In further remarks, Ayatollah Khamenei responded directly to President Trump’s call for Iran’s “unconditional surrender” warning that a US strike would have “serious irreparable consequences”.

Khamenei said: “Wise people who know Iran, its people, and its history never speak to this nation in the language of threats, because Iranians are not those who surrender.”

Israel claims to have struck more than 40 missile infrastructure components directed towards it, and, in a tweet, posted video of a strike on an Iranian missile launcher.

President Erdogan of Turkey has said that Iran has the “legitimate” right to defend itself in the face of Israel’s ongoing bombing campaign.

“It is a very natural, legitimate and legal right for Iran to defend itself against Israel’s thuggery and state terrorism,” he said, a day after referring to Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, as “the biggest threat to the security of the region”.

He also claimed Israel’s attacks began before nuclear talks had finished. “These attacks were organised while the Iranian nuclear negotiations were taking place,” Erdogan said. “Israel, which possesses nuclear weapons and does not recognise any international rules.. did not wait for the negotiations to end, but carried out a terrorist act without waiting for the result.”

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, has warned that Israel has made “a huge mistake and will be punished” in a televised message to the Iranian people.

IRIB, an Iranian state broadcaster, has urged the public to delete WhatsApp, claiming it was sharing users’ “last known locations and communications” with Israel.

WhatsApp dismissed the claims and said that all messages sent on the platform were “end-to-end encrypted” and the only people with access were the sender and recipient. “We’re concerned these false reports will be an excuse for our services to be blocked at a time when people need them the most,” a spokesman said, adding that the company, owned by Meta, did not track users’ precise location or messaging logs.

On Friday, Tehran placed temporary restrictions on the internet for the duration of the conflict.
It has since banned civil servants and their security teams from using any connected devices and appealed to the public to “minimise their use of equipment connected to the internet and to take appropriate precautions” online.

President Trump will have one mission on his mind if he decides to join the war against Iran — destroying Fordow, its most heavily fortified nuclear site. Only the Americans have the weapon capable of annihilating it.

The 13.6-tonne class GBU-57/B, otherwise known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb (Mop), has a thick steel outer casing that can penetrate fortifications up to 60m below ground — and Fordow is buried beneath a mountain.

• Read in full: How US military could destroy Fordow

Israeli gunfire and airstrikes have killed at least 30 people across the Gaza Strip today, according to local health authorities. Some Palestinians say their plight is being forgotten as attention shifts to the air war between Israel and Iran.

Medics said separate airstrikes on the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza and the Zeitoun area of the north had killed at least 14 people. Another five died in an airstrike on an encampment in Khan Yunis.

They also said that eleven others were killed when Israeli forces fired at crowds of displaced Palestinians awaiting aid UN aid lorries on the Salahuddin road in central Gaza. The Israel Defence Forces said they were investigating the reported deaths.

On Tuesday, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said that 397 Palestinians trying to get food had been killed and more than 3,000 had been wounded since aid deliveries restarted in late May.

Israeli strikes have hit two facilities in Iran that made parts for centrifuges, says the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog. It identified the facilities as the TESA Karaj workshop and the Tehran Research Centre.

“At the Tehran site, one building was hit where advanced centrifuge rotors were manufactured and tested. At Karaj, two buildings were destroyed where different centrifuge components were manufactured,” the IAEA said. “Both sites were previously under IAEA monitoring and verification as part of the JCPOA.”

The JCPOA was the international agreement signed in 2015 to limit Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. The US, under Trump in his first term as president, pulled out of the “horrible” deal, claiming “it didn’t bring peace, and it never will”.

A televised message from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, will be aired shortly, state media reports. Khamenei’s last appearance was on Friday shortly after Israel attacked Iran.

• Profile: Who is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s ruthless supreme leader?

Britain is temporarily withdrawing the families of staff at its embassy and consulate in Israel.

“Family members of staff at the British embassy in Tel Aviv and the British consulate in Jerusalem have been temporarily withdrawn as a precautionary measure,” the Foreign Office said on its travel advice page for Israel. “The embassy and consulate continues with essential work including services to British nationals.”

Thousands of people are fleeing Tehran and other major Iranian cities. Heavy traffic was reported on roads heading from the capital towards northern provinces.

Limits have been placed on fuel purchases. Mohsen Paknejad, the oil minister, told state TV that restrictions were to prevent shortages but there would be no problems with supply.

Ali Bahreini, Iran’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, went on to accuse Israel of a “war against humanity”.

He said: “The deliberate targeting of Iran’s nuclear facilities not only constitutes a grave violation of international law and UN charter but also risks exposition of all people in our neighbourhood to possible hazardous leak. This is not an act of war against our country, it is war against humanity”.

He also criticised the failure of states to condemn Israel’s attacks. “We are hearing almost nothing from those self-proclaimed champions of human rights.”

Iran says it has conveyed to Washington that it will respond firmly to the United States if it becomes directly involved in Israel’s military campaign.

Ali Bahreini, Tehran’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, said that he saw America as “complicit in what Israel is doing”.

So far, the US has taken only indirect action such as helping to shoot down missiles fired toward Israel. It is also deploying more fighter aircraft to the Middle East and extending the deployment of other warplanes.

Bahreini said Iran would also respond strongly to Israeli strikes. “We will not show any reluctance in defending our people, security and land — we will respond seriously and strongly, without restraint.”

The FTSE 100 defied the conflict in the Middle East to start the session in positive territory, as defence-facing stocks sustained gains and anxiety eased over international travel.

London’s blue chip index was up 0.25 per cent, or 21 points, to 8,855 as trading got underway.

Aerospace engineers Melrose (up 3.6 per cent), Babcock (up 1.2 per cent) and Rolls-Royce (up 0.99 per cent) led the way, with British Airways owner IAG reversing several days of decline to add 1 per cent.

Almost 800 Chinese citizens have been evacuated from Iran since Israel launched military strikes against the country last week.

“Currently … 791 Chinese nationals have been relocated from Iran to safe areas,” Guo Jiakun, the foreign ministry spokesman, said. “More than 1,000 other people are in the process of relocating and withdrawing.” Some Chinese citizens had also left Israel, he said.

“China expresses its thanks to the relevant countries for providing full support and assistance,” he said.

By Liz Cookman

Russia believes Israel’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities are pushing the world toward a “nuclear catastrophe”.

Moscow’s foreign ministry called the strikes “illegal from the point of view of international law” and said they would “create unacceptable threats to international security and push the world towards a nuclear catastrophe, the consequences of which will be felt everywhere, including in Israel itself”.

Maria Zakharova, the ministry’s spokeswoman, said that Iran “had, has and will have the right” to “peaceful” nuclear facilities.

She told Sputnik radio: “This all leads not just to escalation, but to a direct threat to the region and the world due to the fact that strikes are being carried out on peaceful atomic or nuclear facilities. The nuclear threat has a practical, not a hypothetical dimension.”

Russia has repeatedly made veiled threats concerning the use of its own nuclear weapons in relation to the war in Ukraine.

By Gabrielle Weiniger in Tel Aviv

British Jews stranded in Tel Aviv after five days of Iranian missile bombardment are wondering how to return to the UK.

Karen Tuhrim said: “Having driven myself mad, I’m going to book the Sharm el-Sheikh flight because we’ve got very good friends here from London and … they’re on that flight on the first of July. Even though things might change, I have to have something concrete booked. I can’t stay in a hotel indefinitely.”

The Barzilay family arrived in Israel to surprise their father on his 60th birthday and were supposed to leave today. Simon Barzilay said: “It looks as though we’ll be staying a lot longer. Initially, having to get up two or three times during the night to go to the bomb shelter was a scary experience, but we quickly got used to it.”

The British authorities have advised those stranded to follow guidelines on the Foreign Office website.

At least 2,800 stranded Israelis are expected to be repatriated today. The first two flights bringing Israeli citizens home from Larnaca, Cyprus, have landed at Ben Gurion airport.

Between 100,000 and 150,000 Israelis have been unable to return since the air war led to the closure of Israeli airspace.

Sharon Kedmi, chief executive of Israel Airports Authority, said: “Our aim is to bring back as many people as possible, but it is more important that they are safe. We are carrying out assessments on an hourly basis.”

Matthew Pennycook has told Times Radio that Britain is “sending military assets to the region to support regional security in general terms — contingency support throughout the Middle East should the escalation of the conflict continue”.

Pennycook, the housing minister, said he would not comment on future operational decisions or specific decisions.

“We obviously already have RAF jets in the region as part of our operation against Daesh. So it’s right that they are protected. So we have already sent military assets to the region,” he said.

An image from Flightradar shows air traffic avoiding Iran

IGOR GOLOVNIOV/SOPA/ALAMY

Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz has alluded to the collapse of the Iranian government in a post on X. “A tornado passes over Tehran,” he wrote. “Symbols of government are being bombed and destroyed — from the Broadcasting Authority and soon other target — and crowds of residents are fleeing. This is how dictatorships collapse.”

Katz, speaking to senior military officials yestereday, said that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could suffer the same end as Saddam Hussein of Iraq.

Iran has arrested five suspected agents of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, on charges of “tarnishing” the country’s image, Iranian news agencies have reported.

“These mercenaries sought to sow fear among the public and tarnish the image of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran through their calculated activities online,” the Tasnim and ISNA news agencies said, quoting a statement from the Revolutionary Guards. The arrests were made in western Iran.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, has made his first public comments since President Trump made a veiled threat on his life, saying that he was an “easy target”.

Khamenei wrote two messages on X. In Farsi, one said: “In the name of the noble Haidar, the battle begins,” referring to Ali, considered by Shia Muslims to be the rightful successor to the prophet Mohammed. It was accompanied with an image of fireballs falling on what appeared to be an ancient city or castle.

In a second post, in English, he wrote: “We must give a strong response to the terrorist Zionist regime. We will show the Zionists no mercy.”

Israel has launched a strike on Imam Hussein University in Tehran, which is affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Following the attack, smoke was seen rising from the area.

Israeli authorities said that at least 24 people had been killed and hundreds injured in Iranian missile attacks.

Iran said that at least 224 people had been killed and more than 1,000 wounded in Israeli attacks.

Smoke rises from an Israeli strike on Tehran

REUTERS

More than 700 foreigners living in Iran have crossed into neighbouring Azerbaijan and Armenia since Israel launched its campaign on Friday, according to Tehran government figures.

Among those fleeing were citizens of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the United States.

Israel is running low on defensive Arrow interceptors, which are designed to destroy ballistic missiles.

The shortage introduces concerns about Israel’s ability to counter long-range ballistic missiles from Iran in a drawn-out conflict. A US official told The Wall Street Journal that Washington had been aware of the capacity problems for months.

Rocket trails are seen above the Israeli coastal city of Netanya

JACK GUEZ/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

JACK GUEZ/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

People in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, shelter in an underground metro station

ODED BALILTY/AP

Suleiman Gaboa displays a sheet of steel from a projectile that fell on his Bedouin community in the Negev desert in southern Israel

MAYA ALLERUZZO/AP

Since the onset of the recent conflict, the Pentagon has sent additional missile-defence assets to the region, raising concerns about its supplies.

“Neither the US nor the Israelis can continue to sit and intercept missiles all day,” Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank, said. “The Israelis and their friends need to move with all deliberate haste to do whatever needs to be done because we cannot afford to sit and play catch.”

The first aircraft bringing home Israelis stranded abroad landed at Ben Gurion Airport on Wednesday.

Flights had been cancelled and Israeli airspace closed because of the conflict.

“Just a short while ago, the first flight of Operation Safe Return landed at Ben Gurion Airport,” the airport’s authority said in a statement. It added that the flight had been operated by the national carrier El Al and brought Israelis home from Larnaca in Cyprus.

Israel’s new bombing campaign against Iran began with strikes on nuclear facilities and military commanders on Friday and has continued with daily attacks on missile launchers, air-defence systems and even a state television channel.

Iran has responded by firing salvoes of ballistic missiles at Israel, including some that have penetrated the Iron Dome missile-defence system, sending the population hurrying for shelter at the sound of air-raid alerts.

• How the conflict unfolded

The Israeli army said it had struck Iran’s centrifuge-production and weapons-manufacturing sites in overnight strikes.

“More than 50 air force fighter jets, guided by precise intelligence from the intelligence directorate, completed a series of strikes on military targets in the Tehran area in recent hours,” the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said.

The army said a centrifuge-production site in Tehran used by Iran to expand the scope of its uranium enrichment was attacked. “As part of the broad effort to disrupt Iran’s nuclear weapons development programme, a centrifuge-production facility in Tehran was targeted.”

In what it described as a “wave of attacks”, Israel struck several arms factories it claims were producing raw materials and components for assembling ground-to-ground missiles.

“Additionally, sites producing systems and components for ground-to-air missiles designed to target aircraft were attacked. These targets were struck as part of the IDF’s effort to disrupt the Iranian regime’s nuclear-weapons programme and its missile-production industry,” the IDF wrote on X.

Israeli strikes have killed at least 585 people across Iran and wounded 1,326 others, according to a human rights group.

The Human Rights Activists, based in Washington, said it had identified 239 of the dead as civilians and 126 as security personnel.

Iran has not published regular death tolls during the conflict. Its last update, issued on Monday, put the death toll at 224 people killed and 1,277 wounded — however, the regime has minimised casualties in the past.

Human Rights Activists provided detailed casualty figures during the 2022 protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for allegedly violating rules requiring women to wear the headscarf.

The group cross-checks local reports in Iran against a network of sources it has developed in the country.

The US embassy in Jerusalem said it will close until Friday.

It directed government employees to shelter in place as the air war between Israel and Iran continued.

In a statement posted to its website, the embassy said on Tuesday evening that the closure was “a result of the current security situation and ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran”. It added: “Given the security situation and in compliance with Israel Home Front Command guidance, the US embassy in Jerusalem will be closed tomorrow (Wednesday, June 18) through Friday (June 20).”

Iran claims to have fired hypersonic missiles at the Israeli city in the latest round of overnight strikes.

In retaliation for attacks on Tehran overnight Wednesday, Iran told residents of Tel Aviv to prepare for an attack, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claiming its hypersonic Fattah-1 missiles were “repeatedly shaking the shelters” in the city.

“The 11th wave of the proud Operation Honest Promise 3 using Fattah-1 missiles” was carried out, the Guards said in a statement broadcast on state television early Wednesday.

Hypersonic missiles travel at more than five times the speed of sound and can manoeuvre mid-flight, making them harder to track and intercept.

Iran also sent a “swarm of drones” towards Israel, according to the army.

Israeli warplanes targeted Tehran in a predawn raid on Wednesday as the air war entered its sixth day.

The Israeli military issued a warning on social media for civilians in an area of the Iranian capital known as District 18, near the city’s international airport, to evacuate.

An Israeli missile hits Tehran

REUTERS

Iranian state media reported explosions ricocheting in the Piroozi, Sabalan and Sayyad areas of Tehran.

Overnight, at least 60 Israeli air force jets carried out “an extensive wave of strikes in the heart of Iran”, targeting ballistic missile launchers that were aimed at Israel, according to the country’s military.

President Trump demanded an uncon­ditional surrender from Iran and warned its supreme leader that he was an “easy target” who would not be killed “at least for now”.

Increasing pressure on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while weighing up bombing raids on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Trump said America’s patience with the regime was running out. He aligned the US with Israel, boasting that “we” have “total control of the skies over Iran”.

Trump posted: “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there — We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at ­civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin.”

President Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One

KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS