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

In Washington, the advocacy organisation Jewish Voice for Peace demanded “an immediate halt” to Israeli attacks on Iran, warning that the escalation could ignite a “full blown regional war”.

Posting its statement online, the group argued that “Decades of internationally backed impunity for the Israeli government’s war crimes against Palestinians and unconditional military funding from the US have brought us to this point.”

Washington supplies Israel with at least  $3.8bn in military aid every year and has approved extra packages since Israel launched its Gaza offensive in October 2023.

“Amid its escalation with Iran, the Israeli government continues to escalate its brutal slaughter and starvation of Palestinians with the funding and backing of the US,” the statement continued.

It ended with a stark appeal: “Israel is committing genocide and instigating regional war. The US must stop arming Israel NOW.”

A series of clips from an interview between prominent US conservative broadcaster Tucker Carlson and US Senator Ted Cruz have gone viral, igniting controversy over the senator’s foreign policy positions and apparent gaps in basic geopolitical knowledge about Iran.

The full conversation, released on Wednesday on The Tucker Carlson Show, showcases rising tensions within Trump's right-wing base over the US role in the Middle East, particularly regarding Israel, Iran, and the possibility of wider war. 

The rift within Republicans has seen Trump's "Make America Great Again" base, or "America Firsters", generally opposing the US being dragged into another war in the Middle East. The hawks within his base and his administration have been pushing the US into greater involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict.

In a striking exchange, Carlson and Cruz engaged in a heated argument over US involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict, with voices raised as they shouted over each other.

Read more: US Senator Ted Cruz faces backlash for not knowing basic facts about Iran

Australia has shut down its embassy in Tehran, citing a worsening security environment as Israeli strikes hit Iranian nuclear facilities for a second time. With the air conflict entering its second week and no sign of either side backing down, Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced the decision on Friday.

“We have a very volatile security situation in Iran,” Wong told journalists during a press conference.

She added that Australian defence forces and aircraft were being deployed to the Middle East to assist with the possible evacuation of citizens and diplomatic staff once airspace reopens. However, she stressed that the personnel would not be involved in any combat operations.

“We do not have to cast our minds back too far in history to understand the risk to foreign officials in Iran in times of unrest,” she said.

The embassy closure underscores growing fears that the conflict between Iran and Israel may deepen, drawing in regional and global actors.

The Israeli military said on Friday it carried out strikes on dozens of military targets in Iran overnight, including an attack on the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), which it said is involved in Iran's nuclear weapons development.

Hello and welcome to Middle East Eye's live coverage as we track the latest developments following Israel's strikes on Iran, now entering their seventh day and marking a major escalation in regional tensions.

• Beersheba strike: An Iranian missile struck southern Israel’s Beersheba, causing significant damage. The municipality confirmed a "direct hit", with fires and thick smoke visible at the site.

• Casualties reported: Israeli emergency services say at least five people suffered "light injuries", according to Channel 12.

• Drones intercepted: The Israeli military says it shot down three Iranian drones near the Dead Sea overnight.

• Diplomatic push: British Foreign Secretary David Lammy states the next two weeks present "a window" for a diplomatic resolution. The Trump administration will decide on joining the conflict within this period.

Iran appointed a new chief of intelligence at its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Thursday after his predecessor was killed by Israeli strike on Sunday, the official Irna news agency reported.

The commander of Iran's IRGC appointed Brigadier General Majid Khadami as the new head of its intelligence division, Irna said.

Khadami replaces Mohammed Kazemi, who was killed on Sunday alongside two other Revolutionary Guard officers - Hassan Mohaghegh and Mohsen Bagheri - in an Israeli strike.

IRGC commander Major General Mohammad Pakpour had himself been recently appointed after Israel killed his predecessor Hossein Salami in a strike on June 13.

"During the years that our martyred commanders Kazemi and Mohaqeq led the IRGC Intelligence, we witnessed significant growth in all aspects of intelligence within the IRGC," said Pakpour.

Israel launched air strikes on nuclear and military sites in Iran last week, claiming that Iran was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon, which Iran denies and US intelligence circles corroborate.

Israel's Ministry of Health said at least 271 people were injured on Thursday morning following the Iranian strikes, Al Jazeera Arabic reported on Thursday.

Iran launched a new wave of retaliatory missiles and drones toward large areas of Israel on Thursday, earlier in the day, wounding dozens and causing widespread destruction in Tel Aviv.

Australia has announced it is suspending operations at its embassy in Tehran due to the deteriorating security environment and has directed the departure of all Australian officials, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement on Thursday.

Wong advised Australians to leave Iran if they were able to, or shelter in place.

Australia's ambassador to Iran will remain in the region to support the government's response to the crisis, Wong said.

After the US special envoy for Syria warned Hezbollah against becoming involved in the exchange of strikes between Iran and Israel, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said that the Lebanese movement would "act as it sees fit".

In a statement, Qassem said Hezbollah was "not neutral" in the conflict between the two countries and that the Shia group "would act as it sees fit in the face of this brutal Israeli American aggression".

Tom Barrack visited Lebanon on Thursday and warned Hezbollah it would be "a very, very, very bad decision" to get involved.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Thursday that it is continuing to closely monitor and assess the situation regarding the Israeli attacks on nuclear sites in Iran, Reuters reported.

The UN nuclear watchdog said it had information that Iran's Khondab heavy water research reactor had been hit earlier on Thursday, but reported no radiological effects.

Military strikes by Israel on Iran's nuclear sites could lead to potential leaks of radioactive material.

Twenty years ago, the US warned prematurely of the 'birth pangs' of a new Middle East. Now they have arrived in full force - and they will not end in Iran.

Ultimately this is about more than redrawing the map of the Middle East. And it is about more than toppling the rulers in Tehran. 

Just as Israel needed to take out Hamas, Hezbollah and Syria before it could consider clearing a path to Iran’s destruction, the US and its western allies needs the axis of resistance eradicated, as well as Russia bogged down in an interminable war in Ukraine, before it can consider taking on China. 

Or as the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz noted this week, in one of those quiet-part-out-loud moments: "This [the attack on Iran] is the dirty work Israel is doing for all of us."

This is a key moment in the Pentagon’s 20-year plan for “global full-spectrum dominance”: a unipolar world in which the US is unconstrained by military rivals or the imposition of international law. A world in which a tiny, unaccountable elite, enriched by wars, dictate terms to the rest of us. 

If all this sounds like a sociopath’s approach to foreign relations, that is because it is. Years of impunity for Israel and the US have brought us to this point. Both feel entitled to destroy what remains of an international order that does not let them get precisely what they want.

The current birth pangs will grow. If you believe in human rights, in limits on the power of government, in the use of diplomacy before military aggression, in the freedoms you grew up with, the new world being born is going to horrify you.

You can read more here.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he will decide whether to attack Iran within a fortnight, as Israel and Iran continued to trade fire for a seventh day after Israel launched unprovoked attacks on Iran beginning on 13 June.

"Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks," Trump said in a statement read out by his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt.

Trump has kept the world guessing with cryptic social media posts over whether the US would directly intervene. The US is currently involved in a defensive capacity, with its air defence systems intercepting Iranian missiles targeting Israel. 

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned that Iran's supreme leader "can no longer be allowed to exist" after a hospital in Israel was hit by an Iranian missile on Thursday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran would "pay a heavy price" for the strike.

Soroka Hospital in the southern city of Beersheba was left in flames by a bombardment that Iran said was intended to target a military and intelligence base.

Daniel Meron, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, demanded a condemnation from the UN in a video on X filmed outside the World Health Organisation's headquarters.

Israel has repeatedly bombed healthcare facilities in Gaza, which include 36 hospitals. WHO said that at least 94 percent of all hospitals in the Gaza Strip are damaged or destroyed.

Iranian media says that the country's air defences are engaging with hostile targets in north Tehran, Reuters reported on Thursday.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi have spoken on the phone several times since Israel began unprovoked strikes on Iran on 13 June, in order to find a diplomatic end to the crisis, three diplomats told Reuters on Thursday.

According to the diplomats, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter, Aragchi said Tehran would not return to negotiations unless Israel stopped the attacks.

They said the talks included a brief discussion of a US proposal given to Iran at the end of May that aims to create a regional consortium that would enrich uranium outside of Iran, an offer Tehran has so far rejected.

A regional diplomat close to Tehran said Aragchi had told Witkoff that Tehran "could show flexibility in the nuclear issue" if Washington pressured Israel to end the war.

A European diplomat said: "Aragchi told Witkoff Iran was ready to come back to nuclear talks, but it could not if Israel continued its bombing."