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

An American researcher said an Israeli airstrike on Saturday hit a building that was part of Iran’s defunct nuclear weapons development programme, and he and another researcher said facilities used to mix solid fuel for missiles also were struck.

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 CNA, 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 Mr Eveleth, a sprawling missile production site near Tehran.

Reuters reported in July that Khojir was undergoing massive expansion.

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

The Israeli military said three waves of Israeli jets struck missile factories and other sites near Tehran and in western Iran early on Saturday in retaliation for Tehran’s 1 October barrage of more than 200 missiles against Israel.

Iran’s military said the Israeli warplanes used “very light warheads” to strike border radar systems in the provinces of Ilam, Khuzestan and around Tehran.

In posts on X, Mr Albright said commercial satellite imagery showed that Israel hit a building in Parchin called Taleghan 2 that was used for testing activities during the Amad Plan, Iran’s defunct nuclear weapons development program.

The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and US intelligence say Iran shuttered the program in 2003. Iran denies pursuing nuclear weapons.

Mr Albright, head of the Institute for Science and International Security research group, was given access to the program’s files for a book after they were stolen from Tehran by Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency in 2018.

On X, he said the archives revealed that Iran kept important test equipment in Taleghan 2.

Iran may have removed key materials before the airstrike, he said, but “even if no equipment remained inside” the building would have provided “intrinsic value” for future nuclear weapons-related activities.

Mr Albright told Reuters that commercial satellite imagery of Parchin showed Israel damaged three buildings about 320 m) from Taleghan 2, including two in which solid fuel for ballistic missiles was mixed.

He did not identify the commercial firm from which he obtained the images.

Scotland’s First Minister has called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, saying it is “at the heart” of reaching wider peace in the Middle East.

John Swinney was speaking on the first anniversary of the day Israeli forces began their ground invasion of Gaza, which came after Hamas launched its attack on Israel on 7 October last year.

Mr Swinney said that international recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine, as part of a two-state solution, is also a “fundamental pillar” upon which lasting peace could be built.

He also called for the unconditional release of all hostages.

Report:

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) described the situation in northern Gaza as “extremely dire” and said people wishing to evacuate must be assured safe passage.

“Ongoing evacuation orders, and continued restriction on introduction of essential supplies, leaves the remaining civilian population in north Gaza in horrific circumstances,” the ICRC said in a statement on yesterday.

“Hospitals are being told to evacuate, leaving a potential vacuum of medical services for the many civilians who remain...,” it added.

At least 30 people were killed in Israeli strikes on several houses in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya, reported Palestinian official news agency WAFA. There was no official confirmation from the health ministry on the death toll.

The Israeli military said it had carried out “a precise strike using precise munitions on Hamas terrorists within a structure in the area of Beit Lahiya in the Gaza Strip. A number of terrorists have been hit in the strike.”

It added that the high number of casualties mentioned in the media report did not align with the type of munitions used in the precision attack.

Israeli military strikes on the towns of Jabalia, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza have so far killed around 800 people during a three-week offensive, the Gaza ministry added.

Israel says its forces returned to northern Gaza to root out Hamas fighters who regrouped there. The Israeli military said on Friday that three of its soldiers were killed in combat in the north of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli forces withdrew from a hospital complex in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza on Saturday, a day after storming it. The Palestinian enclave’s health ministry said the troops had detained dozens of male medical staffers and some of the patients.

The Israeli soldiers had stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of three medical facilities struggling to operate in the area, on Friday and footage circulated by the health ministry showed damage to several buildings after the Israeli forces withdrew.

Medics said at least 44 of the facility’s 70 staffers had been detained by the Israelis. It later said 14 of them had been released, including the hospital’s director.

An Israeli military spokesperson declined comment on the hospital report.

Medics said at least two children had died inside the intensive care unit after Israeli fire hit the generators and oxygen station in the facility on Friday.

Medical staffers have refused Israeli army orders to evacuate the hospital or leave their patients unattended. Before the army raid, medics said at least 600 people had been in the hospital, including patients and their escorts.

“The safety and lives of patients who are left inside Kamal Adwan Hospital without medical staff and much-needed medication are at risk now,” said Marwan Al-Hams of the health ministry.

US president Joe Biden told reporters Israel had informed him before the strikes and said it looked like “they didn’t hit anything but military targets”.

His administration won assurances from Israel in mid-October that it would not hit nuclear facilities and oil installations. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran’s nuclear facilities were not impacted.

“I hope this is the end,” Mr Biden said.

On the campaign trail this weekend, vice president Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump briefly addressed Israel’s airstrikes on Iran military sites.

“Israel is attacking - we’ve got a war going on and she’s out partying,” Trump said at a rally in Michigan on Friday as Harris was holding an event with Beyonce in Texas.

Meanwhile, Ms Harris yesterday called for “de-escalation and not an escalation of activities in that region”.

“I feel very strongly, we as the United States feel very strongly that Iran must stop what it is doing in terms of the threat that it presents to the region and we will always defend Israel against any attacks by Iran in that way,” she told reporters in Michigan.

Iran’s president has warned against further attacks on his country after Israel launched pre-dawn airstrikes yesterday.

In a statement posted to X, president Masoud Pezeshkian offered his condolences to the families of the four soldiers killed in the attacks and said Iran would continue to defend itself.

“Enemies of Iran should know these brave people are standing fearlessly in defence of their land and will respond to any stupidity with tact and intelligence,” he said.

The Israeli military said its aircraft targeted facilities Iran used to make the missiles fired at Israel as well as other missile sites.

There was no indication oil or nuclear sites were struck, and Iran insisted the strikes caused only “limited damage”.

Iran’s foreign ministry issued a statement saying it “considers itself entitled and obligated to defend against foreign acts of aggression”.

Foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran has “no limits” in defending its interests and called for the UN Security Council to condemn Israel for the attacks.

But late on Saturday, Iran’s military issued a carefully worded statement suggesting any ceasefire in Israel’s ground offensives in Gaza and Lebanon would trump any possible retaliatory strike.