Israel-Iran latest: Ayatollah speaks on Israel strikes as one dead and dozens injured in bus stop ‘attack’

An Israeli airstrike has hit a building that was part of Iran’s defunct nuclear weapons development program, researchers have said.

The assessments based on commercial satellite imagery were reached separately by David Albright, a former UN weapons inspector, and Decker Eveleth, an associate research analyst at a Washington think tank.

They told Reuters that Israel struck buildings in Parchin, a massive military complex near Tehran. Israel also hit Khojir, according to Eveleth, a sprawling missile production site near Tehran.

Eveleth said the Israeli strikes may have “significantly hampered Iran’s ability to mass produce missiles.”

Iran’s supreme leader has said Israel’s attack “should not be exaggerated nor downplayed”, while stopping short of calling for retaliation.

The remarks from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday are the latest suggesting Iran is carefully weighing its response to the attack.

“It is up to the authorities to determine how to convey the power and will of the Iranian people to the Israeli regime and to take actions that serve the interests of this nation and country,” said Khamenei, who has the final say over all major decisions in Iran.

Four Israeli soldiers were killed in south Lebanon, where Israel has been battling Iran-backed Hezbollah, the Israeli military said today.

Multiple people were injured on Sunday when a truck struck a bus stop at a major intersection in central Israel, Israeli police said.

“Currently, the circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation,” the police said in a statement.

Israeli media said at least 20 people were injured.

Iranian officials should determine how best to demonstrate Iran’s power to Israel after the Israeli attack on Iran two nights ago, Iran’s official IRNA news agency cited the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying on Sunday.

“The evil committed by the Zionist regime (Israel) two nights ago should neither be downplayed nor exaggerated”, IRNA cited Mr Khamenei as saying.

Iran on Saturday played down Israel’s overnight air attack against Iranian military targets, saying it caused only limited damage, as US president Joe Biden called for a halt to escalation that has raised fears of an all-out conflagration in the Middle East.

Israel has launched air strikes on military targets inside Iran in retaliation for an Iranian missile attack earlier this month.

Iran’s foreign ministry has said that the country has a right to defend itself “against external aggressive acts”.

Here’s what else we know so far:

At least 40 Palestinians were killed and 80 others injured in Israeli air strikes on several houses in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya on Saturday, official Palestinian news agency Wafa said today, citing medical sources.

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to address Israel’s recent attacks against Iran, in a letter to UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres.

In a statement to state television, Mr Araghchi expressed doubts about the outcome, given the US’s position, stating, “With the US and certain other countries present, there is little hope for resolutions that could reduce tensions or curb the Zionist regime’s actions, yet we are still pursuing this.” He emphasised that such a session would allow Iran and regional allies opposed to the attacks to assert their stance.

Mr Araghchi criticised the US’s role in the conflict, describing America as “a partner in the crimes of the Zionist regime” and accused Washington of facilitating the attacks. “The Americans’ involvement is evident to us,” he said, alleging that the US “at the very least, provided Israel’s air force with an air corridor” for the recent strikes.

Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed at least six people and injured one on Saturday evening, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. The fatalities occurred in the town of Jdeideh Marjayoun.

The agency reported that Israeli forces targeted several neighbourhoods in Beirut overnight, with airstrikes hitting Burj al-Barajneh, Haret Hreik and al-Hadath in the district of Dahiyeh. These areas, primarily residential and located in the southern suburbs, were reportedly heavily affected by the attacks.

Details regarding the condition of the injured individual remain unclear as local authorities respond to the aftermath of the strikes.

Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, declared that Israel’s latest attacks against his country were ineffectual, contrasting them with Iran’s missile strikes earlier this month, and promised that Tehran would respond.

In an address aired at the start of a closed meeting, Mr Ghalibaf accused Israel of committing “genocide and the mass murder of defenceless children and women in Gaza and Lebanon” and argued that Israel “has no credibility on the international stage”, Al Jazeera reported.

Mr Ghalibaf, a former commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, asserted that under Article 51 of the UN Charter, Iran considered itself entitled to self-defence and would deliver a “certain” response in line with international law.

He also accused the US of being “the main partner in all the war crimes” committed by Israel, urging Washington to “rein in” Israel and push for a lasting ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon to prevent further civilian deaths.