As tensions in Iran rise, young Iranians are turning to TikTok to voice their anxiety and anger about the escalating conflict.

One widely viewed video — verified by NBC News and viewed 1.5 million times — shows a young woman in a car fleeing the capital. “It’s war in Iran but you’re eating chips and your cousins got 50 cent on full blast while heading north,“ text on the video read. “Leaving tehran I can’t stand this anymore…,” it reads.

The owner of the TikTok account @nusey.bah declined to comment until she crossed the border.

Show more

Congressional Democrats are split in their responses to Israel’s overnight strikes on Iran, with some members conveying staunch support with others warning it’s a dangerous escalation that risks drawing the U.S. into a wider war.

A number of pro-Israel Democrats are backing the close U.S. ally, including Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who has become one of the most outspoken members of his caucus in defense of Israel since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack and subsequent war on Gaza.

“Our commitment to Israel must be absolute and I fully support this attack,” Fetterman wrote on X. “Keep wiping out Iranian leadership and the nuclear personnel. We must provide whatever is necessary—military, intelligence, weaponry—to fully back Israel in striking Iran.”

Show more

Several Jewish Democratic lawmakers are also defending Israel’s actions.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said on X that she stands “firmly” behind Israel’s right to defend itself and said that if its strikes against Iran’s nuclear program are a set-back to the regime, then, “We’ll all be safer.”

“These strikes are an act of self-defense, and they follow decades of IAEA-confirmation violations by Iran of its nonproliferation agreements,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., said in a statement.

Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., said in a statement that the world benefitted from Israel’s destruction of nuclear reactors in Iraq in 1981 and Syria in 2007. “I am confident, with Iran on the brink of weaponization, the world will again be grateful that Israel acted to prevent catastrophe.”

Other Democrats are making clear they oppose Israel’s actions. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., vice chair on the Appropriations Committee, said in a statement that Israel’s attack on Iran is “a dangerous and unprecedented escalation, which endangers American servicemembers and civilians in the region, and puts countless other innocent lives at risk.”

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., wrote on X that “Netanyahu wasn’t trying to help diplomacy; he was trying to destroy diplomacy. How do we know? They reportedly targeted and killed Iran’s chief negotiator with Trump.”

Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., who served in the Iraq war, said on X that great nations use a “mix of hard and soft power.” However, he said, “Although it’s too early to tell, I am concerned Israel may not have this balance correct, and the risks of drawing, not just Israel, but America, into a wider war in the Middle East are real.”

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told the meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Saturday that Israel’s attacks on Iran right before a new round of nuclear talks with the United States aimed to sabotage the negotiations, and it showed Israel did not want to resolve issues through diplomacy.

He urged countries with influence over Israel not to listen to its “poison” and to seek a solution to the fighting via dialogue without allowing a wider conflict and called on Muslim countries to increase their efforts to impose punitive measures against Israel on the basis of international law and United Nations’ resolutions.

10 View gallery Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ( Photo: Khalil Hamra / AP )

10 View gallery 51st session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) ( Photo: Yasin akgul / AFP )

“Just as Hitler’s spark ignited the world 90 years ago and set it on fire, Netanyahu’s Zionist ambitions have no other purpose than to drag the world into disaster,” Erdogan said. “The fate of Istanbul is not separate from the fate of Damascus, the fate of Baghdad, the fate of Tehran, the fate of Mecca and Medina, Gaza and Jerusalem. When it comes to our common causes and common interests, it is our duty to put our differences aside and come together.

Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan accused Israel of dragging the region into “total disaster” with its attacks on Iran

Cyprus security forces said they arrested on person on suspicion of terror-related offences and espionage, without providing further identifying information. But local media reported the suspect was a citizen of Azerbaijan who had joined the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). He was remanded for eight days by a court.

The Philenews outlet said the suspect has been collecting intelligence on the island since April 2024 and was arrested based on secret information provided by a foreign intelligence agency amid concerns that he may have been planning a terror attack.

Israel killed Iranian nuclear scientist , Isar Tabatabai-Qamsheh was killed along with his wife in an Israeli strike, the semi-official Iranian Mehr News Agency said on Saturday.

An Iranian drone hit a building in Beit She’an in Israel’s north-east on Saturday. According to initial reports fire broke out in the two-story building, but no injuries were reported. The area had come under repeated attack in the overnight and morning hours.

10 View gallery Beit She’an apartment hit by an Iranian attack drone on Saturday ( Photo:Social media )

10 View gallery An Iranian drone after it was shot down in northern Israel overnight ( Photo: Maayanot Regional Council )

The IDF said it shot down two drones targeting the Arava Desert while sirens warned of attack drones also targeting the Golan Heights and the Galilee regions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia has repeatedly told Israel that there is no evidence Iran is aiming to get nuclear weapons , Sky News Arabia reported on Saturday. “Russia, as well as the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), has never had any evidence that Iran is preparing to obtain nuclear weapons, as we have repeatedly put the Israeli leadership on notice,” he said, according to the report. “Russia is ready to support Iran in developing a peaceful nuclear program,” The Russian president said, adding that Iran has the right to do so.

The IDF targeted underground facilities storing ballistic missiles in its overnight and early morning strikes on Iran. One target was a vast underground facility where components of Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal were currently buried beneath the rubble, according to military officials. The site had come under repeated IDF attacks in the past to ensure it would not be reused.

10 View gallery Smoke rises from the Isfahan nuclear faciility after and IDF strike early on Saturday ( Social media )

Smoke rises from the Isfahan nuclear faciility after and IDF strike early on Saturday ( Social media )

In a separate wave of attacks, the Air Force deployed some 50 aircraft to strike the region of Isfahan, targeting underground ballistic missile sites, aerial defense batteries and the nuclear facility.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Saturday that five of its members were killed in Israeli strikes in western Iran.

The IDF announced it conducted a targeted strike on a vehicle carrying a Quds force commander responsible for smuggling weapons to Palestinian terror groups and Iranian proxies including Hezbollah.

10 View gallery IDF targets a senior Quds Force commander’s vehicle ( Photo: IDF )

According to the IDF, Behnam Shahriyari also commanded the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars annually to terror organizations through his connections in Turkey and Lebanon, using a network of shell companies, money changers and couriers. Read the full story

Defense Minister Israel Katz said earlier that the IDF targeted and eliminated Saeed Izdi , a senior member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) Quds force who financed and armed Hamas ahead of the October 7 massacre, in a strike on an apartment in Qom.

10 View gallery Quds force official killed in a strike on an apartment in Qom

10 View gallery IDF targets an apartment block in Qom

Local media reported earlier that a fourth-floor apartment was hit in an IDF strike on Qom, where at least two people, including a 16-year-old boy, were killed and at least four others, wounded.

“This is a huge win for the Air Force and military intelligence,” Katz said. Read full story

The IDF said it shot down a hostile drone from Iran targeting areas in northern Israel after sirens warned of a drone strike on the Beit She’an valley, the northern West Bank and Wadi Araa.

I srael conducted strikes on central Iran early on Saturday, including on the nuclear reactor in Isfahan, Iranian media reported. According to the Fars news agency, there was no leakage from the reactor . According to reports, the local governor said that no leakage of hazardous materials was identified

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he hoped for a resounding statement condemning the Israeli attacks on his country when he meets with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Turkey later on Saturday. “We will use the opportunity to make Iran’s voice heard to the world,” the minister said.

“Attacking peaceful nuclear reactors in Iran, which are under the supervision of the IAEA, is an unforgivable crime and will have serious implications on international law, especially on the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iran will stand firm in the face of Israeli aggression and will respond as required based on its legitimate right to self-defense.”

10 View gallery Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi

Araghchi said earlier that Tehran will not engage in talks with any party as long as Israeli attacks persist. “Western countries are not condemning Israel’s aggression against Iran, even though they know it violates all international laws and resolutions,” Araghchi said. “The U.S. is complicit in the Israeli aggression against Iran, even if it’s not participating publicly,” he added.

The IDF spokesperson said early on Saturday that Aminpour Joudaki, the commander of the second UAV brigade of the IRGC Air Force, was killed in a strike . “As part of his role, Aminpour Joudaki advanced hundreds of UAV attacks against Israeli territory from the area of Ahvaz in southwestern Iran,” the military said in a statement. He assumed a key role after the killing of Taher Pour in Israel’s opening strike on June 13.

10 View gallery Fire caused by shrapnel from an intercept of one of the Iranian ballistic missiles targeting central Israel ( Photo: Fire & Rescue Authorities )

Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: Google Play : https://bit.ly/4eJ37pE | Apple App Store : https://bit.ly/3ZL7iNv

Aerial defenses intercepted an Iranian ballistic missile barrage targeting central Israel in the pre-dawn hours on Saturday. Shrapnel from one intercept fell through the roof of a 4-story building, causing a fire.

In a quiet southern suburb of Tel Aviv, Iranian reprisals landed like a bolt of lightning.

The direct hit from an Iranian missile sheered the front off of a ten-story residential building, killing six people and burying several more under mounds of rubble. Rescue workers are reportedly still trying to dig them out.

The impact was extensive, damaging buildings for an entire city block and covering much of the neighborhood in bits of debris.

Those killed here, along with four members of an Arab-Israeli family who were killed in northern Israel, has brought the death toll to 13, more than triple the number of Israeli fatalities recorded on Friday, the first night of Iranian reprisals.

That made last night’s attack on Bat Yam the deadliest Iranian airstrike against Israel in its history.

Show more

But when measured alongside the vast field of destruction, the casualty count seemed relatively low — a fact residents attributed to Israel’s early warning system and the bomb shelters tucked into almost every building.

An official with the Israeli Defense Forces said that everyone who managed to take refuge inside a bomb shelter survived the attack.

“The building was shaking like hell. After a few minutes we went out and we saw the destruction. And then we realized that we don’t have houses anymore,” said Natalie, a 43 year old Bat Yam resident who said she works in administration. “The building was shaking like hell.”

Natalie and her neighbors were standing with their luggage in the entryway to their apartment building about a block away from the impact site.

She and her fellow residents looked disoriented as they described what they thought might be their next moves: calling friends and relatives to try to find places to stay for the next few nights.

“The thing about Israeli people is that we are always prepared,” she said. “I’m a good civilian who listened to the instructions of the government to stay in a safe place. And that’s what saves most lives.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was among a few Israeli politicians who paid a visit to Bat Yam today.

Speaking to reporters in front of the wreckage, Netanyahu declared that “Iran will pay a very heavy price for the murder of civilians, women and children that they did intentionally.”

Benjamin Netanyahu has called on Iranians to “rise up” and overthrow Tehran’s “evil and oppressive regime”.

As Iranian missiles rained down on Israel in retaliation for Thursday’s devastating attack on its military leadership and nuclear sites, Mr Netanyahu addressed the Iranian public directly.

“As we achieve our objective, we are also clearing the path for you to achieve your freedom,” Israel’s prime minister said in a video address.

He added: “Our fight is against the murderous Islamic regime that oppresses and impoverishes you. This is your opportunity to stand up and let your voices be heard.”

Dozens of missiles were fired at Tel Aviv on Friday, in what the IDF said was an attack on civilians. The military said most of the missiles were either intercepted or fell short.

At least 34 people were injured in the attack, according to emergency services. Israel Katz, the Israeli defence minister, said Iran had crossed “red lines” in its strikes and vowed to ensure the Iranian regime “pays a very heavy price for its heinous actions”.

Iran also targeted Jerusalem in a second wave of missiles early on Saturday morning that activated Israel’s defence system.