Iran’s UN ambassador says 78 killed, 320 wounded in Israeli strikes as Tehran retaliates in Tel Aviv – live | Iran

Iran’s Fars news agency, which has links to the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards, says that Iran has launched a new wave of missiles at Israel, Reuters reports.

That seems to match a report from a Times of Israel military correspondent, Emanuel Fabian who posted on X minutes ago: “Sirens are sounding now sounding across Israel after Iran launched a fresh barrage of ballistic missiles.”

According to Fabian, the Israeli military said it had detected “a new barrage of ballistic missiles launched from Iran at Israel.”

Here’s a look at where things stand:

• Iran’s UN ambassador said that 78 people were killed and 320 were wounded in Israel’s airstrikes on Iran. The death toll comes after Israel’s attacks across Iran which hit dozens of targets in and around Tehran including nuclear facilities and official headquarters.

• The US military has helped shoot down Iranian missiles that were headed toward Israel, according to US officials. The US interceptions have so far been carried out by ground-based systems, Reuters is reporting, citing one of the officials.

• Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the public is permitted to leave sheltered places following a fresh wave of retaliatory missiles flown over Israel from Iran. In an address on Saturday night, Netanyahu said that “the Iranian regime has never been weaker”, adding: “This is an opportunity for the Iranian people to stand up against the regime.”

• Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said that they carried out attacks against dozens of targets in Israel on Friday night. Speaking to Reuters, one Iranian senior official said: “Our revenge has just started, they will pay a high price for killing our commanders, scientists and people.”

• British foreign minister David Lammy said on Friday he spoke to his Iranian counterpart and urged calm following Israel’s airstrikes on Iran, which he described as a “unilateral act”. “I spoke to my Iranian counterpart today to urge restraint at this time, and calm. I recognise that this is a moment of grave peril in the Middle East,” he told Sky News.

• Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei is delivering a separate address in which he said that Iranian armed forces will leave Israel “helpless”. Khamenei also said that Israel “will not remain unscathed” and that Tehran “will not go for half measures in its response”.

Here are some images coming through the newswires from Israel and Iran:

Israel’s assault on Iran demonstrates a ruthless combination of air power and intelligence – and a significant disparity between the two countries in a conflict that is likely to be a long one if the goal is to eliminate Tehran’s nuclear capability.

Israel’s air force undertook waves of airstrikes, beginning at about 3am on Friday, aimed, briefings indicated, first at Iran’s military leaders and intelligence in Tehran, then switching to air defense batteries, missile launch sites and, above all, the critical facility at Natanz where uranium can be enriched to weapons grade.

The initial goal appears to have been to smash Iran’s military chain of command, with the killing of Maj Gen Mohammad Bagheri, the chief of staff of Iran’s military – and Gen Hossein Salami, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, killed alongside other senior members of the group.

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Iran’s UN ambassador said that 78 people were killed and 320 were wounded in Israel’s airstrikes on Iran.

The death toll comes after Israel’s attacks across Iran which hit dozens of targets in and around Tehran including nuclear facilities and official headquarters.

Among those killed by Israeli airstrikes include scientists and commanders.

As reported by the Guardian’s Jason Burke and Deepa Parent, Iranians described chaotic scenes where they saw windows shaking and people screaming.

“Traffic jams and clueless crowds are still trying to make sense of what’s happening,” witnesses told the Guardian, adding: “Smoke is still billowing from residential streets and there’s debris around homes. The sky is red and we fear there will be more attacks.”

Oil and gold prices soared and stock markets tumbled after Israel’s attacks on Iran.

The Guardian’s Mark Sweney and Joanna Partridge reports:

The price of oil and gold has soared and stock markets have fallen after Israel’s strikes against targets in Iran.

The escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, the focal point of global oil production, prompted a sharp increase in wholesale prices. Brent crude surged by more than 7% after news of the attacks broke, briefly moving above $75 (£55) a barrel to its highest level since April.

Stocks fell on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones dropping 1.8%, the S&P 500 falling 1.1% and the Nasdaq down 1.3%. Airline stocks, including Delta, United and American declined on fears that fuel costs could climb if there were issues with oil supply.

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An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson said fewer than 100 missiles were fired in two waves from Iran at Israel.

“Most of these rockets were intercepted or fell short,” IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on social media.

“There are a limited number of buildings that were hit, some due to shrapnel from interception operations,” he added.

Nuclear experts have said the damage to Iran’s nuclear facilities from Israel’s initial wave of air strikes early on Friday appeared to be limited.

Satellite imagery did not yet show significant damage to nuclear infrastructure, Reuters is reporting, citing several experts. According to David Albright at the Institute for Science and International Security:

The first day was aimed at things that you would get through surprise – killing leadership, going after nuclear scientists, air defense systems, the ability to retaliate.

“We can’t see any visible damage at Fordow or Isfahan. There was damage at Natanz,” said Albright, referring to Iranian nuclear sites.

But “there’s no evidence that the underground site was destroyed”, he said.

Albright noted that there may also have been drone strikes on tunnels to underground centrifuge plants and cyber attacks that did not leave visible traces.

“In terms of visible damage, we don’t see much and we’ll see what happens tonight,” he said, adding that he believes Israel’s strikes were still in an early stage.

The UK’s foreign secretary David Lammy said he had spoken with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghch, on Friday to “urge restraint at this time and calm”.

“Let’s step back. Let’s have restraint. Let’s return to diplomacy,” Lammy said, adding that he recognised that “this is a moment of grave peril in the Middle East”.

According to Iranian state media, Araghchi told Lammy in the call that Tehran does not accept calls for restraint in the face of Israeli aggression.

Iran’s response to the Israeli attacks will be “decisive and definite based on the United Nations charter”, Iranian TV quoted Araghchi as saying.

Keir Starmer and Donald Trump held a phone call on Friday, during which they agreed that the mounting conflict between Iran and Israel should be resolved by “diplomacy and dialogue”.

The UK and US leaders “discussed the military action in the Middle East overnight and agreed on the importance of diplomacy and dialogue”, according to a Downing Street spokesperson.

Updating on his conversations with partners today, the Prime Minister reiterated the UK’s grave concerns about Iran’s nuclear programmes. The leaders looked forward to speaking again at the G7 in Canada next week.

Iran’s airspace will remain closed until Saturday after Israel launched a large-scale attack that hit multiple cities, state media reported.

According to the official Irna news agency:

The Civil Aviation Organization … has announced in aviation notices (NOTAM) that the country’s airspace will be closed until tomorrow, Saturday.

The US military has helped shoot down Iranian missiles that were headed toward Israel, according to US officials.

The US interceptions have so far been carried out by ground-based systems, Reuters is reporting, citing one of the officials.

The official said fighter jets and warships had not been used so far. Both US air force fighter aircraft and destroyer-based missile defences have intercepted missiles in previous attacks, according to Associated Press.

The Pentagon moved a number of military assets into the region in recent days, including navy destroyers to be positioned off the Israeli coast to help shoot down missiles and other aerial attacks expected after the Israelis launched their initial attack, NBC News is reporting, citing a US official.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, has told the UN security council that the “above ground plant where Iran was producing uranium enriched up to 60% uranium has been destroyed”.

Grossi also said that radiological contamination is manageable with appropriate measures, as well as that there is radiological and chemical contamination inside facilities at Natanz.

He added that there is no indication of attack on underground enrichment halls at Natanz but attacks on power supply may have damaged centrifuges.