Live: Iran holds funeral for top military, nuclear figures killed in Israeli strikes

Rescue teams from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) evacuated a family of six from Abasan, east of Khan Younis, after they had been trapped for 37 days under severe humanitarian conditions.

The operation, carried out on Saturday, followed days of coordination amid ongoing Israeli military activity that had made access unsafe.

The family was transferred to the PRCS-run Al-Mawasi Field Hospital, west of Khan Younis, where they are receiving full medical and psychological care.

The group had endured intense physical and emotional hardship during their isolation, as movement in the area remained highly dangerous due to Israeli targeting of civilians, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani held talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on the sidelines of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit.

During the meeting, Sheikh Mohammed condemned the ongoing Israeli military action, which he referred to as “continued Israeli aggression against the territory of the sisterly Republic of Iran”.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry described the strikes as a “flagrant violation of Iran’s sovereignty and security, and a clear breach of the principles of international law”.

The Qatari leader also underlined the urgent need to “de-escalate tensions and resolve disputes” through diplomatic means.

The United States has begun moving B-2 stealth bombers to its airbase in Guam, two US officials told Reuters on Saturday, as President Donald Trump considers whether to involve Washington in Israel’s ongoing military campaign against Iran.

While the officials did not confirm a direct link between the deployment and the current conflict in the Middle East, the move comes amid heightened regional tensions.

The B-2 is capable of carrying the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator — a 13,600kg bomb designed to destroy fortified underground sites, such as those suspected of housing elements of Iran’s nuclear programme.

Officials, speaking anonymously, declined to say how many bombers were being relocated and noted no forward orders had been issued to deploy them beyond Guam. The Pentagon has not commented on the development.

Yemen’s Houthi movement has warned that it will strike US vessels in the Red Sea if the United States takes part in Israeli war against Iran, the group’s military spokesperson has said.

According to Yemeni state media, the spokesperson reaffirmed the Houthis' opposition to “Zionist aggression” against any Arab or Muslim nation.

The group has carried out attacks on Israeli targets and commercial shipping in the Red Sea since 2023, claiming to act in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Although the US and the Houthis reached a ceasefire in May, under which both sides agreed not to target each other, the group’s latest warning signals rising tensions amid broader regional escalation.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said that Israel is pushing the Middle East to the edge of catastrophe following its 13 June strikes on Iran.

“Israel is now leading the region to the brink of total disaster by attacking Iran, our neighbour,” Fidan said during an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting in Istanbul.

The conflict between Israel and Iran has entered its ninth day, sparked by unproven Israeli claims that Tehran was close to acquiring nuclear weapons—an allegation that led to immediate retaliation from Iran.

Fidan added, “There is no Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, Yemeni or Iranian problem but there is clearly an Israeli problem,” and urged an end to what he described as Israel’s “unlimited aggression” against Iran.

“We must prevent the situation from deteriorating into a spiral of violence that would further jeopardise regional and global security,” he warned.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking after Fidan, criticised Western leaders for offering Israel “unconditional support.”

Videos verified by Al Jazeera show thick plumes of smoke billowing over the city of Ahvaz following an Israeli air strike.

Ahvaz, situated in Iran’s Khuzestan province bordering Kuwait, is a key hub for the country’s oil production. The scale of the damage remains unclear as footage of the aftermath continues to emerge.

A senior Iranian official said on Saturday that proposals put forward by European powers at talks in Geneva about his country's nuclear programme were "unrealistic", suggesting that if they stuck to them it would be difficult to reach an accord.

There were few signs of progress on Friday after the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3, plus the EU met their Iranian counterpart in a bid to prevent the conflict between Israel and Iran from escalating.

"The discussions and proposals made by the Europeans in Geneva were unrealistic. Insisting on these positions will not bring Iran and Europe closer to an agreement," the senior official told Reuters, while speaking on condition of anonymity.

"In any case, Iran will review the European proposals in Tehran and present its responses in the next meeting," the official said.

Both sides signalled on Friday their readiness to keep talking, although no new date was set.

European diplomats said Friday's talks had been aimed at testing Tehran's willingness to negotiate a new nuclear deal despite there being no obvious prospect of Israel halting its attacks soon.

A spokesperson for Iran's health ministry said Israeli attacks on the country have killed more than 400 Iranians. 

Hossein Kermanpour, head of public relations at Iran's health ministry, said most of the recorded deaths have been civilians.

He added that the Israeli strikes have killed at least 54 women and children, and wounded 3,056 others.

"Among the injured, 2,220 have been treated and discharged from the Ministry of Health hospitals, while 232 received outpatient care at the scene of the attacks," said Kermanpour.

"During this period, our dedicated medical teams across the country have performed 457 surgeries on the wounded."

Gulf Cooperation Council ambassadors have expressed concerns to UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi about the safety of nuclear facilities close to their countries, amid the continued Israeli bombardment of Iran, Qatar state news agency reported on Saturday.

The ambassadors warned Grossi during a meeting in Vienna about the "dangerous repercussions" of targeting nuclear facilities.

The warning comes after the Israeli military said at one point on Thursday that it had struck the Russian-built Bushehr facility, but later said the comment had been made by mistake. Bushehr is Iran's only operating nuclear power plant, which sits on the Gulf coast.

The potential consequences of an attack on the plant - contaminating the air and water - have long been a concern among the Gulf states.

Israel on Saturday said it had killed a veteran Iranian commander during attacks by both sides in the more than week-long air war, while Tehran said it would not negotiate over its nuclear programme while under threat.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said his forces had killed Saeed Izadi, who led the Palestinian Corps of the Quds Force, the Iranian Revolutionarty Guards' overseas arm, during a strike an apartment in the Iranian city of Qom. 

Calling his killing a "major achievement for Israeli intelligence and the Air Force", Katz said in a statement that Izadi had financed and armed the Palestinian militant group Hamas ahead of its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza. 

The Revolutionary Guards said five of its members died in attacks on Khorramabad, according to Iranian media. They did not mention Izadi, who was on U.S. and British sanctions lists.

Iranian media said earlier on Saturday that Israel had attacked a building in Qom, with initial reports of a 16-year-old killed and two people injured.

Speaking on the sidelines in Istanbul, before a meeting with 40 diplomats from other Muslim-majority countries, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi raised doubts that Iran could consider the United States to be a partner with which to negotiate in "good faith".

"It is obvious, I cannot go to negotiations with the United States when our people are under bombardment, under the support of the United States," Araghchi said. 

"We have come, unfortunately, to the conclusion that the United States has been in this aggression from the beginning," he added, referring to the Israeli bombardment.

"They deny, they keep saying they are not involved, but we have many indications they have been involved from day one. And now the interviews by the US president is quite clear, that he's talking about US leadership on this question."

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has arrived in the Turkish city to attend a meeting with fellow representatives at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Tehran's Tasnim Agency are reporting that Araghchi will be joined by 40 diplomats this weekend.

Speaking to reporters, Aragchi said: "At this meeting, at the suggestion of Iran, the issue of the Zionist regime's attack on our country will be specifically addressed."

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest developments from the Israeli attack on Iran, now in its ninth day:

• Iran fired five missiles toward Israel on Friday night; no casualties have been reported.

• Iran’s Fars News Agency reported that Israel targeted the Isfahan nuclear site, but confirmed there was no leakage of hazardous materials.

• Israel announced it had assassinated Saeed Izadi, the head of the Palestine Corps within Iran's Quds Force, a branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday that the US might have used the nuclear talks to cover up as Israel planned its attack against his country.

"They had perhaps this plan in their mind, and they just needed negotiations perhaps to cover it up," Araghchi told NBC.

The US and Iran were scheduled to hold a sixth round of negotiations on Sunday in Oman, but was cancelled due to Israel’s attack on Tehran on Thursday.

He added: "We don't know how we can trust them anymore. What they did was, in fact, a betrayal to diplomacy." Araghchi also said it was up to the US "to show their determination [for] a negotiated solution".

Chinese representative to the UN Fu Cong said on Friday that Israel should “cease fire as soon as possible” to prevent the situation from escalating.

Speaking at the UN Security Council earlier, Congo described Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities as a “dangerous precedent” that could have “catastrophic consequences”.

The nuclear issue must be returned “to the track of dialogue and negotiation”, he said.