Tel Aviv, June 20: Israel and Iran exchanged strikes a week into their war Friday as new diplomatic efforts appeared to be underway.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi appeared headed to Geneva for meetings with the European Union’s top diplomat and counterparts from the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
A plane with his usual call sign took off from the Turkish city of Van, near the Iranian border, flight-tracking data from FlightRadar24 showed. Iran typically acknowledges his departure hours afterward.
The Israeli military said Thursday that Iran used a missile with multiple warheads, posing a new challenge to its defences. Instead of having to track one warhead, missiles with multiple warheads can pose a more difficult challenge for air defence systems, like Israel’s Iron Dome.
A week of Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 657 people and wounded 2,037 others, the Washington-based group Human Rights Activists said Friday.
Israeli airstrikes reach into the city of Rasht
Israeli airstrikes reached into the Iranian city of Rasht on the Caspian Sea early Friday, Iranian media reported. Social media video posted online appeared to show explosions around the city. The semiofficial Fars news agency reported local air defence systems were firing into the night sky against the Israelis.
Ahead of the strikes, the Israeli military put out a warning urging the public to flee the area around Rasht’s Industrial City, which sits a few kilometres southwest of the city’s downtown.
The Israelis did not immediately describe what they sought to destroy in the area. However, with Iran’s internet being shut off to the outside world, it was unclear how many people in Iran would be able to see the message.
French foreign minister speaks to US secretary of state
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot spoke by phone with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday evening.
A French diplomatic official said Barrot detailed the purposes of the Geneva meeting and Rubio “stressed the US was ready for direct contact with the Iranians at any time”.
The official, who was not allowed to speak publicly on the issue, said they “jointly stressed the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program to Israel, the region and Europe”.
Tehran fires anti-aircraft weapons
Anti-aircraft batteries began firing Friday morning in Iran’s capital, Tehran. It wasn’t immediately clear what they were firing at.
Khamenei adviser in stable condition
A key security adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is now in stable condition, a week after being seriously wounded in an Israeli airstrike, a media outlet close to him reported Friday.
Nour News quoted Rear Adm. Ali Shamkhani as saying: “I am alive and ready to give my life away.”
Nuclear agency says Israel damages heavy water reactor
The International Atomic Energy Agency, in an update Friday, said an Israeli strike at the Arak heavy water reactor also damaged key buildings there, “including the distillation unit” there. That makes the heavy water at the site.
Aircraft transporting Iranian foreign minister to talks
An Iranian aircraft bearing a call sign associated with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is now airborne over Turkiye.
The Airbus A321 of Meraj Airlines took off from the Turkish city of Van, near the Iranian border, flight-tracking data from FlightRadar24 showed. It bore the call sign IRAN05, which Araghchi uses on his official travel.
Iran did not immediately acknowledge his departure, though it typically only does so hours later.
Araghchi is due for talks with European diplomats in Geneva on Friday, the first face-to-face negotiations he has conducted since the Israeli airstrikes began June 13.
German foreign minister says Iran can avoid escalation
Germany’s foreign minister says there is a chance of avoiding further escalation in the conflict if Tehran shows “serious and transparent readiness” to refrain from developing nuclear weapons.
“It is our commitment once again to undertake a very intensive attempt to dissuade Iran permanently from pursuing such plans,” Johann Wadephul said in a podcast released by broadcaster MDR Friday.
“If there is serious and transparent readiness by Iran to refrain from this, then there is a real chance of preventing a further escalation of this conflict, and for that every conversation makes sense.”
Wadephul plans to meet Iran’s foreign minister in Geneva Friday along with his French, British and EU counterparts.
Wadephul said US officials support the plan to hold talks, “so I think Iran should now know that it should conduct these talks with a new seriousness and reliability”.
Israel says missile systems and radar destroyed
The Israeli military said it has destroyed missile systems and radar installations around Isfahan. That corresponds to the sound of anti-aircraft fire heard in the area of Isfahan into Friday morning. Iran has not offered any acknowledgment so far of its military losses in the war.
Czech Republic closes its Iran embassy
The Czech Republic’s Foreign Ministry says it has closed its embassy in Tehran due to security reasons amid the military conflict between Iran and Israel. The measure is in place until further notice.
The Slovak Foreign Ministry announced the same step over the escalation of the conflict. It said the remaining diplomats and staffers of the embassy are leaving Iran on Friday
Russia dismisses US nuclear claims
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed claims the US might use nuclear weapons in Iran as “speculation” in comments to state news agency Tass on Friday morning.
“There is a lot of speculation now,” Tass quoted Peskov as saying. “Such a turn of events would be catastrophic, but there is so much speculation that it is impossible to really comment on it.”
Australia closes its embassy in Tehran
Australia closed its embassy in Tehran and evacuated staff and their families due to the “deteriorating security environment”, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday that also urged Australian citizens still in Iran to leave quickly.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she spoke with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and they agreed to work “closely” to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon and to pursue peace.
“There is an opportunity … over the next two weeks for de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy,” Wong said from Adelaide on Friday.
Britain’s foreign secretary says situation in Middle East remains perilous
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the “situation in the Middle East remains perilous”, after meeting Thursday at the White House with his US counterpart, Marco Rubio, and presidential envoy Steve Witkoff.
“We are determined that Iran must never have a nuclear weapon,” Lammy wrote in a post on X.
“We discussed how a deal could avoid a deepening conflict. A window now exists within the next two weeks to achieve a diplomatic solution,” he added. (AP)
