ISRAEL WARNS DEATH CULT IRANIANS TO EVACUATE NEAR NUKE PLANTS (OR YOU WILL GET YOUR DEATH WISH TO BE A HELL FIRE FOREVER BOUND MARTYR WITH YOUR FATHER SATAN FOREVER).

JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER. 1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)

ISRAEL WARNS DEATH CULT IRANIANS TO EVACUATE NEAR NUKE PLANTS (OR YOU WILL GET YOUR DEATH WISH TO BE A HELL FIRE FOREVER BOUND MARTYR WITH YOUR FATHER SATAN FOREVER).

ISAIAH 41:11
11  Behold, all they that were incensed against thee (ISRAEL) shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing;(DESTROYED) and they that strive with thee shall perish.(ISRAEL HATERS WILL BE TOTALLY DESTROYED)

Turban complications-The turban represents the Shi'ite clergy that, ever since its creation in Iran almost four centuries ago, has had an ambivalent attitude towards the exercise of political power. Broadly speaking, turbans come in two contrasting colors. A white turban means that the man who wears it is not a descendant of the Prophet, and thus is of non-Arab origin. In contrast, the wearer of the black turban is marked as a descendant of the Prophet through one of the twelve imams of Twelver Shi'ism.The semiology of turbans is still more complicated. Students of theology are allowed to wear very thin turbans, denoting their position as novices. A hujjat al-Islam, or mid-ranking mullah, can wear a slightly fatter turban. The very fat turbans that require several yards of cloth are reserved for the grand ayatollahs. Rafsanjani’s white turban marked him as someone of non-Arab origin. Khatami and Khamenei both wear black turbans, as did Khomeini, denoting their Arab descent on the paternal side.The experience of the past three decades shows that many of the most senior clerics are not eager to enter the realm of politics. Once in power, however, a man with a thin turban could quickly thicken his headgear and grow a longer beard to bolster the religious aspect of his image. When first elected president, Ayatollah Khamenei was not a particularly senior cleric, but was promoted so that he could succeed Ayatollah Khomeini.

THE CITIZENS OF IRAN (ELAM IN THE BIBLE) MIGRATE TO ALL NATIONS ON EARTH.
JEREMIAH 49:34-39
34 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam (IRAN) in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,
35 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam,(IRAN) the chief of their might.(IRAN SUPLIES ARABS WITH WEAPONS AGAINST ISRAEL)
36 And upon Elam (IRAN)  will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam (IRAN) shall not come.(WORLD MIGRATION)
37 For I will cause Elam (IRAN) to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger,(REG BOMBS) saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:(GROUND TROOPS)
38 And I will set my throne in Elam,(IRAN) and will destroy from thence the king (KHEMEINI )and the princes,(IRANIAN GUARDS) saith the LORD.
39 But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam,(IRAN) saith the LORD.

IDF issues unprecedented evacuation warning for parts of Tehran ahead of strikes-By Emanuel Fabian-JUN 16,25

The IDF issues an unprecedented evacuation warning for a large section of Iran’s capital, Tehran, ahead of Israeli strikes.“Dear citizens, for your safety, we ask you to immediately leave the mentioned area in District 3 of Tehran,” says the IDF Persian-language spokesman, Master Sgt. (res.) Kamal Penhasi.“In the coming hours, the Israeli army will operate in this area, as it has in recent days throughout Tehran, to strike the Iranian regime’s military infrastructure,” the warning adds.In a vague warning after the military issued the evacuation warning, Defense Minister Israel Katz says, “The Iranian propaganda and incitement mouthpiece is on its way to disappearing.”“Evacuation of nearby residents has begun,” he adds.

Katz warns Iran leaders turning Tehran into battered Beirut-Extensive strikes in Tehran after IDF warns Iranians near arms plants to evacuate-5 car bombs said to detonate in Iran’s capital, more nuclear scientists killed; IDF says it is hunting ballistic missile launchers aimed at Israel, and striking nuclear targets By Emanuel Fabian,ToI Staff and Agencies 15 June 2025, 1:49 pm

Widespread Israeli Air Force strikes were reported in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on Sunday afternoon, hours after the military issued an unprecedented evacuation warning for Iranian civilians to evacuate areas around weapons factories.The strikes came as Israel’s operation against Tehran’s nuclear program and military industries continued for a third day.At the same time, car bomb blasts were reported in the Iranian capital, and reports said more nuclear scientists had been killed.Strikes were also reported against Iranian military sites in Shiraz, in the south of the country, according to local media.“All individuals currently present or expected to be present in or around military weapons manufacturing facilities and their supporting institutions must immediately evacuate these areas and not return until further notice,” the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, Col. Avichay Adraee, said in a Persian message on X before the strikes.“Being near these facilities puts your life at risk,” he added, with the IDF Persian-language spokesman Master Sgt. (res.) Kamal Penhasi also issuing the same warning on the military’s Persian X account.Explosions continued to echo across Tehran and elsewhere in the country on Sunday, but there was no update to a death toll put out the day before by Iran’s UN ambassador, who said 78 people had been killed and more than 320 wounded since the beginning of Israel’s strikes on Friday.Footage posted online showed large plumes of smoke rising from the capital.Iran’s IRNA news agency reported that five car bombs were detonated in Tehran. The report blamed Israel for the attacks.Two sources in the Gulf told Reuters that at least 14 Iranian nuclear scientists had been killed in Israeli attacks since Friday, including by car bombs.The names of nine of the scientists were published by the IDF on Sunday, and it said many of them were successors to Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the “father of the Iranian nuclear project,” who was allegedly assassinated by Israel in 2020.The Israeli Air Force overnight bombed several Iranian ballistic missile launchers, along with air defense systems and radars, the military said, attaching footage of the strikes.According to the IDF, some of the launchers that were struck were used to fire missiles at Israel overnight, in barrages that killed at least 10 people.The IDF said it would continue to “hunt down” ballistic missile launchers in western Iran to prevent attacks on Israel.Air defenses and radars were also struck “as part of the IDF’s aerial superiority in Iranian airspace,” the military said.Additionally, some 80 targets in Tehran were hit overnight, according to the IDF.The targets in the Iranian capital included fuel depots, the Iranian defense ministry headquarters, the “headquarters of the SPND nuclear project,” and other targets related to Iran’s nuclear program.IAF fighter jets also hit gas infrastructure near Bandar Abbas. The military said the fuel and gas sites were used by Iran for military purposes and for its nuclear project.On Saturday, jets attacked two fuel depots in Tehran, while Iranian media reported a “massive explosion” following an Israeli drone strike on the South Pars gas field.The semi-official Tasnim news agency said production of 12 million cubic meters of gas was suspended following the South Pars attack, which resulted in a fire that the Iranian oil ministry said was later extinguished.Oil fields — crucial to Iran’s economy — were not targeted in the first round of strikes, but a senior Israeli security official warned on Friday that if Iran were to target Israeli population centers with ballistic missiles — which it then did — Israel would target regime leaders and state infrastructure such as oil refineries.In all, since early Friday, the IDF said it hit 720 separate assets in some 250 strikes in Iran.Iranian media said Sunday that Israel attacked a facility affiliated with Iran’s defense ministry in the central city of Isfahan.“One of the centers affiliated with the Ministry of Defense in Isfahan was attacked, and possible damages are under investigation,” ISNA news agency reported, quoting deputy provincial governor Akbar Salehi.Iranian media also reported strikes on the Shiraz Electronics factory in the city of Shiraz, a company that produces radar and electronic equipment for the Iranian military, according to a US-based watchdog. According to CNN, the facility was destroyed.Iran claimed Sunday it had arrested two individuals it accused of being members of the Mossad spy agency in Alborz province while they were preparing explosives and electronic devices, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday.Israel and Iran trade threats-After the IDF warned Iranians to evacuate military facilities in Iran, Defense Minister Israel Katz said Sunday the military “will strike the sites and continue to peel the skin off the Iranian snake in Tehran and everywhere, stripping it of nuclear capabilities and weapons systems.”“The Iranian dictator is turning Tehran into Beirut and its residents into hostages for the sake of his regime’s survival,” he added.Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said that the attacks on Israel will only end once Israel halts its military campaign against the Islamic Republic.“We are defending ourselves; our defense is entirely legitimate,” said Araghchi in a meeting with foreign diplomats, adding that “this defense is our response to aggression. If the aggression stops, naturally our responses will also stop.”He said that the Israeli strikes on the offshore South Pars gas field Iran shares with Qatar were “a blatant aggression and a very dangerous act.”“Dragging the conflict to the Persian Gulf is a strategic mistake, and it aims to drag the war beyond Iranian territory,” he said.Conflict to take ‘weeks, not days,’ officials sayThe conflict with Iran will take “weeks, not days,” according to American and Israeli officials quoted by CNN.The officials said the operation has the White House’s implicit approval, with an Israeli official cited as saying the US president is on board with the weeks-long timeframe.A US official was quoted as saying, “The Trump administration firmly believes this can be solved by continuing negotiations with the US,” with the exact length of the conflict dependent on Iran’s actions.Years of hostility between Israel and Iran exploded into open conflict early Friday morning when Israel launched a major offensive against Iran and its nuclear program, hitting nuclear sites, missile bases and top military officials.Israel said it had no choice but to attack Iran, and that it had gathered intelligence showing that Tehran was approaching “the point of no return” in its pursuit of nuclear weapons.Military officials said that the IDF was preparing for heavy fire from Iran, but asserted that “at the end of the operation, there will be no nuclear threat” from the Islamic Republic.

How much damage has Israel inflicted on Iran's nuclear programme?

Vienna, June 16 (AFP) Jun 16, 2025-Israel's strikes on Iran have targeted several of its nuclear facilities, as it claims the Islamic republic is seeking to develop nuclear weapons -- an accusation Tehran denies.Experts told AFP that while the attacks have caused some damage to Iran's nuclear programme, they are unlikely to have delivered a fatal blow.Here is an update on Iran's nuclear sites as of Monday:- What is the extent of the damage? -Israel's operation included strikes on Iran's underground uranium enrichment sites at Natanz and Fordow, and on its Isfahan nuclear site, the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said, citing Iranian officials.A key, above-ground component of Iran's Natanz nuclear site has been destroyed, including its power infrastructure.Agency chief Rafael Grossi said Monday that there has been "no indication of a physical attack on the underground cascade hall containing part of the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant and the main Fuel Enrichment Plant".However, power loss at the cascade hall "may have damaged the centrifuges", the machines used to enrich uranium.There was "extensive" damage to the site's power supply, according to a report from the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a US-based organisation specialising in nuclear proliferation, which analysed satellite images.If backup power is lost, "at the least, the enrichment plant is rendered inoperable for the time being", it said.At Iran's underground Fordow enrichment plant, the country's second uranium enrichment facility, the IAEA observed "no damage" following the attacks, Grossi said.At the Isfahan nuclear site, however, "four buildings were damaged": the central chemical laboratory, a uranium conversion plant, the Tehran reactor fuel manufacturing plant, and a metal processing facility under construction, the IAEA said.Significant uranium stockpiles are believed to be stored around the Isfahan site.Ali Vaez, International Crisis Group's Iran project director, told AFP that if Iran managed to transfer significant quantities to "secret facilities," then "the game is lost for Israel".Iran's only nuclear power plant, the Bushehr plant, was not targeted, nor was the Tehran research reactor.- Can the programme be destroyed? -While "Israel can damage Iran's nuclear programme... it is unlikely to be able to destroy it," Vaez said, arguing that Israel does not have the massively powerful bombs needed "to destroy the fortified, bunkered facilities in Natanz and Fordow".Destroying those would require US military assistance, added Kelsey Davenport, an expert with the Arms Control Association.She also stressed that Israel's unprecedented attack cannot erase the expertise Iran had built up on nuclear weapons, despite killing nine Iranian nuclear scientists.- What are the risks to the Iranian population? -The IAEA has not detected any increase in radiation levels at the affected sites."There is very little risk that attacks on Iran's uranium enrichment facilities would result in a harmful radiation release," said Davenport.But an attack on the Bushehr plant could "have a serious impact on health and the environment", she added.After Israel launched its strikes, Grossi said that nuclear facilities "must never be attacked" and that targeting Iranian sites could have "grave consequences for the people of Iran, the region, and beyond".- Is Iran close to developing a nuclear bomb? -After the United States unilaterally withdrew in 2018 from a landmark deal that sought to curb Tehran's nuclear activities, Iran has gradually retreated from some of its obligations, particularly on uranium enrichment.As of mid-May, the country had an estimated 408.6 kilogrammes enriched to up to 60 percent -- just a short step from the 90 percent needed for a nuclear warhead.Iran theoretically has enough near-weapons-grade material, if further refined, for about 10 nuclear bombs, according to the definition by the Vienna-based IAEA.Iran is the only non-nuclear-armed state producing uranium to this level of enrichment, according to the UN nuclear watchdog.While the IAEA has been critical of Iran's lack of cooperation with the UN body, it says that there are "no credible indications of an ongoing, undeclared structured nuclear programme".Tehran has consistently denied ambitions to develop nuclear warheads.But Davenport warned the strikes could strengthen factions in Iran advocating for an atomic arsenal."Israel's strikes set Iran back technically, but politically the strikes are pushing Iran closer to nuclear weapons," she said.

IDF: Iran fired some 350 ballistic missiles since Friday-8 killed, nearly 300 injured as Iranian ballistic missiles strike central Israel, Haifa-4 killed in Petah Tikva, 3 in Haifa, 1 in Bnei Brak; US embassy branch in Tel Aviv lightly damaged; Katz says ‘Tehran residents will pay the price,’ then clarifies civilians won’t be physically harmed By Emanuel FabianToday, 1:29 pm

Eight people were killed by Iranian ballistic missiles that slammed into Israeli cities in at least five locations early Monday, and nearly 300 others were injured, as the conflict entered a fourth day.Four people were killed in Petah Tivka, three in Haifa, and another person in Bnei Brak.The Health Ministry said 287 people were hospitalized nationwide as a result of the barrage of Iranian missiles. One person was listed in serious condition, and 14 were moderately injured, including two at Schneider Children’s Hospital in Petah Tikvah. The remainder were lightly injured or suffered acute shock.Two missiles also hit Tel Aviv, causing significant damage to a number of buildings, as well as some injuries.US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee confirmed in a post to X that the embassy branch in the coastal city was slightly damaged from an impact, but there were no injuries to staff. He said the American embassies and consulates remain closed, with a shelter-in-place order still in effect. The US embassy itself is located in Jerusalem.Iranian missile barrages have repeatedly targeted the densely populated Tel Aviv metro area and surrounding cities since fighting began on Friday, as well as the Haifa area.The Israel Defense Forces began airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear and military infrastructure in the early hours of Friday, acting to fight what it says is an immediate and existential threat to Israel from the Iranian nuclear and missile programs.The campaign, which also included Mossad sabotage operations within Iran, has received support from many Western nations, which have affirmed Israel’s right to defend itself.Shortly after midnight in the early hours of Monday, the IDF’s Home Front Command alerted the Israeli public to stay close to bomb shelters in the expectation of a missile attack.Notifications were sent via a cellphone app that gives an early alert of possible attacks, which is generally followed by a second warning that is minutes ahead of sirens, at which point there is around 90 seconds to find shelter.In the hours that followed, the IDF said it hit surface-to-surface missile launchers in central Iran, an action the military said reduced by half the number of rockets Iran had planned to fire.Then, just after 4 a.m., sirens went off as Iran fired a barrage at the central and northern regions of the country.The IDF said that some 40 missiles were fired and that, like in previous barrages, Israeli air defense systems intercepted most of them but some slipped through.Dozens of drones were also launched at Israel overnight and on Monday morning, but were all intercepted by the Israeli Air Force and Navy, the military said.Also Monday morning, a ballistic missile launched at Israel by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen fell short outside the country’s borders, the military said. Sirens had sounded in southern Israel.Petah Tikva-Home Front Command official Udi Elbaz told the press that an Iranian missile hit a 20-story building in Petah Tikva, badly damaging its fourth and fifth floors.“It is important for me to emphasize that in additional buildings we searched, most of the people who were in a protected space were not injured,” he told reporters.The IDF later clarified that the missile directly hit a bombproof room, which is an area built into modern Israeli buildings that has thicker walls and a blast door to protect against such attacks. Two people who were in one of the safe rooms were killed. The two other fatalities at that location were not in a protected space despite the sirens.Haifa-Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav confirmed that three people were killed in a barrage targeting the northern city.Yahav told Channel 12 news the three were working at a facility “that’s very important to us in the area, which we would be happy if it closed and left.”Rescuers had attempted for hours to reach the three missing people, who were buried under rubble during the attack on the northern city. A fire also broke out at the location, complicating rescue operations.Yahav said several homes and other buildings in the city suffered extensive damage, but only four people were hospitalized with light injuries.Israel Police said officers were sent to clear international media journalists who have been broadcasting live missile impacts in the Haifa area.“Coastal District police vehicles set out to conduct a search and handle the incident,” a spokesperson said.Haifa is home to a number of sensitive facilities, including an oil refinery, a major port, and a naval base.Bnei Brak-In Bnei Brak, a town east of Tel Aviv, the body of a man in his 80s was pulled out of a building that was damaged by a missile, authorities said on Monday.The impact caused significant damage to a number of other buildings in the area.At impact sites, rescuers helped evacuate hundreds of people from destroyed and damaged residential buildings.The Magen David Adom emergency service reported that at one of the locations, which caused major damage to residential buildings along a street, a four-day-old baby was found in a destroyed building, but suffering no injuries.Medics kept the child safe in an ambulance until his mother was extracted from a building about an hour later.In addition to the missiles, eight drones launched at Israel from Iran were intercepted by Israeli Navy missile boats overnight, the IDF said, adding that it had used a new air defense system for the first time.According to the military, it intercepted some of the drones using LRAD interceptor missiles, part of the BARAK MX air defense system, which were deployed to the Navy’s Sa’ar 6-class corvettes.Since the start of the conflict on Friday, the IDF said, the Navy has intercepted some 25 drones heading to Israel, mostly from Iran.The IAF has shot down around 100 other drones with fighter jets and helicopters.Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened that Tehran’s residents would suffer in retaliation for the Iranian missile strikes that have caused widespread damage to Israeli residential areas.“The arrogant dictator of Tehran has become a scared murderer who fires at Israel’s civilian home front in order to deter the IDF from continuing to carry out attacks that are destroying his capabilities,” Katz said in a statement, apparently referring to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.“The residents of Tehran will pay the price, and soon,” he vowed, in what appeared to be a threat to target Iranian civilians in kind.He later clarified that “there is no intention to physically harm the residents of Tehran, as the murderous dictator does to the citizens of Israel.”“The residents of Tehran will be forced to bear the cost of the dictatorship and evacuate their homes from areas where it will be necessary to strike regime targets and security infrastructure in Tehran,” he said.350 missiles fired since Friday-Iran has launched some 350 ballistic missiles at Israel since Friday, the vast majority of which were intercepted, according to IDF statistics released Monday.In all, 24 people have been killed in Iran’s ballistic missile attacks since Friday.That number is expected to rise, as one person is still missing and presumed dead in a missile strike on a building in Bat Yam over the weekend.Iran’s barrages consist of some 30-60 missiles each, according to the IDF.Military officials said that Tehran has sought to fire more — hundreds at a time — but Israeli Air Force strikes on ballistic missile launchers in Iran are disrupting the attacks.In each barrage, 5-10 percent of the missiles “leak” through and impact Israel, officials said. This includes missiles that the IDF says it does not try to shoot down “according to protocol,” allowing them to strike open areas without causing damage to any critical infrastructure, as well as missiles it failed to intercept which hit urban areas and caused casualties and damage.The military has routinely emphasized that, as good as Israel’s multilayered air defenses are, they are not hermetic. It has urged Israelis to heed Home Front Command instructions to take shelter in safe rooms and bomb shelters when incoming missile warnings are received.Most of Iran’s ballistic missile fire has been aimed at Tel Aviv and Haifa — which are densely populated — and to a lesser degree, the Beersheba area. This means that the few missiles that are not intercepted are likely to cause harm.

IDF reiterates safe rooms still best option against Iran’s missiles, despite 2 fatalities-Home Front Command finds those in reinforced rooms above and below direct impact site in Petah Tikva high-rise were unharmed, notes that reinforced spaces have saved many lives By Emanuel Fabian-Today, 1:20 pm-JUN 16,25

The Home Front Command on Monday morning confirmed that two people were killed by a ballistic missile while sheltering in a protected space in their home, but stressed that inside in a bombproof room is still the safest place to be amid Iran’s attacks.According to the Home Front Command, one of the ballistic missiles fired by Iran overnight, carrying a warhead of hundreds of kilograms, directly hit the wall of a safe room on the fourth floor of a high-rise apartment building in Petah Tikva.The direct missile impact “breached” the bombproof room, which is designed to sustain the shockwave of ballistic missiles as well as shrapnel — though not a direct strike from a large explosive warhead.Two people in the safe room were killed; those in the shelters on the floors above and below were unharmed, the Home Front Command said.The two other fatalities in Petah Tikva were outside of protective spaces when the missile struck. One person was on the floor above where the missile hit, but not in their safe room, and the other was in a neighboring building hit by the shockwave, according to the Home Front Command.The Home Front Command stated that bombproof rooms are the safest place to be during ballistic missile attacks, especially in new buildings, and even outperform public bomb shelters, although older underground shelters remain sufficient. The reinforced rooms have saved countless lives in the missile barrages from Iran thus far, it said.In a missile impact in Bat Yam early Sunday, 180 civilians who were inside bomb shelters in the building that was hit were unharmed, the Home Front Command said.Each floor in that apartment building had a shared safe room for the use of residents of that floor, and the building also had an underground shelter. According to the Home Front Command, all of the casualties — nine dead and nearly 200 wounded — were outside of the shelters.The Home Front Command said that in the case of a high-rise tower in Tel Aviv that was hit Sunday, the missile struck the ninth floor, destroying several apartments, but the bombproof rooms resisted the impact, and hundreds of civilians were unharmed or only lightly hurt.In Ramat Gan, a relatively old home without a bombproof room was directly hit by a missile on Saturday. However, those who been in a basement under the building were unharmed, the Home Front Command said.The Home Front Command called on civilians to head for the safest place possible amid Iran’s missile attacks.Iran’s missiles carry warheads of hundreds of kilograms of explosives and are considered to be a much greater threat than its drones, which are mostly intercepted before reaching Israel.“Even when the type of threat changes, the method of defense remains the same,” said Home Front Command chief Maj. Gen. Rafi Milo on Monday. “Throughout the war, we have been dealing with many complex challenges, including missile launches and unmanned aerial vehicles directed at the State of Israel. We operate around the clock, striking every threat we identify and intercepting threats in real time.”Milo added, “Alongside every military action, the personal responsibility of each and every one of you on the home front is of utmost importance, to follow the instructions.”

PM urged to 'enable a broad, significant air bridge back to Israel'150,000 Israelis stranded abroad; airline heads warn government rescue plan falls short-Outbound travel to remain banned in apparent effort to prevent crowds at Ben Gurion Airport, already a target; flights to Israel not expected to begin before Thursday at earliest By Sharon Wrobel and ToI Staff Today, 12:26 pm-JUN 16,25

Around 150,000 Israelis are currently estimated to be stranded overseas amid the ongoing flight shutdown due to the conflict between Israel and Iran, prompting criticism from the heads of the Israir and Arkia airlines that the government’s rescue plan is insufficient and could take weeks to bring everyone home.Rescue flights are not expected to begin arriving before Thursday at the earliest.Meanwhile, under a new plan implemented by the Transportation Ministry and the Israel Civil Aviation Authority, Israelis will be prohibited from flying out of the country for the time being, according to a report from The Marker.The directive is aimed at preventing large crowds at Ben Gurion Airport — a major civilian target — and therefore reducing the risk of mass casualties in the event of further Iranian attacks.Israelis have been told by the National Security Council not to make their way back to Israel over land via border crossings from Egypt and Jordan because of security concerns. Some non-Israeli citizens have been leaving Israel via the crossings.The heads of Israeli airlines said it could take weeks to bring everyone home.“The operation to return Israeli citizens residing abroad may begin toward the end of the week, and perhaps not until the beginning of next week,” said Uri Sirkis, CEO of Israir, which has canceled all flights from and to Tel Aviv through June 30 as Israeli airspace remains closed until further notice.“We are still studying the enemy, the patterns, to understand the ritual of the threats,” he said.Israir noted that once local authorities and the defense establishment approve the launch of rescue flights, they can be booked through the company’s website. Flight ticket prices for rescue flights will be set at a fixed price for each hub point, which have not yet been determined.Describing what he said was an “optimistic” scenario, Sirkis said, “The emerging outline will allow for only two flights per hour, during all hours of the day, subject to the security situation.”Sirkis added, “The flights will only be operated for returning Israelis and Israelis [or any other passengers] will not be allowed to leave the country at this stage.”Arkia CEO Oz Berlowitz lamented that the outline currently being formulated for rescue flights will be “only two landings per hour, and only during the day, which is far from providing a real solution to the situation.”“At this rate, the return of all Israelis could take many weeks and even longer,” he said.Berlowitz called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Transportation Minister Miri Regev, and the defense establishment to “update [the flight plan] immediately and enable a broad and significant air bridge back to Israel.”“I receive hundreds of inquiries a day – from individuals, reserve soldiers, doctors and medical teams, organized groups, some of the largest companies in the economy, parents of small children, patients waiting for treatment, and people who are financially drained due to extended stays in hotels,” he said.“The government must understand that the current aviation crisis is a national crisis,” Berlowitz declared.The military said Monday that the responsibility for returning Israeli citizens who are stranded overseas “lies with the Transportation Ministry.”“The IDF will be able to provide assistance to the Transportation Ministry as needed, in accordance with the requests received,” it added.When Iran’s assault began on Friday after Israel began striking Iranian nuclear and military targets, Israeli airlines El Al, Arkia and Israir moved their fleets out of the country to prevent them from being targeted in an Iranian attack.Videos circulated on social media showed a lineup of grounded Israeli airplanes at Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus.Late on Saturday, Shmuel Zakai, the head of the Civil Aviation Authority, estimated that it would take weeks before all the Israelis stranded abroad would be able to fly home.Authorities closed Israel’s airspace early on Friday as the army carried out initial waves of strikes against Iran and its nuclear program.Ben Gurion Airport has since been closed to all arrivals and departures and has remained so “until further notice.”Israel targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities and ballistic missile factories overnight Thursday-Friday at the start of what it warned would be a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran, which vows to destroy Israel, from attaining nuclear weapons. In response, Iran has launched massive deadly barrages totaling hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones at Israel from Friday night into early Monday morning.In addition to Israel, Iran, Iraq, Jordan and Syria have periodically closed their airspaces, with hundreds of flights forced to turn back or reroute.

Trump said to veto Khamenei assassination; Netanyahu: Conflict may result in regime change-Israel denies series of reports that US president opposed Israel killing Iran’s supreme leader in early Friday’s opening strikes; PM insists Iran nuclear program must be dismantled By Lazar Berman,Nava Freiberg,Agencies and ToI Staff Today, 5:12 am-JUN 16,25

Israel had a window of opportunity on Friday to assassinate Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, but US President Donald Trump vetoed the move, several major news outlets reported Sunday, while Israeli officials cast the series of reports as “fake news.”At the same time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — who himself refused to comment one way or another about the vetoed assassination reports — told Fox News on Sunday that regime change in Iran “could certainly be the result” of Israel’s ongoing military campaign, though he did not say it was the goal and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar denied outright on Sunday that this was the goal.Israeli officials have said repeatedly since launching the intensive waves of airstrikes on Iran early Friday that the campaign is preemptive and was initiated to stave off the imminent, existential threat of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon and growing its ballistic missile arsenal.Officials have also said, however, that if Iran crosses enough red lines — specifically through attacking civilian population centers, as it has in numerous missile attacks since Friday — anything could be on the table.Reuters reported Sunday, citing two US officials, that Israel had an opportunity to kill Khamenei but Trump “waved off the plan.” Shortly thereafter, the Associated Press (AP), Axios, and Israel’s Channel 13 said they’d received confirmation of similar details from American officials.According to AP, Jerusalem informed the Trump administration in recent days that it had developed a credible plan to kill Khamenei. After being briefed on the plan, the White House made clear to Israeli officials that Trump was opposed to Israel making the move, according to a US official.To Axios, a US official said: “We communicated to the Israelis that President Trump is opposed to that. The Iranians haven’t killed an American, and discussion of killing political leaders should not be on the table.”In Israel, National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi denied the Reuters report, calling it “fake news.” Netanyahu’s spokesman Omer Dostri also called it “fake.”Speaking to CNN on Sunday, Sa’ar said: “The goal [of the campaign] is not regime change. That’s for the Iranian people to decide.”But when Netanyahu himself was asked by Fox News’s Bret Baier about the report, the premier demurred, saying: “There are a lot of false reports about conversations that didn’t take place, but I don’t want to get into that.”“But I can tell you, I think that we do what we need to do, we’ll do what we need to do. And I think the United States knows what is good for the United States,” the premier added.Netanyahu did not specify that regime change in Iran was a goal of Israel’s ongoing military campaign, but said that “could certainly be the result because the Iran regime is very weak.”Whisked away-Despite the numerous reports of Trump’s veto, details about the proposed assassination itself were scarce, and the reports didn’t say whether Israel had actively sought to carry out the plan.Iran International, a UK-based outlet critical of the Islamic Republic, cited a diplomatic source in the Middle East who said Israel could have assassinated Khamenei on the first night of the operation Thursday-Friday, but chose not to, in order to give the 86-year-old cleric one last chance to commit to completely dismantle his country’s uranium enrichment program.The outlet also reported, citing two informed sources inside Iran, that Khamenei was whisked away that night to an underground bunker in northeastern Tehran’s Lavizan, where he is now holed up alongside his family.The diplomatic source added that Israel’s strike Sunday on an Iranian refueling plane in the city of Mashhad — some 2,300 kilometers (1,430 miles) from Israel — was a warning to Khamenei that there is no part of the country in which he is safe.Israeli official to WSJ: Khamenei ‘not off limits’While Jerusalem continued Sunday to avoid declaring a goal of regime change, some officials — both openly and anonymously — said that killing Khamenei and acting to topple the Islamic Republic altogether was not outside the realm of possibility.Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter told ABC: “I think it’s fair to say that nobody who’s threatening the destruction of Israel should be off the target list.”Channel 12 quoted an Israeli political source as saying: “Israel is not ruling out the possibility of eliminating Ali Khamenei, but it depends on many things.”The remarks echoed a comment to The Wall Street Journal by an unnamed Israeli official on Saturday, who said the Iranian supreme leader was “not off limits” as a target.The official told the newspaper that “the war would only end either with Iran voluntarily dismantling its nuclear program or Israel making it impossible for Tehran to reconstitute it.”The comments came amid ambiguity about what role the US may yet play in the ongoing conflict. While aiding in defending Israel from missile attacks, Washington has not taken part in the strikes on Iran itself.Trump stressed Sunday that the US was “not at this moment” involved in Israel’s attacks, but added: “It’s possible we could get involved.”Experts say the US military’s bunker buster bombs would be needed to eliminate all of Iran’s nuclear facilities, some of which are located deep underground. At the same time, the US has troops across the Middle East who could be targeted by Iran and its allies.Trump’s administration had, for the last two months, been engaging Iran in talks over its nuclear program, with the goal of reaching a diplomatic accord to stop the Islamic Republic from getting nuclear weapons, while avoiding a war.Dismantle the nuclear program-Netanyahu told Fox that Israel is willing to call off its campaign if Iran accepts US demands to dismantle its nuclear program.“The issue here is stopping those things that will threaten our survival. And we’re committed to stopping them. And I think we can achieve them,” he said. “Now, if they are willing to accept President [Donald] Trump’s terms, that’s another matter.”Otherwise, he said, “it’ll end when we remove those capacities, and we will.”(Trump has stated that “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon” and “can’t have enrichment.” He also said last month that Iran’s leaders had two options as regards their nuclear facilities: “blow them up nicely [themselves] or have the US “blow them up viciously.”)Netanyahu said Israel shared intelligence with the US that Iran was building nuclear weapons: “It was absolutely clear that they were working on a secret plan to weaponize the uranium. They were marching very quickly. They would achieve a test device and possibly an initial device within months, and certainly less than a year. That was the intel we shared with the United States.”He also accused Iran of developing plans to give nuclear weapons to the Houthis in Yemen.Israel and the US are “fully coordinated,” Netanyahu also said. “I’ve been in constant contact with President Trump,” he stated. “We’ve known each other for many years. And obviously, we informed our American friends and President Trump, our great friend, ahead of time. We did.”Netanyahu called Trump the “enemy number one” for Iran. “He’s a decisive leader,” he said. “He never took the path that others took to try to bargain with them in a way that is weak, giving them basically a pathway to enrich uranium, which means a pathway to the bomb, padding it with billions and billions of dollars. He took up this fake agreement and basically tore it up. He killed [IRGC chief] Qassem Soleimani.”Asked whether Israel has the capacity to take out Iranian sites deep underground, Netanyahu said, “We’ve certainly done quite a bit. We’ve destroyed the main facility in Natanz. That’s the main enrichment facility. And if we need to, we’ll add whatever is needed. But yes, we’re committed to achieving both goals. I’m not going to get into all of our objectives. I don’t want to get into specific operational plans.”“We have quite a few startups, too, and quite a few rabbits up our sleeve,” he said.Netanyahu said the Iranians “were completely surprised” by Israel’s operation. “So we have a free highway to Tehran, and we can now pick off the targets that we need in Tehran and other places without having our plane shot down,” said Netanyahu.The Islamic Republic, which vows to destroy Israel, says its nuclear program is for civilian purposes. However, it enriches uranium up to 60 percent — a level that has no civilian purpose and is close to the 90% threshold needed for a nuclear warhead — and has obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities.In a post to his Truth Social platform Sunday, Trump said Israel and Iran “should make a deal,” and predicted: “We will have PEACE, soon, between Israel and Iran!”Later, speaking to reporters, he said he hoped Israel and Iran can reach a deal, but “sometimes they have to fight it out.”“But we’re going to see what happens. I think there’s a good chance there will be a deal,” he said.

IDF chief lauds 'historic and unprecedented operation'Israel kills Iranian intel chiefs, strikes deep inside Iran, opens ‘air corridor to Tehran’Dozens of targets hit in Iran throughout Sunday, including energy sites, radar systems, missile launchers; refueling plane hit at Mashhad Airport, in possibly Israel’s farthest-ever strike By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff Today, 2:43 am-JUN 16,25

Israel on Sunday attacked dozens of sites in Iran — including energy sites, radar systems, and ballistic missiles and their launchers — and killed Iran’s top intelligence officers on the third day of its ongoing campaign against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.The Israel Defense Forces also bombed an Iranian refueling plane at Mashhad Airport in northeast Iran, some 2,300 kilometers (1,430 miles) from Israel, marking what it said was the most distant strike since the beginning of the operation.Early Monday morning, the army said it struck surface-to-surface missile launch sites in central Iran, shortly after the IDF Home Front Command told Israelis to remain close to shelters ahead of an expected missile barrage that didn’t materialize. Iran did launch deadly missile attacks on central and northern Israel later in the pre-dawn hours.The IDF says it has been attempting since Friday to prevent Iranian missile attacks.IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, in a video statement Sunday evening, hailed the “historic and unprecedented operation [against Iran], aimed at significantly damaging the existential threat that Iran has built for years to destroy us.”“We are continuing to operate according to a structured, thorough, professional and evolving plan,” he said. “In the past 24 hours, we completed opening an air corridor to Tehran… Air Force pilots are flying with great risks, hundreds of kilometers away from Israeli territory, striking hundreds of diverse targets with precision. At the same time, we are locating and destroying missile launchers firing at our territory.”In an earlier statement, Zamir said the Air Force was striking Iran’s “infrastructure and nuclear program in a precise and extensive manner, beyond what the enemy anticipated.”Widespread airstrikes were reported Sunday afternoon in the Iranian capital, with videos from the city circulating on social media.There were also local reports of large-scale sewage and water pipe explosions across Tehran, allegedly connected to Israeli strikes, a matter on which the IDF had no comment.Strikes were also reported against Iranian military sites in Shiraz, and the IDF said the Air Force also launched a wave of airstrikes on dozens of ballistic missile targets in western Iran.On Sunday night, Iranian media also reported Israeli strikes in Parchin, with the Mehr News Agency posting a video showing air defense systems activating in the area.In October, Israel’s airstrikes reportedly destroyed an active nuclear weapons research facility in Parchin, after Iran’s ballistic missile attack earlier that month.The strike on Mashhad Airport potentially marked the Israeli Air Force’s farthest-ever strike. In 1985, the IAF struck the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Tunisia, also over 2,000 kilometers from Israel.A large fire could be seen at Mashhad Airport following the Israeli strike.“The Air Force is working to achieve air superiority throughout Iran,” the military said.Iranian state media confirmed Sunday that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) intelligence chief, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Kazemi, and his deputy Hassan Mohaqiq were killed in an Israeli strike during the day, shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted as much in an interview with Fox News.State media said a third IRGC intelligence officer, Mohsen Bagheri, was also killed in the strike in Tehran.Later in the evening, the IDF said it had completed an “extensive” wave of airstrikes in Iran aimed at destroying weapon manufacturing capabilities.The strikes targeted infrastructure belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Guards’ Quds Force, and Iran’s armed forces, and “numerous weapons production sites across Iran were targeted,” according to the IDF.The military published a video showing an airstrike carried out by fighter jets on a surface-to-air missile launcher in Tehran on Sunday, and said it also struck ballistic missile production sites and a radar facility in the Iranian capital.Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency reported that an Iranian foreign ministry building in Tehran had been hit in one of the Israeli airstrikes throughout the day.The president of Iran’s foreign ministry-affiliated Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS), Saeed Khatibzadeh, said the strike also damaged the IPIS building, located across from the targeted site.He shared what he said was footage of the damage to the institute’s library in a post on X.Israel did not comment Sunday on the report.Iran’s IRNA news agency reported during the day that five car bombs had been detonated in Tehran, blaming Israel for the attack. But an Israeli official speaking to the Kan public broadcaster denied that Israel was behind those explosions.Iran’s state media claimed Sunday that the death toll from Israel’s attacks since Friday had climbed to 224, of whom 90 percent are allegedly civilians.Years of hostility between Israel and Iran exploded into open conflict early Friday morning when Israel launched a major offensive against Iran and its nuclear program, hitting nuclear sites, missile bases and top military officials.Israel said it had no choice but to attack Iran, and that it had gathered intelligence showing that Tehran was approaching “the point of no return” in its pursuit of nuclear weapons.Military officials said that the IDF was prepared for heavy fire from Iran, but asserted that “at the end of the operation, there will be no nuclear threat” from the Islamic Republic.Lazar Berman, Stav Levaton and Reuters contributed to this report.

Fighter jets, refuelling aircraft, frigate: UK assets in Mideast.

London, June 16 (AFP) Jun 16, 2025-Britain is deploying extra fighter jets and other assets to the Middle East amid the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said.Below, AFP takes a look at the UK's military presence in the region.- 'Contingency support' -Starmer told reporters travelling with him on his plane to Canada for G7 talks on Saturday that Britain was "moving assets to the region, including jets... for contingency support".The jets are Eurofighter Typhoon planes, according to Britain's defence ministry.Additional refuelling aircraft have also been deployed from UK bases, according to Downing Street.Royal Air Force fighter planes are already in the region as part of Operation Shader, the codename given to Britain's contribution to the international campaign against the Islamic State group.RAF Typhoon jets aided Israel in April 2024 when they shot down an unspecified number of drones fired by Iran, as confirmed by the UK's then-prime minister, Rishi Sunak.Starmer, Sunak's successor, refused to speculate whether the UK would become directly involved this time in the conflict between the arch foes, which entered their fourth day on Monday.Iran threatened to target American, British and French bases if Western countries intervened to stop Iranian strikes on Israel.Tehran also urged London, Paris and Berlin to pressure Israel to stop its deadly attacks on Iran.- Air bases -The UK Ministry of Defence did not confirm where the fighter jets were heading to but the BBC reported they would be operating from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, Britain's largest air force base in the region.The permanent joint operating base is where RAF jets fly from for Operation Shader.Transport, air-to-air refuelling and reconnaissance aircraft operate from there and Britain's other base on Cyprus at Dhekelia.The RAF's operational headquarters in the Middle East is housed at Al Udeid air base in Qatar, a site that is also used by the US Air Force.Britain's air force also operates from Al Minhad air base in the United Arab Emirates and Al Musannah air base in Oman, according to information provided by the UK parliament.- Navy and army -The British Royal Navy's main operations site in the Middle East is the UK Naval Support Facility in Bahrain in the Gulf.A type-23 frigate is permanently based there, as are four mine-counter vessels and a Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel, according to research complied by the House of Commons library.The navy has also operated a logistics base at Duqm port in Oman, by the Arabian Sea, since 2018.The British Army permanently deploys two infantry battalions to the bases on Cyprus.Some 2,220 British soldiers were stationed there as of April last year, according to Ministry of Defence (MoD) statistics.UK troops are also involved in training Iraqi and Kurdish security forces in combatting IS.Two hundred personnel were deployed on operations in Iraq as of January 2024, according to the MoD.

European Commission president: PM promised to boost Gaza aid-EU chief blames Iran for conflict, but says she told Netanyahu diplomacy ‘best solution’Von der Leyen tells PM ‘without any question’ Iran shouldn’t have nuclear weapons, notes ‘same type of Iranian drones, ballistic missiles are indiscriminately hitting cities in Ukraine, Israel’By AFP and ToI Staff Today, 9:03 am-JUN 16,25

KANANASKIS, Canada — European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said she told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday that diplomacy was ultimately best on Iran, but stopped short of calling for an immediate ceasefire.Von der Leyen said that she agreed with Netanyahu in a telephone call that “Iran should not have a nuclear weapon, without any question.”“Of course I think a negotiated solution is, in the long term, the best solution,” she said at a press briefing at a Group of Seven summit in Kananaskis, Canada.Israel launched a surprise and massive military attack on Friday on Iran, targeting nuclear and military sites and military leaders, as well as weapons storage and production sites. Iran has responded with barrages of missiles and drones at Israel, most of which have been thwarted by air defense system, though some missiles have slipped through, hitting cities and causing deaths, injuries and destruction.Von der Leyen — who has been critical of Israel over its offensive in Gaza — placed the blame for the new conflict on Iran, pointing to the UN nuclear watchdog’s finding earlier in the week that Tehran was not in compliance with its obligations.“In this context, Israel has the right to defend itself. Iran is the principal source of regional instability,” von der Leyen said.She said that the G7 summit should discuss the Iran crisis alongside Ukraine, which has been hit by drones sold to Russia by Tehran’s cleric-run state.“The same type of Iranian-designed and -made drones and ballistic missiles are indiscriminately hitting cities in Ukraine and in Israel. As such, these threats need to be addressed together,” she said.European Council chief Antonio Costa, speaking alongside her, said it was “time to give space for diplomacy” and to “give opportunity to decrease the escalation between Israel and Iran.”Iranian attacks in the early hours of Monday killed at least five people and injured dozens as missiles slammed into Israeli cities. Another 16 people were killed and over 200 were injured in other weekend attacks. Iran says Israeli strikes have killed 224 people since Friday, including top military commanders, and wounded more than 320. The Iranian figures cannot be verified and do not differentiate between civilians and those targeted by Israel for their roles in Tehran’s military and nuclear apparatus.Iran, in response to the UN watchdog findings, said it would ramp up output of enriched uranium, although not to levels used to make nuclear weapons.Israel says it launched strikes on Iran because its nuclear program posed an immediate and existential threat.Iran’s leaders, who are sworn to destroy Israel, have publicly denied seeking nuclear weapons, but have stocked up on 60%-enriched uranium — far above what is necessary for civilian uses, and a short step away from weapons-grade.Israel is widely believed to have nuclear weapons but does not publicly acknowledge them.Gaza aid boost-Von der Leyen said that during her call with Netanyahu, the Israeli leader promised to boost aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip.“I insisted and urged that humanitarian aid that is not reaching Gaza has to go into Gaza. He promised that this is the case and that this will be the case,” she told reporters.Von der Leyen said she would follow up on the promise after the three-day summit.She said she will seek to find out on humanitarian aid “how it reaches Gaza, whether it gets into Gaza, what we can do to make sure that humanitarian aid reaches its peak in Gaza.”A year and a half of war has left the Gaza Strip in a deep humanitarian crisis. War erupted on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led a devastating invasion of southern Israel in which the attackers killed 1,200 people, and abducted 251 as hostages to Gaza.Israel responded with a military campaign to destroy Hamas, topple its regime, and free the hostages, of whom 52 remain in captivity. They include the bodies of at least 31 confirmed dead by the IDF. Twenty are believed to be alive and there are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said.In March, after a truce of several weeks collapsed when Netanyahu largely refused to continue negotiations, Israel stopped aid deliveries, aiming to pressure Hamas into reaching a ceasefire. Israel says that Hamas diverts aid deliveries for its own forces, denying the Gaza population supplies.At the end of May, a new organization, the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, began distributing food packages in Gaza, overseeing a new model of aid distribution that the United Nations and major aid groups say violates basic humanitarian principles.

Analysis-As Israel takes fight to Iran, where are Tehran’s terror proxies in its hour of need? Tehran developed a regional terror network to insulate itself from war, but now that it’s under attack, Hezbollah and others are either too weak or too cowed to join the battle By Nurit Yohanan-Today, 6:19 am-JUN 16,25

When Israel announced Operation “Rising Lion” in the wee hours of Friday morning, it marked the first time in over 50 years that the country had declared war against a sovereign state, rather than against a terrorist organization operating from foreign soil, the West Bank, or Gaza.No small number of these organizations Israel has faced off against over the years were and are supported, funded, or even directly controlled by Iran, the country that now finds itself in Israel’s crosshairs.Since the Iranian Revolution in Iran, the regime in Tehran has invested significant efforts in spreading its ideology among Shiite populations in the Middle East while also building up a network of terrorist organizations across the region, including Sunni groups.The Quds Force, a special unit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has in recent decades focused on supporting those organizations through financial aid, the supply of weapons and ammunition, and even training, sometimes conducted on Iranian soil.For Iran, the terror network was both a projection of power and a shield: the groups would continually harass the Islamic Republic’s two greatest enemies, the United States and Israel, while it would remain safely siloed off from the reprisals to come. And the existence of a league of minion armies ready to come to its defense in the case of war helped deter any Western thoughts of invasion or regime change.After October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a devastating assault on Israel, sparking the war in Gaza, the breadth of the Iranian array was put on full display, with Tehran-backed groups from Lebanon to Yemen attacking Israel in what then-defense minister Yoav Gallant called a seven-front war.But now that Israel’s firepower is being directed against Iran itself, those proxies are suddenly nowhere to be seen. Some, like Hezbollah, have been severely weakened by Israel due to attempts to back Hamas. Others seem to have been convinced by their host countries to stay out of the fight.Iran is now in a highly unusual and even dangerous position, forced to rely primarily on its own military power on its own soil. Thus far, this has largely consisted of successive rounds of ballistic missiles fired by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ air force, which have caused plenty of destruction but done little to weaken Israel’s firepower.Meanwhile, Iran has seen its home turn into a battlefield as it tries to confront Israeli attacks from Tehran to Tabriz, representing a strategic vulnerability for a country that prefers to let proxies do its dirty work on foreign ground.Hezbollah down for the count-Iran’s support for terrorist groups abroad has been estimated at billions of dollars annually from state coffers, aid that continued in recent years despite Iran’s dire economic situation, including a sustained currency devaluation and energy shortages.A good chunk of that money has gone to the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, Iran’s most prominent client.But after suffering heavy losses and growing opposition within Lebanon, it is now severely weakened and reluctant to confront Israel.Hezbollah, founded in 1983 with Iranian backing, has for the past two decades served as Iran’s primary military tool against Israel, armed with long-range missiles and even precision-guided weapons.However, since Israel began striking inside Iran on Friday, the only things launched by Hezbollah have been words. This restraint is seemingly a direct consequence of its war with Israel, during which the group launched near-daily attacks into Israel from October 2023 until it agreed to a ceasefire on November 2024.In the final six months of the war, and particularly starting in September, the group suffered major military setbacks. Nearly its entire senior command was eliminated by Israel, including longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.Just before that, Israel’s exploding pager and walkie-talkie attacks wreaked widespread physical and psychological damage among the group’s ground forces. Some 4,000 individuals were injured in the covert op, according to Lebanese reports, the vast majority of them Hezbollah operatives.The group’s once-formidable missile array seems to have been either largely used up or destroyed, with Syria no longer a convenient smuggling route.As of October 2024, the IDF estimated that Hezbollah retained less than 30% of its prewar firepower.Even after the ceasefire was signed, the IDF has continued operating regularly in Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah operatives, mainly in the country’s south. Israel has struck buildings in Beirut’s Dahiyeh district twice, hitting buildings housing drone manufacturing and storage sites, according to the Israel Defense Forces.As a result, Hezbollah is significantly weakened and far less capable of posing a threat to Israel. The organization is also facing mounting internal political pressure, with the country still recovering from heavy Israeli strikes aimed at ending Hezbollah’s attacks.Over the past six months, two of Lebanon’s three top leadership positions have been filled by figures considered “anti-Hezbollah,” including Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and President Joseph Aoun. Both have made statements expressing their intention to disarm Hezbollah and affirming that the decision to go to war should rest with the state.In a recent speech marking his government’s first 100 days, Salam noted that the Lebanese Army had dismantled over 500 weapons depots in the country’s south. While he did not specify whose depots these were, they are widely understood to have belonged to Hezbollah.According to Saudi news outlet Al Arabiya, Lebanon’s government has conveyed a message to Hezbollah saying it would not allow the country to be part of an Iranian retaliation against Israel, stating that “the time when the organization bypassed the state in decisions of war is over.”Lebanese authorities reportedly warned Hezbollah that whoever drags the country into war will bear responsibility, essentially warning both Iran and Hezbollah that they, not Israel, would be to blame if Israel took action in Lebanon.These developments have placed Hezbollah in a problematic position, leading it to refrain from launching attacks on Israel, even if it retains some capacity to do so.On Friday, hours after the Israeli operation launched, Hezbollah issued a lengthy statement strongly condemning the Israeli strikes on Iran, declaring that Israel “only understands the language of killing, fire, and destruction.”The statement made no mention of whether or when it would respond, but a Hezbollah official told Reuters the same day that the group would not retaliate over the attacks in Iran.Iraqi militias fold under pressure-Since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, Iran has bolstered pro-Iranian and Shiite militias in the country to deepen its influence. These groups primarily targeted the United States but also turned their weapons on Israel after October 7.Growing internal and external pressures have brought those operations to a halt.Since 2014, the militias in Iraq have operated under an umbrella organization known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, firing missiles at American troops stationed in the region and also battling the Islamic State terror group when the jihadist organization took control of parts of Iraq.However, since October 7, the militias have also taken part in the regional multi-front war against Israel, apparently with Iranian backing. Throughout 2023 and 2024, they launched drones toward Israel, mainly targeting the Golan Heights and once Eilat, while simultaneously attacking American bases in Iraq. In October 2024, two IDF soldiers were killed by a drone strike launched by pro-Iranian militias in northern Golan Heights.However, even before the second ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in December 2024, Iraq’s pro-Iranian militias agreed to halt attacks on both the US and Israel as part of an agreement with the Iraqi government.A senior official from the al-Nujaba militia, one of the key Iraqi factions, confirmed to Lebanon’s Al-Akhbar newspaper on December 2024 that a deal had been reached to stop military activities. According to Arab media reports, the agreement was connected to the re-ascendance of US President Donald Trump and the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, which ushered in a government that opposes Iran.It is widely believed that the United States, which supports Iraq’s government and opposes renewed attacks on its bases, has taken an active role behind the scenes. The US has not officially addressed the issue, but did claim responsibility for strikes against militia bases in Iraq in 2024 following a deadly attack on an American base.Even as fighting between Israel and Hamas has resumed, the Iraqi militias have continued to sit out.On June 14, the Saudi Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported that the Iraqi government conveyed a message to the militias similar to the one Lebanon gave Hezbollah: Stay out of the war between Israel and Iran.According to the report, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani held intensive talks with militia leaders, telling them that Iraq wants no part in the war.Influential Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr is also seemingly applying pressure for the militias to stand down.“Iraq and its people do not need new wars,” he tweeted on June 13. “We call for silencing the reckless voices calling for Iraqi involvement in the war and for listening to the voice of wisdom and the voice of the clerics.”Syria leaves the fold-Since the outbreak of Syria’s civil war in 2011, Iran has steadily strengthened its sway over the country, not just through direct military presence, but by using it as a key transit route for weapons to Lebanon.Iranian-backed militias did operate there, but Syria’s principal strategic value lay in its role as a corridor, not a battlefield.Now it is neither. When Assad took off for Moscow in early December 2024, he took Iran’s foothold in the country with him, for all intents and purposes.Under new president Ahmad al-Sharaa, Syria’s leadership has completely severed ties with Iran and denied it any beachhead in the country. The Iranian embassy has been closed, and Iranian flights have been banned from Syrian airspace.The new Syrian regime has also issued multiple statements in recent months claiming to have seized weapons intended for smuggling into Lebanon, presumably for Hezbollah.This dramatic shift has significantly hampered Iran’s ability to use Syrian territory to support its regional allies, as it had done for years.Blowing off the Houthis-The Houthi rebels in Yemen are Iran’s only proxy that has continued to participate in the fighting against Israel. But the group’s abilities against Israel are limited by its distance from the country, removing any element of surprise, and its fairly modest arsenal. Since Friday, it has played a largely unnoticed role in the fighting.The Houthis began as an independent militia that rebelled against the Yemeni government during the country’s civil war. Since 2014, the group has enjoyed financial, military, and logistical aid from Iran, which supplies the Houthis with weapons, military technology, and technical expertise.The Houthis claim that since Friday they have launched ballistic missiles targeting important Israeli military sites. In actuality, the group launched a single ballistic missile, which slammed into a Palestinian town near Hebron, injuring several people. The group decided not to claim responsibility.It also fired three drones at the country Saturday, all of which were downed far from Israel’s borders, according to the IDF.Still, the group, which has withstood months of American and Israeli strikes, is at least trying to make a show of supporting Iran.Even as Hezbollah, PMF, Hamas and others have taken a backseat, the Houthis have remained Iran’s most consistent proxy, firing ballistic missiles at Israel now and then, and vowing to keep up “support for Gaza as long as the massacre continues,” in their words.At one time, Houthi fire on Israel was new, surprising and terrifying, but after months it seems to have lost some of that effect, with no known ace up the group’s sleeve. In the meantime, Israel appears to be ramping up its offensive against them, including through the unprecedented use of naval power.Recent attempts to assassinate senior Houthi figures in Yemen, including the group’s chief of staff, Mohammed Abd al-Karim al-Ghamari, also point to substantial intelligence gathered by Israel on the Houthis, likely as a result of the prolonged engagement.The Houthis’ abilities against Israel — ballistic missiles and drones shot from too far away to take the country by surprise or do much more than terrorize the population — appear to mirror Iran’s, just on a significantly smaller scale.As Israel and Iran battle it out in a fight long foretold, the last proxy standing — a ragtag group that at one point brought global commerce to its knees — is likely to find itself a marginal player yet aga.