JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON, June 21 — Iran and Israel exchanged fresh attacks early on Saturday, a day after Tehran said it would not negotiate over its nuclear programme while under threat and Europe tried to keep peace talks alive.
Shortly after 2.30am in Israel (2330 GMT on Friday), the Israeli military warned of an incoming missile barrage from Iran, triggering air raid sirens across parts of central Israel, including Tel Aviv, as well as in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Interceptions were visible in the sky over Tel Aviv, with explosions echoing across the metropolitan area as Israel’s air defence systems responded.
At the same time, Israel's military said it launched a new wave of attacks against missile storage and launch infrastructure sites in Iran.
Sirens also sounded in southern Israel, according to the country's national emergency service Magen David Adom. An Israeli military official said Iran had fired five ballistic missiles and that there were no immediate indications of any missile impacts.
There were no initial reports of casualties.
The emergency service released images showing a fire on the roof of a multi-storey residential building in central Israel. Local media reported that the fire was caused by debris from an intercepted missile.
Israel began attacking Iran last Friday, saying its longtime enemy was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran, which says its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes, retaliated with missile and drone strikes on Israel.
Israel is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons. It neither confirms nor denies this.
Its air attacks have killed 639 people in Iran, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, a United States (US)-based human rights organisation that tracks Iran. The dead include the military's top echelon and nuclear scientists.
In Israel, 24 civilians have been killed in Iranian missile attacks, according to authorities.
Reuters could not independently verify casualty figures for either side.
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A fragment falls through the sky after Israel's Iron Dome intercepted a missile launched from Iran towards Israel, amid the Iran-Israel conflict, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, on June 20, 2025. — Picture by REUTERS[/caption]
Talks show little progress
Iran has repeatedly targeted Tel Aviv, a metropolitan area of around four million people and the country’s business and economic hub, where some critical military assets are also located.
Israel said it had struck dozens of military targets on Friday, including missile production sites, a research body it said was involved in nuclear weapons development in Tehran and military facilities in western and central Iran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said there was no room for negotiations with the US "until Israeli aggression stops". But he arrived in Geneva on Friday for talks with European foreign ministers at which Europe hopes to establish a path back to diplomacy.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump reiterated that he would take as long as two weeks to decide whether the US should enter the conflict on Israel's side, enough time "to see whether or not people come to their senses", he said.
Trump added that he was unlikely to press Israel to scale back its airstrikes to allow negotiations to continue.
"I think it is very hard to make that request right now. If somebody is winning, it is a little bit harder to do than if somebody is losing, but we are ready, willing and able, and we have been speaking to Iran, and we will see what happens," he said.
The Geneva talks produced little signs of progress, and Trump said he doubted negotiators would be able to secure a ceasefire.
"Iran does not want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us. Europe is not going to be able to help in this one," he said.
Hundreds of US citizens have fled Iran since the air war began, according to a US State Department cable seen by Reuters.
Israel's envoy to the United Nations Danny Danon told the Security Council on Friday his country would not stop its attacks "until Iran's nuclear threat is dismantled".
Iran's UN envoy Amir Saeid Iravani called for Security Council action and said Tehran was alarmed by reports that the U.S. might join the war.
Russia and China demanded immediate de-escalation.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran was ready to discuss limitations on uranium enrichment but that it would reject any proposal that barred it from enriching uranium completely, "especially now under Israel's strikes".
— Reuters
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Missiles launched from Iran are intercepted as seen from Tel Aviv, Israel, on June 18, 2025. — Picture by REUTERS[/caption]
