World News Update...

[The Founder]

ideos shared online and verified by Al Jazeera, show heavy plumes of smoke rising in the city of Kermanshah.

In one video, thick smoke is seen rising around the Dieselabad area of the western Iranian city after an Israeli strike.

Israel argues its assault on Iran’s top military leaders, uranium enrichment sites and nuclear scientists was necessary to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Iran has always insisted that its nuclear programme is peaceful, and the US and others have assessed that Tehran has not pursued a nuclear weapon since 2003.

[The Founder]

Israel undermined diplomacy, US should take firm stance: Iranian Foreign Ministry
Esmail Baghaei now addresses the issue of Iran’s negotiations with the US.

Here are his translated remarks:

We should look at the realities on the ground.
We were actively engaged in negotiations, and all of a sudden, we were taken by surprise by Israel’s belligerence.
We wouldn’t have imagined that they would take such an action backed by the United States.
It is the Zionist entity that undermined diplomacy; it is the responsibility of the US to take a firm stance.
The contradictory stance adopted by the US in the face of this belligerence is not helpful.
However, we do not have any doubt that the US administration and US officials are accomplices to this belligerence.
Raising the issue of negotiations is pointless at this time.
The Security Council must make it clear that this is an unlawful, unjustifiable belligerence.

[The Founder]

US unlikely to ‘join the battle’ against Iran
More from Ori Goldberg, the Israeli political commentator. He spoke to us from Tel Aviv about possible US involvement in the escalation and how some Israelis are feeling.

“Well, there’s certainly a desire for the US to get involved, prominently, among officials whose plans lack a clear end game or strategy… But since nobody is clear about the real goal, it’s just as obvious that the US will, certainly at this stage, refrain from getting involved,” Goldberg said.

Many Israelis believe the hostilities will continue for the foreseeable future because the government has not spoken of an “off-ramp” or an “end-game”, said Goldberg.

However, “there’s a lot of support for this war with Iran” but that could erode over time, he added.

“I think most Israelis who still care enough to try and consider what happens mid- or long-term will understand that Israel is in a problem. As time goes by, it will become clear that not only will the United States not join the battle, but that other prominent world powers are also not prepared to make the leap and join Israel in Iran in the actual fighting.”

[The Founder]

Missile launched from Yemen falls before reaching Israel: Army
An earlier military update said that Israel’s defence systems were activated to shoot down the ballistic missile, and warning sirens sounded in various parts of the country.

“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen fell prior to crossing into Israeli territory,” the military said in a statement.