Smoke billows from the headquarters of Iran’s state broadcaster following the Israeli air strike
* He might send vice-president Vance, Witkoff to meet Iranians, as Israeli military says an airstrike killed one of Tehran’s top military commanders
* As Israeli aircraft strikes the headquarters of state broadcaster, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting in Tehran
The Wall Street Journal & BB News
President Trump said he was working on “a real end” to the conflict in the Middle East, as the U.S. expanded its military footprint in the region where the war between Israel and Iran entered a fifth day.
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“Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. It’s very simple,” he told reporters on Air Force One as he returned to Washington early from the G-7 summit in Canada. “We’ll come down so hard if they do anything to our people…I think they know not to touch our troops.”
Trump left the meeting in Canada after signing onto a G-7 statement calling for peace and stability in the Middle East, saying he wasn’t doing so to work on a cease-fire but something “much bigger than“. Asked to clarify, Trump said he wanted “an end, a real end not a cease-fire.”
The White House said the U.S. isn’t joining Israel’s attacks on Iran, amid speculation fueled by recent military buildup in the region. Trump earlier wrote on Truth Social that Iran should have signed the nuclear deal his administration was negotiating and said everyone should evacuate from Tehran.
Speaking on Air Force One, he said that his call for the evacuation was based on wanting “people to be safe.”
A third U.S. Navy destroyer entered the eastern Mediterranean Sea to help defend Israel from Iranian ballistic missiles, and a second U.S. carrier strike group is heading toward the Arabian Sea.
Tanker aircraft that could potentially help refuel Israeli jet fighters also appeared to be heading to the region, according to flight trackers and people familiar with the matter.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said he had directed “the deployment of additional capabilities” to the Middle East over the weekend, a move which he said was intended to enhance U.S. forces’ “defensive posture” in the region.
While the Pentagon says the military buildup is purely defensive, it also puts the U.S. on a firmer footing to join Israeli attacks on Iran should Trump decide to do that. Alternatively, it could be a tactic to pressure Iran to capitulate or make serious concessions without further U.S. military involvement.
Meanwhile, Israeli aircraft struck the headquarters of Iran’s state broadcaster in Tehran, after the Israeli military told residents of the area of the capital, where it is located, to evacuate.
A live broadcast on Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting’s TV channel was briefly interrupted after blasts were heard and the studio lights went out. Iranian media reported that at least one staff member was killed.
The Israeli military said it targeted a “communications centre of the Iranian regime”. Iran’s foreign ministry said the strike was a “war crime”.
Residents of Tehran meanwhile appeared to be fleeing in large numbers, with pictures showing traffic jams on one highway heading north.
Earlier, the Israeli military declared that it had achieved “full air superiority” over the city and had destroyed a third of Iran’s missile launchers.
It came after Iranian missiles struck four different areas in the northern and central Israel overnight, killing at least eight civilians, according to the military.
Iran’s health ministry said at least 224 people had been killed and more than 1,200 injured in Israeli air strikes since Friday, when Israel launched a large-scale air campaign targeting Iran’s nuclear programme and ballistic missiles.
Iranian missile strikes have killed at least 24 people and injured 592 others in Israel over the same period, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office.
On Monday afternoon, the Israeli military’s Persian-language spokesperson called on residents of western Tehran’s District 3 to evacuate immediately, saying it planned to target military infrastructure and that their lives were at risk.
Hours later, the Israeli strike on the building housing Iran’s state broadcaster was broadcast live on its TV network, IRINN. Following the sound of several explosions, newsreader Sahar Emami said: “What you noticed is the sound of a clear aggression by the Zionist regime on IRIB.”
Bombs hit as she was live
Another, much louder explosion then shook the studio, forcing Emami to leave. The broadcast was cut off and replaced with news bulletins, before resuming minutes later.
Later, the head of IRIB, Peyman Jebelli, appeared on TV showing a blood-stained paper. He said the channel and its employees were “standing until the end”.
The semi-official Fars news agency reported that Masoumeh Azimi, an employee of the IRIB Secretariat, was killed in the attack.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Esmail Baqai, condemned the strike, saying it was a “wicked act” and a “war crime”.
The Israeli military’s spokesman, Brig Gen Effie Defrin, said it targeted “a communications centre of the Iranian regime, which served Iran’s armed forces”.
US-Israel relations
“According to our intelligence, the centre was used by military forces to advance operational activity under the cover of civilian assets and infrastructure,” he alleged.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz called IRIB the “propaganda and incitement broadcasting authority of the Iranian regime”.
The Iranian Red Crescent also said three of its first responders were killed when an ambulance was hit by an Israeli strike in Tehran’s Shahid Bagheri district on Monday.
“This incident is not only a crime against international humanitarian law but also a blatant attack on humanity and morality,” a statement added.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, but Deffrin said aircraft had struck trucks carrying weapons, surface-to-air missile launchers, other military infrastructure, and also eliminated “operatives” attempting to flee Tehran.
Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told Israeli Air Force personnel at Tel Nof airbase that taking control of the skies over Tehran “changes the entire campaign”.
Netanyahu
“We are on the way to achieving our two objectives: eliminating the nuclear threat and eliminating the missile threat,” he said.
“When we control the skies over Tehran, we strike regime targets, as opposed to the criminal Iranian regime which targets our civilians and comes to kill women and children. We tell the people of Tehran to evacuate – and we act.”
In a separate interview with ABC News, Netanyahu was asked about reports from US media that President Donald Trump had rejected an Israeli plan to assassinate Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, because it might escalate the conflict.
“It’s not going to escalate the conflict. It’s going to end the conflict,” he replied.
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President Trump blamed Iran for not engaging fully in talks with the US on a new deal that would place strict curbs on its nuclear programme.
“Iran is not winning this war, and they should talk… before it’s too late,” he told reporters at the G7 summit in Canada.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Netanyahu had attacked Iran to scuttle a deal between Iran and the US.
“If President Trump is genuine about diplomacy and interested in stopping this war, next steps are consequential,” he added.
“Israel must halt its aggression, and absent a total cessation of military aggression against us, our responses will continue.”
