Russia fears another loss in Middle East from Iran’s conflict with Israel

21 hours ago Share Save Steve Rosenberg Russia Editor Reporting from Saint Petersburg Share Save

AFP via Getty Images While Moscow has talked up its partnership with Iran, the deal does not require Russia to come to Iran’s military aid

When Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, officials in Russia described the current escalation in the Middle East as “alarming” and “dangerous.” Still, Russian media were quick to stress the potential positives for Moscow. Among them: A rise in global oil prices which is forecast to boost Russia’s coffers

The distraction of global attention away from Russia’s war on Ukraine. “Kyiv has been forgotten” was a headline in Moskovsky Komsomolets

And if the Kremlin’s offer to mediate in the conflict was accepted, Russia could portray itself as a key player in the Middle East and as a peacemaker, despite its actions in Ukraine However, the longer Israel’s military operation goes on, the greater the realisation that Russia has much to lose from current events. “The escalation of the conflict carries serious risks and potential costs for Moscow,” wrote Russian political scientist Andrei Kortunov in business daily Kommersant on Monday.

“The fact remains that Russia was unable to prevent a mass strike by Israel on a country with which five months ago [Russia] signed a comprehensive strategic partnership. “Clearly Moscow is not prepared to go beyond political statements condemning Israel, it’s not ready to provide Iran with military assistance.” The Russian-Iranian strategic partnership deal which Vladimir Putin and President Masoud Pezeshkian signed earlier this year is not a military alliance. It does not oblige Moscow to come to Tehran’s defence. At the time, though, Moscow talked it up. In an interview with the Ria Novosti news agency, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that the agreement paid “special attention to the strengthening of co-ordination in the interests of peace and security on the regional and global levels, and the desire of Moscow and Tehran for closer co-operation on security and defence”.

Reuters Russia has relied heavily on Iran’s Shahed drones in its war in Ukraine, but now manufactures them locally

In the last six months Moscow has already lost one key ally in the Middle East, Bashar al-Assad. After the Syrian leader was deposed last December he was offered asylum in Russia. The prospect of regime change in Iran, the thought of losing another strategic partner in the region, will be of major concern to Moscow.

Israel-Iran: How did latest conflict start and where could it lead?

6 hours ago Share Save Lana Lam, Sofia Ferreira Santos, Jaroslav Lukiv & Nathan Williams BBC News Share Save

Footage captures exchange of attacks between Iran and Israel overnight into Sunday

Israel and Iran have continued to exchange strikes in their latest conflict, which began on Friday. There has been angry rhetoric from both sides, and US President Donald Trump is now considering whether to join Israel’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites. It started when Israel attacked nuclear and military sites in Iran, and then Iran retaliated with aerial attacks targeting Israel. More than 220 people have been killed in Israeli strikes so far, according to Iran’s health ministry, while Israel says Iranian attacks have killed 24 people.

Israel launches Operation Rising Lion, and Iran retaliates

On Thursday 12 June, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told people in Tehran’s District 18, which includes military buildings and residential neighbourhoods, to evacuate. Hours later, the first volley of strikes was reported in Tehran at about 03:30 local time (01:00 BST) on Friday, with residential areas in the capital hit, Iranian state television reported. BBC journalists are unable to report from inside Iran due to restrictions by the country’s government, making it difficult to assess the damage caused by Israel’s offensive. Israel targeted the Natanz nuclear facility – about 225km (140 miles) south of Tehran, causing significant damage, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attack – called Operation Rising Lion – targeted “the heart” of Iran’s nuclear programme. “If not stopped, Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time,” Netanyahu claimed. Iran insists its nuclear programme is peaceful. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel “should anticipate a severe punishment”, while its foreign minister called the strikes a “declaration of war”. Iran’s retaliation began hours later, when ballistic missile attacks were launched on on “dozens of targets, military centres and air bases” in Israel, in an operation it called True Promise 3. The IDF said about 100 missiles were launched towards Israel, and most had been intercepted by its Iron Dome system. These exchanges have continued for days. However, the scale of Iranian attacks has diminished recently, possibly indicating the impact that Israeli strikes has had on Iran’s military, reports the BBC’s Hugo Bachega.

Israel’s strikes have killed several top Iranian military figures, including Hossein Salami, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and several nuclear scientists, including Fereydoon Abbasi, former head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization. Iran said civilians, including children, were also among those killed. The IDF said it launched several waves of attacks on Iranian drone and missile sites, and intercepted a barrage of missiles aimed at Tel Aviv and northern Israel. Iranian forces said they had focused attacks on Israeli security installations and have urged residents of major Israeli cities to leave. In Tehran, a news presenter for Iran’s state broadcaster fled the studio mid-broadcast when the building was struck. Iranian media said three staff members were killed. The Israeli military declared on Tuesday that it had achieved “full air superiority” over Tehran, and had destroyed a third of Iran’s missile launchers. It came after Iranian missiles struck four different areas in the northern and central Israel, killing at least eight civilians, according to the military. Iran’s health ministry said at least 224 people had been killed since Friday. Israel has reported 24 deaths in the same period. They were in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Tamra, Rishon LeZion and Bat Yam, where a 10-storey block of flats was hit.

Hugo Bachega reports from Israel’s Bat Yam, where an Iranian strike killed six people on Sunday

The US considers its next move

President Trump is considering joining Israel’s campaign to target Iranian nuclear sites, sources have told the BBC’s US partner, CBS News. Trump and Netanyahu spoke on the phone on Tuesday following a meeting of the US National Security Council. The US president had earlier taken to social media to call for Iran’s “unconditional surrender” and said the US knew where Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was located, but would not kill him, “for now”. This followed reports on Sunday that Trump had rejected a plan by Israel to kill Iran’s leader. For his part, Khamenei warned Trump of “irreparable harm” if the US military intervened in the conflict. Trump’s Iran dilemma exposes bitter split in president’s circle Boarding Air Force One on Monday after leaving the G7 summit early, Trump told reporters that he was not flying back to Washington to broker a ceasefire – he wanted something “better than a ceasefire”. “A real end,” he said, which might include “a complete give-up”. Trump had previously blamed Iran for not engaging fully in talks with the US on a new deal that would place strict curbs on its nuclear programme. A new meeting between the US and Iran had been scheduled for Sunday, but was cancelled after Friday’s Israeli strikes.

Reuters Donald Trump spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One after departing early from the G7 summit in Canada

How did we get to this point?

Netanyahu said on Friday that the strikes were “a targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival”. He said the operation would “continue for as many days as it takes to remove the spread”. An Israeli military official told the BBC Iran had enough nuclear material to create nuclear bombs “within days”. Iran has said it has never sought to develop a nuclear weapon and that its nuclear activities are peaceful. The strikes began as US talks over Iran’s nuclear programme, which started in April, appeared to have stalled. Trump had hoped to strike a deal to stop Tehran developing a nuclear weapon, but the latest round of talks was cancelled in light of the recent escalation in hostilities. Last year, Iran and Israel launched a number of air strikes against each other in April and October – though Israel’s strikes last year were not believed to have been as wide-ranging as its current operation.

What is Iran’s nuclear programme?

Israeli forces kill 51 Palestinians waiting for flour at Gaza aid site, witnesses and rescuers say

1 day ago Share Save Sebastian Usher Middle East regional editor Reporting from Jerusalem Rushdi Abualouf Gaza correspondent Share Save

Reuters Tuesday’s attack is the latest in almost daily shootings that have been taking place near aid distribution sites in Gaza

Israeli forces have killed more than 51 Palestinians and wounded many more after opening fire near an aid distribution site in southern Gaza, witnesses and rescuers say. The Hamas-run civil defence agency said Israeli troops fired on crowds near the aid site in Khan Younis. More than 200 people were reportedly injured. The Israeli military has told the BBC it is looking into the reports. It is the latest, and potentially the deadliest, of the almost daily shootings that have been taking place recently near aid distribution sites in Gaza.

Almost all the casualties in Gaza in recent days have been linked to the delivery of aid rather than Israeli strikes on Hamas targets. Witnesses say that Israeli forces opened fire and shelled an area near a junction to the east of Khan Younis, where thousands of Palestinians had been gathering in the hope of getting flour from a World Food Programme (WFP) site, which also includes a community kitchen nearby. A local journalist and eyewitnesses said Israeli drones fired two missiles, followed shortly after by a shell from an Israeli tank positioned between 400 and 500m away from the crowd. The explosions caused many casualties. The crowd had assembled near a key road leading to the town of Bani Suheila, an area that has seen weeks of ongoing Israeli military operations. Nasser Hospital, the main functioning medical facility in the area, has been overwhelmed by the number of casualties. It is so overcrowded that the many wounded are lying on the floor as medical staff treat their injuries. Video showing the immediate aftermath of the incident and shared on social media has been located by BBC Verify to a location in Khan Younis. Gaza’s civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that at least 50 people were killed. “Israeli drones fired at the citizens. Some minutes later, Israeli tanks fired several shells at the citizens, which led to a large number of martyrs and wounded,” he said. In a statement the IDF said “a gathering was identified adjacent to an aid distribution truck that got stuck in the area of Khan Younis, and in proximity to IDF troops operating in the area.” It said it was “aware of reports regarding a number of injured individuals from IDF fire following the crowd’s approach” and the incident was under review. The World Health Organization (WHO) said it had received reports of a mass casualty incident. “This is again the result of another food distribution initiative,” said Thanos Gargavanis, WHO trauma surgeon and emergency officer. “There’s a constant correlation with the positions of the four announced food distribution sites and the mass casualty incidents,” he added, saying the trauma injuries in recent days were mostly from gunshot wounds. For weeks, medical staff have warned that Nasser Hospital could be overwhelmed and unable to continue to operate under the pressure of multiple casualties, lack of medical supplies and Israeli evacuation orders in the surrounding area.

Teenage foreign worker among those killed in strikes in Iran

5 hours ago Share Save Azadeh Moshiri Pakistan correspondent Share Save

Supplied Abdul Wali, 18, survived the initial blast but died hours later in hospital

“He wasn’t a politician, he was just a teenager, working hard to support our family back home,” Abdul Ghani tells us of his eldest son Abdul Wali, 18, killed in an Israeli strike in Iran. His father, says that Abdul was working and living in a construction site in north-east Tehran near a military building, when the attack happened on Tuesday. Though he survived the building collapse, he died a few hours later at a hospital, according to his father. Abdul was in Iran on a work visa and was the main breadwinner for their family in central Afghanistan. “I’m injured and can’t work. Abdul wanted to go to university, but he gave up his future, to send money back home,” his father tells us. He says his son was relying on his managers for advice and they had said the building was safe, given it was a civilian site. The BBC has not able to verify the details of the incident. Our journalists are unable to report from Iran due restrictions by its government. But one of Abdul Wali’s relatives sent us a video of the apparent attack, where loud explosions can be heard and men are seen running out of a building amidst smoke and debris. One man is calling out for Abdul Wali, urging him to come outside. Abdul’s family have accepted they may not be able to return his body home amidst the conflict. “The body is still at the hospital. He may have to be buried in Iran, at least it’s an Islamic country.”

Getty Images Smoke rises from Israeli attacks in Tehran in a photo take on 15 June

Trump weighs joining Iran strikes after calling for ‘unconditional surrender’

8 hours ago Share Save James FitzGerald BBC News Share Save

Reuters

US President Donald Trump is considering whether to join Israel’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, as the conflict continues for a sixth day and angry rhetoric ramps up between all sides. American strikes could involve using superior weaponry to hit an underground nuclear site at Fordo, according to five sources who spoke to the BBC’s US partner CBS News. The president met with his national security team on Tuesday to discuss next steps. Israel and Iran have exchanged deadly strikes since Friday. Analysts say Trump’s comments suggests a willingness to join the Israelis, despite his earlier call for de-escalation and his vocal support for a diplomatic solution to limit Iran’s nuclear research.

He has shown increasing frustration over a perceived lack of progress to secure a new deal that would be aimed at preventing Iran from building a nuclear weapon. Trump pulled out of a previous accord with Iran during his first term. In a social media post on Tuesday, Trump threatened Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and said the US knew where he was. “He is an easy target, but is safe there,” Trump wrote. “We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin.” Another post from Trump simply read: “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” On Wednesday, Iran’s supreme leader responded to the comments directly and said the country would never surrender. “Any form of US military intervention will undoubtedly be met with irreparable harm,” Khamenei said. “Wise people who know Iran, its people, and its history never speak to this nation in the language of threats, because Iranians are not those who surrender,” he added.

The US has insisted that Iran must scrap its uranium enrichment to prevent the country developing nuclear weapons – although Iran insists its nuclear activities are entirely peaceful. Trump pulled out of a previous nuclear agreement between Iran and five other world powers in 2018. After returning to office, he dispatched negotiators to try to reach a new agreement with the Middle Eastern nation, without a breakthrough. Trump appears to have cooled on traditional diplomacy in recent days. On Tuesday, while travelling back to the US from a G7 summit in Canada, he said he was “not too much in the mood to negotiate with Iran”. Trump’s frustrated language implied that he was crossing a threshold that would be “very difficult to row back from”, Professor Amnon Aran, an Israeli foreign policy expert, told BBC Radio 5 Live. “We’re definitely the closest we have been” to a US entry in the conflict since it began, he added. Other pundits suggested Trump could be forced into action. A former Israeli ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, speculated that the president would feel he had little choice but to intervene if Iran attacked a US ship or base. However, such an attack might also be an Iranian tactic to prompt Trump to pressurise Israel into negotiating an end to the fighting, Mr Oren told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Trump himself told reporters on his return from the G7 that his goal was “an end, a real end, not a ceasefire”. His comments came just hours after he joined other leaders in the Western alliance in issuing a statement that called for de-escalation in the Middle East. Trump left the summit early to respond to the crisis from Washington, before a series of statements left observers unclear which way he might choose to go. A message urging Iranians to evacuate Tehran similarly caused a flurry of speculation, as well as anxiety in the Iranian capital itself.

What do we know about the Fordo nuclear site?

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier announced the “deployment of additional capabilities” to the Middle East to enhance the Pentagon’s “defensive posture”, despite US officials’ denial at the time that they were joining the military action. At least 30 US military planes have been moved from bases in America to Europe over the past three days, flight tracking data reviewed by BBC Verify has shown. It was unclear whether the US movements were directly connected to the Israel-Iran conflict, but one expert said the tanker aircraft flights were “highly unusual”. Another expert said that the movements could be part of a broader policy of “strategic ambiguity” aimed at influencing Iran to make concessions. Signing up to Israeli military action does not have full agreement from Trump’s closest advisers, CBS reported. But the dissenting voices have not gone public. There are also a wide range of views within Trump’s supporter base. The Republican ran for re-election on the basis that he would disentangle America from conflicts overseas, and he has previously criticised US intervention in the Middle East.