Do people in Iran support Israel’s plans for regime change?

Jamal Abdi, the president of the National Iranian American Council, says Israel’s attacks have ostracised any Iranians who were sympathetic to its plans for regime change in Iran.

“I think that this is an epic miscalculation by Netanyahu,” he told Al Jazeera from Washington, DC.

“The legitimacy of the Islamic Republic really has been at a low point. The ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ protests in 2022 was really an explosion of calls by Iranians to get rid of the regime. And for decades, Netanyahu has pushed this line that the US should get involved in regime change, and the Israelis have also engaged in what I would call a psyops campaign aimed at creating more and more pressure on Iranians, and blaming the Islamic Republic, as they do deserve the blame,” he said.

And for a long time, there were some people in the Iranian diaspora who supported Israeli attacks on Iran, who thought that Israel would only strike “Islamic Republic targets”, and not Iranians, Abdi said.

But that view has now changed, he said.

“Netanyahu is now talking about turning Iran into Beirut: the Beirut strategy. Tehran is going to burn. It seems like they are now transitioning to a regime destabilisation campaign. And I think for a lot of people, especially people who maybe thought the Israelis are their friends, are now realising that what we saw in Gaza, what we saw in Lebanon, what we have seen across the region, is now coming for Iranians. And it is not liberation, it is death.”

Israel ‘actively working to destabilise the Iranian regime’: Report

Israel’s Channel 14 is reporting that Netanyahu’s government is “actively working to destabilise” the Iranian government in an escalation of its military offensive.

Tamir Morag, Channel 14’s diplomatic correspondent, says that the “newly approved strike plan” authorised by Netanyahu and Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz aims to trigger a “mass exodus” of civilians from Tehran.

“As part of the operation, regime targets in Tehran will now be attacked, accompanied by the mass evacuation of civilians from those areas as a means of applying pressure on the regime, in response to attacks on the Israeli home front,” Morag said in a post on X.

“The plan is designed to trigger a mass exodus of civilians from Tehran and serves as a powerful lever of pressure on the regime – in a way that could destabilise it.” Morag also quoted an unnamed security official as saying that “each day, the plan will intensify and produce results”.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar earlier denied that Israel is seeking regime change in Iran, saying in an interview with CNN that that would be “for Iranian people to decide”.

How Iran is showing restraint in its response against Israel

Israeli police responding to reports of projectile debris

The police say they have received reports of projectile debris falling in multiple areas in Israel.

“Police and bomb disposal units are currently operating at the scenes,” the Police said on X.

“The Israel Police urges all residents to avoid gathering near impact sites to prevent danger to life and to enable emergency teams to work safely. Residents are instructed to continue cooperating with authorities and to follow all Home Front Command guidelines.”


_{Emergency personnel work at an impact site after missiles were launched from Iran to Israel, in Tel Aviv, Israel, June 16}

How protected are Israelis from air attacks?

_{Israelis take cover in a public shelter during a missile attack on Israel from Iran, at Haifa, Israel June 14}

US envoy reports damage to embassy branch in Tel Aviv

Mike Huckabee says there’s been “some minor damage” to the US Embassy building in Tel Aviv after “concussions of Iranian missile hits” near the structure. There were no injuries to US personnel, and the country’s embassies and consulates in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv will remain closed today, he added.

Our @usembassyjlm US Embassy in Israel & Consulate will officially remain closed today as shelter in place still in effect. Some minor damage from concussions of Iranian missile hits near Embassy Branch in @TelAviv but no injuries to US personnel.

— Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) June 16, 2025

Death toll in Israel rises to 5: Reports

The Times of Israel and the Ynet News outlet are reporting that a body has been found in the city of Petah Tikva, taking the overall toll from Iranian strikes today to five. As of now, the toll stands at four killed in Petah Tikvah and another in Bnei Brak.

The Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency service said a total of 92 people have now been transferred to the hospital, most of them with minor injuries.

Three others remain missing in the northern city of Haifa.

_{Rescuers evacuate an injured woman from an impacted residential building following a missile attack from Iran on Israel, central Israel, June 16}

Israel claims attack on Quds Force HQ in Tehran

The Israeli military, in a post on X, says it struck the headquarters of the Quds Force in the Iranian capital, Tehran. The Quds Force is the IRGC’s overseas arm, which heavily influences its allied militias across the Middle East, from Lebanon to Iraq, Yemen and Syria.

Israel says Tehran residents ‘will pay price soon’ for attacks

Defence Minister Israel Katz has warned that people in Iran’s capital will “pay the price” for Iranian strikes on Israeli civilians after overnight missile attacks killed at least five people and wounded dozens.

Referring to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Katz wrote on his Telegram channel: “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.

“The residents of Tehran will pay the price – and soon.”

IRGC commander, soldier killed in Israeli attack

The Ansar al-Mahdi Corp, a unit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has announced that an Israeli attack in Zanjan province killed one of its commanders and one soldier. Tasnim, a news agency affiliated with the IRGC, identified the dead as Reza Najafi, a commander of the IRGC in the Ijrud district of Zanjan, and Hassan Rasouli, a soldier.

More than 220 people, including military officials, scientists, and women and children, have been killed across Iran since Israel launched its attack on Friday.

Smoke billows after multiple explosions in western Iran

Videos shared online and verified by Al Jazeera, show heavy plumes of smoke rising in the city of Kermanshah. In one video, thick smoke is seen rising around the Dieselabad area of the western Iranian city after an Israeli strike.

Israel argues its assault on Iran’s top military leaders, uranium enrichment sites and nuclear scientists was necessary to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Iran has always insisted that its nuclear programme is peaceful, and the US and others have assessed that Tehran has not pursued a nuclear weapon since 2003.

Iranian Foreign Ministry holds briefing

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Esmail Baghaei now addresses the issue of Iran’s negotiations with the US.

IAEA chief says no further sign of damage at Iran’s nuclear sites

Rafael Grossi is providing an update to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s board of governors in Vienna on the situation at Iran’s nuclear facilities following Israel’s ongoing attacks.

He said there was no sign of further damage at the Natanz or Fordow enrichment sites.

“The agency is and will remain present in Iran. Safeguards inspections in Iran will continue as soon as safety conditions allow, as is required under Iran’s NPT safeguards obligations,” he said in the statement.

Grossi has previously said Israeli attacks have destroyed the above-ground pilot enrichment plant at Natanz and that Iran had reported attacks on sites in Fordow and Isfahan.

He said the electricity infrastructure at Natanz was also destroyed, and the loss of power to a cascade hall may have damaged centrifuges there. But he said the level of radioactivity outside Natanz remained unchanged and normal.

Israeli attacks on Iran nuclear sites ‘a massive compromise’ of safety

Israel attacked Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility on Friday, with above-ground buildings destroyed. But there’s no indication of any destruction underground, where the main cascade hall is located.

Offsite radiation levels appear to be normal, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. But the IAEA is saying underneath the halls and the chambers of the facility, it expects there is some kind of radiological or chemical contamination in the form of vapours or gases – the kind of stuff you don’t want to breathe in.

As IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said, if you have the right kind of safety measures, a breathing apparatus, it is manageable.

There is also an assessment of what’s been going on at Isfahan, which, like Natanz, was also attacked by Israel on Friday; four buildings were damaged on the surface level. But as with Natanz, no increase in radiation levels.

The Fordow nuclear site apparently has not been attacked yet. Grossi was saying these shouldn’t be attacked at all. One of the main core responsibilities of the IAEA is to safeguard nuclear security, and if you have facilities with bombs falling on them, that is a massive compromise, obviously.

Middle East ‘first to suffer’ if escalation continues

Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a livestreamed news conference in Beijing that China “is deeply concerned about Israel’s attacks on Iran which cause abrupt escalation of military conflict”.

“We call on parties to immediately take measures to ease the tensions as soon as possible … prevent the region from falling into greater turmoil, and create conditions for returning to right track for solving through dialogue and consultation,” Guo said.

“If the conflict between Israel and Iran continues to escalate, or even enlarge, the Middle Eastern countries will be the first to suffer.”

World on the cusp of a new nuclear arms race: Monitor

The world is becoming more unstable, and the likelihood that nuclear weapons may one day be used is increasing. That is the broad conclusion of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI) Yearbook, published on Monday.

“We are at a step change, which has been going on since just before the pandemic,” SIPRI director Dan Smith told Al Jazeera.

“It’s not just little bits and pieces here and there. It’s everybody moving in that direction of upgrading, including the new nuclear weapon state of North Korea and the relatively new ones of Pakistan and India, who went nuclear in the ’90s.”

World military spending rose by 37 percent in the past decade, and by 9.4 percent last year alone, to $2.7 trillion, said SIPRI.

Israeli official and UN nuclear watchdog differ on damage assessments of Iran’s main enrichment facility

An Israeli official and the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog on Monday gave differing assessments of the damage sustained by the Natanz nuclear facility, Iran’s main enrichment plant.

An Israeli official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told CNN that there are “signs” that the underground part of Iran’s Natanz facility has collapsed.

The facility includes two large underground halls believed to hold centrifuges for the enrichment of uranium, according to a 2003 report from the Institute for Science and International Security.

Israel targeted the facility when it launched its attack on Iran on Friday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), however, said on Friday that the facility had only sustained surface-level damage.

In an update Monday, Rafael Grossi, the head of the IAEA, said there has been “no additional damage” at the plant since the initial attack, and that there is “no indication” of an attack on the underground cascade hall.

“However, the loss of power to the cascade hall may have damaged the centrifuges there,” Grossi said.

Israelis beginning to ask, ‘How long is this going to last?'

The search continues in the rubble, in Tel Aviv in particular, for more casualties. So the death toll could possibly rise. Five people have been confirmed dead in these overnight attacks by Iran.

One building has collapsed in the Tel Aviv area. The American embassy also sustained light damage from shrapnel. Damage was not just done to residential areas. The power grid in Haifa was also hit and the crews are still repairing it.

The Iranian attacks were successive. It wasn’t just one barrage of missiles, so Israeli residents in the centre and north went in and out of shelters throughout the night.

Everybody remains on high alert. You can’t really abandon your phone, for example, as you have to follow alert instructions and listen for sirens. Most Israelis get 10-15 minutes of advanced warning.

They’re being told they have to brace themselves for days, possibly more, of a life like this: no school, no businesses, no planes in and out. So this is a lot of stress on the society and the economy – and this is why we’re hearing Israelis beginning to say ‘Well, how long is this going to last?'”


_{Rescue teams work at a site where a missile launched from Iran struck Tel Aviv on Monday}

Death toll in Israel rises to 8: Report

The official Israeli Army Radio is reporting that the death toll from the latest Iranian attacks has now risen to eight. That’s after the three missing people in the city of Haifa were confirmed dead, the outlet said. Earlier, another five people were reported killed in central Israel.

This means that more than 20 people have been killed in Israel since the country’s military launched the attacks on Iran four days ago. More than 300 others have also been wounded.

Israelis ‘now realising’ what Palestinians and Lebanese have been suffering

Elijah Magnier, a military and political analyst, says he believes the hostilities between Israel and Iran will only get worse, but that Israeli support for the war may wane if the destruction continues.

“I think it’s going to continue escalating because we are just in the first days of the war that Israel declared on Iran,” he told Al Jazeera.

“And also the Israeli officials, the prime minister and the army, have all warned Israeli society that this war is going to be heavy and … the price is going to be extremely high. But the society that stands behind Benjamin Netanyahu and supports the war on Iran did not expect this level of destruction because, since 1973, Israel has not waged a war on a country and never been attacked on this scale, right in the heart of Tel Aviv,” Magnier said from Paris.

“So now they are realising what the Palestinians have been suffering, what the Lebanese have been suffering, and they see the destruction in front of them, buildings in Tel Aviv, in Haifa destroyed, fire everywhere. The properties no longer exist. Eight people killed, 250 wounded in one day. That’s unheard of since a very long time in Israel. So, all that is not something that the Israeli society has been ready for,” he added.

Missile launched from Yemen falls before reaching Israel: Army

Israeli military says it intercepted drone ‘from the east’

The military says in a post on X that the drone crossed into Israeli territory “from the east” and was intercepted. The “hostile aircraft” triggered air-raid sirens in the southern Golan Heights, it added.

Israel says 24 killed in Iranian missile attacks since Friday

The Israeli military’s Home Front Command has updated the death toll from days of Iranian attacks, saying most of those killed were not in bomb shelters.

Iran has fired about 350 missiles at Israel so far, and each barrage consisted of about 30 to 60 projectiles, it said.

Iran, meantime, announced it launched some 100 missiles and pledged further retaliation for Israel’s sweeping attacks on its military and nuclear infrastructure, which have killed more than 220 people since Friday, including dozens of civilians.

Israeli army claims it destroyed 30% of Iran’s missile launchers

More than 50 jets carried out air raids and destroyed at least 120 surface-to-surface missile launchers, the military says, as fighting between the two arch foes entered a fourth day.

“This amounts to one-third of the surface-to-surface missile launchers possessed by the Iranian regime,” military spokesman Brigadier-General Effie Defrin said in a televised statement.

After days of attacks on Iranian air defences and missile systems, the Israeli army said its aircraft now control the skies from western Iran to Tehran.

“Now we can say that we have achieved full air supremacy in the Tehran airspace,” said Defrin.