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

The Israeli military said on Saturday  that seven of its soldiers were injured during Iran’s missile barrage overnight.

An Israeli military official says strikes on Iran’s Esfahan and Natanz nuclear sites caused “significant” damage and will take weeks to repair.

The official, speaking on Saturday, also said nine senior Iranian nuclear scientists were killed in the operation, which involved more than 150 targets hit with hundreds of munitions.

He added that Israel had effectively opened “the aerial road” to Tehran and claimed most of the drones and missiles launched by Iran in retaliation were intercepted.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has named Majid Mousavi as the new commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force.

The appointment follows the killing of Amir Ali Hajizadeh in a recent Israeli strike.

Israel’s main international gateway, Ben Gurion Airport, remains shut as cross-border fire between Israel and Iran stretches into its second day.

“There is no date or day set to reopen the airport,” said spokeswoman Lisa Diver.

Footage from the scene showed abandoned check-in areas and empty lounges, with departure boards flashing flight cancellations across the board.

Meanwhile, regional airspace is slowly reopening. Lebanon, Syria and Jordan have announced they are resuming operations as of Saturday.

The Israeli military says its recent air raids on Iran targeted senior figures in Tehran’s civilian nuclear programme, killing nine of the country’s top scientists.

“During the Israeli air force strikes at the onset of Operation Rising Lion, nine senior scientists and experts, who advanced the Iranian regime's nuclear weapons programme, were eliminated,” the army said in a statement, listing those killed by name.

The military called it a “significant blow” to Iran’s capacity to develop nuclear weapons claiming the strikes were based on “precise intelligence gathered by the intelligence directorate”.

There is no evidence that Iranian has been working on nuclear weapons.

Iran has issued a stark warning to the United States, United Kingdom and France, threatening retaliation if they interfere with its attacks on Israel, according to state media.

“Any country that participates in repelling Iranian attacks on Israel will be subject to the targeting of all regional bases of the complicit government, including military bases in the Persian Gulf countries and ships and naval vessels in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea by Iranian forces,” read a government statement, as quoted by Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency.

Iranian authorities have detained five individuals in the central city of Yazd on suspicion of photographing sensitive sites and "collaborating with Israel", according to local media on Saturday, in a report carried by Reuters.

The arrests come amid, following Israel’s largest aerial assault yet on Iran.

Iran has not released further details about the identities of those arrested or the specific nature of the alleged collaboration.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz has issued a stark warning to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, threatening dire consequences if missile strikes on Israel continue, even as Tel Aviv continues to attack Iran.

In a statement, Katz accused Iran’s leadership of endangering its own people: “The Iranian dictator is taking the citizens of Iran hostage, bringing about a reality in which they, and especially Teheran's residents, will pay a heavy price for the flagrant harm inflicted upon Israel's citizens. If Khamenei continues to fire missiles at the Israeli home front, Tehran will burn.”

At least two people were killed in an Israeli air raid targeting a missile site in Assadabad, western Iran, on Saturday, according to Iranian media reports.

Pope Leo has called on leaders in Israel and Iran to exercise restraint and seek dialogue following recent military escalation.

Speaking from St Peter’s Basilica on Saturday, the pope said he was following the rising tensions with “great concern”.

“In such a delicate moment, I strongly wish to renew an appeal to responsibility and to reason,” he told the gathering.

He urged all nations to help build a “safer world free from the nuclear threat” through “respectful encounters and sincere dialogue”.

“No one should ever threaten the existence of another,” he said, adding that peace must be grounded in justice, dignity and reconciliation.

Iran’s state broadcaster says an Israeli strike on a residential complex in Tehran has killed at least 60 people.

On Friday, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations said 78 people had been killed and 320 wounded in the first wave of Israeli strikes.

Authorities say emergency crews are still pulling victims from the rubble.

We will bring you more updates as details emerge.

Iran’s civil aviation authority has suspended all flights across the country and closed its airspace “until further notice,” state media said on Saturday, amid the ongoing military confrontation with Israel.

“To ensure the safety of passengers, all airports will remain out of service,” the IRNA news agency reported

The Israeli military says it has carried out further strikes on what it described as “dozens of surface-to-surface missile launchers” inside Iran.

This follows an earlier statement confirming that its forces had also targeted several Iranian installations overnight, including air defence systems. 

Lebanon has announced it will reopen its airspace at 10am (0700 GMT) on Saturday, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA).

Citing the Lebanese Civil Aviation Authority, NNA reported the airspace will close again from 10:30pm (1930 GMT) until 6am (0300 GMT) on Sunday, following Israel's surprise attack on Iran.