Israel-Iran conflict as it happened: Israel says ‘new wave’ of attacks has begun; Donald Trump scorns EU peace efforts, as death toll nears 700

Good afternoon. Thank you for reading our ongoing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East and the Israel-Iran war. The live blog is now closed.

Here’s a quick overview of the latest events:

• Israel and Iran launched more attacks in the past few hours, with a barrage of Iranian missiles exploding over central Israel and the Israeli Air Force bombing sites in central Iran.
• A missile strike on the Israeli city of Haifa wounded 30 people overnight.
• Israeli strikes killed at least 44 Palestinians in Gaza overnight, including many who were seeking food aid, local officials said.
• US President Donald Trump has scorned European peace efforts, after foreign ministers from the UK, France and Germany held inconclusive talks with their Iranian counterpart.
• Iran says it would not discuss the future of its nuclear program while it was under attack by Israel.
• Israel’s UN envoy told the UN Security Council his country would not stop its attacks “until Iran’s nuclear threat is dismantled”, while the country’s top general warned of a “prolonged campaign”.
• The Israeli foreign minister claimed the bombing campaign had already set back Iranian efforts to build nuclear weapons by two to three years.
• Israel has said it may open some outgoing flights for foreigners from Monday, and Australians in the region are advised to check smartraveller.gov.au and register with DFAT.
• Australia has shut its embassy in Tehran, and sent defence personnel and assets to the region to help evacuate Australians.
• Earlier, Trump said he would decide whether the US would join military action against Iran within two weeks.

The Israeli Defence Forces said it had killed a commander of Iran’s drone forces in its latest wave of airstrikes on the Islamic republic, the Times of Israel has reported.

Israel began a fresh round of strikes today, targeting “missile storage and launch infrastructure” in central Iran.

A firefighter at the scene of an explosion in an apartment block in northern Tehran.Credit: AP

The IDF says fighter jets killed the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps air force’s drone unit, accusing him of overseeing the launch of hundreds of drones at Israel.

Iranian media reported explosions being heard today near the cities of Isfahan and Qom.

Iran has been using mass drone attacks to probe the Israeli air defence shield, with the majority being shot down before they hit targets in Israel.

The US Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, has taken to social media to assert that Iran is “weeks to months” away from producing a nuclear weapon, after US President Donald Trump branded her “wrong” for stating in March that there was no evidence Iran was building a weapon.

She said the media has taken her March testimony “out of context” and was trying to “manufacture division”.

Trump contested intelligence assessments relayed earlier this year by his spy chief that Tehran was not building a nuclear weapon when he spoke with reporters at an airport in Morristown, New Jersey, this morning.

“She’s wrong,” Trump said.

Gabbard this morning posted on the social media platform X that she agreed with Trump.

“America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalise the assembly. President Trump has been clear that can’t happen, and I agree,” she wrote.

“The dishonest media is intentionally taking my testimony out of context and spreading fake news as a way to manufacture division.”

Australians wishing to leave Israel may be able to do so on commercial flights from Monday after the Israeli government said it was reopening airspace for some outgoing tourists.

“We are aware of reports airspace in Israel may reopen soon,” the government’s latest travel advice says.

“We’re contacting registered Australians who want to leave Israel about our plans for assisted departures.

“If you have an existing ticket for cancelled flights, we encouraged you to keep speaking with airlines. This may be the fastest way for you to depart.”

The federal government is urging Australians in Iran, Israel and Palestine to register with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade here.

Israeli Transportation Minister Miri Regev said on Friday that some outgoing flights would be allowed from Monday.

The federal government is advising people not to travel to the region and leave if they can. The latest warning on the smartraveller.gov.au website is here.

Air raid sirens have sounded in Ghajar, a town on the border of Lebanon and Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The Israeli Defence Force says it has intercepted “a suspicious aerial target” in the area.

Earlier reports indicated that a drone operating in the area may have triggered the siren alert.

Good afternoon. If you are just joining our ongoing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East and the Israel-Iran war, here’s a quick overview of the latest events:

• Israel and Iran launched more attacks in the past few hours, with a barrage of Iranian missiles exploding over central Israel and the Israeli Air Force bombing sites in central Iran.
• A missile strike on the Israeli city of Haifa wounded 30 people overnight.
• Israeli strikes killed at least 44 Palestinians in Gaza overnight, including many who were seeking food aid, local officials said.
• US President Donald Trump has scorned European peace efforts, after foreign ministers from the UK, France and Germany held inconclusive talks with their Iranian counterpart.
• Iran says it would not discuss the future of its nuclear program while it was under attack by Israel.
• Israel’s UN envoy told the UN Security Council his country would not stop its attacks “until Iran’s nuclear threat is dismantled”, while the country’s top general warned of a “prolonged campaign”.
• Israel’s foreign minister claimed the bombing campaign had already set back Iranian efforts to build nuclear weapons efforts by two to three years.
• Australia has shut its embassy in Tehran, and sent defence personnel and assets to the region to help evacuate Australians.
• Earlier, Trump said he would decide whether the US would join military action against Iran within two weeks.

Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities have delayed Tehran’s potential to build a nuclear weapon by “at least two or three years”, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has told the German newspaper Bild.

Sa’ar said the eight days of air strikes had already had “very significant results”.

“We already delayed for at least two or three years the possibility for them to have a nuclear bomb,” he said in an interview.

“The fact that we took out those people who led and pushed the weaponisation of the nuclear program is extremely important.

“We will not stop until we do everything that we can do there in order to remove this threat.”

Israeli air attacks have killed 639 people in Iran, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, a US-based human rights organisation that tracks Iran.

The group also said 2037 people had been wounded by Israeli airstrikes.

The death toll includes many of the military’s top echelon and nuclear scientists.

In Israel, at least 24 civilians have been killed in Iranian missile attacks, according to authorities, with more than 600 people wounded.

No injuries were reported in Israel after the latest series of Iranian missile strikes this morning.

The Israeli military says a new wave of attacks against “missile storage and launch infrastructure in Iran” has begun, Reuters reports.

Iranian media reported explosions in the city of Isfahan, in central Iran, earlier today.

Two people have reportedly been killed in an explosion at an apartment building in the city of Qom.

Israeli strikes on Iran and Tehran’s reprisals have brought the two Middle East adversaries closer to an all-out war, which also threatens to draw in the United States, at least to some degree.

So how do the militaries of Iran and Israel stack up against each other?

Iranian Revolutionary Guard cadets march during an annual military parade near Tehran in September.Credit: AP

Iran boasts a large standing force but also relies on proxies and undercover operations that have been severely disabled in recent months by US and Israeli actions.

Israel, meanwhile, relies on both subterfuge and robust regular ground and air forces that are apparently unmatched in the region. Though roughly equal in the number of troops, the two militaries bring strikingly different tactics and firepower.

Read more here.