran’s latest ballistic missile attack.

At least 10 missiles were fired, as sirens sounded across northern Israel.

UPDATE 1422 GMT:

Defense Minister Israel Katz has repeated the Netanyahu Government’s call for the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader.

Katz said, after Iran’s missile strike on the Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva in southern Israel, “These are some of the most serious war crimes – and Khamenei will be held accountable for his actions.”

He declared that Khamenei should “cease to exist”.

Katz added that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military “to intensify strikes against strategic targets in Iran and against the power infrastructure in Tehran, in order to eliminate the threats to the state of Israel and to shake the Ayatollahs’ regime”.

Speaking from Soroka, Netanyahu called on Iranians to overthrow their leaders:

People ask me – are we targeting the downfall of the regime?

That may be a result, but it’s up to the Iranian people to rise for their freedom. Freedom is never cheap. It’s never free. Freedom requires these subjugated people to rise up, and it’s up to them.

But we may create conditions that will help them do it. Our goal is twofold. Nuclear [and] ballistic missiles. We are going to remove them. We are in the process of completing and removing this threat.

I want to tell you that 2,500 years ago, Cyrus the Great, the King of Persia, liberated the Jews. And today, a Jewish state is creating the means to liberate the Persian people.

Asked about the possibility of US military intervention, Netanyahu said:

That’s a decision for the president to make, but I can tell you that they’re already helping a lot, because they’re participating in the protection of the skies over Israel and its cities.

President Trump will do what’s best for America. I trust his judgment. He is a tremendous friend, a tremendous world leader, a tremendous friend of Israel and the Jewish people.

And we will do what we have to do, and we are doing it.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: As the world anxiously watches Israel’s war on Iran, Donald Trump is enjoying the uncertainty over whether he will order US forces to join the strikes.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Trump said Iran reached out to him for a meeting, a claim denied by Tehran. Then he declared: “It’s very late to be talking….There’s a big difference between now and a week ago. Nobody knows what I’m going to do.”

While revelling in keeping everyone guessing about US attacks, Trump made clear that he is no longer interested in a “deal” with Tehran, only three days after the sixth set of US-Iran talks over the Iranian nuclear program were scuttled by Israel’s war.

The reality TV star said he has no desire for a ceasefire but wants Israel’s “total and complete victory”:

I’m not looking to fight, but if it’s a choice between fighting and having a nuclear weapon, you have to do what you have to do. Maybe we won’t have to fight. Maybe it will end very quickly.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an address to the nation, thanked Trump for “standing by our side”.

“We are in continuous communication, including last night — we had a very warm conversation,” Netanyahu effused.

US Preparations for War?

The US announced that it will move a third aircraft carrier group into the Middle East. The USS Gerald Ford will join the USS Carl Vinson and the USS Nimitz group, which was ordered on Monday to reploy from the Indo-Pacific.

Air tankers for midair refuelling have been positioned in Spain and Greece, where they can support B-2 bombers on a long run from the Whiteman airbase in Missouri to Iran.

But Administration officials said Trump is holding up his decision until he is assured of the effectiveness of American “bunker buster” bombs.

The 30,000-pound bunker buster is needed to reach Iran’s Fordoo uranium enrichment facility, which is buried deep inside a mountain.

Israel’s National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi, while saying that the war had been an entirely Israeli campaign so far, assured that it “will not end without damaging Fordow”.

Earlier on Wednesday, Iran’s Supreme Leader warned the Administration:

The Americans should know that any US military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage….

The President of America in an unacceptable statement explicitly urged Iranians to surrender but we tell him: first threaten those who are afraid of being threatened. Threats will not affect the thinking and behavior of the Iranian nation.

Israel Maintains Strikes; Iran Hits Israeli Hospital

In its latest strikes across Iran, Israel hit a site that manufactured uranium centrifuges, targeted a missile component factory, and destroyed five attack helicopters.

The Israelis also continued bombing of civilian targets. Amid intense strikes on Tehran, the police headquarters was hit. Defense Minister Israel Katz boasted that the Air Force “destroyed the headquarters of the Iranian regime’s internal security, the main arm of the Iranian dictator’s oppression”.

On Thursday morning, Israel attacked the Arak heavy water reactor, producing energy for civilian purposes. Iranian authorities said the facility was evacuated before the attack and there was “no radiation danger”.

Iran hit back with a ballistic missile strike on a hospital in Be’er Sheva in southern Israel. Dozens of people have been wounded, three seriously.

The medical center, with more than 1,000 beds, is one of the key providers to around 1 million people in the south.

The hospital said several parts of the medical center were damaged and the emergency room is treating several minor injuries.

Israel’s emergency services said at least 47 people were wounded by missile strikes and 18 more injured “while running to shelter”. Three are in serious condition, and two are in moderate condition.