Death toll from Iranian reportedly rises to eight
Israeli army radio says the death toll from Iranian attacks on Sunday night has risen to eight, Reuters reports.
Key events
Israel said on Monday that it deported the last three remaining activists from an aid flotilla that attempted to reach the war-torn Gaza Strip last week, AFP reports.
“The last three participants remaining from the “Selfie Yacht” (flotilla) were transferred this morning to Jordan via the Allenby Crossing,” the foreign ministry said in a statement, adding they included one Dutch and two French nationals.
Poland is ready to start evacuating around 200 of its citizens who were on visits to Israel via Jordan’s capital Amman, a deputy foreign minister said on Monday, Reuters reports.
“We assume we will be ready in the next few dozen hours, [the evacuation] will concern those who are stuck as tourists and those staying for a short stay,” Henryka Moscicka-Dendys told reporters.
Tehran remains opposed to weapons of mass destruction – Iran foreign ministry
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday that the Iranian parliament is preparing a bill to leave the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), adding that Tehran remains opposed to the development of weapons of mass destruction, Reuters reports.
Iran on Monday urged Britain, France and Germany to pressure Israel to stop its attacks on Iran, AFP reports.
“Germany, France and England should have very clearly condemned the Zionist regime’s crimes, especially against the Natanz nuclear facility,” said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, adding that European powers should focus on “stopping the aggression” and holding Israel “accountable”.
Iran’s chief justice, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, on Monday said there would be swift trials for people arrested on suspicion of collaborating with Israel, Reuters reports.
“If someone is arrested for having ties to and collaborating with the Zionist regime, their trial and punishment should be carried out and announced very quickly, in accordance with the law and given the war conditions,” Ejei said, quoted by Tasnim news agency.
Death toll from Iranian reportedly rises to eight
Israeli army radio says the death toll from Iranian attacks on Sunday night has risen to eight, Reuters reports.
Israel’s military said a missile launched from Yemen on Monday fell before entering Israeli territory, after sirens sounded in several areas of the country, AFP reports.
In a statement, the military said:
Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen fell prior to crossing into Israeli territory.
China urged Iran and Israel to “immediately” take steps to reduce tensions, AFP reports.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said:
We urge all parties to immediately take measures to cool down the tensions, prevent the region from falling into greater turmoil, and create conditions for returning to the right track of resolving issues through dialogue and negotiations.
Ali Khamenei: ruthless defender of Iran’s revolution with few good options left
Jason Burke
When he appeared in public for the first time in five years in October, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, had an uncompromising message. Israel “won’t last long”, he told tens of thousands of supporters at a mosque in Tehran in a Friday sermon.
“We must stand up against the enemy while strengthening our unwavering faith,” the 84-year-old told the gathering.
Days before, Israel had killed Hassan Nasrallah, the veteran secretary general of Hezbollah, with huge bombs dropped on the militant Islamist movement’s headquarters in Beirut. The assassination was a personal blow to Khamenei, who had known Nasrallah for decades.
The Israeli air offensive against Iran, launched on Friday, is another such blow. It has prompted more defiance from Tehran, and a barrage of missiles and drones launched at Tel Aviv, but neither appear likely to stop the Israeli attacks. Iran’s air defences are apparently ineffective and the coalition of Islamist militias that Khamenei had built up to deter Israel is effectively shattered.
Read the full profile here:
In its latest update, Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency service has said five people were killed and 92 wounded on Monday in Iran’s latest missile strikes on the country, raising a previous toll of four deaths, AFP reports.
The casualties were from strikes on four sites in central Israel, the MDA said in a statement, adding those killed included “two women and two men around the age of 70, as well as one additional fatality”.
It added: “So far, MDA teams have evacuated 92 injured individuals to hospitals, including a 30-year-old woman in serious condition with facial injuries, six in moderate condition, and 85 in mild condition.”
The MDA said search and rescue operations were ongoing at two of the four sites.
New Delhi said on Monday its diplomats were helping some Indian students relocate to safer places in Iran, AFP reports.
“The Indian Embassy in Tehran is continuously monitoring the security situation and engaging Indian students in Iran to ensure their safety,” a foreign ministry statement said.
“In some cases, students are being relocated with (the) Embassy’s facilitation to safer places within Iran,” the ministry added.
New Delhi, which has relations with both countries, has sought to relocate its citizens within Iran after Tehran closed its airspace.
There are around 10,000 Indian citizens in Iran, according to government data from last year, while figures from 2022 listed more than 2,000 students in Iran.
Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz on Monday warned that Tehran’s residents would “pay the price” for Iranian strikes on Israeli civilians, after overnight missile attacks killed several.
“The boastful dictator from Tehran has turned into a cowardly murderer, deliberately firing at Israel’s civilian home front in an attempt to deter the (Israeli military) from continuing the offensive that is crippling his capabilities,” Katz wrote on his Telegram channel, as reported by AFP. “The residents of Tehran will pay the price – and soon.”
The latest video footage of the new wave of Iranian missile strikes in Tel Aviv and Haifa.
