Britain withdraws staff from embassy in Iran — as it happened

The head of the UN atomic watchdog has said that an Israeli strike on Iran’s southern nuclear plant of Bushehr could trigger a regional nuclear disaster, adding that radiation had not yet been detected in the conflict.

“Countries of the region have reached out directly to me over the past few hours to express their concerns, and I want to make it absolutely and completely clear — in case of an attack on the Bushehr nuclear power plant, a direct hit would result in a very high release of radioactivity,” Rafael Grossi told the UN Security Council.

Earlier this week it was claimed that the plant was hit by Israel, a claim later retracted.

Russian specialists work at the plant and Moscow has warned Israel not to attack the site.

Israel seeks genuine efforts on Iran’s nuclear capabilities from Friday’s meeting between European and Iranian ministers, not just another round of talks, Israel’s UN ambassador said.

“We have seen diplomatic talks for the last few decades, and look at the results,” Danny Danon told reporters at the United Nations. “If there will be genuine effort to dismantle the capabilities of Iran, then that’s something we can consider, but if it is going to be like another session and debates, that’s not going to work.

“If it is going to be just another round of talks, that’s something which we cannot accept,” Danon said.

Britain has announced it is temporarily withdrawing UK staff from its embassy in Iran due to the ongoing security situation there.

“We have taken the precautionary measure to temporarily withdraw UK staff from Iran. Our embassy continues to operate remotely,” Britain said on its travel advice website page for Iran.

The escalating Iran-Israel confrontation is quickly reaching “the point of no return”, President Erdogan of Turkey said.

“Unfortunately, the genocide in Gaza and the conflict with Iran are quickly reaching the point of no return. This madness must end as soon as possible,” Erdogan said, warning the consequences could affect the region, Europe and Asia “for many years”.

“It is imperative that fingers are removed from the triggers and buttons before more destruction, bloodshed, civilian casualties and terrible disaster occurs, that could affect our region, as well as Europe and Asia for years to come,” he said.

Analysis by Samer Al-Atrush

Backed into a corner, Iran’s ageing supreme leader remains defiant in the face of US and Israeli demands to surrender, but he confronts powerful enemies from a position of weakness.

OFFICE OF THE SUPREME LEADER OF IRAN/GETTY

Iran had prepared for years for war with Israel, but it had envisaged a multifront conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon as its vanguard. Hezbollah, which Israel devastated last year, is now sitting the war out. Will Khamenei seek de-escalation or risk a war in which Iran could lose even more?

• Read in full: Backed into a corner, Ayatollah Khamenei faces impossible choice

Beachgoers in Tel Aviv rushed for shelter this afternoon as air raid sirens wailed ahead of a new salvo of Iranian missiles.

At a beachfront hotel, a bomb shelter was packed with people in shorts and bikinis who moments earlier had been sunbathing or swimming in the sea. “We had been saying what a beautiful day this is. But they like to ruin our Sabbath, so we should have seen it coming,” said Annie Lubin.

Maureen, a British holidaymaker, said she had become grimly accustomed to the constant air raid alerts. “Even last night, when there were no sirens, I was sleeping with one eye open, waiting,” she said.

The Israeli military later gave the all clear. “I think we are going to go back to the beach now,” Lubin said.

Smoke is rising over the Israeli port city of Haifa, Reuters reports. Israeli police have confirmed there have been impacts but have provided no further details.

An injured man is helped away from the site of a missile strike in Haifa

BAZ RATNER/AP

The Times of Israel is reporting that two people have been wounded, including a teenager who is in a serious condition.

The Khondab heavy water research reactor in Iran has been hit by an Israeli strike, the UN’s nuclear monitoring agency has confirmed.

In a post on X on Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency said it had found that key buildings including the distillation unit had been damaged.

The site “was not operational and contained no nuclear material, so no radiological effects”, the IAEA said earlier.

Sirens are sounding in Tel Aviv and several explosions have been heard. Explosions have also been heard in Jerusalem. Iranian media have reported that a fresh wave of missile attacks on Israel had begun

Iran’s rapid progress towards a nuclear bomb, nearing weapons-grade uranium, prompted the Israeli attacks that have raised the stakes in the Middle East.

Israel claimed the threat was “imminent” after Iran enriched more than 400 kilograms of uranium to 60 per cent, just shy of the 90 per cent needed to build a bomb. But western intelligence agencies assessed that Iran was not doing so, although it had the know-how.

Iran has always claimed that its nuclear programme was meant for peaceful purposes but that it could build a bomb if its sites were attacked. And one expert said that the Israeli strikes could bring that moment closer.

• Read in full: Does Iran have nuclear weapons? Why Israel is attacking now

Israel’s attacks may have accelerated the overthrow of an unpopular regime. From the Shan’s son to a rapper, these are the dissidents that pose a threat.

• Inside the Iranian opposition, from a rapper to the Shah’s son

Gaza’s civil defence agency has revised upwards its death toll from today’s shooting, saying that at least 43 people have been killed, including 26 who had gathered near an aid distribution centre.

“Forty-three martyrs have fallen as a result of the ongoing Israeli bombardment on the Gaza Strip since dawn today, 26 of whom were waiting for humanitarian aid,” Mohammad Al-Mughayyir, director of medical supply, said.

Top European diplomats are meeting Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, in Geneva to discuss Iran’s nuclear programme.

President Macron said it was “essential to prioritise” a return to negotiations, and European powers would offer Iran a “diplomatic solution”.

Foreign ministers from France, Germany, Britain and the EU have urged de-escalation. David Lammy has said that the next two weeks are “a window… to achieve a diplomatic solution”.

Araghchi is also due to address the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Israel has struck nuclear facilities, eliminated senior commanders and attacked a state broadcaster, while Tehran has hit back with numerous missile barrages. Despite global calls for de-escalation, the conflict is likely to last “weeks, not days”, according to analysts.

This is how the conflict has unfolded so far.

• Read in full: The Iran-Israel conflict in maps, video and satellite images

Qatar says that Israel‘s targeting of economic facilities in Iran could lead to catastrophic regional and international repercussions, particularly relating to the stability of energy supplies.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who is Qatar’s prime minister as well as its foreign minister, made the comments in a phone call with Norway’s foreign minister.

Qatar, a major global energy supplier, shares the world’s largest natural gas field with Iran.

Britain is working with Israeli authorities to arrange charter flights for Britons when the airport reopens, David Lammy has said.

The foreign secretary said: “As part of our efforts to support British nationals in the Middle East, the government is working with the Israeli authorities to provide charter flights from Tel Aviv airport when airspace reopens.”

Israel’s main international airport, Ben Gurion, closed last week as the air war with Iran intensified.

On Monday, the UK government advised its citizens in Israel to register their presence with the British authorities, saying it was monitoring the situation and considering options for assistance. It said it had increased its logistical support for citizens who had turned to overland routes into Jordan and Egypt.

An Iranian nuclear scientist was killed in an airstrike on a building in Tehran on Friday, Kan, the Israeli state broadcaster, has reported.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment. Earlier, Israel Katz, the Israeli defence minister, had said they should attack “all symbols” of the Iranian regime.

David Lammy will give an update on charter flights from Israel, Downing Street said.

“We are advising British nationals to continue to register their presence in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, to be contactable with further guidance on these flights,” a spokesman said.

“The foreign secretary will shortly announce that the government is working with the Israeli authorities to provide charter flights from Tel Aviv airport once airspace reopens.”

• Help us get home, Britons trapped in Israel beg Foreign Office

UK and Israeli authorities are working to provide charter flights out of Tel Aviv and British citizens in the country should register their presence with the Foreign Office, Downing Street said.

The Iran-Israel air war could spark a fresh surge in migration that would impact Europe and the region, President Erdogan of Turkey has said.

His office quoted him in a phone call with Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, saying: “The spiral of violence triggered by Israel’s attacks could harm the region and Europe in terms of migration and the possibility of nuclear leakage.”

President Putin’s mention of Russian scientists working at Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran was a reminder of the extent of Moscow’s ties to Tehran.

While the Kremlin has shied away from making explicit security guarantees to Iran, its specialists are deeply involved at Bushehr — more than 200 Russian specialists work there, Putin said. The plant was built by Russia’s atomic energy agency, Rosatom, and Iranian nuclear scientists have trained in Russia.

Russia’s position is that Iran has a right to develop nuclear energy but any push to produce nuclear weapons should be curtailed. Moscow has been heavily critical of Israel’s airstrikes, while avoiding a complete rupture in relations with Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. Israel has a large contingent of Russian-speaking citizens.

Russia and Iran signed a strategic partnership agreement in January but Putin said the partnership did not include defence cooperation.

Twenty five people seeking aid in Netzarim, central Gaza, have been killed by Israeli fire, the Hamas-run health authority has said.

On Thursday at least 51 people were killed by Israeli gunfire and military strikes. Hundreds have been killed near food distribution centres.

Unicef said on Friday that Gaza was facing a man-made drought as its water systems collapsed. James Elder, a spokesman, said: “Children will begin to die of thirst. Just 40 per cent of drinking water production facilities remain functional.”

Unicef also reported a 50 per cent increase in the number of children aged from six months to 5 years admitted to hospital in Gaza with malnutrition between April and May. Half a million people were going hungry.

The agency added that the US-backed aid distribution system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was “making a desperate situation worse”.

Israel’s defence minister has ordered the military to “destabilise” the Iranian regime and cause a “mass evacuation” of Tehran.

“We must strike all symbols of the regime and its mechanisms of oppression, such as the Basij, as well as the base of the regime’s power, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” Israel Katz said this morning, alongside Eyal Zamir, the IDF chief of staff.

Katz said Israel must orchestrate “a mass evacuation of the population from Tehran, in order to destabilise the regime and increase deterrence in response to missile fire on Israel’s home front, while continuing to target facilities and scientists to thwart Iran’s nuclear program, until all objectives of the operation are fully achieved”.

The Basij, a volunteer paramilitary militia, is one of the five branches of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

President Pezeshkian of Iran says his country has “always sought peace and tranquility”, but warned of further action on Israel.

In a post on X, Pezeshkian called on Israel to “unconditionally stop” its “aggression”. “Otherwise, our responses to the enemy will be harsher and more regrettable,” he wrote.

Iran’s foreign minister will address the UN Human Rights Council on Friday. Abbas Araghchi “will intervene in person… at the beginning of the council’s afternoon meeting” at 1 pm, Pascal Sim, a spokesman, said.

Daniel Meron, Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, would be outside the council chamber at 12.30 to deliver a “press statement on Iran,” said Alessandra Vellucci, a spokesman.

Araghchi is in Geneva to discuss Iran’s nuclear programme with his French, German, British and EU counterparts to discuss Iran’s nuclear programme.

Israel claims the Human Rights Council is “anti-Semitic” and has boycotted its meetings.

Analysis by Samer Al-Atrush

Iran’s only hope of wearing down Israel is to ration its dwindling arsenal of missiles to last it a month or two. The strike on Beersheba today, in which a single missile penetrated Israeli air defences and damaged a building, appeared to be in line with that strategy.

Israel has succeeded in shooting down most of the missiles — Iran has fired more than 400 over the week — but interception rates appear to be decreasing, allowing more Iranian missiles to land near their targets. Friday’s strike came after multiple impacts on Thursday, including one that badly damaged a hospital.

The Israeli military said an air defence battery had malfunctioned during Friday’s attack, and that its air force had destroyed several launchers that had been preparing for a larger barrage.

Iran was believed to have between 2,000 and 3,000 medium range missiles that could reach Israel, although that number may have included shorter range missiles that posed no threat to the country. By those estimates, it has already used up more than 10 per cent of the arsenal, while losing more than a third of their launchers, according to Israeli statements.

What would worry Israel is whether the Iranians have improved their ability to outmanoeuvre Israeli defences as they adapted over the past week, allowing them to conserve their stocks — and deplete Israeli interceptors — by using fewer missiles in each barrage.

An Iranian strike on the southern city of Beersheba on Friday has wounded seven people and caused significant damage to homes. The missile hit the road opposite a row of apartment blocks, blowing a large crater in the road and setting several cars ablaze.

Beersheba has been the target of Iranian missile strikes

AMIR COHEN/REUTERS

AMIR COHEN/REUTERS

“There’s major damage, but people acted according to Home Front Command guidelines and saved themselves. Our challenge is to gather the residents and find a solution for them. We’ve prepared for this,” Ruvik Danilovich, the mayor, said.

The aid group Magen David Adom said there were no reports of injuries but Soroka hospital, which yesterday was struck by an Iranian missile, said it had received seven casualties with minor injuries.

The Israeli military said they had thwarted a larger attack. “The Iranians planned this morning a larger barrage at Beersheba. Before the launch, we identified preparations of three primed launcher s… we destroyed them,” Effie Defrin, an IDF spokesman, said.

Iran is hacking private security cameras in Israel in an attempt to gather intelligence, a former Israeli cybersecurity official has claimed.

The official has warned Israelis to turn off home surveillance cameras or change the password to stop Iran using the cameras to see where their missiles have scored a direct hit.

Hackers linked to Iran have gained access to Israeli cameras before. In 2022, footage from street cameras in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv was posted an Iranian Telegram channel. This week hackers got into internal cameras at Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan 11, and displayed content in Persian.

Israeli groups have claimed responsibility for a series of cyberattacks, including the hijack of a bank linked to the Iranian Revolution Guard Corps and transferring $90m out of an Iranian cryptocurrency wallet. Reports have emerged of full-scale cyberattacks on Iranian infrastructure.

Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, has urged his Israeli counterpart Binyamin Netanyahu to pursue a diplomatic solution with Iran, despite praising Israel for doing the West’s “dirty work” with its strikes.

In a phone call, Merz told Netanyahu he understood that Israel felt acutely threatened by the Iranian nuclear programme, which had to be curtailed, but called for moderation.

Berlin is trying to strike a difficult balance between its tradition of providing unstinting support to Israel and its concern that the conflict could escalate and spread across the Middle East.

Johann Wadephul, the German foreign minister, told Der Spiegel he could not say whether Israel’s missile attacks on Iran were legal or morally right, although he added: “I see no reason to criticise [Israel’s] decision.”

Iran’s foreign minister has denied that his country targets hospitals, 24 hours after the Soroka Medical Centre in southern Israel was hit by Iranian missiles.

Abbas Araghchi said: “It is ridiculous and hilarious to hear these words from a regime that has deliberately bombed hospitals in Gaza itself. Residential areas, ordinary people, and hospitals are not in our targets at all, and we are paying close attention to this issue.”

Iran only targeted military centres, he told state television, but “after the Zionist regime attacked our economic centres, economic centres were also added”.

Iranian missiles hit a major hospital in Beersheba, southern Israel, and struck residential buildings in Tel Aviv on Thursday, wounding 240 people and causing extensive damage.

Wards at Soroka hospital were “completely demolished” by an Iranian missile strike”

LEO CORREA/AP

A United Nations commission of inquiry has previously accused Israel of carrying out a “concerted policy to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system” during its war with Hamas.

“There is no room for negotiation through the US until Israeli aggression stops,” Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, has told state television.

Abbas Araghchi

IRAN’S MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

He said on Thursday that his country would not hold talks with the US, which he described as “a partner to Israeli crime against Iran”.

“We consider the Americans to be the companions and collaborators of the Zionist regime in this regard. There are numerous signs that American forces in the region are co-operating with the Zionist regime,” he said.

Ali Shamkhani, a senior aide to Ayotollah Khamenei and Iran’s lead nuclear negotiator, was erroneously reported as having been killed in Israeli air strikes. He is alive and has offered to “sacrifice himself” for his leader, Iranian media reported.

Ali Shamkhani

ATTA KENARE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Iran had never confirmed that Shamkhani had died in airstrikes last week that killed several senior military commanders and nuclear scientists. There were reports that he had been badly injured.

He is now “stable,” Iranian state media reported, and had sent a letter to Khamenei pleading to use his “injured body” as a “shield”.

Russian specialists are still working at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran after it was reportedly hit in an Israeli strike, the head of Russia’s nuclear energy corporation has said.

Alexei Likhachev said that the situation at Bushehr, on the coast of the Persian Gulf, was normal and under control. It was reported in Israel yesterday that the plant had been hit in a raid but the claim was retracted.

Likhachev said he hoped Russia’s warnings to Israel not to attack the site had been received by the Israeli leadership. Bushehr, which uses Russian fuel and returns spent fuel to Russia, is Iran’s only functioning nuclear power plant. A strike against it would be seen as a major escalation.

Niall Ferguson, the historian, and Yoav Gallant, a former Israeli defence minster, understand why President Trump is weighing the decision on whether to intervene in the Israel – Iran conflict.

But, they argue, only one air force has the ability to finish off Tehran’s nuclear programme — America’s. And only one person can order the strike — Trump. Will he seize the moment?

• Read in full: Israel has done most of the job — now Trump can finish it

A cruise ship carrying 2,000 people has arrived at Ashdod port as Israelis who were out of the country when the conflict with Iran began to return home. The Mano Maritime set sail from Cyprus earlier in the week.

They were greeted at the port by Miri Regev, the transport minister, who said: “Operation Safe Return is a national mission. We continue to work vigorously, with all tools and means, to return Israeli citizens home safely.”

Israel Katz, the Israeli defence minister, has warned Hezbollah against entering the Iran-Israel war after the Lebanese militant group, which is backed by Iran, said it would act “as we see fit”.

Katz wrote on X: “The Hezbollah secretary general is not learning a lesson from his predecessors and is threatening to act against Israel in accordance with the Iranian dictator’s orders.

“I suggest the Lebanese proxy be cautious and understand that Israel has lost patience with terrorists who threaten it”, Katz said, adding that “if there is terrorism — there will be no Hezbollah”.

Regime change in Iran would open “Pandora’s box,” Russia says.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told Sky News that would be “unacceptable” and that Moscow, a strategic ally of Tehran, would react “very negatively” were Ayatollah Ali Khamenei assassinated.

“It would lead to the birth of extremist moods inside Iran and those who are speaking about [killing Khamenei], they should keep it in mind. They will open the Pandora’s box,” he said.

On Thursday Israel Katz, Israel’s defence minister, said that Khamenei could “no longer be allowed to exist” and called him the “modern Hitler”.

Iran has “still got a chance” to do a nuclear deal before the US wades into the war, John Healey, the defence secretary has said, adding the world faced a “very dangerous moment”.

Speaking at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) in Aldermaston, he said: “The simple argument to Iran is, you’ve still got a chance to take a diplomatic route, do a deal, you know you can’t develop a nuclear weapons programme. It’s unacceptable to the international community and counter to the proliferation interests of us all.”

He added: “We have been absolutely clear, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.

“We have been calling for a diplomacy route, we have been backing Trump’s calls for a deal with Iran that allows a de-escalation and allows the end of a nuclear weapons programme in Iran and that’s the route we are still trying to pursue. Diplomacy first.”

Asked if he would allow the US could base its aircraft in Cyprus or Diego Garcia, he said he would not comment on “hypotheticals” but had been discussing in detail the evolving situation with the US.

“Together we have been calling for Iran to take a diplomatic route and for a deal like president Trump has done and for de-escalation,” he said.

The use of tactical nuclear weapons by the US in Iran would be a catastrophic development, Russian state news agency Tass quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Friday.

Peskov was commenting on what he dubbed speculative media reports about that possibility.

On Thursday, the head of Russia’s nuclear energy corporation warned an Israeli attack on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant could lead to a “Chernobyl-style catastrophe”.

“If there is a strike on the operational first power unit, it will be a catastrophe comparable to Chernobyl,” the state RIA news agency reported Alexei Likhachev as saying.

President Putin said on Thursday Israel had promised Russia that Moscow’s workers at the Bushehr site would be safe, even as Israel tries to degrade Iran’s nuclear capabilities by force.

Israel’s military said it struck dozens of targets in Tehran overnight, including what it claimed was a centre for the “research and development of Iran’s nuclear weapons project”.

In a statement on Friday, the army said it had “completed a series of strikes in the heart of Tehran: dozens of targets were struck, including military missile production sites and the SPND (Organisation of Defensive Innovation and Research) headquarters for research and development of Iran’s nuclear weapons project.”

Benjamin Netanyahu cited the postponement of his son’s wedding as his “personal cost” of the war with Iran.

The Israeli prime minister’s comments while speaking in front of the missile-struck Soroka hospital have sparked backlash.

Binyamin Netanyahu speaking on Thursday

MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/REUTERS

He likened Israel’s situation to the sustained campaign of aerial bombing attacks by the German Luftwaffe on Britain during the Second World War.

“It really reminds me of the British people during the Blitz. We are going through a blitz,” Netanyahu said.

“There are people who were killed, families who grieved loved ones, I really appreciate that,” he added.

“Each of us bears a personal cost, and my family has not been exempt. This is the second time that my son Avner has cancelled a wedding due to missile threats. It is a personal cost for his fiancée as well, and I must say that my dear wife is a hero, and she bears a personal cost.”

Iranian missiles hit a major hospital in southern Israel and struck residential buildings in Tel Aviv on Thursday, wounding 240 people and causing extensive damage.

The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, blamed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and likened Iran’s supreme leader to “the modern Hitler”.

“Khamenei openly declares that he wants Israel destroyed — he personally gives the order to fire on hospitals. He considers the destruction of the state of Israel to be a goal,” Katz said.

“Such a man can no longer be allowed to exist.”

The top two floors of the Soroka Medical Center are thought to have been empty when the missiles hit

AMIR COHEN/REUTERS

Iranian state television says there is “no radiation danger whatsoever” after Israeli strikes on Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor.

The facility had been evacuated before Israel’s latest attack on Iran’s sprawling nuclear program.

The facility, some 250 kilometres (155 miles) southwest of Tehran, may pose a nuclear proliferation risk because it can produce plutonium, which, like enriched uranium, can be used to make the core of an atom bomb.

The heavy water nuclear facility in Arak, central Iran, was hit by Israel as Tehran hit targets including a hospital near Tel Aviv

If President Trump gives the order, he would have to contend with possible nuclear fallout and retaliation by the Tehran regime

• Read in full: How a US strike on Iran could unfold, step by step

The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, was due to arrive in Geneva on Friday to negotiate with European diplomats, marking the country’s first face-to-face talks in the crisis.

The British foreign secretary, David Lammy, will head to the Swiss city for talks, his office said on Thursday.

Lammy’s trip to Switzerland is on the heels of his visit to Washington on Thursday, where he met the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and the White House special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.

“We are determined that Iran must never have a nuclear weapon … A window now exists within the next two weeks to achieve a diplomatic solution,” Lammy said in a statement.

“Now is the time to put a stop to the grave scenes in the Middle East and prevent a regional escalation that would benefit no one.”

The foreign ministers from France and Germany will join Lammy to meet the European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, at Germany’s permanent mission in Geneva before holding a joint meeting with the Iranian foreign minister, a German source previously told Reuters.

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi

IRAN’S MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Australia has suspended operations at its embassy in Tehran, citing a deteriorating security situation.

The Australian foreign minister, Penny Wong, said Australian defence personnel and aircraft were being deployed to the Middle East as part of contingency plans to help evacuate its citizens and diplomats when the airspace opens. She specified they would not be used for combat.

“We have a very volatile security situation in Iran,” Wong said during a media conference on Friday.

“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.”

Consular staff are being sent to neighbouring Azerbaijan to support Australians departing Iran by road, said Wong.

“We are in the process of getting a crisis response team into Azerbaijan, and the purpose is to assist any Australians who get to that border, and that is the border crossing that is the most likely for exit from Tehran,” she added.

About 2,000 Australians and their families in Iran have sought assistance to leave the country, official data showed.

Sirens sounded in southern Israel on Friday morning after missiles were launched from Iran, the Israeli army said.

The site of an Iranian missile strike in Be’er Sheva, Israel

AMIR COHEN/REUTERS

There were reports of a smoke plume rising near a Microsoft facility in Beersheva after the reported Iranian attack.

Earlier, the Israeli army warned people in Iran’s northern industrial area of Sefidrood to evacuate ahead of strikes.

President Trump has stepped back from bombing Iran, giving Tehran up to two weeks to negotiate an end to the conflict with Israel.

Trump is looking for an “off-ramp” after advisers became concerned at Iran’s ability to hit United States bases across the Middle East and kill American troops in retaliation for any military intervention, such as the targeting of nuclear facilities with bunker-busting bombs, The Times understands.

Trump’s spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, quoted the president as saying: “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.”