Summary

Media caption,

'I may do it, I may not': Trump considers US joining Israel strikes on Iran

  1. In pictures: On the ground in Israel and Iranpublished at 14:03 British Summer Time 17 June

    Dozens of people carry four wooden caskets down a narrow streetImage source, Getty Images
    Image caption,

    A funeral was held today after Iranian strikes killed four people in the northern Arab-Israeli city of Tamra on the weekend

    A large framed photo of Mohammed Bagheri on a busy street with a motorcyclist cycling pastImage source, Getty Images
    Image caption,

    After the Israeli military killed several senior Iranian military commanders, photos of them have been displayed on main streets across Tehran. Mohammed Bagheri, above, was the highest-ranking military officer in Iran

    Smoke is rising behind tall buildingsImage source, EPA
    Image caption,

    Smoke rises after an explosion is heard in central Tehran, Iran's capital

    People with suitcases stand and waitImage source, Reuters
    Image caption,

    People with foreign nationalities gather to leave Israel on buses

  2. More than 450 killed in Iran since Friday - human rights organisationpublished at 13:48 British Summer Time 17 June

    We can bring you a little more information now about the number of people killed in Israeli strikes on Iran. The not-for-profit organisation Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRANA) has been tracking casualties since the bombardment began.

    According to HRANA, 224 civilians have been killed, with 188 injured.

    A further 109 military members have been killed, with 123 injured, it says.

    There have also been 119 people killed, and 335 injured, that have not yet been identified.

    That brings HRANA's total count to 452 people killed and 646 injured.

    Iranian state media has been quiet on the number of deaths so far, releasing few hard numbers from the government.

    Restrictions in the country mean it is difficult for journalists to routinely operate there, meaning it is difficult to verify the true toll of the conflict so far.

  3. UN nuclear watchdog sees signs of 'direct impacts' at Iran's Natanz sitepublished at 13:33 British Summer Time 17 June

    The UN's nuclear watchdog says it's seen signs of "direct impacts" on the underground part of Iran's uranium enrichment plant at Natanz.

    The International Atomic Energy Agency says it has analysed satellite imagery collected after Israel's attacks on Friday.

    The IAEA says it saw "no change" to sites at the Isfahan nuclear site or the underground Fordow enrichment plant.

    Yesterday, Israel said it attacked the sites and killed nine Iranian nuclear scientists to stop Tehran developing nuclear weapons.

    Iran's main nuclear facilities
  4. EU's top diplomat says solution to the crisis is diplomacypublished at 13:22 British Summer Time 17 June

    Bruno Boelpaep
    Reporting from Brussels

    Kaja Kallas, pictured last weekImage source, Reuters
    Image caption,

    Kaja Kallas, pictured last week

    The EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas says that should the US get involved in the Israel-Iran conflict, it would “definitely drag the region into a broader conflict and that is in nobody’s interest".

    EU foreign ministers held a conference call today to discuss the situation in the Middle East. Kallas said that all EU member states “agree that Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb, and that is the end goal”.

    There are different views on Iran’s nuclear programme amongst member states. “What can we do to deescalate the situation? The EU has a role to play, I spoke to the Iranian foreign minister yesterday and we agree that the solution to the crisis is diplomacy. The stability of the region is in everyone’s interest," she said.

    Asked about what today’s call had achieved, Kallas said: “The concrete result of the call is enhanced coordination for evacuation of our citizens, some member states have planes used to evacuate and we are making sure that we coordinate efforts between member states.” No details of evacuation plans were given.

  5. Explosion heard in central Tehranpublished at 13:13 British Summer Time 17 June

    Smoke rising from a city skyline in TehranImage source, EPA
    Image caption,

    Smoke rising in central Tehran shortly after explosions were heard

    An explosion has been heard in central Tehran, according to reports from the AFP news agency, citing state media, and Iranian state broadcaster the Young Journalists Club.

  6. Israeli health ministry says 154 taken to hospital after Iranian strikespublished at 12:59 British Summer Time 17 June

    We've just received an update from Israel's Ministry of Health, which says 154 injured people have been taken to Israeli hospitals since last night.

    Of those, four are said to be in "moderate condition", 130 are in "mild condition", 15 are undergoing evaluation and five are being treated for anxiety.

    In its most recent update, Iran's health ministry said at least 224 people have been killed and more than 1,200 injured in Israeli air strikes since Friday.

    Israel has said at least 24 people were killed by Iranian strikes over the same period.

  7. Strikes expose bomb shelter shortages inside Israelpublished at 12:47 British Summer Time 17 June

    Ione Wells
    Reporting from Tamra, northern Israel

    Israel has an extensive network of shelters for when incoming missiles are detected and sirens sound – but not all areas are equal.

    These strikes have exposed bomb shelter shortages, particularly in some Palestinian towns inside Israel.

    We were in Tamra, an Arab town near to Haifa in the north of Israel, when sirens sounded to signal strikes. The town has no public shelter.

    Residents rushed to a makeshift shelter, open to the outside with windows, its bricks not particularly impermeable or thick. It was metres away from a house that had turned to complete rubble after a strike hit on Saturday, killing four Arab-Israeli women from the same family.

    If places like this were to suffer a hit, the concrete would almost certainly collapse onto those inside.

    We heard loud booms nearby that shook the shelter walls. Families inside were terrified: praying, crying, and clutching each other tighter as each one sounded.

    This community’s fear has been exacerbated by both the casualties in their community, bringing the conflict closer to home, and the lack of nearby adequate shelters.

    A 2024 report by the Israel Democracy Institute found Israel was not meeting its responsibilities to provide adequate protective structures in Arab cities, saying 46% of residents in the Arab sector live in buildings without protective spaces compared with 26% of Israel’s total population.

  8. Analysis

    What Trump does next will be closely watched by his faithful basepublished at 12:30 British Summer Time 17 June

    Nomia Iqbal
    North America correspondent

    Donald Trump speaks to reporters while travelling on board Air Force OneImage source, Reuters

    This is the moment of truth for President Trump. This is a man who campaigned on the promise of no wars, who said the Ukraine invasion would never have happened on his watch, or the Gaza war.

    So there really should be only one option for him on what he does next: to not get dragged into Israel and Iran’s fight.

    America has the capability to fully destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities, and if they did this, it would likely mean sending US troops to the region.

    This is what Israel ultimately needs. If Trump does it, the risks are high and legacy defining. There will be no deal with Iran - so that would put an end to Trump’s self-described deal-maker image.

    And to his faithful base, it would be the ultimate abandonment of his “America First” principles.

  9. Where have Iran and Israel been hit?published at 12:20 British Summer Time 17 June

    The maps below show where Israel and Iran have been hit by air strikes over the past five days of the conflict.

    Iranian strikes have hit northern and central Israel, while more than 100 Israeli strikes have hit Tehran.

    A graphic with a map of Israel on one side and a map of Iran on the other - both marked up with the locations of strikes
    A map of Tehran, marked up with the locations of Israeli strikes
  10. Prague and Warsaw evacuate citizens from Israelpublished at 12:10 British Summer Time 17 June

    Rob Cameron, Prague correspondent and Adam Easton, Warsaw correspondent

    Czech Defence Minister Jana Cernochova has confirmed a Czech government plane landed in Prague on Tuesday morning carrying 66 people who had been evacuated from Israel.

    Most were Czech citizens, accompanied by some relatives of other nationalities.

    A further 14 Czech citizens were on a Slovak government evacuation flight from Jordan which landed in Bratislava on Monday evening, and a further eleven will also be evacuated on a Slovak government plane later today.

    Poland is also organising flights for its citizens, after Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said yesterday that more than 300 Polish citizens had requested evacuation from Israel.

    A charter plane has been organised to take off from Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt on Wednesday at dawn, Deputy Foreign Minister Henryka Moscicka-Dendys says, while a second military plane will take off from Amman in Jordan on Thursday.

    Poland is also planning to evacuate non-essential embassy staff in Tehran via Baku in Azerbaijan, Moscicka-Dendys says.

    People with foreign nationalities gather to leave Israel on buses via Egypt, following a missile attack from Iran, in Tel Aviv, Israel, June 17, 2025.Image source, Reuters
    Image caption,

    People with foreign nationalities gathering to leave Israel earlier

  11. Are you trying to leave Israel or Iran? Get in touchpublished at 12:04 British Summer Time 17 June

    Are you or someone you know trying to leave Israel or Iran? If it's safe to do so, please get in contact with us in the following ways:

    your voice your bbc news
  12. 'My whole life is in Tehran,' resident says after Trump’s evacuation warningpublished at 11:58 British Summer Time 17 June

    Ghoncheh Habibiazad
    BBC Persian

    Cars seen queueing on the roads out of TehranImage source, Getty Images
    Image caption,

    Long lines of cars have been seen on the main roads out of Tehran in recent days

    Sorrow, fear, anger - commonly shared feelings among the people in Tehran I spoke to today after Trump’s evacuation warning.

    I hear traffic is still jammed on routes leading out of the capital. Some people left early this morning after waking up and seeing the evacuation news. Some left yesterday. Some the day before.

    “The city seemed empty before I left today, but I know many people are still at home in Tehran with nowhere to go," one person tells me.

    Although I know some are offering their houses outside Tehran to others and giving lifts to those without cars, leaving isn’t an option for everyone.

    A friend who decided to stay with their family tells me: “Grandpa is 90 and has kidney failure, and grandma recently had knee surgery. They can’t travel long hours on the road." The whole family is staying in case the elderly need help.

    Access to medication, hospitals, and clinics is much more difficult once you leave Tehran for remote areas, so it’s not an option for everyone to evacuate.

    “Most of my neighbours are gone, but I’ve stayed. Where can I go? My whole life is here in Tehran,” a friend who chose to remain tells me.

    “If the Islamic Republic cared about people's lives even a bit, it would’ve made some effort to evacuate the city after all these warnings, not just left poor people trying to escape with thousand struggles,” said another.

    Iranian officials have not issued any evacuation order for the capital, calling the warnings “enemy psychological warfare".

    I noticed that some pro-establishment users online have echoed the same message, saying “Tehran is safe” - even as the city continues to be attacked by Israel daily.

  13. Analysis

    Is Israel's strategy to topple Iran's regime?published at 11:54 British Summer Time 17 June

    Anna Foster
    Radio 4 Today presenter, reporting from Jerusalem

    When Israeli strikes against Iran began on Friday, one of the first things Netanyahu talked about was the protection of Israel from what he described as the existential threat of Iran and trying to stop the country developing a nuclear weapon.

    Regime change is being talked about more and more.

    There were reports that Israel was in a position to assassinate the Supreme Leader of Iran and President Trump said no, don’t do that.

    But I think what is happening now is that regime change is still very much on the table.

    Iran is not without significant issues - it is a repressive regime, there are many people in that country who want the leadership to fall as well.

    And there have been suggestions that perhaps the strategy is to try and take away the obstacles to that happening, so the people can rise up and overthrow the regime themselves.

  14. Trump says he wants 'a real end' in Israel-Iran conflict - what to know this morningpublished at 11:38 British Summer Time 17 June

    Smoke rises following a missile attack from Iran, in Herzliya, Israel, 17 June 2025Image source, Reuters
    Image caption,

    Smoke is seen rising over Herzliya in Israel after Iranian strikes were carried out this morning

    Donald Trump says he is looking at "better than a ceasefire" between Iran and Israel, adding that he wants "a real end" to the conflict.

    The US president's comments come on the fifth day of hostilities between Iran and Israel. Here's what else has been happening:

    Stay with us as we bring you the latest in this fast-moving situation.

  15. Israeli military 'aware of reports' of casualties at Gaza aid sitepublished at 11:26 British Summer Time 17 June

    We've received a statement just now from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) about earlier reports that dozens of Palestinians were killed and injured at an aid distribution point in Gaza.

    The IDF says a "gathering was identified adjacent to an aid distribution truck that got stuck" in Khan Younis, and in proximity to IDF troops operating in the area.

    "The IDF is aware of reports regarding a number of injured individuals from IDF fire following the crowd’s approach. The details of the incident are under review," it says.

    It adds that it "regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimize harm as much as possible to them while maintaining the safety of our troops".

  16. State media say Iranian missiles struck Israel's Mossad agencypublished at 11:21 British Summer Time 17 June

    Iran's state-operated Tasnim news agency has posted a series of photos that it says show the headquarters of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency on fire.

    Tasnim, quoting the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, says Mossad was struck by Iranian missiles.

    "IRGC Aerospace Force fighters, in an impact-oriented operation, despite the presence of highly advanced defense systems, hit the military intelligence center," the agency writes on Telegram.

    Israel has not commented on the alleged strike on Mossad, and government restrictions mean that some targeted sites cannot be reported by media operating in Israel.

  17. Analysis

    What does Trump mean by 'better than a ceasefire'?published at 11:11 British Summer Time 17 June

    Anthony Zurcher
    North America correspondent

    Shortly after Air Force One lifted off from Canada, Donald Trump came back to speak with reporters in the press pool.

    He told us that he wasn’t flying back to Washington just to broker a ceasefire between Iran and Israel – he wanted much more than that. He wanted “better than a ceasefire”.

    When pressed about what that might mean, he was still somewhat opaque.

    “A real end,” he said – one that might include “a complete give-up” on the part of Iran. He was firm in his insistence that Iran had to totally abandon its nuclear programme.

    That would take further negotiations, however, and later in his conversation he said he was “not too much in the mood to negotiate now”.

    Iran should have taken the deal he offered before the Israeli strikes began - a point he again emphasised in a Truth Social post after Air Force One landed in Washington.

    Trump is now back at the White House where he said he will be meeting with his Security Council this morning.

    What happens next is still very much in doubt.

  18. Trump says he hasn't reached out to Iran for peace talkspublished at 10:48 British Summer Time 17 June

    On his Truth Social platform, Trump has just posted that he has not reached out to Iran about ceasefire talks "in any way, shape, or form".

    The US president adds that Iran should have signed a deal that he put forward during the most recent talks over Iran's nuclear programme.

    He writes: "This is just more HIGHLY FABRICATED, FAKE NEWS! If they want to talk, they know how to reach me. They should have taken the deal that was on the table - Would have saved a lot of lives!!!"

  19. Rescue workers search residential area in Tehran after strikespublished at 10:42 British Summer Time 17 June

    Emergency services in Tehran are searching through rubble in the aftermath of Israeli strikes on the capital.

    Posting on Telegram, the Iranian Red Crescent Society says: "The Israeli regime's attacks on residential homes continue," and that they are providing "assistance to the injured and affected".

    Israel initially launched an attack on Iranian nuclear infrastructure and other targets last Friday.

    BBC journalists are unable to report from inside Iran due to restrictions by the country's government, making it difficult to assess the damage caused by Israel's offensive.

    Around a dozen Red Crescent rescuers standing in the rubble doing various things. They are wearing red and white uniforms and hard hats. Some are wearing surgical face masks and other orange work glovesImage source, EPA
    Multiple Red Crescent staff working in the rubble. There are two crouched down.Image source, EPA
    Red Crescent member wearing red uniform, red hard hat and orange work gloves crouching and in rubble and investigating, while anothert is standing on the left and pointing. the wall behind him is scorchedImage source, EPA
  20. 'Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon' - Trumppublished at 10:27 British Summer Time 17 June

    More now from Trump, who when asked if he can do anything more for Israel, tells reporters "right now we’re doing pretty well. Remember, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon".

    On his call for people to evacuate from Tehran, the US president says: "I just want people to be safe."