Israel-Iran conflict as it happened: Trump privately approves attack plan as US readies for ‘potential strike’; Israelis hurt in Iranian hit on hospital; IDF kills second Hezbollah commander

Thank you for joining us today as we covered the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran. We will be back soon with more live coverage of the conflict, so please join us then.

Here’s a quick overview of the latest developments from the Middle East:

• Iran launched several missiles on Thursday morning hitting civilian areas in Israel, including a hospital in the south. Other parts of Israel ,including Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan, were also targeted.
• Iran’s state media said Iranian missiles were targeting the IDF’s command and intelligence headquarters adjacent to the Soroka Hospital that was struck.
• Senior US officials are preparing for a possible strike on Iran in the coming days, according to people familiar with the matter, a sign that Washington is assembling the infrastructure to enter a conflict with Tehran.
• Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned Iran’s missile attacks and instructed the IDF to increase its intensity of strikes against Iran.

Rescue workers and military personnel inspect the site of a direct hit from an Iranian missile strike in Israel on Thursday.Credit: AP

• The IDF claimed it had killed two Hezbollah commanders during strikes in southern Lebanon overnight. Hezbollah has not confirmed either of the two deaths.
• Israel said it had attacked an Iranian nuclear reactor in Arak and dozens of other military and government targets throughout the country overnight. The IAEA reported there was no radiation threat, and the site was not operational.
• Iran’s deputy foreign minister warned against any direct US involvement in the conflict between Israel and Iran, saying Iran had “all the necessary options on the table.”

• Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi will meet his British, French and German counterparts as well as the European Union’s top diplomat on Friday in Geneva, Iranian state media reported.

You can catch up with everything we know about the Israel and Iran conflict on our regularly updated “what we know so far” page.

We’ll be back on Friday morning with more coverage of the rapidly developing crisis in the Middle East.

Iran’s foreign minister will meet with European counterparts in Geneva on Friday as Israel vows to intensify its attack on the country.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi confirmed he would meet his British, French and German counterparts as well as the European Union’s top diplomat on Friday in Geneva, Iranian state media reported.

He said the meeting had come at the request of the three European states.

Tehran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.Credit: AP

Reuters

The IAEA has reported there is no radiation being emitted from Iran’s Khondab heavy water research reactor which Israel claims to have struck overnight.

“IAEA has information the Khondab (former Arak) heavy water research reactor, under construction, was hit. It was not operational and contained no nuclear material, so no radiological effects,” the IAEA said in a post on X.

A worker rolls a wheelbarrow in front of the damaged headquarters of Iran’s state television in Tehran on Thursday.Credit: AP

“At present, IAEA has no information indicating the Khondab heavy water plant was hit.”

Reuters

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei criticised UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi on Thursday and accused the International Atomic Energy Agency of being a partner to an “unjust war of aggression” initiated by Israel.

In a post on X, Baghaei responded to an interview with CNN in which Grossi said there was no evidence of a systematic Iranian effort to develop nuclear weapons.

“This is too late, Mr. Grossi,” Baghaei wrote, adding that an IAEA resolution declaring Iran in breach of its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty had been used as a pretext for Israel to strike Iran.

“Misleading narratives have dire consequences, Mr. Grossi, and demand accountability. You betrayed the non-proliferation regime; You’ve made IAEA a partner to this unjust war of aggression,” he wrote.

Reuters

Caution reigned on the Australian sharemarket on Thursday as investors saw America weighing the potential for direct conflict with Iran, and the Federal Reserve warned of meaningful inflation ahead for the world’s largest economy.

The S&P/ASX 200 edged down 7.5 points, or less than 0.1 per cent, at 8523.70, with seven of the 11 industry sectors declining. It’s the market’s third decline in a row, though the daily drops have been limited to 0.1 per cent or less.

Fed chair Jerome Powell said conditions remain uncertain.Credit: Bloomberg

The Australian dollar was trading 0.6 per cent lower at US64.69¢ shortly after 5pm AEST.

IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said the ASX traded “within a holding pattern for the fourth session this week as traders await to see whether the next stage of the Israel-Iran conflict will bring US military intervention or peace talks”.

“Even a surprise fall in employment in today’s labour force report failed to provide a spark,” he noted.

Australia’s economy surprisingly shed 2500 jobs in May, though unemployment held steady as fewer people sought work, bolstering the case for the Reserve Bank to reduce interest rates further. Economists had expected a 21,200 rise. The jobless rate held at 4.1 per cent, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed.

Read the full market wrap from today here.

The Middle East is once again in danger of exploding, with massive global geopolitical and economic implications. The leader who bears most responsibility for this is undoubtedly Benjamin Netanyahu.

For years, the Israeli prime minister has doggedly pursued the demise of the Iranian Islamic regime in line with his power interests and his vision of Israel’s security requirements. His stated goal has long been to bring down the “Islamic empire in Iran”, “expand the Abraham Accords with Arabs” and once and for all end the Palestinians’ aspirations for an independent state. As part of this Middle East master plan, he has also zeroed in on Iran’s nuclear program.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

But let’s not forget: No concrete evidence exists that Iran has been manufacturing nuclear weapons. In a congressional hearing earlier this year, the United States’ Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard confirmed this fact. And earlier this week, Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said that “on the basis of our evaluation, we came to the conclusion that we could not affirm that there is any systematic effort in Iran to manufacture a nuclear weapon”.

Despite this, Netanyahu continues to insist that Iran is on course to produce nuclear weapons within weeks, and the US is teetering on entering the war in Israel’s support.

Meanwhile, he omits the fact that Israel itself has its own nuclear program.

Read more on this opinion piece from professor Amin Saikal here.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi is expected to attend a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation in Istanbul on Saturday, a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said on Thursday, as war raged between Israel and Iran.

The source said a special session of the 51st OIC Council of Foreign Ministers was expected to focus on Israel’s recent strikes against Iran, including Thursday’s attack on the Khondab nuclear site in Arak.

The Israeli military said it had targeted a partially built heavy-water reactor at the site, which experts say could produce weapons-grade plutonium.

Turkey has sharply criticised Israel, called its actions illegal and said Iran was legitimately defending itself.

Opening the two-day summit, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is expected to call on Muslim countries to unite in the face of “destabilising actions” across the region, the ministry source said. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will also address the conference.

Reuters

As the world waits for Trump’s decision on potential attacks on Iran, the US is tightening security rules for foreign students.

The US State Department has ordered a review of student visa applicants’ social media presence and told them to make their profiles public, stepping up measures to restrict foreign citizens’ entry to American campuses over national security concerns.

The department instructed consular officers screening online accounts to watch for any indications of hostility toward the US.

Foreign nationals applying for student and exchange visitor visas will be asked to set their profiles to public, and the department said failure to do so would raise red flags.

Alistair Kitchen, a 33-year-old Australian man from Castlemaine, in Victoria, was detained and deported at the US border over his writing on student Palestine protests.

“Every visa adjudication is a national security decision,” the department said in a statement on Wednesday night.

“The United States must be vigilant during the visa issuance process to ensure that those applying for admission into the United States do not intend to harm Americans and our national interests.”

Earlier this week, The Age and Sydney Morning Herald’s North America correspondent Michael Koziol reported that an Australian man who attended Columbia University was deported after being questioned about his involvement in pro-Palestine activity on campus.

Read the full story here.

Bloomberg

Trump met Pakistan’s army chief in Washington on Wednesday (US time) as the US considers supporting Israeli airstrikes on Iran.

Pakistan’s military leader Asim Munir is widely seen as the most powerful person in Pakistan, wielding the final word on critical matters from foreign policy to internal politics and the economy.

Anti-war demonstrators in Times Square, New York.Credit: Getty Images

The meeting came as the capital was fixated on speculation that the US may join Israel’s attacks aimed at disabling Iran’s nuclear program. Trump said several times he hadn’t made a decision on the issue, but signalled he had discussed it with Munir.

“They know Iran very well, better than most, and they’re not happy about anything,” Trump said after meeting Munir at the White House.

“They see what’s going on. And he agreed with me,” Trump said, without explaining what he meant.

Before the planned discussions, Pakistan had signalled it may seek a role as a mediator in the Middle East conflict.

Bloomberg

Thank you for following our live coverage of the conflict between Israel and Iran.

There’s been some major developments from today as the two nations continue to exchange blows. Here’s a quick overview of the latest developments.

• Several Iranian missiles launched on Thursday morning hit civilian areas in Israel, including a hospital in the south. Other parts of Israel including Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan were also targeted.
• Iran’s state media – the Islamic Republic News Agency – said Iranian missiles were targeting the IDF’s command and intelligence headquarters.
• Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned Iran’s missile attacks in Israel and instructed the IDF to increase its intensity of attacks against Iran.
• Senior US officials are preparing for the possibility of a strike on Iran in the coming days, according to people familiar with the matter, a sign that Washington is assembling the infrastructure to enter a conflict with Tehran.
• Israel confirmed it attacked an Iranian nuclear reactor in Arak and dozens of other military and government targets throughout the country overnight.
• Iran’s deputy foreign minister warned against any direct US involvement in the conflict between Israel and Iran, saying Iran had “all the necessary options on the table.”
• At least 639 people have been killed and 1329 wounded in Israeli strikes on Iran, according to Human Rights Activists. Of the dead, 263 were civilians.

Israeli security forces inspect a destroyed building hit by a missile fired from Iran, in Holon, near Tel Aviv.Credit: AP

• The US State Department has begun evacuating non-essential diplomats and their families from the US embassy in Israel as hostilities between Israel and Iran intensify.
• Small anti-war protests emerged in New York and Washington. Meanwhile, US Republicans remained divided as Trump pushes for Iran’s “unconditional surrender.“
• Overnight, Israel launched 60 jets targeting 20 sites in Tehran. Iran responded with 30 missiles.
• Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed no surrender and warned US intervention would cause “irreparable harm” in his second televised address since the conflict began.
• Foreign Minister Penny Wong said 1500 Australians in Iran and 1200 in Israel had registered for consular help.
• At least 140 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes and gunfire in Gaza in the past day, amid fears their suffering is being overlooked.

You can catch up with everything we know about the conflict on our regularly updated “what we know so far” page.