Israel urges U.S. to join war with Iran to eliminate nuclear program

Israel has asked the Trump administration over the past 48 hours to join the war with Iran in order to eliminate its nuclear program, according to two Israeli officials.

The big picture: Israel lacks the bunker buster bombs and large bomber aircraft needed to destroy Iran's Fordow uranium enrichment site, which is built into a mountain and deep underground. The U.S. has both within flying distance of Iran.

But the Trump administration has so far distanced itself from Israel's operation, and argued that it would be illegitimate for Iran to retaliate by striking U.S. targets.
Directly attacking Iran, even if the U.S. involvement is limited to bombing a single site, would pull the U.S. directly into the war.
However, if Fordow remains operational after the operation ends, Israel will have failed in its goal to "eliminate" Iran's nuclear program.

Behind the scenes: An Israeli official claimed to Axios that the U.S. might join the operation, and that President Trump even suggested he'd do so if necessary in a recent conversation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

A White House official denied that on Friday. A second U.S. official confirmed on Saturday that Israel has urged the Trump administration to join the war, but said currently the administration is not considering it.
A senior White House official told Axios Saturday that "whatever happens today cannot be prevented," referring to Israel's attacks.

"But we have the ability to negotiate a successful peaceful resolution to this conflict if Iran is willing. The fastest way for Iran to accomplish peace is to give up its nuclear weapons program," the senior official added.

#Zelenskyy warns oil price surge could help Russia’s war effort. A sharp rise in global oil prices following Israeli strikes on Iran will benefit Russia and bolster its military capabilities in the war in #Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday in comments that were under embargo until Saturday afternoon.

Speaking to journalists in Kyiv, Zelenskyy said the surge in oil prices threatens Ukraine’s position on the battlefield, especially because Western allies have not enforced effective price caps on Russian oil exports.

“The strikes led to a sharp increase in the price of oil, which is negative for us,” Zelenskyy said. “The Russians are getting stronger due to greater income from oil exports.”

Global oil prices rose as much as 7% after Israel and Iran exchanged attacks over the past 48 hours, raising concerns that further escalation in the region could disrupt oil exports from the Middle East.
Zelenskyy to address concerns with the U.S.

Zelenskyy said he planned to raise the issue in an upcoming conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump.

“In the near future, I will be in contact with the American side, I think with the president, and we will raise this issue,” he said.

Zelenskyy also expressed concern that U.S. military aid could be diverted away from Ukraine toward Israel during renewed tensions in the Middle East.

“We would like aid to Ukraine not to decrease because of this,” he said. “Last time, this was a factor that slowed down aid to Ukraine.”

Ukraine’s military needs have been sidelined by the United States in favor of supporting Israel, Zelenskyy said, citing a shipment of 20,000 interceptor missiles, designed to counter Iran-made Shahed drones, that had been intended for Ukraine but were redirected to Israel.

“And for us it was a blow,” he said. “When you face 300 to 400 drones a day, most are shot down or go off course, but some get through. We were counting on those missiles.”

An air defense system, Barak-8, promised to Ukraine by Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu was sent to the U.S. for repairs but never delivered to Ukraine, Zelenskyy said.

The Ukrainian president conceded that momentum for the Coalition of the Willing, a group of 31 countries which have pledged to strengthen support for Ukraine against Russian aggression, has slowed because of U.S. ambivalence over providing a backstop.

The Armed Forces of Iran attacked dozens of targets in Israel, military facilities and airbases in response to Israeli attacks on Iran’s territory, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps said in their statement.

"In response to the aggressive actions of the terrorist, bloodthirsty and child-killing Zionist regime (referring to Israel - TASS), committed this morning in Iran and leading to the death of a group of high-ranking military commanders, outstanding scientists and innocent citizens, especially defenseless children, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - as the defensive and offensive fist of the Iranian people - relying on the divine power, the wise leadership of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] and the unanimous support of the noble people of Iran, launched a crushing and precise retaliatory strike on dozens of military facilities and air bases of the #Zionist regime in the occupied territories during Operation True Promise - 3," the #IRGC press service said in a statement.

#Russia has handed another 1,200 bodies of Ukrainian servicemen to Ukraine on Friday, while #Kiev has not handed over a single body to the Russian side, a TASS source reported.

"Today, Russia handed over 1,200 bodies of deceased soldiers of the Ukrainian armed forces to Ukraine. Not a single one was handed over to us," the source noted.

Earlier, Russian Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky, who heads the country’s delegation to talks with Ukraine, said that Moscow has handed the bodies of 1,212 Ukrainian service members over to Kiev and received the bodies of 27 Russian soldiers.

Russia and Ukraine reached a humanitarian agreement during talks in Istanbul on June 2, which particularly provides for an exchange of wounded and seriously ill prisoners of war and soldiers under the age of 25, as well as for the transfer of the bodies of over 6,000 Ukrainian troops to Kiev. On June 7, Ukraine suddenly moved to postpone accepting the bodies and exchanging prisoners, Medinsky said.

The first group of Russian service members under the age of 25 returned to Russia on Monday, June 9. An aircraft carrying the second group of troops arrived in Russia on June 10. All of them will now undergo treatment and rehabilitation. Each time, Russia handed the same number of prisoners of war over to Ukraine.

Israel has already destroyed a large portion of the Iranian army's ballistic missile stockpile during the operation against Iran that began on the night of June 13, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video address to the Iranian people, which was distributed by his office.

"In the past 24 hours, we have taken out top military commanders, senior nuclear scientists, the Islamic regime's most significant enrichment facility and a large portion of its ballistic missile arsenal. More is on the way," he said.

According to Netanyahu, the Iranian authorities are disoriented after the attack carried out by Israel, do not know what has befallen them and what awaits them in the near future, and they are "never been weaker." In this regard, he appealed to Iranians to begin the struggle to overthrow the government.

On the night of June 13, Israel launched Operation ‘Rising Lion,’ aimed against Iran's nuclear program. The Israel Defense Forces reported that 200 fighter jets attacked more than 100 targets in Iran, including nuclear facilities.

On the evening of June 13, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reported that Iran retaliated by attacking dozens of targets in Israel with missiles, including military facilities and air bases, striking, in particular, the Defense Ministry building in Tel Aviv. The Jewish state's authorities admitted that a number of targets was hit, but assured that most of the missiles were intercepted.

VATICAN CITY — When Pope Leo XIV stepped out on the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica to greet the crowd for the first time after his May 8 election, liturgical fashion aficionados around the globe took note: Gone was the simple white cassock and silver cross favoured by Pope Francis. Back was the red satin mozzetta shoulder cape, the burgundy stola with gold embroidery and a gold cross held by a double-stranded silken gold cord.

Over Leo’s first few weeks, the excitement grew among liturgical fashion-conscious Catholics as they noticed new additions to the wardrobe, or rather a return to the old additions of the papal wardrobe: cufflinks, white pants, lace.

After Francis’ revolutionary papacy, Vatican watchers are now wondering if Leo’s return to the past sartorial look means a return to the past on other things too, including more substantial policy issues. But for tailors at the elite handful of liturgical tailoring shops in Rome, there is hope that Leo’s return to the fancier garb of popes past will mean a boon to business if Leo’s traditional look has a trickle-down effect from the pope to priests and all those in between.

The style is a return to form

According to the Rev. John Wauck, professor of church communication at the Pontifical Holy Cross University in Rome, Leo’s clothing choices are a “return to form,” and his attire similar to that worn by Pope Benedict XVI, Pope John Paul II and other popes going back to the middle ages.

They show “a respect for tradition,” he said.

Such respect for the papal office is important for many conservative Catholics. Many conservatives and traditionalists soured on Francis’ informal style and disdain for tradition, which reached its pinnacle with his his crackdown on the old Latin Mass. The old liturgy was celebrated before the modernizing reforms of the 1960s Second Vatican Council; Francis greatly restricted access to the old liturgy, saying it had become a source of division in parishes.

Leo has shown strong familiarity with Latin, and has taken to singing the Sunday noontime prayer in Latin. Some traditionalist Catholics are hoping Leo will take the pro-Latin path even further and reverse Francis to allow greater use of the traditional Latin Mass.

Massimo Faggioli, professor of theology at Villanova University, where Leo went to college, said it’s too early to tell if Leo will reverse Francis’ reform.

“It remains to be seen if Leo’s more traditional attire and liturgical style means that he will change Francis’ strong decisions limiting the so-called ‘Latin Mass,’” he said.

That said, Faggioli said U.S. conservatives seems particularly happy with Leo’s traditional attire, given Francis’ disdain for the fashion pomp of the papacy.

“In this sense, Francis might have been a parenthesis or an interlude, more than a changer of the tradition in ‘papal style,’” he said in an email.

United Arab Emirates — DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — U.N. nuclear chief Rafael Grossi told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that Israeli strikes destroyed the above-ground section of Iran’s main nuclear facility at Natanz. He said all the electrical infrastructure and emergency power generators were destroyed as well as a section of the facility where uranium was enriched up to 60 per cent.

The main centrifuge facility underground did not appear to have been hit, but the loss of power could have damaged the infrastructure there, he said.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. The following is AP’s previous story.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Israel launched blistering attacks on the heart of Iran’s nuclear and military structure Friday, deploying warplanes and drones previously smuggled into the country to attack key facilities and kill top generals and scientists -- a barrage it said was necessary before its adversary got any closer to building an atomic weapon.

Iran retaliated late Friday by unleashing scores of ballistic missiles on Israel, where explosions flared in the skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and shook the buildings below.

“We will not allow them to escape safely from this great crime they committed,” Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a recorded message in which he vowed revenge.

An Associated Press reporter saw smoke rising in Tel Aviv after an apparent missile strike. A Tel Aviv area hospital said it was treating 15 injured civilians. U.S. ground-based air defence systems in the region are helping to shoot down Iranian missiles, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the measures.

Israel’s ongoing airstrikes and intelligence operation and Iran’s retaliation raised concerns about all-out war between the countries and propelled the region, already on edge, into even greater upheaval.

Israel had long threatened such a strike, and successive American administrations had sought to prevent it, fearing it would ignite a wider conflict across the Middle East and possibly be ineffective at destroying Iran’s dispersed and hardened nuclear program.

But a confluence of developments triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack — plus the reelection of U.S. President Donald Trump — created the conditions that allowed Israel to finally follow through on its threats. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the U.S. was informed in advance of the attack.

On Thursday, Iran had been censured by the U.N.’s atomic watchdog for not complying with obligations meant to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.

Countries in the region condemned Israel’s attack, while leaders around the globe called for immediate de-escalation from both sides.

The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting for Friday afternoon at Iran’s request. In a letter to the council, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the killing of its officials and scientists “state terrorism” and affirmed his country’s right to self-defence.

Israel’s military said about 200 aircraft were involved in the initial attack on about 100 targets. Its Mossad spy agency positioned explosive drones and precision weapons inside Iran ahead of time, and used them to target Iranian air defences and missile launchers near Tehran, according to two security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

It was not possible to independently confirm the officials’ claims.

Among the key sites Israel attacked was Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz, where black smoke could be seen rising into the air. It also appeared to strike a second, smaller nuclear enrichment facility in Fordo, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) southest of Tehran, according to an Iranian news outlet close to the government that reported hearing explosions nearby.

Israel said it struck a nuclear research facility in Isfahan, too, and said it destroyed dozens of radar installations and surface-to-air missile launchers in western Iran. Iran confirmed the strike at Isfahan.

Israel military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the Natanz facility was “significantly damaged” and that the operation was “still in the beginning.”

The first wave of strikes had given Israel “significant freedom of movement” in Iran’s skies, clearing the way for further attacks, according to an Israeli military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details of the attack with the media.

The official said Israel is prepared for an operation that could last up to two weeks, but that there was no firm timeline.

Among those killed were three of Iran’s top military leaders: one who oversaw the entire armed forces, Gen. Mohammad Bagheri; one who led the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami; and the head of the Guard’s ballistic missile program, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh.

Iran confirmed all three deaths, significant blows its governing theocracy that will complicate efforts to retaliate. Khamenei said other top military officials and scientists were also killed.

Netanyahu said the attack had been months in the making. In a video statement sent to journalists Friday, he said he ordered plans for the attack last November, soon after the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon, one of Iran’s strongest proxies. Netanyahu said the attack was planned for April but was postponed.

In its first response Friday, Iran fired more than 100 drones at Israel. Israel said the drones were being intercepted outside its airspace, and it was not immediately clear whether any got through.

Israel’s military said it called up reservists and began stationing troops throughout the country as it braced for further retaliation from Iran or Iranian proxy groups.

Trump urged Iran on Friday to reach a deal with the U.S. on its nuclear program, warning on his Truth Social platform that Israel’s attacks “will only get worse.”

“Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire,” he wrote.

On Wednesday, the U.S. pulled some American diplomats from Iraq’s capital and offered voluntary evacuations for the families of U.S. troops in the wider Middle East. On Friday, the U.S. began shifting military resources in the region, including ships, as Israel prepared for more retaliation, two U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Officials in Washington had cautioned Israel against an attack earlier in the week, so as not to disrupt U.S. negotiations with Iran over its nuclear enrichment program. They stressed Friday that the U.S. had not been involved in the attack, and warned against any retaliation targeting U.S. interests or personnel.
Israel calls attacks preemptive strikes on Iran’s nuclear program

Israeli leaders cast the attack as necessary to head off an imminent threat that Iran would build nuclear bombs, though it remains unclear how close the country is to achieving that or whether Iran had actually been planning a strike. Iran maintains its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only.

“This is a clear and present danger to Israel’s very survival,” Netanyahu claimed as he vowed to pursue the attack for as long as necessary to “remove this threat.”

Israel is widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East but has never acknowledged having such weapons.

Over the past year, Israel has been targeting Iran’s air defenses, hitting a radar system for a Russian-made air defense battery in April 2024 and surface-to-air missile sites and missile manufacturing facilities in October.

On Friday, Israelis rushed to supermarkets in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and elsewhere to buy bottled water and other supplies. But, otherwise, streets and parks were mostly deserted.
Iran says Israel targeted residential areas

For Netanyahu, the operation distracts attention from Israel’s ongoing and increasingly devastating war in Gaza, which is now over 20 months old.

There is a broad consensus in the Israeli public that Iran is a major threat, and Israel’s opposition leader, Yair Lapid, a staunch critic of Netanyahu, offered his “full support” for the mission against Iran. But if Iranian reprisals cause heavy Israeli casualties or major disruptions to daily life, public opinion could shift quickly.

The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah issued a statement that offered condolences and condemned the attack, but did not threaten to join Iran in its retaliation. Hezbollah’s latest war with Israel — which killed much of the group’s senior leadership — ended with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in November.

Khamenei, the Iranian Supreme Leader, said in a statement that Israel “opened its wicked and blood-stained hand to a crime in our beloved country, revealing its malicious nature more than ever by striking residential centers.”

Netanyahu expressed hope the attacks would trigger the downfall of Iran’s theocracy, saying his message to the Iranian people was that the fight was not with them, but with the “brutal dictatorship that has oppressed you for 46 years.”
Tension had been growing for weeks ahead of attacks

Israel has long been determined to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, a concern laid bare on Thursday when the International Atomic Energy Agency for the first time in 20 years censured Iran over its refusal to work with its inspectors. Iran immediately announced it would establish a third enrichment site and install more advanced centrifuges.

Even so, there are multiple assessments on how many nuclear weapons Iran could conceivably build, should it choose to do so. Iran would need months to assemble, test and field any weapon, which it so far has said it has no desire to do. U.S. intelligence agencies also assess Iran does not have a weapons program at this time.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel took “unilateral action against Iran” and that it believed the strikes were necessary for its self-defence.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said it was closely monitoring radiation levels.

Federman and Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi, Amir Vahdat and Mehdi Fattahi in Tehran, Iran; Melanie Lidman and Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel; Lolita C. Baldor, Tara Copp, Matthew Lee and Eric Tucker in Washington; Bassem Mroue and Abby Sewell in Beirut; Edith Lederer at the United Nations and David Rising in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Sana'a raises pictures of the martyred leaders

TEL AVIV, June 13. Iran fired fewer than 100 rockets toward Israel, most of which were shot down or missed their targets, but there were also a few hits, Israeli Army spokesman Efi Defrin said.

"In the last hour, Iran launched two waves of surface-to-surface missiles toward the State of Israel. In both waves, fewer than 100 rockets were fired. Most of them were intercepted or missed their targets. There were a few hits on buildings, some of which were from falling debris [of rockets] after the interceptions," he said.

Israel will get an "appropriate response" for its strikes against the Iranian territory, President of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian said in his telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"The appropriate response will definitely follow the aggression of the Zionist regime [Israel is meant - TASS]," Pezeshkian said on his Telegram channel.

In its turn, the Kremlin’s press service informed that the Russian leader expressed his condolences to the authorities and citizens of Iran over the heavy death toll resulting from Israeli strikes.