REHOVOT, Israel: For years, Israel has targeted Iranian nuclear scientists, hoping to choke progress on Iran’s nuclear program by striking at the brains behind it.

Now, with Iran and Israel in an open-ended direct conflict, scientists in Israel have found themselves in the crosshairs after an Iranian missile struck a premier research institute known for its work in life sciences and physics, among other fields.

While no one was killed in the strike on the Weizmann Institute of Science early Sunday, it caused heavy damage to multiple labs on campus, snuffing out years of scientific research and sending a chilling message to Israeli scientists that they and their expertise are now targets in the escalating conflict with Iran.

“It’s a moral victory” for Iran, said Oren Schuldiner, a professor in the department of molecular cell biology and the department of molecular neuroscience whose lab was obliterated in the strike. “They managed to harm the crown jewel of science in Israel.”

Iranian scientists were a prime target in a long shadow war

During years of a shadow war between Israel and Iran that preceded the current conflict, Israel repeatedly targeted Iranian nuclear scientists with the aim of setting back Iran’s nuclear program.

Israel continued that tactic with its initial blow against Iran days ago, killing multiple nuclear scientists, along with top generals, as well as striking nuclear facilities and ballistic missile infrastructure.

For its part, Iran has been accused of targeting at least one Weizmann scientist before. Last year, Israeli authorities said they busted an Iranian spy ring that devised a plot to follow and assassinate an Israeli nuclear scientist who worked and lived at the institute.

Citing an indictment, Israeli media said the suspects, Palestinians from east Jerusalem, gathered information about the scientist and photographed the exterior of the Weizmann Institute but were arrested before they could proceed.

With Iran’s intelligence penetration into Israel far less successful than Israel’s, those plots have not been seen through, making this week’s strike on Weizmann that much more jarring.

“The Weizmann Institute has been in Iran’s sights,” said Yoel Guzansky, an Iran expert and senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, a Tel Aviv think tank. He stressed that he did not know for certain whether Iran intended to strike the institute but believed it did.

While it is a multidisciplinary research institute, Weizmann, like other Israeli universities, has ties to Israel’s defense establishment, including collaborations with industry leaders like Elbit Systems, which is why it may have been targeted.

But Guzansky said the institute primarily symbolizes “Israeli scientific progress” and the strike against it shows Iran’s thinking: “You harm our scientists, so we are also harming scientific cadre.”

Damage to the institute and labs ‘literally decimated’

Weizmann, founded in 1934 and later renamed after Israel’s first president, ranks among the world’s top research institutes. Its scientists and researchers publish hundreds of studies each year. One Nobel laureate in chemistry and three Turing Award laureates have been associated with the institute, which built the first computer in Israel in 1954.

Two buildings were hit in the strike, including one housing life sciences labs and a second that was empty and under construction but meant for chemistry study, according to the institute. Dozens of other buildings were damaged.

The campus has been closed since the strike, although media were allowed to visit Thursday. Large piles of rock, twisted metal and other debris were strewn on campus. There were shattered windows, collapsed ceiling panels and charred walls.

A photo shared on X by one professor showed flames rising near a heavily damaged structure with debris scattered on the ground nearby.

“Several buildings were hit quite hard, meaning that some labs were literally decimated, really leaving nothing,” said Sarel Fleishman, a professor of biochemics who said he has visited the site since the strike.

Life’s work of many researchers is gone

Many of those labs focus on the life sciences, whose projects are especially sensitive to physical damage, Fleishman said. The labs were studying areas like tissue generation, developmental biology or cancer, with much of their work now halted or severely set back by the damage.

“This was the life’s work of many people,” he said, noting that years’ or even decades’ worth of research was destroyed.

For Schuldiner, the damage means the lab he has worked at for 16 years “is entirely gone. No trace. There is nothing to save.”

In that once gleaming lab, he kept thousands of genetically modified flies used for research into the development of the human nervous system, which helped provide insights into autism and schizophrenia, he said.

The lab housed equipment like sophisticated microscopes. Researchers from Israel and abroad joined hands in the study effort.

“All of our studies have stopped,” he said, estimating it would take years to rebuild and get the science work back on track. “It’s very significant damage to the science that we can create and to the contribution we can make to the world.”

Israel-Iran conflict live updates: Israel has launched multiple missile attacks on Iran targeting more military bases after Tehran ruled out nuclear talks at the UN read more

Israel’s war with Iran entered its second week on Friday with the Israeli military chief warning of a “prolonged campaign” and Tehran ruling out further nuclear talks with the United States until Israel halts its attacks. As US President Donald Trump mulls the prospect of entering the war, top diplomats from Britain, France and Germany met with their Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in Geneva. Referring to nuclear negotiations with Washington that had been derailed by the war, Araghchi said “Iran is ready to consider diplomacy once again and once the aggression is stopped.”

He said that “we are entitled … and determined to defend our territorial integrity, national sovereignty and security with all force. This is our inherent right.”

Araghchi asserted that “any justification for this unjust and criminal war would be tantamount to complicity.”

He said “this is an unjust war imposed on my people.” He said that Israel’s “attacks on nuclear facilities are grave war crimes.”

“In view of the intensity of military operations in Iran and the highly unstable situation on the ground, the FDFA has decided to temporarily close the Swiss embassy in Tehran,” the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

Switzerland announced Friday the temporary closure of its embassy in Tehran, adding that it would continue to fulfil its role representing US interests in Iran.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said he will decide within two weeks whether the U.S. will get directly involved.

The decision is based on the “current security situation” and not the anticipation that the war between Israel and Iran will escalate further, the statement said. It says the embassy in will operate remotely for the time being.

The British Foreign Office said in a statement that “we take the protection of our staff and British nationals extremely seriously and we have long advised against all travel to Iran.”

“To the parties to the conflict — the potential parties to the conflict — and to the Security Council as the representative of the international community, I have a simple and clear message: Give peace a chance,” Guterres said, in a veiled reference to the United States, which is considering intervening militarily to support Israel.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pleaded Friday with all sides to “give peace a chance” in the Iran-Israel conflict, warning that the violence could spiral out of control.

About 20 missiles were fired in the latest strikes, an Israeli military official said, and at least two people were hurt, according to the Israeli ambulance service.

Iran fired missiles at the southern Israeli city of Beersheba early on Friday and Israeli media said initial reports pointed to missile impacts in Tel Aviv, the Negev and Haifa after further attacks hours later.

A week into its campaign, Israel said it had struck dozens of military targets overnight, including missile production sites, a research body involved in nuclear weapons development in Tehran and military facilities in western and central Iran.

Iran said on Friday it would not discuss the future of its nuclear programme while under attack by Israel, as Europe tried to coax Tehran back into negotiations and the United States considers whether to get involved in the conflict.

Fears of catastrophe rippled through the Gulf on Thursday when the Israeli military said it had struck a site in Bushehr on the Gulf coast – home to Iran’s only nuclear power station – only to say later that the announcement was a mistake.

Israel says it is determined to destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities in its military campaign, but that it also wants to avoid any nuclear disaster in a region that is home to tens of millions of people and produces much of the world’s oil.

Israel’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear installations so far pose only limited risks of contamination, experts say. But they warn that any attack on the country’s nuclear power station at Bushehr could cause a nuclear disaster.

“Countries of the region have reached out directly to me over the past few hours to express their concerns, and I want to make it absolutely and completely clear — in case of an attack on the Bushehr nuclear power plant, a direct hit would result in a very high release of radioactivity,” Rafael Grossi told the UN Security Council

The head of the UN atomic watchdog warned Friday that an Israeli strike on Iran’s southern nuclear plant of Bushehr could trigger a regional disaster, adding that radiation had not yet been detected in the conflict.

“The IAEA can guarantee through a watertight inspection system that nuclear weapons will not be developed in Iran,” Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the UN Security Council.

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog pleaded Friday for a diplomatic solution to end Israel’s strikes on Iran, saying his agency could guarantee strict monitoring in any deal on putting Iranian nuclear technology under international control.

Israel began attacking Iran last Friday, saying its longtime enemy was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran, which says its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes, retaliated with missile and drone attacks on Israel.

“We did our best to save as much of the samples as we could from the labs, from the buildings, while we were fighting the fire,” physicist Roee Ozeri, Weizmann’s vice president for development and communications, told Reuters.

No one was hurt as the campus was empty overnight, but one part of a building collapsed entirely, while in the remaining part the walls were blown out, exposing a tangle of twisted metal, blasted debris and blackened cement.

The missile struck the institute’s campus at Rehovot, on the southern periphery of Tel Aviv, in the early hours of Sunday, damaging multiple buildings and prompting researchers to clamber into the ruins to save samples even as fire raged.

Researchers at Israel’s prestigious Weizmann Institute of Science have been scrambling to save their experiments after an Iranian missile destroyed a building containing dozens of cutting-edge laboratories.

Rambam hospital in the port city of Haifa said it received 19 wounded people from the site of an Iranian missile strike. Two people had serious-to-moderate injuries and the rest were lightly hurt, the hospital said.

Other attacks on Friday targeted the capital Tehran, the central city of Isfahan and western areas of the country, military statements said.

“A short while ago, the Israeli Air Force struck surface-to-air missile batteries in southwestern Iran,” it said in a statement.

The Israeli military said it carried out a fresh wave of attacks on Iran on Friday, targeting missile launchers in the southwest of the country.

“Affording the Iranian foreign minister the floor before this body continues to undermine the council’s credibility and constitutes a blatant betrayal of the many victims of this regime worldwide,” Daniel Meron said in a letter addressed to council president Jurg Lauber.

Israel’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva has raised “vehement objection” to Iran addressing the Human Rights Council ahead of talks with European counterparts in Geneva to try to de-escalate the Israel-Iran conflict, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

“If Bandar Abbas port doesn’t function, it will affect exports not only to Iran but to Afghanistan and Central Asia also. We have been informed that there is adequate capacity at Chabahar, and this needs to be explored urgently,” the exporter said.

The official also said that while there has been no immediate impact on shipments to Iran, disruptions are likely if the situation worsens.

This was suggested during a meeting convened by the commerce ministry on assessing impact of the war on India’s trade. It was chaired by Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal.

The official also said that the air freight rates have already seen a 15 per cent rise, and traders expect both air and sea freight costs to increase further if the conflict escalates.

Exporters have suggested shifting cargo movement from Bandar Abbas port to the Chabahar port in the wake of Iran-Israel conflict, stating any further escalation in the war would severely impact trade with Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Russia, an industry official said on Friday.

Some 5,000 Afghans are returning daily through the Islam Qala crossing in western Herat province, according to the aid agency World Vision International.

Iran’s war with Israel, which started last Friday, is also forcing them to flee as Israeli strikes target the country.

Millions of Afghans have called Iran home for decades. But they have been leaving in large numbers since October 2023, when authorities announced a crackdown on foreigners who it said were in the country illegally. Neighbouring Pakistan launched a similar campaign around the same time.

Thousands of Afghans are fleeing Iran every day to escape deportation and war, a major international aid agency and Taliban official said Friday.

According to the report, the Iranian delegation underscored that halting military action is key to creating conditions for diplomacy. The first round of discussions was described as respectful and serious, with all parties sharing their perspectives. IRNA noted that some points raised during the talks may require further clarification to support continued diplomatic engagement.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported that talks between Iranian and European officials in Geneva have paused to allow for internal consultations by the European side.

Traders said it suggested Trump preferred negotiations to end the fighting, as top European diplomats met Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Geneva on Friday to discuss a “diplomatic solution” to end the war.

The Brent international crude benchmark contract dropped three percent, weighing on the share prices of energy majors, after US President Donald Trump said he would decide whether to join Israel’s strikes on Iran within the next two weeks.

But investors remain wary of further volatility in the coming days, with analysts citing uncertainty over the Middle East conflicts and the lingering uncertainty over US tariffs.

Oil prices retreated Friday while US and European stock markets mostly gained ground as concerns over a war escalation in Iran eased.

“And this requires, of course, not only our careful attention to the events taking place, but also the search for solutions, the search for solutions, preferably by peaceful means, in all directions.”

“It is disturbing. I am speaking without any irony, without any jokes. Of course, there is a lot of conflict potential, it is growing, and it is right under our noses, and it affects us directly,” said Putin.

He mentioned Russia’s own war in Ukraine, the conflict between Israel and Iran, and said he was concerned by what was happening around nuclear facilities in Iran where Russian specialists are building two new nuclear reactors for Tehran.

Putin, speaking at an economic forum in St Petersburg, said there was a lot of potential for conflict in the world and that it was growing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that he was worried when asked if he was concerned that the world was heading towards World War Three.

“On the basis of the assessments made by the independent international institutions… there are indications that Israel would be in breach of its human rights obligations,” said the document drafted by the EU’s diplomatic service and seen by AFP.

Israel may have fallen short of its human rights obligations under a cooperation deal with the EU over its offensive in Gaza, a review of the agreement found Friday, upping pressure on Brussels to take action.

Israel launched attacks against Iran last Friday which have combined targeted assassinations of key military personnel with strikes on Iran’s nuclear and missile facilities.

“We have embarked on the most complex campaign in our history to remove a threat of such magnitude, against such an enemy. We must be ready for a prolonged campaign,” Zamir said in a video statement to Israelis.

Israel’s military chief Eyal Zamir warned Friday that his country should be “ready for a prolonged campaign” against Iran, as the longtime foes exchanged fire for the eighth day.

“These violations are violations of international law and the UN Charter,” he said, adding: “They also constitute a threat to the sacred sites and regions which might cause strong popular reactions, considering the importance of these holy sites for our peoples.”

“Twenty airplanes started, followed by 30 airplanes heading to the south of Iraq, and they flew over Basra, Najaf and Karbala cities,” he said.

Abbas Kadhom Obaid Al-Fatlawi, charge d’affaires of Iraq’s U.N. mission, told the UN Security Council the aircraft came from the Syrian-Jordanian border areas.

Iraq’s representative to the United Nations said 50 Israeli warplanes planes violated Iraqi airspace shortly before a U.N. meeting on the Israel-Iran conflict on Friday.

“Israel apparently declared that it will continue this strike for as many days as it takes. We are alarmed by credible report that the United States… may be joining this war,” he said.

“We will not stop,” Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon said. “Not until Iran’s nuclear threat is dismantled, not until its war machine is disarmed, not until our people and yours are safe.”

Iran said it would continue to defend itself against Israel during a UN Security Council session on Friday, while Israel’s UN ambassador vowed that his country would not stop its attacks until Iran’s nuclear threat is dismantled.

Officials are still looking into why the alert message was sent. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details that have not been made public yet.

An automated message that was sent out to military personnel at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey Friday afternoon warning of an incoming ballistic missile was sent in error, and there was no missile threat, a U.S. official told The Associated Press.

Grossi called for “maximum restraint” on the Israel-Iran war, adding: “A diplomatic solution is within reach if the necessary political will is there.”

He said elements for an agreement on reining in Iran’s nuclear program have been discussed.

U.N. nuclear chief Rafael Grossi told the U.N. Security Council the International Atomic Energy Agency can do this “through a watertight inspection system.”

The U.S. Navy now has five guided-missile destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean, according to U.S. defense officials. This is a significant increase. Earlier this week, the U.S. had just one in the eastern Med. Following Israel’s attack on Iran, the U.S. had two positioned in… pic.twitter.com/BeZ8AkDysW

The United States has ramped up its military presence in the eastern Mediterranean, deploying five guided-missile destroyers in the region, up from just one earlier this week, according to reports. The move follows Israel’s strikes on Iran and comes amid heightened regional tensions and threats of further escalation.

Iran has been launching daily missile salvos at Israel for the past week since a wide-ranging Israeli attack on its nuclear and military facilities triggered war.

At least 19 people were injured in the northern Israeli port city of Haifa as Iran fired a fresh barrage of missiles on Friday afternoon, authorities said.

“It is illusory and dangerous to want to impose a regime change from the outside. It is up to the people to decide their own destiny,” Barrot added, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not rule out killing supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“We invited the Iranian minister to consider negotiations with all sides, including the United States, without awaiting the cessation of strikes, which we also hope for,” he said after he and his British, German and EU counterparts held talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Geneva.

European powers on Friday urged Iran to hold nuclear talks “without awaiting” an end to Israeli air strikes on the Islamic republic, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said.

A 5.1-magnitude earthquake struck northern Iran on Monday, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), jolting the region as tensions remain high amid the ongoing war between Israel and Iran. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

Tehran has accused Washington of complicity in the Israeli attacks and insists that negotiations are “meaningless” while the offensive persists, further deepening the diplomatic deadlock.

While both sides expressed willingness to continue engagement, Iran reiterated that it would not enter talks with the United States as long as Israel continued its military strikes on Iranian territory.

European foreign ministers and Iranian officials concluded four hours of discussions in Geneva without reaching any breakthrough as hopes for restarting US-Iran dialogue remained stalled, according to report.

Expected to brief the Senate are Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, and Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau.

The session comes amid growing bipartisan pressure from lawmakers seeking clarity on the administration’s strategy and intelligence assessments.

The Trump administration will deliver its first all-senators classified briefing on the escalating Israel-Iran conflict on Tuesday, CNN reported, citing two sources familiar with the arrangements.

Trump was dismissive of European efforts, telling reporters, “Iran doesn’t want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us. Europe is not going to be able to help in this.”

As Trump mulls the prospect of joining the war on Israel’s side, top diplomats from Britain, France and Germany met their Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in Geneva and urged him to resume talks with the United States that had been derailed by Israel’s attacks.

US President Donald Trump has said that Iran had a “maximum” of two weeks to avoid possible American air strikes. Trump’s latest comments indicated he could decide on the fortnight deadline he set a day earlier, as he dismissed European efforts to end the conflict and said it would be “very hard” to ask Israel to cease its attacks.

A flight carrying 290 Indian students has landed in New Delhi after Iran opened its airspace for the evacuation under India’s Operation Sindhu. Iran has announced that it would make an exception for Indian students stranded in the conflict in West Asia and is coordinating with India to ensure they return home safely.

The Israeli military has said sirens have been sounded across the country after Iranian missiles were detected in the country. “At this time, the Air Force is working to intercept and strike wherever necessary to eliminate the threat,” the Army said. According to Reuters, explosions have been heard in Tel Aviv.

The Israel-Iran conflict has entered its second week, and here’s what happened on day 8 of fighting:

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have said in a statement that the military has launched a fresh wave of attacks in Iran. “The Air Force has now begun a wave of attacks against missile storage and launch infrastructure in central Iran,” it said.

Earlier this week, Mohammad Eslami, the head of Iran’s atomic energy agency, threatened legal action against the IAEA chief, saying, “It is necessary to fulfil your constitutional duties by immediately ending this inaction and condemning these actions of the Zionist regime that are contrary to international regulations.”

Iran has filed an official complaint against Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The complaint has been filed with the United Nations secretary-general and president of the Security Council over Grossi’s “approach regarding Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities” and “failure” to condemn Israeli actions.

MDA Spokesperson: Following the recent Red Alert sirens heard across the country: No major incidents have been reported, except for one event in central Israel where a fire was reported on the roof of a building. pic.twitter.com/PvR3E3d8Ua

No casualties have been reported so far.

Authorities have said that the fire was caused by shrapnel after a missile was intercepted by the Israeli military.

Israeli fire and rescue services confirmed via a statement on Telegram that they were working to put out a fire on the roof of a three-story building in Gush Dan, the greater Tel Aviv metropolitan area that includes Holon.

Israel’s national emergency services have said that a roof caught fire in a residential building in central Israel following Iran’s early morning strikes.

“The fact that we took out those people who led and pushed the weaponisation of the nuclear program is extremely important,” he told Bild.

“According to the assessment we hear, we already delayed for at least two or three years the possibility for them to have a nuclear bomb,” said Saar.

Israel’s offensive, which has hit hundreds of nuclear and military sites, killing top commanders and nuclear scientists, has produced “very significant” results, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told German newspaper Bild.

Israel estimates its strikes on Iran have delayed Tehran’s potential to develop a nuclear weapon by “at least two or three years”, Israel’s foreign minister has said.

Israeli airstrikes have hit a residential building in Iran’s Qom, according to the Quds News Network. The country’s Tasnim News Agency has reported that a teenager has died in the attack while two injured people have been taken to the hospital following the attack.

Iranian state media says that at least two people have died after Israeli strikes hit a residential building in the city of Qom, while 4 others have been left injured.

Iranian state media have said that blasts were heard in Isfahan, the Iranian town which houses a key nuclear facility. Israel has targeted Isfahan earlier, too, and UN’s nuclear watchdog has said that the atomic facility has been hit in strikes in the past week.

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Israel and Iran’s air war entered a second week on Friday and European officials sought to draw Tehran back to the negotiating table after President Donald Trump said any decision on potential US involvement would be made within two weeks.

Iran has launched a fresh wave of attacks against Israel, with missiles targeting the southern city of Beersheba, where a hospital was struck yesterday. The air strikes reportedly hit a tech park in the city and fires were reported near a Microsoft office.

Meanwhile, Israeli air attacks have killed 639 people in Iran, said the Human Rights Activists News Agency. Those killed include the military’s top echelon and nuclear scientists. Israel has said at least two dozen Israeli civilians have died in Iranian missile attacks. Reuters could not independently verify the death toll from either side.

British, German and French foreign ministers will meet their Iranian counterpart Abbas Argachi in Geneva for nuclear talks, in a first diplomatic sit-down between Europe and Iran as Trump weighs US involvement.

Israel has targeted nuclear sites and missile capabilities, and sought to shatter the government of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to Western and regional officials.

“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,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping both condemned Israel and agreed that de-escalation is needed, the Kremlin said on Thursday.

The role of the United States remained uncertain. Lammy also met Trump’s special envoy to the region, Steve Witkoff, on Thursday in Washington, and said they had discussed a possible deal.

With inputs from Reuters

Europe urges Iran to keep up diplomacy with US; IAEA says Iran not seeking nukes

Emergency personnel work next to burnt cars and damaged residential buildings after missile strikes by Iran on Israel’s Be’er Sheva yesterday. Photo: Reuters

Iran, Israel trade missiles, strikes for 8th day

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IAEA warns against strike on nuclear facilities in Iran

UK joins other nations in pulling embassy staff from Iran

Tehran appoints new chief of intelligence at IRG

24 arrested in Iran accused of spying for Israel

639 Iranians killed in Issraeli attacks

European powers hoped to offer a “diplomatic solution” to the Iran-Israel crisis as they met with the top diplomat of Iran in Geneva yesterday, as arch foes continue to exchange missile attacks for the eighth day.

The meeting, which was focused on Iran’s nuclear programme, comes as US President Donald Trump mulls the prospect of entering the war between the two foes.

Israel, saying Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons, a claim denied by most UN observers and other signatories of the landmark nuclear deal in 2015.

Amid the push for a diplomatic solution to the crisis, Israel’s military chief Eyal Zamir warned that his country should be “ready for a prolonged campaign” against Iran.

“We have embarked on the most complex campaign in our history to remove a threat of such magnitude, against such an enemy. We must be ready for a prolonged campaign,” Zamir said in a video statement to Israelis.

Israel launched attacks against Iran last Friday, which have combined targeted assassinations of key military personnel with strikes on Iran’s nuclear and missile facilities.

Iranians attend an anti-Israel protest following Friday prayers in Tehran. Photo: Reuters

Zamir said the Israeli military had prepared for “years” for the campaign against Iran, even while Israeli troops continue their devastating campaign against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.

Analysts say Iran was severely weakened by Israeli strikes on allied militant groups Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon since 2023, while Israel damaged Tehran’s air defences in tit-for-tat exchanges between the countries last year.

On the ground, Israel’s military said it struck dozens of targets in Tehran overnight, including what it called a centre for the “research and development of Iran’s nuclear weapons project”.

In Israel, sirens sounded in the afternoon after missiles were launched from Iran for the second time yesterday, and rescuers reported two injured, including a 16-year-old in serious condition.

A military official said that “approximately 20 missiles were launched towards Israel” in the latest salvo.

Later, Israel said at least 19 people were injured in the northern Israeli port city of Haifa after a barrage of missiles was fired in the afternoon.

Trump has said he would decide “within the next two weeks” whether to involve the United States in the fighting.

In the meeting in Geneva, European powers urged Iran to revive diplomatic efforts with the United States to find a solution in the standoff over its nuclear programme, but Tehran warned it could only consider diplomacy once Israel halted its bombardment of the Islamic republic.

British, French, German and EU top diplomats held talks in Geneva with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, giving diplomacy a chance one week after Israel started its bombardment.

“The good result today is that we leave the room with the impression that the Iranian side is ready to further discuss all the important questions,” said German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul in a statement alongside his European counterparts.

“It is of great importance that the United States takes part in these negotiations and the solution,” he added.

The statements read by all four top diplomats in their native languages after the talks expressed hope of further progress but did not make any mention of a breakthrough.

Araghchi, making his first trip outside Iran since the bombardment began, said Tehran was ready to “consider diplomacy” again only once Israel’s “aggression is stopped”.

“In this regard I made it crystal clear that Iran’s defence capabilities are not negotiable,” he said.

“We support the continuation of discussion… and express our readiness to meet again in the near future,” he said.

Meanwhile, the French FM yesterday condemned the efforts to change the regime in Iran from outside, calling it “dangerous”.

Earlier, addressing the UN Human Rights Council yesterday, Araghchi said Israel’s attacks were a “betrayal” of diplomatic efforts to reach a nuclear deal between Tehran and Washington.

“We were attacked in the midst of an ongoing diplomatic process,” he said.

In an interview with German publication Bild, Israel’s top diplomat Gideon Saar said he did not “particularly” believe in diplomacy with Iran.

“All diplomatic efforts so far have failed,” said Saar, whose country had supported Trump’s 2018 decision to abandon a previous nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers.

The Iranians, according to Saar, have used negotiations “to gain time while making progress (in their nuclear programme), and I don’t think they’ve changed their nature”.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was not seeking to be a mediator between Iran and Israel, and was only suggesting ideas for how the countries could resolve the escalating crisis.

The Kremlin has spent much of the week positioning Moscow as a potential peacemaker after Israel launched strikes on Iran, which retaliated with missiles and drones.

But Western leaders have pushed back on a role for Putin, and earlier this week Moscow said Israel had shown little interest in its overtures.

“We are by no means seeking to act as a mediator; we are simply suggesting ideas,” Putin said at an economic forum in Saint Petersburg.

“If they turn out to be attractive to both sides, we will only be happy.”

While Moscow has condemned Israel’s strikes, Russia has not offered military help to its ally Iran and has downplayed its obligations under a sweeping strategic partnership agreement signed just months ago.

The Russian foreign ministry on Thursday warned the United States against “military intervention” in the conflict, as it weighs joining Israel’s strikes against Iran.

The UN Security Council was also due to convene yesterday for a second session on the conflict, which was requested by Iran with support from Russia, China and Pakistan, a diplomat told AFP.

The escalating confrontation is quickly reaching “the point of no return”, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned yesterday, saying “this madness must end as soon as possible”.

UN chief Antonio Guterres, meanwhile, pleaded with all sides to “give peace a chance”.

He warned that expansion of the Israel-Iran conflict could ignite a fire no one can control and called on parties to the conflict and potential parties to the conflict to de-escalate.

The Trump administration yesterday said it had issued fresh Iran-related sanctions targeting eight entities, one vessel and one person for their alleged role in providing sensitive machinery for Tehran’s defence industry.

Two of the entities include shipping companies based in Hong Kong: Unico Shipping Co Ltd and Athena Shipping Co Ltd, the statement said.

The Treasury Department on Friday also issued counterterrorism-related sanctions targeting Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis over alleged illicit oil trading and shipping, it said in a separate statement.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, meanwhile, said that while Iran is the only country without nuclear weapons to enrich uranium to 60 percent, there was no evidence it had all the components to make a functioning nuclear warhead.

“So, saying how long it would take for them, it would be pure speculation because we do not know whether there was somebody… secretly pursuing these activities,” the agency’s chief Rafael Grossi told CNN.

“We haven’t seen that and we have to say it.”

He also warned against attacks on nuclear facilities and called for maximum restraint amid Israel’s strikes on Iran.

His comments came as White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Iran could produce an atomic bomb in “a couple of weeks”.

Any US involvement in Israel’s campaign would be expected to involve the bombing of a crucial underground nuclear facility in Fordow, using powerful bunker-busting bombs that no other country possesses.

In Iran, people fleeing Israel’s attacks described frightening scenes and difficult living conditions, including food shortages and limited internet access.

Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said authorities had restricted internet access to avoid “problems” like cyberattacks.

Protests broke out in Tehran and other cities after Friday prayers, with demonstrators chanting slogans in support of their leaders, state television showed.

“I will sacrifice my life for my leader,” read a protester’s banner, a reference to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Britain yesterday withdrew its embassy staff from Iran, following in the footsteps of other European nations as well as Australia and New Zealand.

The death toll in Israel from Iranian missile strikes since June 13 was 25 people, according to authorities. Iran’s attacks have resulted in the displacement of more than 8,000 Israelis, Yedioth Ahronoth reported, citing the Israeli Property Tax Compensation Fund.

Iran said on Sunday that Israeli strikes had killed at least 224 people, including military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians.

However, the Human Rights Activists News Agency said Israeli air attacks have killed 639 people in Iran. Top military leaders and scientists are among those killed.

According to Israeli, Western and regional officials, Israel’s sweeping campaign of airstrikes aims to do more than destroy Iran’s nuclear centrifuges and missile capabilities. It seeks to shatter the foundations of Khamenei’s government and leave it near collapse.

Netanyahu wants Iran weakened enough to be forced into fundamental concessions on permanently abandoning its nuclear enrichment, its ballistic missile programme and its support for militant groups across the region, the sources said.

The Israeli PM on Thursday said that he is being asked whether Israel is targeting the downfall of the Iranian regime. “That may be the result,” he said. “But it’s up to the Iranian people to rise for their freedom. Freedom is never cheap.”

A building at the campus of the Weizmann Institute of Science remains damaged following an Iranian missile strike on Sunday, in Rehovot, Israel June 19, 2025. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

Item 1 of 4 A building at the campus of the Weizmann Institute of Science remains damaged following an Iranian missile strike on Sunday, in Rehovot, Israel June 19, 2025. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura

Summary

Companies Weizmann is Israel’s top science research institute

Iranian missile struck its campus early on Sunday

Scientists struggled to pull samples from ruins

Israel has killed Iranian nuclear scientists

On visit to site, Netanyahu praises researchers, rescuers

REHOVOT, Israel, June 20 (Reuters) – Researchers at Israel’s prestigious Weizmann Institute of Science have been scrambling to save their experiments after an Iranian missile destroyed a building containing dozens of cutting-edge laboratories.

The missile struck the institute’s campus at Rehovot, on the southern periphery of Tel Aviv, in the early hours of Sunday, damaging multiple buildings and prompting researchers to clamber into the ruins to save samples even as fire raged.

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No one was hurt as the campus was empty overnight, but one part of a building collapsed, while in the remaining part the walls were blown out, exposing a tangle of twisted metal, blasted debris and blackened cement.

“We did our best to save as much of the samples as we could from the labs, from the buildings, while we were fighting the fire,” physicist Roee Ozeri, Weizmann’s vice president for development and communications, told Reuters.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the devastated site on Friday and praised the researchers as well as the rescuers of the country’s emergency services, describing both groups as the “best of Israel.”

“This building behind me, next to me, says everything,” Netanyahu said, pointing to the massive pile of rubble.

“Iran is the pre-eminent terrorist regime in the world. It must not, cannot have nuclear weapons. That is the purpose of Israel’s actions – to save itself from the Iranian threat of annihilation, but by doing so, we are saving many, many others.”

Israel began attacking Iran on June 13 , saying its longtime enemy was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran, which says its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes, retaliated with missile and drone attacks on Israel.

Israel’s strikes have killed several prominent Iranian nuclear scientists , wiped out the top echelon of Iran’s military command, damaged nuclear capabilities and killed hundreds of civilians.

Iran has not said if or why it targeted the Weizmann Institute.

Last Thursday, the U.N. nuclear watchdog’s 35-nation Board of Governors declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in almost 20 years. Iran has long maintained its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.

Iran’s attacks have killed 24 civilians in Israel and damaged hundreds of structures, including a hospital in the southern city of Beersheba.

While most of the institute’s research is in areas with potential benefits for medicine and scientific knowledge, it also has connections with defence. It announced in October 2024 a collaboration with Israel’s largest defence firm Elbit on “bio-inspired materials for defence applications”.

A multidisciplinary institution which carries out research in fields including genetics, immunology and astrophysics, Weizmann was founded in 1934 and is considered world-class within the international scientific community.

It is Israel’s most important science research institute, with 286 research groups, 191 staff scientists and hundreds of PhD students, master’s students and postdoctoral fellows.

‘EVERYTHING IS LOST’

The Iranian missile hit the work of researchers such as Eldad Tzahor, who focuses on regenerative medicine with particular relevance to adult heart diseases. He said many samples and tissues that had been part of long-running experiments had been destroyed.

“Everything is lost,” he told Reuters TV. “I would estimate that it will take us about a year to get into a full year of research and with everything working again.”

In financial terms, the damage is estimated at $300-$500 million, according to the institute, which operates costly, complex machines, often shared between several labs or research groups.

Jacob Hanna, who runs a molecular genetics team focused on embryonic stem cell biology, told the scientific journal Nature that his lab’s ceiling had collapsed and the staircase had detached.

His students managed to save hundreds of frozen mouse and human cell lines by transferring them to back-up liquid-nitrogen tanks that Hanna had stored in the basement, Nature reported.

“I was always worried that if a war actually happens, I don’t want to lose these,” he said.

Additional reporting by Maayan Lubell and Howard Goller; Writing and additional reporting by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Alison Williams and Alistair Bell

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Seven men have been arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm after two people were injured during a protest outside the Iranian Embassy.

Metropolitan Police officers responded to reports of an altercation in Princes Gate in Knightsbridge, west London, shortly after 9.50am on Friday, a force spokesperson said.

Two men were treated for injuries at the scene by the London Ambulance Service (LAS) before one was taken to a major trauma centre and the other to hospital.

The incident is thought to have involved protesters from “the pro and anti-Iranian regime”, the Met said.

Their injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.

The seven arrested men, whose ages have not yet been given, currently remain in police custody.

Officers remain at the scene and the area has been cordoned off while initial investigations take place.

Police have imposed conditions to stop protestors from gathering in the area until 1pm on Sunday.

One man was arrested and taken into custody on suspicion of breaching the conditions.