June 20, 2025 – Israel-Iran conflict

• Tehran’s message to US: Diplomacy with Iran can “easily” be started again if US President Donald Trump orders Israel’s leadership to stop striking the country, an official with the Iranian presidency told CNN. Trump said Friday it would be “very hard” for him to make that request.

• Talks in Switzerland: Iranian and European officials met Friday in Geneva, for talks which an Iranian source said started out tense but became “much more positive.” Iran has not agreed to end its uranium enrichment capability, the source said, calling it a “bold red line.” Trump has said he will allow up to two weeks for negotiations before deciding whether to launch a strike in Iran.

• Fresh strikes: There have been no signs of de-escalation in the weeklong conflict as Iran and Israel continue to trade strikes, with two people killed in a strike on the Iranian city of Qom and reports of explosions in Isfahan. In Israel, a building in Holon caught fire after shrapnel from a missile interception fell on it.

Our live coverage of the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran has moved here.

There is “no question” the United States would be plunged into a regional war if it strikes Iran, former CIA director Leon Panetta told CNN.

The former head of the intelligence agency said the US made a “terrible mistake” by going into Iraq two decades ago, starting a war that lasted years.

Panetta, also a former defense secretary, warned that Iran is bound to retaliate.

“So make no mistake about it. It may be an airstrike, but it would definitely involve the United States in a war with [Iran],” he said.

Explosions have been heard in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, Iranian state media reports.

The news comes shortly after the Israel Defense Forces said it had begun a new wave of attacks in Iran.

Semi-official news agency Fars reported that the air defense system in the city had been activated.

Isfahan is the home of Iran’s largest nuclear research complex, which has been previously targeted by Israeli strikes.

A strike on a residential building in the central Iranian city of Qom killed two people and injured four others on Saturday, according to reports from state media.

The strike, which hit the building’s fourth floor, was reported shortly after the Israel Defense Forces said it had begun a new wave of attacks in Iran.

The holy city of Qom is close to Iran’s secretive Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.

One of those killed was a 16-year-old, according to a statement from Morteza Heydari, spokesman for the Qom Provincial Administration, made to Iranian media.

Video geolocated by CNN shows impact damage to a building in southwestern Qom. In the video a fire can be seen burning on the upper floors of a multistory building.

At the same time, semi-official Nour News reported air defenses were active over the capital Tehran, 130 kilometers (80 miles) to the north.

Video released by Israel’s national emergency services showed a building on fire in the city of Holon, near commercial hub Tel Aviv, following Iran’s latest missile strikes on the country.

Israeli fire and rescue services confirmed in a statement on Telegram that they were working to extinguish a blaze on the roof of a three-story building in Gush Dan, the wider metropolitan area around Tel Aviv, which includes Holon. The statement did not specify the city.

The fire was caused by shrapnel after a missile was intercepted, according to the statement.

Emergency agency Magen David Adom said no injuries were reported.

Israel has begun a new wave of attacks in Iran, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Saturday, local time.

“The Air Force has now begun a wave of attacks against missile storage and launch infrastructure in central Iran,” the IDF said in a statement.

Iran has filed a complaint with the United Nations secretary-general and president of the Security Council against Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

In his letter, Iranian UN ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani took issue with Grossi’s “approach regarding Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities” and what he said was a “failure” to condemn Israel’s military action, according to the semi-official Iranian news outlet Fars News.

The complaint comes after Mohammad Eslami, the head of Iran’s atomic energy agency, on Thursday threatened legal action against Grossi for alleged “inaction” during Israel’s attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities. That threat came after Israel attacked Iran’s Arak nuclear facility in overnight strikes.

The IAEA head said later on Thursday that the agency was continuing to “closely monitor and assess the situation regarding the Israeli attacks on nuclear sites” in Iran and that inspectors will remain in the country, ready to be deployed to nuclear sites when possible.

Both Iran and Israel’s UN ambassadors say that their countries will continue to fight during a tense United Nations Security Council meeting.

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Israel’s military said it identified missiles launched from Iran and that defense systems are working to intercept them.

The military called on the public to “enter a protected space” and stay there until further notice. Leaving is only allowed after an “explicit directive,” the military statement added.

In a separate statement the military said it is working to intercept and “strike where necessary to eliminate the threat.”

Hours after President Donald Trump said publicly that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was “wrong” in her assessment of Iran’s efforts on obtaining a nuclear weapon, Gabbard asserted on X that media outlets were unfairly sowing division between her and Trump.

“The dishonest media is intentionally taking my testimony out of context and spreading fake news as a way to manufacture division,” Gabbard said in a post to social media that highlighted video of her prior testimony on the issue on Capitol Hill.

She continued, “America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalize the assembly. President Trump has been clear that can’t happen, and I agree.”

What she testified: On Capitol Hill in March, Gabbard had testified that the US intelligence community “continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon, and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003.”

More context: CNN has previously reported that US intelligence assessed Iran was up to three years away from being able to produce and deliver a nuclear weapon to a target of its choosing, according to four people familiar with the assessment.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, a top international watchdog, said last week that Iran had amassed enough uranium enriched at levels just below weapons-grade to potentially make nine nuclear bombs, which it termed “a matter of serious concern.”

The challenge for Iran is producing not merely a crude nuclear weapon — which experts say Iran could potentially do within the space of months if it decided to — but also producing a working delivery system, which could take much longer.

Hundreds of Americans have fled Iran as the conflict with Israel has escalated, an internal State Department report said.

The detail in the Friday situation report underscores that US citizens in Iran are at risk as President Donald Trump weighs US military action.

The exact number of Americans in Iran is not known, and the State Department does not require US citizens to register their presence abroad.

Unlike in Israel, where the US is working to establish transportation options out of the country for the estimated hundreds of thousands of Americans there, no such options are available for US citizens in Iran. The US does not have a diplomatic presence there.

The situation report described some Americans facing difficulties leaving Iran.

“Security alerts also note Americans seeking to depart should be prepared to encounter checkpoints and questioning from authorities,” the report states. “Numerous US citizens have described delays and harassment along their exit route.“

The report also notes that two Americans were reportedly detained while attempting to depart the country.

One source trying to get a US citizen family member out of Iran expressed frustration at the State Department earlier this week, saying the agency seemed to defer everything to seemingly overwhelmed US embassies. This person wanted to see the department apply more pressure to Iran’s neighboring countries to approve Americans’ entrance. They also suggested dispatching embassy officials closer to the Iranian border to help.

A total of 33 people were physically injured by an Iranian strike on Haifa in northern Israel Friday, according to figures shared with CNN by local hospitals.

One person is in serious condition and two others are in moderate condition after the attack, the city’s Rambam hospital said. A further 16 mildly injured patients were treated at Rambam, it said.

A spokesperson for the Bnai Zion Medical Center in Haifa said that it admitted 14 people in “light condition” after the strike.

According to a Friday update by Israel’s emergency services, 685 people have been taken to the hospital with physical injuries since Israel began its “Rising Lion” operation last week and Iran retaliated with its own missile strikes. Of those, 643 people were “lightly injured,” Magen David Adom (MDA) said in a statement.

A total of 24 people have been killed in Israel since the conflict began last week, MDA said.

President Donald Trump warned reporters they were personally in danger as he discussed possible Iranian retaliation on Americans stemming from the conflict with Israel.

When asked by a reporter whether he would expect Iran to launch attacks against Americans if he ordered military action, Trump said: “We’re always concerned about that, and we have to take them out and be very strong.”

“You’re even in danger, talking to me right now,” Trump said to the reporters.

“Do you know that you are in danger talking to me right now? So I should probably get out of here,” Trump added.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi expressed “concerns” about the UK, France and Germany’s “inaction” in condemning Israel’s attacks when he met with their foreign ministers in Geneva on Friday, according to Iranian state-affiliated media.

Iran’s ISNA news agency quoted Araghchi as saying he also stressed to the ministers that Iran would continue to “exercise its legitimate right of self defense against the Zionist regime, with the objective of stopping the aggression and preventing future recurrences.”

The minister said he told his counterparts Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful and remains under the supervision of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog.

“If the attacks are ceased and the aggressor is held accountable for its blatant crimes, Iran will be ready to consider diplomacy,” Araghchi said, according to ISNA.

President Donald Trump indicated that his two-week timeline for a decision on US military involvement in Iran is the “maximum” amount of time — and that he could make up his mind sooner.

It’s the president’s first comments on the self-imposed deadline since his press secretary yesterday read aloud his statement setting that time frame for a diplomatic solution. Trump suggested, however, that he is not considering the possibility of US ground troops as he weighs an attack on Iran’s nuclear sites.

“I’m not going to talk about ground forces. The last thing you want to do is ground forces,” he said when asked if that was on the table.

He also appeared to suggest he does not believe Israel has the capacity to take out all of Iran’s nuclear facilities alone:

Officials and experts have suggested using the US’ unique bunker-busting capabilities toward those ends.

Trump also said he will “always a peacemaker,” but “sometimes, you need some toughness to make peace.”

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations struck a dismissive tone when asked about the possibility of a diplomatic breakthrough with Iran, saying “diplomacy just for the sake of talks” would no longer work.

Ambassador Danny Danon told CNN’s Boris Sanchez the Iranians have been “the masters of deception for so many years.”

“But I’m not sure that they are there yet,” Danon said.

Danon, who has described the Iranian attack that hit Israel’s Soroka hospital as a war crime, was asked about his response to those who argue Israel has committed war crimes by striking hospitals in Gaza.

“You cannot make that equation because, you know, we chased terrorists and we allow people to evacuate those places,” he said. The ambassador said Israel gives civilians advance notice, including in Iran, and that the military tries to “minimize civilian casualties.”

President Donald Trump took direct aim at his director of national intelligence on Friday, saying Tulsi Gabbard “is wrong” about Iran’s efforts on obtaining a nuclear weapon.

The comment comes as Gabbard’s standing in the administration diminishes, according to sources who spoke with CNN this week.

Trump was asked Friday about his intelligence community’s assessment that Iran is not close to building a nuclear weapon.

Gabbard testified to Congress in March that Iran was not actively pursuing a nuclear weapon — a direct contradiction of Israel’s claims that Iran was racing toward a bomb.

More background: Though Gabbard has been among the most visible voices for the president’s national security policy, she has struggled behind the scenes to carve out her own place in the Trump White House, CNN reported this week.

Recently, Trump has come to see her as “off message” when it comes to the conflict in the Middle East, according to one senior White House adviser.

CNN’s Katie Bo Lillis and Kristen Holmes contributed reporting to this post.

President Donald Trump said it would be difficult for him to request Israel stop its airstrikes in Iran, even as he pursues a diplomatic solution to end the conflict.

Trump repeated a bit later that it would be a hard ask, given Israel’s military successes so far.

“It’s very hard to stop, when you look at it — Israel’s doing well in terms of war,” he said. “I think you would say that Iran is doing less well, it’s a little bit hard to get somebody to stop.”

Trump dismissed European efforts to engage diplomatically with Iran, saying they hadn’t helped efforts to end the conflict.

US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said she “can’t speculate” on whether the Trump administration will press for a ceasefire between Iran and Israel to allow US-Iran nuclear talks to move forward.

“I’m not going to characterize what’s happening now, or the reaction by the president or the secretary of state to what those negotiations might be,” Bruce said at a news briefing Friday.

The Iranians have said that they will not return to talks with the United States until Israel stops its military strikes.

Bruce reiterated that US President Donald Trump “still holds out the hope for negotiations.” She also underscored that Iran and its proxies “should not target US interests or personnel, and if they do, the consequences will be dire.”

Israeli attacks caused explosions in several parts of the southwestern Iranian province of Khuzestan on Friday, according to Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency.

Three cities, Ahvaz, Mahshahr and Andimeshk, were targeted in the attacks, Mehr News Agency reported, though the attack on Mahshahr did not reach the city, instead causing an explosion in an area outside of it.

Residential houses were damaged in the Ahvaz attack, according to the agency. An empty shed may have been the target of the attack, it said.