TEHRAN — Nowhere in Tehran feels safe anymore
The city is now covered in smoke. The days feel ordinary but the nights are terrifying. No one knows what might be targeted next.
Military bases and police stations are being struck, but police stations are often located close to residential neighborhoods. One I passed today looked like something out of doomsday.
A friend of mine was near the police station in Niloofar Square when it was attacked.
The building was reduced to powder and the residential buildings surrounding it were damaged as well.
People are scared.
Air strikes hit Iran-Iraq as US and Israeli plan to mobilise Kurds gathers pace
Main Points
- Israel has launched fresh strikes on Iran as the crisis in the Middle East enters its sixth day
- The death toll in Iran since start of conflict has risen to 1,230
- Iran armed forces deny targeting Azerbaijan after two drones were fired into the country
- Air strikes hit Iran-Iraq border as US and Israel potentially prepare for new front
- US House of Representatives to vote on war powers resolution that would have required Donald Trump to receive Congress’s permission before continuing the war with Iran, after its defeat in Senate
- Minister for Trade calls for investigation into fuel price increase
Azerbaijan vows to respond after four injured by Iranian drones
Four people have now been injured by two Iranian drones.
Azerbaijan warned on Thursday that it was preparing unspecified response measures after two drones flew across its border and injured four people in the Nakhchivan exclave.
“These attacks will not remain unanswered,” the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry said in a statement.
One drone fell on an airport in Nakhchivan, near the border with Iran, and another landed near a school.
Iran has denied involvement and blamed Israel.
Diplomats in Riyadh ordered to shelter in place due to potential threat, sources say.
Diplomats and staff at embassies in Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter have been told to shelter in place due to a potential threat, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said. They did not have further details. – Reuters
US-Israeli attacks on Iran ‘breach of international law’, says Italian minister
The US-Israeli attacks on Iran that sparked the latest Middle East crisis were clearly in breach of international law, Italian defence minister Guido Crosetto said on Thursday.
He said Italy was being forced to respond to a conflict that the United States and Israel had initiated without warning their allies and partners.
“It is a war that was started without anyone in the world knowing. One in which we, like the rest of the world, find ourselves having to manage [the consequences],” said Crosetto.
Italy has said it will send air defence aid to Gulf countries and naval assets to Cyprus to help them protect against Iranian strikes launched in response to the US-Israeli attacks. – Reuters
Israel issues evacuation orders to Lebanese neighbourhoods
The Israeli military has issued evacuation orders to entire neighbourhoods in Beirut’s southern suburb, instructing them to move north and east of the Lebanese capital.
“Save your lives, evacuate your homes immediately,” Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on X, posting a map highlighting four neighbourhoods of the southern suburbs – an area adjacent to Beirut airport. – ReutersMore than 20,000 Israelis have returned to Israel since the start of the US-Israeli and Iranian war.
A further 120,000 are still abroad and wish to return, according to the Israeli transportation ministry.
The operation to repatriate Israelis stranded abroad is expected to take seven to 10 days.
The ministry says it is working to expand alternatives for arriving and departing from Israel by air, land and sea crossings.
House of Representatives to vote on war powers resolution
The US House of Representatives is preparing to vote on Thursday on a war powers resolution that would have required Donald Trump to seek congressional permission before continuing the war with Iran.
A similar measure was defeated in the Senate on Wednesday.
The tally in the House is expected to be tight, but the outcome will provide an early snapshot of the political support, or opposition, to the US-Israel military operation and the president’s rationale for bypassing Congress, which alone has the power to declare war. – Guardian
Over 4,000 people arrived in UK from five Middle Eastern countries
More than 4,000 people arrived in the UK from five different countries in the Middle East on Wednesday, the UK government said.
Foreign office minister Hamish Falconer said eight planes had arrived from the Gulf country, bringing over 2,000 people to the UK from the UAE and more were expected to land throughout Thursday.
Falconer told MPs, “that includes transit passengers and vulnerable people identified through our consular system. We are expecting a further 10 flights today.”
He said more than 140,000 British people had registered their presence in the Middle East with the foreign office.
Who is responsible for the air strike on a school in Iran?
Senior Trump administration officials have said they are still investigating whether it was a US air strike that hit a girls elementary school in Iran on the opening day of the war.
The strike was one of the deadliest attacks of the American-Israeli campaign against Iran so far, killing at least 175 people, most of whom were probably children, according to Iranian state media and health officials.
It is not clear why the school was hit, or which country’s forces fired at it.