Smokes raises from a building of the Soroka hospital complex after it was hit by a missile fired from Iran in Be'er Sheva, Israel, on June 19, 2025. | Photo Credit: AP
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An Iranian missile slammed into the main hospital in southern Israel early Thursday (June 19, 2025), causing “extensive damage” but no serious injuries, according to the medical facility. Other missiles hit a high-rise building and several other residential buildings near Tel Aviv.
ALSO READ | What is Netanyahu’s endgame in Iran?Israel, meanwhile, carried out strikes on Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor, in its latest attack on the country’s sprawling nuclear program, on the seventh day of a conflict that began with a surprise wave of Israeli air strikes targeting military sites, senior officers and nuclear scientists.
ALSO READ | Satellite images show damage caused by attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites, military bases
A Washington-based Iranian human rights group said at least 639 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 1,300 wounded. In retaliation, Iran has fired some 400 missiles and hundreds of drones, killing at least 24 people in Israel and wounding hundreds.
On Wednesday (June 18, 2025), Iran’s supreme leader rejected U.S. calls for surrender in the face of more Israeli strikes and warned that any military involvement by the Americans would cause “irreparable damage to them.”
ALSO READ | Why Israel struck IranFollow LIVE updates here:Russia warns strike on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant could cause ‘Chernobyl-style catastrophe’
The head of Russia’s nuclear energy corporation warned on Thursday that an Israeli attack on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant could lead to a “Chernobyl-style catastrophe”.
An Israeli military spokesperson said Israel had struck the site, but an Israeli military official later called this statement “a mistake” and said he could neither confirm nor deny that the Bushehr site on the cost of the Gulf had been hit.
Bushehr is Iran’s only operating nuclear power plant and was built by Russia.
President Vladimir Putin told journalists in the early hours of Thursday that Israel had promised Russia that Moscow’s workers - who are building more nuclear facilities at the Bushehr site - would be safe, even as Israel tries to degrade Iran’s nuclear capabilities by force. -Reuters
WATCH | What is Netanyahu’s endgame in Iran? | Realpolitik with Stanly Johny
As Israel’s air war against Iran escalates with devastating strikes on nuclear sites and missile facilities, Stanly Johny explores Prime Minister Netanyahu’s possible objectives—from regime change and diplomatic pressure to dragging the U.S. into direct conflict. With Iran retaliating hard, the outcome remains dangerously uncertain.
- June 19, 2025 18:23Iran’s options against foreign aggression include closing Strait of Hormuz, lawmaker says
Iran could shut the Strait of Hormuz as a way of hitting back against its enemies, a senior lawmaker said on Thursday, though a second member of parliament said this would only happen if Tehran’s vital interests were endangered.
Iran has in the past threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz to traffic in retaliation for Western pressure, and shipping sources said on Wednesday that commercial ships were avoiding Iran’s waters around the strait.
“Iran has numerous options to respond to its enemies and uses such options based on what the situation is,” the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted Behnam Saeedi, a member of the parliament’s National Security Committee presidium as saying. -Reuters
- June 19, 2025 18:05Saudi Energy Minister on potential loss of Iranian oil says, ‘we only react to realities’
Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, asked if the kingdom and Russia would step in to replace any potential loss of Iranian oil, said on Thursday that the country will “only react to realities”.
The prince, speaking at an economic forum in St Petersburg, added that OPEC+ has been a reliable organisation that was attentive to circumstances when they prevailed, declining to comment on hypothetical questions.
Oil prices have risen more than $10 over the past week on Middle East escalations after Israel attacked Iran last week. -Reuters
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