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23 Jun 2025 9:19
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  •   Home > News > International

    Iran and Israel carry out more strikes as Trump says US involvement 'possible'

    Residents in the Iranian capital Tehran are reportedly leaving the city after a barrage of strikes on Sunday, as both sides trade heavy blows for a fourth straight day.


    Israel and Iran have launched multiple waves of missile strikes at each other for the fourth successive day of their escalating conflict.

    It came as US President Donald Trump urged the two countries to "make a deal" and said it was "possible" for the United States to become militarily involved in the matter.

    Talking to reporters as he left for the G7 summit in Canada, Mr Trump said the US will continue to support the defence of Israel but declined to say if he asked the ally to pause strikes on Iran.

    "I hope there's going to be a deal. I think it's time for a deal and we'll see what happens. Sometimes they have to fight it out, but we're gonna see what happens," he said.

    Mr Trump also reportedly vetoed a plan presented by Israel to the US to kill Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to US officials familiar with the matter.

    "Have the Iranians killed an American yet? No. Until they do we're not even talking about going after the political leadership," a senior US administration official told Reuters.

    Israel and Iran both launched daytime strikes on each other on Sunday, with air raid sirens and booms heard in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in the evening.

    Local police confirmed an Iranian missile struck a settlement in the coastal city of Haifa, injuring seven people.

    Israel also carried out widespread strikes across Iran, including on its nuclear facilities and on at least 80 sites across its capital Tehran.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US news channel Fox News that Israel had destroyed the main Iranian nuclear enrichment facility, Natanz.

    He also strongly suggested to Fox News that Israel had killed Iran's intelligence chief Mohammad Kazemi, saying it had recently "got the chief intelligence officer and his deputy in Tehran" as its jets carried out raids over the capital.

    Iranian state media later confirmed the death of Mr Kazemi and one of his deputies.

    Iran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi said Israel had "crossed a new red line in international law" by striking its nuclear facilities.

    "If the aggression stops, naturally our responses will also stop," he said.

    Death toll climbs in Iran

    Among the Israel Defense Forces' targets on Sunday was Mashhad Airport in Iran's east, which it claimed was being used by Iranian refuelling aircraft. Iranian state TV said there was no damage to the facility.

    Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh also accused Israel of "a war crime" after the IDF allegedly targeted one of his department's buildings in Tehran.

    Israel later announced further strikes against surface-to-surface missile installations in western Iran.

    Iran's health ministry said at least 224 people had been killed by Israeli attacks since Friday, including women and children, with 1,200 more reported injured.

    With no end in sight to the exchanges, officials said mosques, metro stations and schools would be opened up as makeshift bomb shelters for civilians.

    The Swiss embassy in Tehran, which has represented US interests in Iran since the 1970s, also announced its temporary closure.

    The head of Tehran's traffic police, Ahmad Karami, told the IRNA news agency "heavy traffic was reported at the capital's exit points".

    Local media also reported long queues at petrol stations.

    Iran to pay 'heavy price'

    The latest exchanges came as Mr Netanyahu visited the site of a deadly Iranian missile strike on a residential building in the coastal city of Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv.

    At least 10 people, including children, were killed in a missile strike in the city, raising the two-day toll in Israel to 13.

    "Iran will pay a very heavy price for the premeditated murder of civilians, women and children," Mr Netanyahu said.

    He later told Fox News the ongoing conflict could result in regime change in Iran, which he accused of wanting to destroy Israel.

    That appeared to contradict comments by IDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Shoshani, who earlier on Sunday said the goal of Israel's operation "was not regime change".

    Trump reportedly vetoed plan to kill Khamenei

    Mr Netanyahu also refused to comment on a Reuters report that Mr Trump had vetoed a plan to kill Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

    According to US officials familiar with the matter, Mr Trump vetoed the plan presented by Israel.

    The Israelis allegedly informed the Trump administration in recent days that they had developed a credible plan to kill the Iranian leader.

    After being briefed on the plan, the White House made clear to Israeli officials that Mr Trump was opposed to the Israelis making the move, according to the official who was not authorised to comment on the sensitive matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

    Mr Netanyahu did not directly address whether the White House rejected the plan.

    "There's so many false reports of conversations that never happened, and I'm not going to get into that," Mr Netanyahu told host Bret Baier.

    "But I can tell you, I think that we do what we need to do, we'll do what we need to do. And I think the United States knows what is good for the United States."

    Trump calls for deal

    The escalating tensions came as US President Donald Trump warned Iran not to strike American facilities in the Middle East.

    Speaking to ABC America, Mr Trump said it was "possible" for the United States to become militarily involved in the conflict.

    He added that he was open to the idea of Russian President Vladimir Putin acting as a mediator between the two sides, after the two leaders held a phone conversation on Saturday.

    "[Mr Putin] is ready. He called me about it. We had a long talk about it, " Mr Trump said.

    In a further post on his social media platform Truth Social, Mr Trump also urged Iran and Israel to "make a deal" to end the conflict.

    "We will have PEACE, soon, between Israel and Iran! Many calls and meetings now taking place," he wrote.

    Other world leaders, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, urged both sides to avoid further escalation.

    ABC/wires

    © 2025 ABC Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved

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