Key Points
- Israeli airstrikes have damaged Iran’s main uranium enrichment plant and hit state media offices.
- Iran warned of its "largest and most intense" missile attack yet in response.
- Iran called on the US to pressure Israel into an immediate ceasefire.
US President Donald Trump said he wanted a "real end" to nuclear problems with Iran, with Iran "giving up entirely" on nuclear weapons as its conflict with Israel continues.
"Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, it's very simple," Trump told reporters on his way back from the Group of Seven summit in Canada.
Trump said he may send U.S. Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff or Vice President JD Vance to meet with Iran. However, he added that "it depends on what happens when I get back".
When asked if Israel would slow down its attacks on Iran, Trump said: "You're going to find out over the next two days. You're going to find out. Nobody's slowed up so far."
Earlier, Trump urged residents of Tehran to leave, backing warnings from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has launched a massive attack on Iran.
"Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social account during a G7 summit in Canada.
Trump did not elaborate. Nearly 10 million people live in the Iranian capital.
"Iran should have signed the 'deal' I told them to sign. What a shame, and waste of human life. Simply stated, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon," Trump said.
The warning comes as Israel ramps up attacks in Iran which it says are aimed at destroying the state's contested nuclear weapons.
Trump has repeatedly declined to say if the US would participate in Israeli military action, although he has said it was not involved in the initial strikes.
He earlier told reporters at the G7 summit: "As soon as I leave here, we're going to be doing something. But I have to leave here."
Trump left the summit on Monday night, a day early, due to the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict.
"Because of what's going on in the Middle East, President Trump will be leaving tonight after dinner with Heads of State," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X.
Iran's military leaders 'on the run', Israel says
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could face the same fate as Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who was toppled in a US-led invasion and eventually hanged after a trial.
"I warn the Iranian dictator against continuing to commit war crimes and fire missiles at Israeli citizens," Katz told top Israeli military officials.
Khamenei has seen his main military and security advisers killed by Israeli air strikes, leaving major holes in his inner circle and raising the risk of strategic errors, according to five people familiar with his decision-making process.
One of those sources, who regularly attends meetings with Khamenei, described the risk of miscalculation to Iran on issues of defence and internal stability as "extremely dangerous".
Israel's military said Iran's military leadership is "on the run" and that it had killed Iran's wartime chief of staff Ali Shadmani overnight four days into his job after replacing another top commander killed in the strikes.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had hit Israel's Military Intelligence Directorate and spy agency Mossad's operational centre early on Tuesday. There was no Israeli confirmation of such attacks.
Israeli missile hits Iran state TV studios
An Iranian state television reporter had to stop a live broadcast on Monday when an explosion occurred an hour after Israel issued a warning to leave a part of Tehran where the TV studios are located.
Presenter Sahar Emami of the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network rushed off-camera as the screen behind her cut out, and people were heard saying "Allahu Akbar", the Arabic phrase for God is great.
The broadcast quickly switched to pre-recorded programs.
Soon, Emami came back live from another studio and was seen speaking with another anchor.
Emami said "bodies of reporters" were at the site of the initial broadcast, and images showed smoke and flames in the sky.
Israeli defence minister Israel Katz took responsibility for the attack.
"The Iranian regime's propaganda and incitement broadcasting authority was attacked by the IDF after a widespread evacuation of the area's residents," Katz said in a statement.
The strike on the offices of the broadcaster was a "wicked act" and a "war crime", said Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei.
"The UNSC must act now to stop the genocidal aggressor from committing further atrocities against our people," he said.
Iran urges Trump to make Israel halt war
As tensions escalated, Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said on X: "If President Trump is genuine about diplomacy and interested in stopping this war, next steps are consequential."
"Israel must halt its aggression, and absent a total cessation of military aggression against us, our responses will continue. It takes one phone call from Washington to muzzle someone like Netanyahu," he wrote.
Sources told Reuters news agency Iran had asked Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman to press Trump to use his influence on Netanyahu and push for an immediate ceasefire.
In return, Iran would show flexibility in nuclear negotiations, said the two Iranian and three regional sources.
Netanyahu told troops at an air base Israel was on its way to achieving its two main aims: wiping out Iran's nuclear program and destroying its missiles.
"We are on the path to victory," he said. "We are telling the citizens of Tehran: ‘Evacuate’ — and we are taking action."
Iranian media said Iran was preparing for the "largest and most intense missile attack" yet against Israel, including against military and intelligence targets.
Israel launched its air strikes with a surprise attack that killed nearly the entire top echelon of Iran's military commanders and its leading nuclear scientists. It said it now has control of Iranian airspace and intends to escalate the campaign in the coming days.
Israel said it hit Iranian F-14 fighter planes at Tehran airport, and its airstrikes have also put at least two of Iran's three operating uranium enrichment plants out of action.
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the BBC it was very likely all the roughly 15,000 centrifuges operating at Iran's biggest uranium enrichment plant in Natanz were badly damaged or destroyed because of a power cut caused by an Israeli strike.
There had been very limited or no damage at the separate Fordow plant, he said.
Maxar satellite imagery shows an overview of the Natanz enrichment facility after recent airstrikes. Source: Getty / Maxar Technologies
Iran says more than 224 Iranians have been killed, most of them civilians. The media published images of wounded children, women, and the elderly from cities across the country.
State TV broadcast scenes of collapsed presidential buildings, burned-out cars, and shattered streets in Tehran. Many residents were trying to flee the capital, describing queues for petrol and bank machines that were out of cash.
"I am desperate. My two children are scared and cannot sleep at night because of the sound of air defence and attacks, explosions. But we have nowhere to go. We hid under our dining table," Gholamreza Mohammadi, 48, a civil servant, told Reuters by phone from Tehran.
Israel said 24 civilians had been killed, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said nearly 3,000 Israelis had been evacuated due to damage from Iranian strikes.
