LIVE West Asia crisis: 'We' have control over Tehran skies — Trump post causes stir

As the Iran-Israel conflict shows every sign of escalating, the death toll from Israel’s attacks on Iran has reportedly risen to more than 220, including 70 women and children. More than 20 people have been killed in Iranian attacks on Israel so far, with some estimates putting the exact number at 24 by the end of the day on Monday.

As the conflict between Iran and Israel intensifies, all Indian nationals in Tehran have been urged to contact the Embassy of India immediately and provide their location and contact numbers. Contact: +989010144557; +989128109115; +989128109109.

Indian mission has also advised all Indian nationals and persons of Indian origin to get to a safer location outside the city, if they can. (This follows a warning from US President Donald Trump on Truth Social to evacuate Tehran.)

"We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran. Iran had good sky trackers and other defensive equipment, and plenty of it, but it doesn’t compare to American made, conceived, and manufactured “stuff.” Nobody does it better than the good ol’ USA."

This is the content of a social media post by US President Donald Trump, about 30 minutes ago. The use of the pronoun 'we' has caused a stir among the respondents to the post, with many noting that this would indicate the US plans to join the Iran-Israel war. Will that truly be the case? Watch this space!

In the span of about eight hours Monday, President Donald Trump went from suggesting a nuclear deal with Iran remained “achievable” to urging Tehran's 9.5 million residents to flee for their lives as he cut his visit to the international G7 summit short to return to Washington for urgent talks with his national security team.

Trump expressed frustration with Iranian leaders for failing to reach an agreement, adding that he wants “a real end” to the conflict and a “complete give-up” of Tehran's nuclear programme.

Read more here

Israel is unwilling to look for mediation to switch its conflict with Iran on a peace track, a Russian presidential aide said on Tuesday. "At the moment, we see an unwillingness on the part of Israel, at the very least, to engage in any kind of mediation or to enter the peace path at all. This is what we have observed," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a news briefing.

He was responding to a question about whether there was any reaction at all to Russian President Vladimir Putin's readiness to mediate in the settlement of the Iranian-Israeli conflict.

Meanwhile, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov during his talks with his Indonesian counterpart Sugiono underscored that the world must spare no effort to de-escalate the conflict between Israel and Iran and seek a diplomatic resolution. 

Israel’s ‘Op Rising Lion’ against Iran has virtually split the Russian social media, with many taking note of the mainly Jewish-dominated Russian electronic media that has taken an anti-Iran stance. 

"I understand perfectly well those who these days publicly support their friends in Israel and do not express sympathy to their friends from Iran (for lack of such). Friendship is a feeling that does not require objectivity. But to show solidarity with the policy of the Israeli state and to supply their sympathies with cries of "Truth is on your side!" is already a political position, and a rather stupid and inhuman one at that,” a Russian Christian wrote on his Facebook wall which was widely shared and commented.

Iran has banned government officials and their bodyguards from using all communication devices linked to the networks. The ban, announced Tuesday, includes mobile phones, smart watches and laptops.

Iran did not elaborate on the reason for the ban, which was reported by the semiofficial Fars news agency. However, it suggests Iran suspects Israel used digital signatures from electronics to launch its strikes, which have decimated Iran's military leadership.

Sirens blare every few hours in Tehran and people rush for shelter amid ongoing Israeli attacks, says an Afghan shopkeeper in Tehran. Life has never been so "dire" here, he says.

Read more here

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty closed lower on Tuesday amid profit-booking after a sharp rally in the previous session as investors turned cautious in view of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran.

Besides, investors preferred to stay on the sidelines due to rising global crude oil prices and the upcoming US Fed interest rate decision later this week, according to experts.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 212.85 points or 0.26 per cent to settle at 81,583.30. During the day, it dropped 369.14 points or 0.45 per cent to 81,427.01. The 50-share NSE Nifty dropped 93.10 points or 0.37 per cent to 24,853.40.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi and Japan's Nikkei 225 index settled in positive territory, while Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended lower. European markets were trading lower in mid-session deals. US markets ended higher on Monday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 1.69 per cent to USD 74.47 a barrel. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 2,539.42 crore on Monday, according to exchange data, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought equities worth Rs 5,780.96 crore.

Mehreen Zaffar, an Indian student at Iran's Tehran University of Medical Sciences, has been living in fear amid sounds of air raid sirens and blackouts. She is one among more than 70 Indian students who are waiting to be evacuated from Iran.

"Iran is on black alert. We do not know what is happening. We have been kept in a basement for safety purposes but we are scared. Since the internet is weak, we are unable to even contact our family members. Back home, they are worried for our safety," she told PTI.

The third-year MBBS student staying in Iran's capital Tehran said it was a "horrible" situation. "We have been calling for help but have not received anything. We do not know anything. We want evacuation. We have full hopes from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and we need help. We cannot stay like this," she added.

Faizan Nabi, a 21-year-old student at the Kerman University of Medical Sciences, said he has started packing his bags. "The situation is not as bad here (Kerman) as in Tehran. But there is still fear. We are hoping that we will be relocated to some safe location soon," he added.

Huzaif Malik, a student at the Urmia University of Medical Sciences, was one of the students who were evacuated to Armenia by the Indian authorities. "We were in Urmia which was relatively safe. We have reached Armenia," he said.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), in a statement, said the Indian Embassy remains continuously in touch with the community with a view to extending all feasible assistance.

US President Donald Trump insisted that Tehran was “very close” to building a nuclear weapon despite congressional testimony from his top intelligence adviser earlier this year.

Back in March, national intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard told lawmakers that spy agencies have assessed that “Iran is not building a nuclear weapon” and the country's supreme leader “has not authorised the nuclear weapons programme that he suspended in 2003”.

Read more here

Twenty countries — self-avowed 'Arab and Islamic nations' — have issued a joint statement denouncing the escalating tensions caused by Israel's aggression against Iran. They have called for diplomacy and dialogue to restore stability in the region.

“There's an imperative need to halt Israeli hostilities against Iran, which come during a time of increasing tension in the Middle East, and to work towards de-escalation, to achieve a comprehensive ceasefire and restoration of calm,” read the statement.

Foreign ministers of Algeria, Bahrain, Brunei, Chad, the Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, and Mauritania rejected finding resolution through military campaigns. Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Somalia, Sudan, Turkey, Oman and the United Arab Emirates also condemned the escalation.

They also highlighted the importance of clearing the region of nuclear and mass destruction weapons and called for refraining from targeting nuclear facilities and protecting maritime navigation in international waters.

Various European leaders have shared individual and joint messages on the escalating Iran–Israel conflict.

France's foreign mMinister Jean-Noel Barrot spoke with US secretary of state Marco Rubio on the intervening night of 16 and 17 June (both nations are also at the G7 summit in Canada) and then later with the Iranian, British and German foreign ministers.

The French, British and German ministers passed on joint messages to the Iranian foreign minister about the need for de-escalation and a return to diplomacy, per a French diplomatic official, who said they all urged Iran to return to negotiations as soon as possible — without conditions.

They also reportedly urged Iran to avoid any threats to Western interests, any extension of hostilities elsewhere in the region and any nuclear escalation — including leaving the Non-Proliferation Treaty, stopping cooperation with the IAEA or pursuing further nuclear enrichment. 

The ministers also passed along messages to Israel on the need to not target Iranian authorities, infrastructure and the civilian population, the official (who is not allowed to be named per France's foreign policy) said.

Italian premier Giorgia Meloni, meanwhile, reaffirmed “the opportunity to reopen the road of negotiations” with Iran during a bilateral meeting with US president Trump on the sidelines of the G7 meeting in Canada, her office said in a statement.

The statement that came out of the G7 Summit in Canada earlier today, which POTUS Donald Trump left 'early', explicitly backed Israel’s right to defend itself and calls Iran the source of "regional instability and terror".

Read the detailed story here

In turn, Iran's statement has squarely cast Israel as the aggressor and the actor against peace in West Asia.

According to the Jammu and Kashmir Students Association, 110 Indian students from Urmia Medical University, 90 of them from the Kashmir Valley, have safely crossed the border into Armenia, facilitated by the ministry of external affairs through the Embassy of India in Tehran

Earlier today, the US senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, issued a statement in which he argues that 'Netanyahu’s illegal, unilateral attack on Iran is just his latest violation of international law. The United States must not be a part of this war'.

He also noted in the statement that the Israeli attack 'was specifically designed to sabotage American diplomatic efforts'.

'Israel assassinated the man overseeing Iran's nuclear negotiating team,' he said in the statement. The attack came on 13 June, Saturday; the next round of US–Iran talks on its nuclear regime was scheduled for 14 June, Sunday.

Sanders added, 'Whatever you think of the corrupt and authoritarian Iranian regimen, this attack clearly violates international law and the United Nations Charter.'

Saying that the US must not allow itself to be drawn into this conflict 'militarily or financially,' Sanders reminded the Trump administration and US citizens that there can be no offensive use of military force without an explicit authorisation from Congress.

Sanders has since initiated legislation to prevent Trump from leading the US into 'an illegal war with Iran', he said in a later post on X. He noted that another war in the Middle East would not only cost countless lives, more conflict and displacement — his statement references Netanyahu's actions in Gaza and characterises him as a war criminal — but would waste trillions more dollars.

The US debt has been a hot button, including in the rift between Trump and his former right-hand man Elon Musk over the 'One Big Beautiful Bill'.

Yet many have been concerned that Donald Trump's rhetoric — from being 'nearly there' on an agreement with Iran, to 'AMERICA FIRST means many GREAT things, including the fact that, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!' on Truth Social — is increasingly making the case for the US joining the war to destabilise and incapacitate Iran.

Israel's attack on Iran — purportedly a 'pre-emptive strike' in 'self-defence' — yesterday night ended up chasing a news reader who was live on air out of the studio.

Earlier, Israel had issued a warning to Tehran inhabitants to evacuate a part of the city — an area that contains three hospitals, the state police headquarters and the state TV headquarters, which ended up being targeted during a live broadcast.

Notably, POTUS Donald Trump too had warned Tehran residents to evacuate, after blaming Iran for not signing the 'deal' he wanted them to. (Earlier, Iran had ruled out what it called 'negotiation under coercion' and called for UN intervention.)

The attack was part of a series of attacks that had already killed over 200 people, many of them civilians — repeating a pattern of targeted Israeli military operations also seen in Palestine and the West Bank, where residential areas and civilian facilities are not exempt from attack, in spite of international law.

The anchor, however, returned a few minutes later as the smoke cleared to resume her broadcast.

The CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists) MENA, meanwhile, condemned the appalling attack. It claimed that 'Israel's killing, with impunity, of almost 200 journalists in Gaza has emboldened it to target media elsewhere in the region'.

Notably, citizens of Gaza — including local journalists, the only media allowed to operate there — have been calling attention to an internet blackout for several days. It started, also notably, some hours before Israel's first attack on Iran.

Is this targeting of Iran's state media more of the same, or a legitimate attempt to pause anti-Israel propaganda?

Read more here

The statement says that on 13 June, 'the occupying and rogue Zionist regime flagrantly violated the territorial integrity and national sovereignty of Iran by waging military attacks against several locations including residential areas, killing innocent women and children... which is the clear violation of all international principles and regulations'.

It continues to state that '[the] Zionist regime's unlawful military attacks on Iran constitute a flagrant violation of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter...' and adds that '[in] accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter, Iran reserves its legitimate and legal rights to respond properly and timely to these aggressions'.

The statement notes that Israel's attack came at a time when Iran was 'demonstrating [its[ respect [for] international law' in nuclear talks with the US.

Notably, this comes just after POTUS Donald Trump earlier today amplified from the White House handle on X his post on Truth Social that 'Iran should have signed the "deal" I told them to sign... IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again!'

The Iranian statement also called on 'all justice-advocating member states' of the UN to condemn Israel's 'criminal aggressions' and work to stop its 'reckless adventurism, which has undeniably placed global peace and security at [unprecedented threat]'.

It continues to say, 'The grave and far-reaching consequences... will rest entirely upon this [Zionist] regime and its supporters.'

Iran's statement also notes Israel's refusal to engage with the IAEA and adds that it is 'sheer hypocrisy that a genocidal non-NPT nuclear entity accuses [an] NPT member of threatening the global security and attacks its nuclear establishments and assassinate[s] systematically the scientists and university professors'.

The statement seems a clear response to the G7 statement that indicts Iran as 'the source of regional instability and terror' and affirms Israel's right to defend itself. Notably, the war began with Israel attacking Iran on 13 June.

Share prices have skidded across Europe and Asia ever since Israel issued an evacuation warning to the 330,000 people living in Iran's capital Tehran. US futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were also down 0.5 per cent.

Oil prices, on the other hand, bounced higher after the warning, directed at a part of the city (which houses 9.5 million total) that has three large hospitals, including one owned by the country's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, as well as Iran's state TV and police headquarters.

In early trading, Germany's DAX sank 1.6 per cent to 23,318.88, while the CAC 40 in Paris dropped 1.2 per cent to 7,612.56. Britain's FTSE 100 gave up 0.7 per cent and fell to 8,810.77.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index climbed 0.6 per cent to 38,536.74 as the Japanese central bank opted to keep its key interest rate unchanged at 0.5 per cent. But Chinese shares edged lower. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng shed 0.7 per cent, falling to 23,887.07. The Shanghai Composite index was barely changed at 3,387.40.

In South Korea, the Kospi gained 0.1 per cent to reach 2,950.30. Taiwan's Taiex gained 0.7 per cent; in Bangkok, the SET was little changed.

Australia's S&P/ASX 500 gave up 0.1 per cent to 8,541.30.

The fear is that a wider war could constrict the flow of Iran's oil to its customers. That in turn could raise gasoline prices worldwide.

Crude jumped 7 per cent late last week after Israel's attack on Iranian nuclear and other military targets. Early today, US benchmark crude oil gained 87 cents to $72.64 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, was up 87 cents to $74.10 per barrel.

US president Donald Trump, Sky News had reported earlier today, left the G7 summit seemingly abruptly head back and 'focus on "what's happening in the Middle East", the news channel said, citing Trump's 'team'.

But later, Trump lashed out at "publicity seeking" French president Emmanuel Macron on Truth Social, claiming he had started a rumour that he had gone home to broker a ceasefire.

"Wrong! He has no idea why I am now on my way to Washington, but it certainly has nothing to do with a Cease Fire. Much bigger than that. Whether purposely or not, Emmanuel always gets it wrong. Stay Tuned!" Trump railed.

That was at 10:45 a.m. Now, how worried should West Asian nations be over what the Israel–US axis may be planning?

The Indian Embassy has helped Indian students in Tehran to move out of the city to safety, the ministry of external affairs has said in a statement.

Other residents who are self-sufficient in terms of transport have also been advised to move out of the city in view of the developing situation, it said.

Separately, some Indians have been facilitated to leave Iran through the border with Armenia, the MEA said.

However, it is not clear what areas can be considered safe in view of the escalating conflict that has potential to embroil a significant part of West Asia.

There have been internal road closures reported too, such as in the post below, expressing concern about students being shifted to Qom — it claims the Tehran–Qom freeway has been shut down to vehicular traffic.

Falguni Dey (40) has barely slept the last six nights. Stuck inside a hotel room in central Tehran, with money running out, the assistant professor from Kolkata's Women’s Christian College and a mountaineer by passion, Dey is currently at his wit’s end.

With airspace closed across much of West Asia, how to return home is the big question.

"I can’t fetch money from home since banks here are closed. I am the only Indian in my hotel and I have no evacuation promises from the Indian government so far,” he says.

Dey arrived in Tehran on 5 June, resolved to conquer Mount Damavand, Asia’s highest volcanic peak at 5,610 metres, on the northeastern fringes of the Iranian capital. This would be his third volcanic summit after Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Elbrus, the two highest dormant volcanoes in the eastern hemisphere.

Dey’s hopes, however, remained unfulfilled — a nasty blizzard forced him to abandon the climb barely 400 metres below the summit.

His hopes of help from the Indian embassy in Tehran are also fast coming to naught: The adventure tourist said he was in constant touch with the embassy, which hasn’t been able to provide evacuation hopes so far and has, instead, laid down a set of protocols to follow.

Now he is considering a border crossing on foot a thousand kilometres away as Iran–Israel hostilities escalate with bombardment all around him.

“I do not know which country I will be crossing over to, because that will depend on India’s diplomatic relations with these neighbouring nations,” he told PTI over the phone.

Read more of his story here...

Reiterating that many Kashmiri students are in Iran, Pawan Khera noted that the Congress has been urging action and not just advisories from the Indian government to protect Indians in Tehran and elsewhere in the West Asian country. (Ed: the translation of the statement in the post below is erroneous. The students are Kashmiri, not in Kashmir.)

On 15 June, Khera had, in a long post on X, said the more than 1500 Indian students in Iran were 'calling for help' — "But the government remains largely unresponsive, even as missiles rain from the sky," he posted, noting the suspended flights and closed airspace, as well as disrupted internet access.

Israel yesterday warned residents of Tehran that they would pay the price for their 'escalation' of the conflict after Israel attacked Iran's military instalments and especially targeted its nuclear facilities — with statements from defence minister Israel Katz, echoing similar sentiments from PM Benjamin Netanyahu a day ago.

However, it has long been speculated that Israel has its own undisclosed nuclear arsenal — and it is the only nation in West Asia that has abstained from signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

So... is Israel merely trying to stay top dog?

As the conflict between Iran and Israel has intensified, all Indian nationals in Tehran have been urged to contact the Embassy of India in Tehran immediately and provide their location and contact numbers. Contact: +989010144557; +989128109115; +989128109109.

The Indian mission has also advised all Indian nationals and persons of Indian origin to get to a safer location outside the city, if they can. (This follows a warning from POTUS Donald Trump on Truth Social to evacuate Tehran.)

The ministry of external affairs has set us a 24x7 control room reachable at: 1800118797 (Toll-free), +91-11-23012113,+91-11-23014104,+91-11-23017905, +91-9968291988 (Whatsapp) and situationroom@mea.gov.in.

The Embassy of India in Tehran has set up 24x7 emergency helplines at:

• call only: +98 9128109115, +98 9128109109;

• WhatsApp: +98 901044557, +98 9015993320, +91 8086871709,

• Bandar Abbas: +98 9177699036

• Zahedan: +98 9396356649.

Israel attacked Iran early Friday, 13 June, targeting its nuclear, missile and military infrastructure. Iran in turn launched retaliatory strikes on Israel.