Shrapnel from Iranian rocket causes fire at apartment in central Israel

Iranian media reports that at least two people were killed in an apartment attack in the city of Qom.

According to the reports, at least one of them is linked to the nuclear program.

The Air Force began a wave of strikes against missile storage and launch infrastructure in central Iran early Saturday morning following a launch from Iran. 

A fallen rocket started a fire at a Holon apartment building, fire and emergency crews reported on Saturday night. 

The fire broke out after a missile barrage from Iran was launched. The building that caught alight as a result of the shrapnel was a three-story residential building. 

Firefighters are currently working at the scene

Magen David Adom said it had received no calls to its emergency hotline following a rocket launch from Iran early Saturday morning. 

However, fire and emergency services reported that a building in Holon had caught fire after the alarms.

Fire teams are on their way to the scene to investigate and assist. 

This is a developing story. 

Rocket sirens sounded in central Israel and the West Bank early Saturday morning. 

Resident in Ramat Gan and the Tel Aviv surrounding area reported hearing explosions. 

The IDF attacked targets in the city of Isfahan, Iranian media reported early Saturday morning. 

 Hundreds of American citizens have departed Iran using land routes over the past week since an aerial war between the Islamic Republic and Israel broke out, according to an internal State Department cable seen by Reuters on Friday.

While many left without problem, "numerous" citizens had faced "delays and harassment" while trying to exit, the cable said. It said, without giving further details, that one unidentified family had reported that two US citizens attempting to leave Iran had been detained.

The internal cable dated June 20 underscores the challenge Washington is facing in trying to protect and assist its citizens in a country with which it has no diplomatic relations and in a war in which the United States may soon get involved.

 US President Donald Trump said on Friday that his Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was wrong in suggesting there is no evidence Iran is building a nuclear weapon.

Trump contested intelligence assessments relayed earlier this year by his spy chief that Tehran was not working on a nuclear weapon when he spoke with reporters at an airport in Morristown, New Jersey.

"She's wrong," Trump said.

Gabbard testified to Congress in March that the US intelligence community continued to judge that Tehran was not working on a nuclear warhead.

Trump's comments came as the president has said he would weigh involvement in the Iran-Israel conflict over the next two weeks.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has justified a week of airstrikes on Iranian nuclear and military targets by saying Tehran was on the verge of having a warhead.

Disputes in the US over Iran's development on nuclear weapons

Gabbard's office has previously pointed to quotes from the spy chief saying that she and Trump were "on the same page" regarding the status of Iran's nuclear program.

Iran denies developing nuclear weapons, saying its uranium enrichment program was only for peaceful purposes.

A source with access to US intelligence reports told Reuters that the assessment presented by Gabbard had not changed.

They said US spy services also judged that it would take up to three years for Iran to build a warhead with which it could hit a target of its choice.

Some experts, however, believe it could take Iran a much shorter time to build and deliver an untested crude nuclear device, although there would be no guarantee it would work.

Trump has frequently disavowed the findings of US intelligence agencies, which he and his supporters have charged - without providing proof - are part of a "deep state" cabal of US officials opposed to his presidency.

The Republican president repeatedly clashed with US spy agencies during his first term, including over an assessment that Moscow worked to sway the 2016 presidential vote in his favor and his acceptance of Russian President Vladimir Putin's denials.

Gabbard, a fierce Trump loyalist, has been among the president's backers who have aired such allegations.

Trump says he may support Israel-Iran ceasefire 'depending on circumstances'

Trump said on Friday he might support a ceasefire in the week-old aerial conflict between US ally Israel and its regional rival Iran "depending on the circumstances."

Asked by reporters if he would support a ceasefire while negotiations are ongoing, Trump said: "I might, depending on the circumstances."

Europe would not be able to help much in the war between Iran and Israel, Trump added.

"Iran doesn't want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us. Europe is not going to be able to help in this one," Trump said.

Iran's foreign minister met with European counterparts in Geneva on Friday for talks aimed at establishing a path back to diplomacy over Iran's nuclear program.

European foreign ministers urged Iran to engage with Washington over its nuclear program, but the talks ended with few signs of progress.

"Well, I'm not going to talk about ground forces, because the last thing you want to do is ground forces," Trump said, when asked if ground forces would be needed to defeat Iran.

The air war began on June 13 when Israel attacked Iran and has raised alarms in a region that has been on edge since the start of Israel's war in Gaza in October 2023.

Trump and the White House say he will decide in the next two weeks whether the US will get involved in the Israel-Iran war. Trump has kept the world guessing on his plans, veering from proposing a swift diplomatic solution to suggesting Washington might join the fighting on Israel's side.

Israel is the only country in the Middle East widely believed to have nuclear weapons, and said it struck Iran to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.

Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, has retaliated with its own strikes on Israel. Iran is a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, while Israel is not.

Israel's strikes have killed 639 people in Iran, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency. Israel says Iranian attacks have killed 24 civilians in Israel.

The mountain overlooking the city of Fordow in Qom province may seem like any other rocky peak in Iran’s deserts. However, beneath its surface lies a nuclear facility that was built in total secrecy and first revealed in 2009 by US intelligence.

This uranium enrichment site was strategically placed deep inside the mountain to make it as hard as possible to attack. The thick rock, remote location, and physical isolation make it one of the hardest sites to strike from the air— and one of the most dangerous in terms of the nuclear threat it poses. 

Fordow is located about 180 km south of Tehran, near the religious city of Qom. The area is close to key religious and security centers of the regime, including the IRGC. The mountain, on which and inside which the facility was built, is tall and stable. Inside, expansive underground tunnels have been carved, housing some of Iran's most dangerous enrichment facilities.

The Fordow facility is a multi-layered underground structure and is guarded exceptionally well from airstrikes. Reports from intelligence sources and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirm that the site has several main tunnels, each several hundred meters long, leading to wide internal chambers with centrifuges and monitoring systems.

The air force intercepted a drone sent by Iran off the coast of northern Israel, outside of Israeli territory, on Friday night.

The IDF announcement followed reports of explosions in the North.

Residents of Haifa reported hearing explosions after the incident.