• Source:JND
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Israel has conducted a second round of airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facility in Isfahan, just hours after Tehran fired five ballistic missiles toward central Israel overnight. The latest Israeli strike, involving approximately 50 fighter jets, comes in the wake of a June 13 operation that also targeted Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Isfahan is a critical hub in Iran’s nuclear program, home to a uranium conversion facility and a nuclear fuel fabrication plant. However, the International Atomic Energy Agency said that a centrifuge manufacturing workshop at the Isfahan nuclear facility, one of Iran's biggest, was hit - but added it contained no nuclear material.

Will not stop until...: Israel

Israel says it will not stop attacks until it dismantles Iran's nuclear programme and ballistic missile capabilities, which it views as an existential threat, say this could take more than a few weeks. Israel launched attacks on June 13 saying Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons, while Iran says its atomic programme is only for peaceful purposes. Israel is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons, which it neither confirms nor denies.

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Iran believes European proposals to curb its nuclear programme unrealistic and a hurdle to agreement, a senior Iranian official said on Saturday, while Israel said it killed a veteran Iranian commander during attacks by both sides. The more than week-long air war between longtime foes Israel and Iran continued with reports of strikes on an Iranian nuclear facility. The US was weighing whether to back Israel in the conflict while other powers urged de-escalation.

No ceasefire in sight

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met British, French and German counterparts, plus the EU, on Friday in Geneva in search of a path back to diplomacy and a possible ceasefire. But proposals made by the European powers were "unrealistic", the senior Iranian official told Reuters, saying that insistence on them would not bring agreement closer. "In any case, Iran will review the European proposals in Tehran and present its responses in the next meeting," the official said, adding that zero enrichment was a dead end and Tehran would not negotiate over its defensive capabilities.

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430 killed in Iran

At least 430 people have been killed and 3,500 injured in Iran since Israel began its attacks, Iranian state-run Nour News said, citing the health ministry. In Israel, 24 civilians have been killed by Iranian missile attacks, according to local authorities, in the worst conflict between the longtime enemies. At a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul, Araqchi said Israel's aggression, which he said had indications of US involvement, should stop so Iran can "come back to diplomacy".

(With inputs from agency)