Iran-Israel attack latest news: Four Israeli soldiers injured in blast on Lebanon border

‘I’ve seen reporting that the Iranians meant to fail, that this spectacular and embarrassing failure was all by design,’ National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told a briefing.

‘I’ve also seen Iran say that they provided early warning to help Israel prepare its defenses and limit any potential damage. All of this is categorically false,’ he added.

US officials have previously said that Iran passed a message through Switzerland to Washington saying they intended to respond to a presumed Israeli strike in Syria that killed a top Iranian general.

But Kirby said claims that Tehran passed on the timing or targets of the attack in advance were ‘ridiculous.’

The attack showed that Iran intended ‘clearly to cause significant destruction and casualties,’ he added.

Spokesman for the Security and Foreign Policy Committee in the Iranian Parliament, Abu al-Fadl Amoui:

‘Today we are witnessing an intensity of communications.

‘We will confront any Israeli aggression and respond to it.

‘We are ready to use weapons that we have not used before.

‘We have plans for all scenarios and we call on the Zionists to act rationally.’

Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said on Monday she had told her Israeli counterpart that the conflict must not spread to the region.

‘We are clearly pushing for de-escalation and we need to make sure that the conflict doesn’t extend to the region.

‘So that is why I’ve been clear to my counterpart in Israel – please take the win, and make sure that we can work together to bring back peace in the region,’ she told reporters in Ottawa.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani called for restraint in the Middle East on Monday during talks in Washington as tensions soar between Iran and Israel after Tehran’s weekend strikes.

‘We encourage all the efforts of stopping the expansion of the area of conflict, especially the latest development,’ Sudani said at the White House at the start of a meeting with President Joe Biden.

IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, speaking from Nevatim Airbase, said the base was still ‘functional around the clock’ and took only minimal damage.

Hagari said Israel ‘shall do whatever is needed in order to protect state of Israel’ and ‘at a time and date we choose’.

Anti-Israel protestors took to the Golden Gate Bridge on Monday morning

Demonstrators were seen holding up a ‘Stop the world for Gaza’ sign as police stood in front of stuck vehicles

Another group shut down the Chicago O’Hare Airport around 8.23am

Iran did not provide warnings to the United States last week about its timeframe for launching an attack on Israel or its potential targets, the White House said on Monday.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that the United States did exchange messages with Iran but that there were never any messages regarding Iran’s timeframe or targets for its weekend attack.

Israel’s military chief has said his country will respond to Iran’s missile strike over the weekend.

Lt Gen Herzi Halevi added that Israel is still considering its steps.

But he said the Iranian strike of missiles and attack drones ‘will be met with a response’.

Lt Gen Halevi spoke during a visit to the Nevatim airbase, which Israel says suffered light damage in the Iranian attack.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been meeting with top officials to discuss a possible response (PA)

The British airline has suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv until Sunday.

The company said they made the decision due to the ‘evolving situation’ in the country.

The safety and security of our passengers and crew is always easyJet’s highest priority,

A billboard depicting named Iranian ballistic missiles in service, with text in Arabic reading ‘the honest [person’s] promise’ and in Persian ‘Israel is weaker than a spider’s web’, in Valiasr Square in central Tehran

‘The United States is committed to a ceasefire that will bring the hostages home and prevent the conflict from spreading,’ Biden said in the Oval Office ahead of his meeting with and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shyaa Al-Sudani.

‘The United States if committed’ to Israel’s security, he added.

Germany, France, and Belgium have all summoned their Iranian ambassadors today as European nations continue to condemn Tehran’s attack on Israel over the weekend.

Belgium summoned its Iranian ambassador, Seyed Mohammad Ali Robatjazi, according to a statement from the Belgian foreign ministry.

Iran’s ambassador was called to hear France condemn ‘with the greatest firmness’ Iran’s attack on Israel, the French foreign ministry said in a statement.

And the German government summoned the Iranian ambassador in Berlin, a Federal Foreign Office spokesperson said.

The German airline has announced it will resume flights to Tel Aviv, Amman, and Erbil tomorrow, Sky reports.

Lufthansa had stopped flights to and from the Middle East due to the rising conflict in the region.

According to the company, flights to Tehran and Beirut will remain unavailable up to and including Thursday.

Iranian airspace is also set to be avoided until then.

US President Joe Biden on Monday reiterated Washington’s commitment to Israeli security ahead of a meeting with Iraq’s prime minister.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, speaking alongside Biden, said their views may be divergent about what is happening in the region.

The US -Iraqi relationship is at an important juncture, Sudani said, adding that he would discuss moving from a military relationship to a full partnership. (Reuters)

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have confirmed four Israeli soldiers were inside Lebanon when they were injured in an overnight explosion, BBC reports.

They had previously claimed the soldiers were in the ‘border area’ to the north with Lebanon but they did not confirm whether the group had entered Lebanese territory.

A group of Anti-Israel protestors have blocked the entrance to Chicago’s O’Hare airport

Video shows them sitting and standing as they linked on to one another

Frustrated travelers exited their cars and walked to their terminals with their luggage

‘Ideas of containment and moderation are the perceptions that ended on Oct 7,’ he said in a statement late on Sunday, referring to the deadly Hamas terror attack last year that killed around 1,200 people in Israel. ‘To create a deterrent in the Middle East, Israel has got to show that it is prepared to go berserk,’ he added.

Israel wants to carry out action against Iran coordinated with the US, according to local media reports following a meeting by the Israeli war cabinet.

These reports contradict an earlier statement by US President Joe Biden, who said that the US would not participate in retaliatory action against Iran.

Belgium on Monday joined other EU countries in summoning Iran’s ambassador to complain about Tehran’s drone and missile attack on Israel.

‘The Iranian Ambassador has just been summoned. Belgium strongly condemns Iran’s attack on Israel,’ Belgium’s foreign minister Hadja Lahbib wrote on X.

‘We call on all parties to exercise the greatest restraint. A regional escalation is to be avoided.’

The move by Belgium, which holds the European Union’s rotating presidency, came after France, Germany and the Czech Republic said they were summoning the Iranian envoys in their respective capitals.

Rishi Sunak today slammed Iran for ‘sowing chaos’ in the Middle East as he called for ‘calmer heads to prevail’ in the wake of Tehran’s attack on Israel.

In a statement to the House of Commons, the Prime Minister urged all sides to ‘show restraint’ in the wake of Iran’s missile and drone blitz over the weekend.

Speaking to MPs this afternoon, Mr Sunak said: ‘With this attack Iran has once again shown its true colours. They are intent on sowing chaos in their own backyard, on further destabilising the Middle East.

‘Our aim is to support stability and security because it is right for the region and because although the Middle East is thousands of miles away, it has a direct effect on our security and prosperity at home.

‘So we’re working urgently with our allies to de-escalate the situation and prevent further bloodshed. We want to see calmer heads prevail and we’re directing all our diplomatic efforts to that end.’

Home Secretary James Cleverly said he would not speculate in response to calls for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to be added to the list of banned terror groups.

After being asked whether it was time to proscribe IRGHC as a terrorist group, Mr Cleverly replied that the IRGC is ‘sanctioned in its entirety’, adding: ‘We will keep this constantly under review.’

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said there was ‘no doubt’ the attack ‘has left the world a more dangerous place’ and said Iran ‘must be wholly condemned by all’.

He said ‘a full-scale conflict in the Middle East is in no-one’s interest’ and ‘it is a path that can only lead to more bloodshed, more instability and the unleashing of forces that are beyond the ability of anyone to control’.

In a rebuke to Israel, he said: ‘If diplomacy takes centre stage, and it must, then we also need to be clear diplomatic premises should not be targeted and attacked. That is a point of principle.’

Rishi Sunak has reiterated his full support of Israel, as he set out his three vital steps to ‘put the region on to a better path’ in a Commons statement. He said:

1. ‘We must uphold regional security against hostile actors including in the Red Sea, and we must ensure Israel’s security – that is non-negotiable. It is a fundamental condition for peace in the region. In the face of threats like we saw this weekend, Israel has our full support.
2. ‘We must invest more deeply in the two-state solution, that is what we have been doing over the past six months, including working closely with the Palestinian authority so that when the time comes they can provide more effective governance for Gaza and the West Bank.
3. ‘The conflict in Gaza must end, Hamas which is backed by Iran started this war, they wanted not just to kill and murder but to destabilise the whole region.’

Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told David Cameron that Iran does not want to increase tensions in the Middle East, but that it would ‘respond instantly and stronger than before’ if Israel launched retaliatory strikes, Sky News reports.

‘There is a realistic possibility of Israel choosing covert operations, including by cyber means, to sabotage Iranian production lines and military infrastructure, including limited sabotage of Uranium enrichment/production facilities,’ Noam Ostfeld, a Middle East North, North Africa and Turkey intelligence analyst at Sibylline, told MailOnline.

He added: ‘From what we currently see, international pressure, particularly by the US and regional countries who want to avoid escalation, will moderate an Israeli retaliation. As such, prospects of direct Israeli strikes on Iranian soil are low.’

Government spokesman David Mencer said Israel ‘retains all its options’ after a war cabinet meeting today, Sky News reports.

‘We reserve the right to do everything in our power, and we will do everything in our power to defend this country,’ he added.

The Israeli war cabinet has been meeting for the second day to decide how the country should respond to Iran’s attack, which saw more than 350 missiles flying towards Israel.

BBC bosses today apologised after Radio 2 played Kool & The Gang’s 70’s hit Ladies Night, which contains the lyrics ‘oh, what a night’, during a report about Iran‘s missile attack on Israel.

The technical issue, that saw the intro to the 1979 hit played out, happened on the Radio 2 5pm news bulletin yesterday.

It played as the IDF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner launched a verbal attack on Iran for its decision to send 350 drones and missiles to blitz Israel on Saturday night.

Four Israeli soldiers were wounded in an explosion hundreds of metres inside Lebanese territory, an Israeli military official said on Monday.

It appeared to be the first such incident to become known since the Gaza war erupted in October, leading to months of exchanges of fire between Israel and Lebanon’s armed group Hezbollah.

Hezbollah said in a statement that its fighters planted explosive devices in the Tel Ismail area near the border on the Lebanese side.

It said that when a patrol of Israel’s Golani Brigade crossed into Lebanon and arrived at the area where the devices were planted, Hezbollah detonated them, leading to deaths and injuries.

Britain rejects an assertion by Iran that it provided advance notice before attacking Israel, a spokesman for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Monday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Sunday that Iran gave neighbouring countries and Israel’s ally the United States 72 hours’ notice it would launch the strikes.

‘I would reject that chracterisation,’ Sunak’s spokesman told reporters. ‘And more broadly we condemn in the strongest possible terms their direct attack against Israel.’

Iran‘s government celebrated its ‘revenge’ as missiles and drones hurtled towards Israel early on Sunday, while Tehran’s streets filled with thousands of supporters celebrating the attack – and emptied of those fearful of a possible retaliation.

State television broadcast jubilant scenes in the capital and several other cities, where pro-regime Iranians set off flares, flew flags and chanted ‘Death to Israel’.

Their slogans were repeated by Iranian MPs gathered in parliament, with footage showing lawmakers crowding together, raising their fists in the air and chanting victoriously as the Iranian flag is held up above them.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Monday its forces destroyed four uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on April 14, acting in self-defence.

CENTCOM added in a Red Sea update that Houthi militants launched an anti-ship ballistic missile toward the Gulf of Aden from a Houthi controlled area in Yemen on Saturday and that there were no injuries or damage reported by US, coalition, or commercial ships.

RUSI associate fellow and defence analyst Samuel Cranny-Evans told MailOnline: ‘Iran has deviated from its usual strategy of using proxies to exert influence and conduct conflict in the area and moved to direct state-on-state confrontation.

‘The dynamics have changed and made the risk of conflict greater – both between Israel and Iran, and in the wider region.

‘Israel has and can act independently (of the US) – they have to do something to restore deterrence… Netanyahu is all about security, and in the context of Hamas’ October 7 attacks is unlikely to want to be seen as weak in the face of Iranian aggression.’

Austria’s foreign minister has spoken with his Iranian counterpart to condemn Tehran’s attack on Israel and call on Iran to rein in its proxies in the Middle East.

Alexander Schallenberg said in a statement he told Iran’s Hossein Amirabdollahian on Monday that ‘we cannot afford another front in the Middle East. There would only be losers, in the region and beyond.’

Oil prices fell on Monday after Iran’s missile and drone strike failed to cause widespread damage in Israel and the US administration made it clear it did not support a wider war with Iran.

Analysts say the chief risk to oil prices from the Israel-Hamas war is if the conflict escalates and disrupts oil supplies from Iran and Persian Gulf producers through the Strait of Hormuz choke point.

The stance taken by Iran, which said the matter ‘can be deemed concluded’ with the retaliatory strikes, and the U.S. position reassured oil traders, who sent the price of international benchmark Brent crude 0.7% lower to $89.82 per barrel in Monday morning trading.

That is below the levels just above $90 per barrel seen on Friday before the weekend attacks.

Nationalist figures in Israel called on the five-person Israeli war cabinet – which includes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – to choose the former, despite fears from allies of a ‘catastrophic escalation’ leading to a wider Middle East war and World War Three.

‘We need a crushing attack,’ Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote on X. Finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said if Israel ‘hesitates’ in its response, then ‘we will put ourselves and our children in existential danger.’

Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the attack had been a defeat for Iran and echoed President Joe Biden, who urged Israel to ‘take the win.’

Cameron said Britain’s message to Israel is: ‘Now is the time to be smart as well as tough, to think with head as well as heart.’

He added that British fighter jets had played an ‘important part’ in shooting down some of the more than 350 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones fired at Israel from Iran, but did not provide details.

Billboards have popped up in Tehran depicting launching missiles as Iran seemingly celebrates its 350-missile attack on Israel.

The text on one banner in Arabic reads ‘the honest [person’s] promise’ and in Persian ‘Israel is weaker than a spider’s web’, while anohter poster depicted missiles launching from a representation of the map of Iran coloured with the Iranian flag.

• Washington sent ‘a series of direct communications through the Swiss channel’ prior to the attack, a senior administration official said
• Washington and Tehran have not had diplomatic relations for decades, with Switzerland represents the US in Iran and communications go via ‘the Swiss channel’
• The Swiss foreign ministry refused Monday to divulge what actions the country had taken in connection with Iran’s weekend attack on Israel, but US and Iranian officials alluded to the important role Switzerland was playing as an intermediary

‘Instead of making accusations against Iran, [Western] countries should blame themselves and answer to public opinion for the measures they have taken against the … war crimes committed by Israel’ in its war in Gaza, Nasser Kanaani, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, told the BBC.

Kanaani added that Western countries ‘should appreciate Iran’s restraint in recent months.’

Germany summoned Iran’s ambassador on Monday morning following Tehran’s weekend missile and drone attack against Israel, according to a foreign ministry spokesperson in Berlin.

‘The meeting is currently taking place,’ added the spokesperson.

• UN chief Antonio Guterres has declared that the Middle East is ‘on the brink’ and that those living in the region are facing ‘a real danger of a devastating full-scale conflict.’
• He told the emergency meeting, which was called after Iran‘s attack: ‘Regional – and indeed global – peace and security are being undermined by the hour. Neither the region nor the world can afford more war.’
• Guterres added that acts of reprisal involving the use of force are barred under international law after Iran’s attack on Israel, while the US warned the Security Council it would work to hold Tehran accountable at the UN.

Senior US defence officials have told NBC News that they worry an Israeli response to the attacks would be ‘frenetic’ and ‘catastrophically escalatory’.

Three senior administration officials have also told the outlet that Biden had privately expressed concern that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to pull the US into the conflict.

Biden spoke with Netanyahu in a late-night phone call on Saturday and made it clear that US forces would not participate any further.

A graphical representation of air traffic shows airspace over Iran and the neighbouring Middle East countries at 1am yesterday following Iran’s unprecedented attack on Israel:

Some African governments are urging Israel and Iran to avoid an escalation of the conflict.

While Iran’s attack on Israel ‘represents a real and present threat to international peace and security,’ Israel should ‘show utmost restraint’ in its response, President William Ruto of Kenya said in a statement posted on social platform X.

The warring parties ‘must exercise the utmost restraint and avoid any act that would escalate tensions in a particularly fragile region,’ South Africa’s government said in a statement Sunday.

Nigeria’s Foreign Ministry urged Israel and Iran to ‘reflect on the universal commitment to peaceful resolution of conflicts.’

Professor Gerald Steinberg, an expert in conflict management and founder of Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor, said: ‘To deter future Iranian attacks, Israel must exact a significant cost – perhaps by targeting more key IRGC officials or destroying the bases where the attacks were launched from.

‘The response will also need to be negotiated with the US,’ he said, but added that this would give the Biden administration ‘influence over Israeli decision on responding to Iran.

The powerful short-range defence system was used to shoot down the incoming barrage of drones, cruise missiles and rockets fired from Iran, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen, and has also been working in full-force to handle attacks throughout the six-month war against Hamas.

• French President Emmanuel Macron said Iran’s attack on Israel was a ‘disproportionate response’ to the bombing of its consulate in the Syrian capital, Damascus
• Macron told French media BFMTV abd RMC that France had carried out ‘interceptions’ of missiles that Iran aimed at Israel at the request of Jordan.
• He added that France will try to ‘convince Israel that we must not respond by escalating.’

‘It was a terrifying [night], the children didn’t sleep all night, they came to our bed, slept with us,’ Moran, 41, from Jerusalem, told the BBC.

‘We have the most powerful army in the world, and we believe it will be okay. I wish we would attack, but we can’t because of the US.’

‘It’s very possible that Israel will respond to the direct attack with a series of covert operations within Iranian borders, telegraphing Israel’s deterrence capabilities, while highlighting Iranian exposure toIsrael’s military and intelligence prowess,’ said Avi Melamed, a former Israeli intelligence official.

Mr Melamed, who went on to serve as deputy and then as senior Arab affairs adviser to two Jerusalem mayors, added: ‘These operations are likely to start in the near future.’

Airlines have suspended flights due to Middle East tensions.

Lufthansa, KLM, easyJet, Iberia Express, Air Canada, Air India, and Wizz Air have suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv today, while Finnair suspended operations in Iranian airspace until further notice.

Flights to Beirut and Tehran remain impacted for many airlines.

Leaders of the G7 – including UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak – also held talks on Sunday in which they ‘unequivocally’ condemned Iran’s attack on Israel and warned that the risk of an ‘uncontrollable regional escalation’ must be avoided.

In a joint statement following an urgent call, countries including the UK and US said they ‘stand ready to take further measures now and in response to further destabilising initiatives’.

Russia said it was very worried by the rise in tensions in the Middle East following Iran’s mass drone and missile attack on Israel.

‘We are extremely concerned about the escalation of tensions in the region,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. ‘We call on all countries in the region to exercise restraint.’

‘Further escalation is in no one’s interests. Therefore, of course, we advocate that all disagreements be resolved exclusively by political and diplomatic methods,’ Peskov said.

Israel is ‘not in the business of revenge’ but will defend itself against ‘this Iranian threat’, a spokesperson has said.

Orly Goldschmidt told Sky News: ‘We are listening very carefully to our allies, we’re taking what they’re saying into consideration but, at the end of the day, we will have to defend ourselves against this Iranian threat.’

‘Not revenge, because we’re not in the business of revenge but we want to make sure that they are deterred. What happened on Saturday cannot happen on a daily basis, on a weekly basis.

‘We have to understand that it’s not a new normal that can happen in the Middle East, we have to make sure that the Iranians understand and they are deterred.’

UK foreign minister David Cameron on Monday urged Israel to ‘avoid escalatation’ following Iran’s missile attack, and instead urged Israeli authorities to focus on freeing hostages held by Hamas.

Cameron told Times Radio that he echoed US President Joe Biden’s plea for Israel to ‘take the win and then move on to focus on how to eradicate Hamas in Gaza and how to get those hostages free.

‘We’re very anxious to avoid escalation and to say to our friends in Israel, “it’s a time to think with head as well as heart and in many ways this is a double defeat for Iran”,’ he added.

Welcome to MailOnline’s live blog, where we will bring you the latest news and updates on the conflict between Israel and Iran following Iran’s 350-missile blitz attack over the weekend.