Israel-Iran Conflict Live Updates: The conflict between the two heavily armed nations, Iran and Israel, has entered its seventh day. Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, has declared that the “battle has begun” and that they will show no mercy to Zionists. He also warned that the US military involvement would cause “irreparable damage to them”.

“We must give a strong response to the terrorist Zionist regime. We will show the Zionists no mercy,” Khamenei wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter). In another post, he wrote, “The battle begins”. It accompanies a poster of a man entering a cave set on fire with a sword and lions on either side as others look at him. It is a reference to the historic Battle of Khaybar.

The stark warning and battle cry come after the US President Donald Trump said that they know Khamenei’s whereabouts and that he is an “easy target”. He also said that the US will not kill him at the moment and demanded an “unconditional surrender” from Iran.

“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there – 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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, before demanding Iran’s “unconditional surrender” in a separate post.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in contrast, emphasised that their military offensive is not aimed at the Iranian people. “We are doing everything we can to protect them,” he told Iran International, before adding, “That’s the difference between a terrorist regime and a democracy like ours, fighting a just war with just means.”

Why did Israel attack Iran? The attack came after tensions between Iran and the international community escalated sharply after Tehran announced the activation of a third nuclear enrichment facility. The announcement came just hours after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued its first formal censure against Iran in two decades, criticising its failure to meet nuclear non-proliferation commitments.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated the attack was on “the heart of Iran’s ballistic missiles program.” He asserted strikes would continue “for as long as it takes to remove this threat.” IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir emphasised the urgency of the operation, saying, “We had reached the point of no return. Freedom is granted to those willing to fight for it.”

War casualties: Iran’s health ministry reported that at least 224 Iranians have been killed in Israeli strikes since Friday, while the Israeli death toll has climbed to 24. 500 people in Israel have been injured in the ongoing conflict. Despite repeated international calls for de-escalation, tensions continue to spiral.

Live Updates

Israel-Iran Conflict Live Updates: Stay up to date with all the latest updates and breaking news from the region as the Middle East heads into a dangerous war.

Israel’s Soroka Medical Center, the largest hospital in the country’s south, suffered a direct hit from an Iranian missile on Thursday, causing extensive damage and injuring several people, officials said.

A spokesperson for the hospital, located in Be’er Sheba, confirmed that multiple areas of the facility were damaged and urged the public not to come in for treatment.

With over 1,000 beds, Soroka serves around one million residents across southern Israel, according to its website.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Russian President Vladimir Putin offered Wednesday to help mediate an end to the conflict between Israel and Iran , suggesting Moscow could help negotiate a settlement that could allow Tehran to pursue a peaceful atomic program while assuaging Israeli security concerns. Speaking to senior news leaders of international news agencies, Putin noted that “it’s a delicate issue,” but added that “in my view, a solution could be found.”

Asked how Russia would react if Israel kills Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , Putin refused to answer, saying that “I don’t even want to discuss such a possibility.”

Khamenei has rejected U.S. calls for surrender in the face of more Israeli strikes and warned that any military involvement by the Americans would cause “irreparable damage to them.”

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Putin said he shared Moscow’s proposals with Iran, Israel and the United States.

“We are not imposing anything on anyone; we are simply talking about how we see a possible way out of the situation. But the decision, of course, is up to the political leadership of all these countries, primarily Iran and Israel,” he said.

Russia has maintained a delicate balancing act in the Middle East for decades, trying to navigate its warm relations with Israel even as it developed strong economic and military ties with Iran, a policy that could allow Moscow to play power broker.

Putin’s comments follow a mediation offer that he made in a call with U.S. President Donald Trump last weekend.

Trump said Wednesday that he told Putin to stay focused on finding an endgame to his own conflict with Ukraine.

“I said, ‘Do me a favor, mediate your own,’” Trump said he told Putin. “I said, ‘Vladimir, let’s mediate Russia first. You can worry about this later.’”

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The comments represented a shift for Trump, who earlier this week said he was “open” to Putin’s offer to mediate in the Middle East.

Over 200 Russians remain at Iran’s nuclear power plant

Putin, meeting with senior news leaders of international news agencies including The Associated Press on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, emphasized that Russia has a trusting relationship with Iran and helped built its first nuclear power plant in Bushehr on the Persian Gulf south of Tehran.

He said that over 200 Russian workers are involved in building two more reactors in Bushehr, adding that “we agreed with the Israeli leadership that their security will be ensured.”

Putin emphasized that Tehran hasn’t asked Moscow for military assistance, noting the “strategic partnership” treaty between the countries that was signed in January doesn’t envision such aid.

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In addition to a few air defense systems that Russia supplied to Iran in the past, it also offered previously to help create comprehensive air defenses, but Tehran didn’t want it, he said.

“Our proposal was to create a system, not isolated deliveries, but a system,” Putin said. “We used to discuss it in the past, but the Iranian side showed little interest.”

Israel said that it knocked out Iran’s Russia-supplied S-300 air defense missile systems during last year’s strikes.

Praise for Trump’s push for peace in Ukraine

Putin on Wednesday praised Trump’s push for peace in Ukraine, seconding the American leader’s repeated claims that the 3-year-old conflict wouldn’t have started if he had been in the White House in 2022.

“If Trump had been the president, the conflict indeed might not have erupted,” Putin said.

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Russia has intensified its aerial campaign in Ukraine recently and stepped up ground attacks along the more than 1,000-kilometer (over 600-mile) front line. Putin has effectively rejected Trump’s offer of an immediate 30-day ceasefire, making it conditional on a halt on Ukraine’s mobilization effort and a freeze on Western arms supplies.

He said he is open for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but repeated his claim that he lost his legitimacy after his term expired last year — allegations rejected by Kyiv and its allies.

“We are ready for substantive talks on the principles of a settlement,” Putin said, noting the previous round of talks had led to an exchange of prisoners and the bodies of fallen soldiers.

Asked by AP about Russia condemning Israel’s strikes on Iran even as Ukrainian civilians are killed in attacks by Moscow, Putin responded that Russia was targeting the country’s arms factories.

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“The strikes were carried out against military industries, not residential quarters,” Putin said.

AP reporters have documented damage to residential buildings in Ukraine, most recently this week. On Wednesday, emergency workers pulled more bodies from the rubble of a nine-story Kyiv apartment building demolished by a Russian attack earlier this week, raising the death toll from the strike on the capital to 28.

Putin vowed that Moscow will achieve its goal to “demilitarize” Ukraine.

“We will not allow Ukraine to have armed forces that would threaten the Russian Federation and its people,” he said. “And if we fail to reach a settlement, we will achieve our goals by military means.”

He strongly warned Germany against delivering long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine, saying that it could draw it into a direct military conflict with Russia but won’t help stem Russian advances.

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“Our troops are advancing along the entire line of contact,” he said, warning Ukraine to accept Russia’s terms for a peace deal or face tougher conditions in the future. “If they fail to agree, the situation could change for the worse.”

He also dismissed Western warnings of Russia’s purported plans to attack NATO countries as “ravings,” noting the alliance’s military spending far exceed Moscow’s defense budget.

Putin has used the annual forum to highlight Russia’s economic achievements and seek foreign investment. Western executives, who attended the event in the past, have avoided it after Putin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, leaving it to business leaders from Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Australia reiterated its call for Iran to halt any nuclear weapons programs as it begins evacuations from Israel, with nearly 3,000 of its citizens registered for help in the Middle East.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong told reporters Thursday in Canberra that Australia is focused on getting a small group out of Israel by land and hopes to move more in the next 24 hours amid an “increasingly dangerous” situation in the Middle East.

A small group was evacuated from Israel via land on Wednesday and the government has pledged to assist more crossings where possible.

“Iran has a choice here, and it should make the choice to discontinue its program, any program, and to return to talks,” Wong said.

Iran has long maintained the objectives of its nuclear program are peaceful.

“In relation to Australians in the region and what I would say is this is a very stressful and risky situation, and we are very focused on doing whatever we can to assist you,” Wong said.

“Obviously, there are real limits, hard limits, on what the government can do. The airspace remains closed.”

Australia’s official travel advice remains the same, with 1,500 of its citizens registered for assistance in Iran and 1,200 in Israel, Wong confirmed.

“Leave if it is safe to do so, if not, shelter in place,” Wong said.

“In relation to Israel, again, we are seeking to assist Australians where we can.

“But please again, listen to the travel advice, and if you need assistance to leave, please register with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

“Emergency consular assistance is available to Australians.”

Explosions were heard in Tehran throughout the day Wednesday as Israel said its warplanes pounded Iran in three waves of strikes. Less than a week into the conflict , Israel now says its aircraft have free rein over the Iranian capital’s skies. Iran launched small barrages of missiles at Israel with no reports of casualties, and Israel has eased some restrictions for its civilians. Meanwhile, fear grips the Iranian capital as the streets are empty, businesses closed and communications patchy at best. Thousands have fled.

U.S. President Donald Trump would not say Wednesday whether he has decided to order a U.S. strike on Iran . “I may do it, I may not do it,” Trump said in an exchange with reporters at the White House. “I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.”

High-ranking European diplomats will hold nuclear talks with Iran in Switzerland on Friday, according to a European official familiar with the plans.

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Here’s the latest:

Israel warns people to evacuate the area around Arak heavy water reactor

Israel’s military on Thursday warned people to evacuate the area around Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor.

The warning came in a social media post on X. It included a satellite image of the plant in a red circle like other warnings that proceeded strikes.

The Arak heavy water reactor is 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Tehran. Heavy water helps cool nuclear reactors, but it produces plutonium as a byproduct that can potentially be used in nuclear weapons. That would provide Iran another path to the bomb beyond enriched uranium, should it choose to pursue the weapon.

Iran had agreed under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers to redesign the facility to relieve proliferation concerns.

Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 639, rights group says

Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 639 people and wounded 1,329 others, a human rights group said Thursday.

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The Washington-based group Human Rights Activists offered the figures, which covers the entirety of Iran. It said of those dead, it identified 263 civilians and 154 security force personnel being killed.

Human Rights Activists, which also provided detailed casualty figures during the 2022 protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, crosschecks local reports in the Islamic Republic against a network of sources it has developed in the country.

Iran has not been offering regular death tolls during the conflict and has minimized casualties in the past. Its last update, issued Monday, put the death toll at 224 people being killed and 1,277 others being wounded.

No US plans to be part of EU-Iran talks — for now

A U.S. official said Wednesday there no plans for U.S. involvement in nuclear talks set between senior European diplomats and Iran in Geneva, although that could change.

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The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private diplomatic communications, also noted that the Europeans have been wanting to play a role in the negotiations for months but have been held back by the U.S.

That position, the official said, may be changing as the hostilities intensify

— By Matthew Lee in Washington

Putin says ‘a solution could be found’ to end Israel-Iran conflict

Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to help mediate an end to the conflict between Israel and Iran, suggesting Moscow could help negotiate a settlement that could allow Tehran to pursue a peaceful atomic program while assuaging Israeli security concerns.

Speaking at a roundtable session with senior news leaders of international news agencies, Putin said he had shared Moscow’s proposals with Iran, Israel and the United States.

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“We are not imposing anything on anyone, we are simply talking about how we see a possible way out of the situation. But the decision, of course, is up to the political leadership of all these countries, primarily Iran and Israel,” the Russian leader added.

British official hints at UK and US force deployments

A British official said the U.S. is sending resources including the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and putting refueling tankers in Spain and Greece, adding that the U.S. has fighter jets and B-52 bombers at Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter freely.

They said there could be a U.S. request to station jets at RAF base Akrotiri, the British base in Cyprus, but that the U.K. has not received one yet. The U.S. would normally have to inform the U.K. if it wanted to conduct offensive operations from either the U.K. base in Cyprus or Diego Garcia, which is a joint U.S.-U.K. base.

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— By Emma Burrows in London.

British official says UK isn’t fully clear on US plans for Iran

A British official with knowledge of the situation in the Middle East said there “isn’t complete clarity” about the American plan in the region. The official said they understand the U.S. is still debating what to do but believe that “all options” are on the table.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak freely on the matter, said Trump wants to put pressure on Iran to do a deal and suggested he does not want to go to war.

The British official said the U.S. is mounting a “very strong defensive response,” which allows a lot of choice “whichever way this goes,” but emphasized that the U.S. is framing the current operation as “primarily defensive.” That includes protecting U.S. bases and personnel in the Middle East.

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— By Emma Burrows in London.

Senior European diplomats to hold nuclear talks with Iran on Friday, official says

The high-ranking officials from Germany, France and the United Kingdom as well as the European Union’s top diplomat will gather for the meeting in Switzerland.

That’s according to a European official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

It comes as Trump is weighing approval of U.S. military to join Israel in carrying out strikes on Iran’s nuclear program.

— By Aamer Madhani in Washington.

US starts evacuating some diplomats from its embassy in Israel

Two U.S. officials said a government plane evacuated a number of diplomats and family members who had asked to leave Israel on Wednesday. There’s no indication of how many diplomats and family members departed on the flight.

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The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive diplomatic movements.

This took place shortly before U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee announced on X that the embassy was making plans for evacuation flights and ships for private American citizens.

The evacuation comes amid the possibility that the United States could become directly involved in the conflict.

— By Matthew V. Lee in Washington.

Iran’s state TV reports it’s under a cyberattack by Israel

Social media users reported that regular broadcasts on state TV were briefly interrupted and replaced with an anti-government video urging people to take to streets.

After the normal broadcast was resumed, a message displayed on screen read: “If you see an irrelevant message on the screen, it’s due to a cyber attack by the Zionist regime.”

USS Ford to sail for European deployment, giving the US a 3rd carrier option if Iran-Israel conflict widens

The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford will sail from the East Coast for Europe on a regularly scheduled deployment. But its presence also gives Trump a third aircraft carrier option as he weighs what sort of military response the U.S. should provide as tensions between Israel and Iran escalate.

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The Ford was previously deployed to the Eastern Mediterranean as a show of strength and to provide options to Israel following the October 2023 attacks by Hamas. The U.S. Navy already has the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea, and is sending the USS Nimitz to sail toward the Mideast from the Indo-Pacific.

Israel says a drone was intercepted in the Golan Heights

Sirens sounded in Israeli communities in the annexed Golan Heights after a drone infiltrated the area late Wednesday, the military said, but it was intercepted by the air force.

The internet in most of Gaza has been cut for 2 days

For the second day in a row, communications and internet service has been cut off in south and central Gaza because of an outage caused by Israeli attacks on a key piece of infrastructure, according to the Ramallah-based Telecommunications Regulatory Authority.

Meanwhile up north in Gaza City, Al-Quds Hospital was able to report that it received the bodies of four people and treated more than 54 wounded Wednesday morning following Israeli shelling across neighborhoods in the city, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Since the war began in October 2023, a total of 55,637 people have been killed and nearly 130,000 others were injured, Gaza’s Health Ministry says. That count does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but it says women and children make up more than half the dead.

The toll includes 5,334 people killed and more than 17,000 wounded since Israel ended a ceasefire three months ago.

Israeli strikes kill dozens in Gaza, including parents trying to feed their kids

Israeli strikes across the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis killed 22 people, including two children, and injured 90 others since dawn Wednesday, according to records from Nasser Hospital, where the bodies were taken.

Eight were killed sheltering in tents and five others killed while trying to get aid, according to hospital records obtained by an AP contributor.

Dozens gathered at Nasser Hospital to mourn their loved ones placed in body bags, including Ahmed Abu Rizk, a boy who cried and screamed in disbelief at losing his father, who was fatally shot when they were getting aid at the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution center in Rafah.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said hospitals across the territory took in 144 bodies and treated 560 wounded people within a 24-hour period.

Arms control experts say US involvement in Israel-Iran conflict worsens risk of nuclear proliferation

Three top officials at the Washington-based Arms Control Association are strongly urging Trump and members of Congress “to choose nuclear nonproliferation diplomacy over war.”

They warned in a statement Wednesday that military strikes can’t destroy Iran’s extensive nuclear knowledge, and while they can set back its nuclear program, attacks can also spur Tehran to pull out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and possibly pursue nuclear weapons.

Israel, which is believed to have an undeclared nuclear arsenal, is not a signatory to the non-proliferation treaty.

According to U.S. intelligence, the experts said, there was no imminent threat that Iran was moving toward producing nuclear weapons before Israel’s attack.

Hypersonic missiles could shift the dynamic of the conflict, experts say

The mix of speed and agility gives defenders less time to react, making the missiles hard to stop.

“It comes over the horizon, you suddenly see it, and then it’s over,” said Jack Watling, a senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute.

The missile Iran has launched, the Fattah 1, has had minimal success. Israel says Iran has fired over 400 missiles, with over 40 causing damage or casualties.

That’s because “speed is not crucial,” said Yehoshua Kalisky, a senior researcher at the Israeli think tank INSS.

“What is important is the maneuverability of the incoming missiles, and so far the maneuverability of these missiles is limited,” said Kalisky.

He said Iran has two fast and maneuverable missiles, the Khorramshahr and Fattah 2, that would be “more difficult” to intercept. But neither have been deployed.

Iran says it has fired hypersonic missiles at Israel, but experts are skeptical

Simply put, hypersonic weapons are any missile that travels beyond Mach 5, five times the speed of sound. Ballistic missiles, fired high up or outside the earth’s atmosphere, routinely reach this speed.

However, they must also be able to maneuver midflight to qualify as true hypersonic weapons. That’s a capability Iran isn’t believed to possess, as the missiles must have advanced navigation systems and withstand the temperature and momentum stresses.

Experts say the U.S. and China are the only countries that have developed new-generation hypersonic missiles, but neither have used them in battle. Other nations such as Russia, North Korea and Pakistan have tested or used missiles with similar but less sophisticated technology.

▶ Read more about hypersonic missiles

Israel strikes the main Iranian police headquarters

Iran’s police says a number of its forces have been injured during a strike by Israel on its central command buildings in Tehran. An official statement by police public relations called the attack “cowardly and blind.”

Republican Sen. Cruz says ‘zero possibility of American boots on the ground in Iran’

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said he’s spoken to Trump and believes the president could “quite reasonably” intervene in the conflict by striking an Iranian nuclear facility that’s deep underground.

Cruz did not respond to a question about whether such actions risked drawing the U.S. into a wider regional war.

“In terms of U.S. involvement in military action, there is zero possibility of American boots on the ground in Iran,” he said.

Cruz also said he believes Iran was working to build a nuclear bomb intended to threaten America. Experts and the U.S. intelligence community have assessed that Iran was not actively working on such a weapon before Israel’s strikes.

Macron calls for Israel to halt strikes on Iran

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his concerns about “Israeli strikes increasingly targeting sites unrelated to Iran’s nuclear and ballistic programs, and a growing number of civilian casualties in Iran and Israel.”

“We urgently need to put an end to these military operations,” a statement by Macron’s office said Wednesday, following a special security meeting at the presidential palace in Paris.

Macron asked France’s foreign minister to work with European partners to propose a negotiated settlement of the conflict in the coming days.

He also asked the government to take measures to facilitate the departure of French nationals who want to leave Israel and Iran.

UN chief urges immediate de-escalation

Saying he is “profoundly alarmed” at the military escalation between Iran and Israel, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also strongly appealed to all parties “to avoid any further internationalization of the conflict.”

And in an indirect warning to Trump, who is debating whether to intervene to support Israel, Guterres said: “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.”

In a statement Wednesday, he stressed that “Diplomacy remains the best and only way to address concerns regarding Iran’s nuclear program and regional security issues.”

The secretary-general also condemned “the tragic and unnecessary loss of lives and injuries to civilians and damage to homes and critical civilian infrastructure.”

Wall Street rises as oil prices fall with hopes that Israel-Iran fighting could cool

Some of the strongest moves on Wall Street are again in the oil market, where crude prices dropped after Trump said it’s not “too late” for Iran to give up its nuclear program.

Oil prices have been yo-yoing for days because of rising and ebbing fears that Israel’s fighting with Iran could disrupt the global flow of crude.

Some of Trump’s most ardent supporters are skeptical about deepening US involvement in the Mideast

During his 2024 run for the White House, Trump promised voters he would quickly end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and keep the U.S. out of costly conflicts.

Steve Bannon, who served as a senior adviser to Trump during his first administration, on Wednesday said the administration should tread carefully.

“This is not something you play around with,” Bannon told reporters. “You have to think this through. And the American people have to be on board. You can’t just dump it on them.”

Trump has pushed back at that notion, saying: “My supporters are more in love with me today, and I’m in love with them more than they were even at election time when we had a total landslide.”

Iran says its leaders would never ‘grovel at the gates of the White House’

Trump says Iranian officials continue to reach out. “They’ve suggested that they come to the White House — that’s, you know, courageous.”

Iran’s mission to the United Nations refuted Trump’s claim in a statement on social media: “No Iranian official has ever asked to grovel at the gates of the White House. The only thing more despicable than his lies is his cowardly threat to ‘take out’ Iran’s Supreme Leader.”

Russia urges the US not to strike Iran, official says

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Wednesday that Moscow has cautioned Washington against offering direct military assistance to Israel.

“We are warning Washington against even speculative, hypothetical considerations of the sort,” Ryabkov said, according to the Interfax news agency. “That would be a step drastically destabilizing the situation as a whole.”

Trump said earlier this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to serve a mediator with. But the U.S. president said he told Putin to keep focused on finding an endgame to his own conflict with Ukraine.

Several powerful explosions rock central Tehran

Witnesses say there have been more than 10 powerful explosions in central Tehran as Israel continues its campaign, with white smoke rising into the air. Iranian officials did not immediately acknowledge the strikes.

Air raid sirens in Israel as fresh Iranian missile barrage approaches

The Israeli military urged people to head to shelters after it said it identified missile launches in Iran on Wednesday evening.

Israel had eased some restrictions for civilians earlier in the day, as Iranian missile attacks have been waning.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, according to Israel’s emergency rescue service.

‘Nobody knows’: Trump won’t say whether he will move forward with US strikes on Iran

President Donald Trump speaks as a flagpole is installed on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

“I may do it, I may not do it,” Trump said in an exchange with reporters at the White House . “I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.”

Iran’s supreme leader issued a fresh warning Wednesday that U.S. direct involvement in Israel’s military operations be greeted with stiff retaliation.

The “bunker-buster” bombs believed necessary to significantly damage Iran’s underground nuclear sites would have to be dropped from an American aircraft.

Iran denies sending mediators to Oman

The denial by Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei comes after three planes flew to Muscat, Oman, from Iran on Wednesday, despite Iranian airspace being closed.

Flights and cruise ships will evacuate Americans from Israel

The U.S. State Department is making plans to evacuate American citizens from Israel by flights and cruise ships, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said on Wednesday.

In a post on X, he said Americans interested in leaving Israel should enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) for updates. The link is: https://t.co/rXymPRTQJJ

Huckabee’s post comes just a day after the State Department said it had stood up a special task force to assist Americans wanting to leave Israel and other Mideast countries.

There are some 700,000 Americans, many of them dual U.S.-Israeli citizens, now in Israel and thousands more in other Mideast countries, including Iran.

US lawmaker visiting Mideast calls for diplomacy and deterrence on Iran

Republican U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, whose district covers Iowa’s capital and suburbs, said the U.S. would back up nuclear negotiations with firm consequences.

“This is something that needs to be on the negotiating table to make the Iranians aware: that there’s a real threat here if they refuse to negotiate a peaceful end to their nuclear program, the U.S. has the ability to eliminate it for them,” Nunn told the AP in Dubai on Wednesday.

He’s one of four U.S. representatives — two Democrats and two Republicans — visiting wealthy Persian Gulf allies, including Saudi Arabia.

Democratic Rep. Brad Schneider said they’re working to get a sense of the challenges facing the so-called Abraham Accords, in which four Arab countries normalized relations with Israel in 2020.

US congressmen say America is ‘prepared to act’ if Iran doesn’t end its nuclear program

The members of the U.S. House of Representatives are visiting the United Arab Emirates, a key ally in the Gulf, as the conflict between Israel and Iran has frozen nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran.

“A nuclear-armed Iran is an existential threat,” Democratic Rep. Brad Schneider told the AP in Dubai.

Schneider represents Illinois’ 10th District, which includes wealthy and working-class communities along Lake Michigan and is a classic swing district with a large number of Jewish voters.

Highlighting deterrence, Republican Rep. Donald Bacon of Nebraska said: “If Iran attacks our forces, I will guarantee you that there will be a very hard response, and that’s why I think the president is moving forces in place to be prepared.”

Pope Leo warns high-tech weapons can bring unprecedented ‘barbarity’

Speaking to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square for a general audience, Pope Leo XIV urged: “We must not get used to war. On the contrary, we must reject as a temptation the allure of powerful and sophisticated weapons.”

The pope said Tuesday that “the heart of the church is torn by the cries rising from places of war, especially Ukraine, Iran, Israel and Gaza,” and appealed for peace “in the name of human dignity and international law.”

In the year and a half before his death, Leo’s predecessor Pope Francis became increasingly outspoken in his criticism of the Israeli military’s harsh tactics in Gaza. Francis also advocated freeing the hostages held by Hamas, meeting with their families.

Iranian media denies ‘rumors’ Israel struck home of supreme leader

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — An Iranian semiofficial news agency has denied “rumors” that an Israeli airstrike targeted the home of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

It’s the first time the media in Iran has explicitly acknowledged the Islamic Republic’s paramount leader was a target.

The report came from the Fars news agency, believed to be close to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

Fars described the rumors as showing “the U.S. and the Zionist regime’s anger and confusion in the face of the supreme leader’s firm statements made today.”

3 aircraft from Iran fly to Oman, a key mediator in previous US talks

Three aircraft took off from Iran for Muscat, Oman’s capital, on Wednesday. The flights come as Iranian airspace has been closed for days. Their flight trackers all turned on in southeastern Iran, meaning it wasn’t immediately clear from where the aircraft took off.

Iran offered no explanation for the flights and Oman did not immediately acknowledge any arrival of Iranian officials to the sultanate.

Oman has been a key mediator between Iran and the United States during their five rounds of talks over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Trump responds to Iran supreme leader’s refusal heed to his call for unconditional surrender

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei earlier Wednesday warned that the United States that strikes targeting Iran will “result in irreparable damage for them” and that his country would not heed to Trump’s call for surrender.