LIVE: Kremlin tells US nuclear strike on Iran would be ‘catastrophic’

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy is to join with top European diplomats and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Geneva on Friday to discuss Iran’s nuclear programme.

Foreign ministers from France, Germany, Britain and the EU are urging de-escalation, with David Lammy saying the next two weeks are ‘a window… to achieve a diplomatic solution’.

Lammy yesterday met with American Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff at the White House.

Al Jazeera, reporting from Washington, reports: ‘We’re told that Lammy came away with a genuine feeling that Trump does want to see a deal [with Iran]’.

After days of escalatory comments suggesting the U.S. could join Israel in its hitherto unilateral strikes against Iran, Donald Trump decided overnight to open a two-week negotiating window before deciding on striking Iran.

‘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,’ a readout from Trump said, shared late Thursday.

Leaders will today convene in Geneva to see if there is a way back to the negotiating table, after talks in Oman were called off.

‘I’ve received several phone calls reassuring me that the Zionist regime [Israel] would not target’ Araghchi en route to Geneva, his adviser Mohammad Reza Ranjbaran said on X.

Separately, the UN Security Council is also due to convene on Friday for a second session on the conflict, at Iran’s request with support from Russia, China and Pakistan, a diplomat told AFP on Wednesday.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy leaves Downing Street, London on Wednesday, June 18

‘I am 200 per cent sure Lebanon will not enter the war,’ senior politician and parliament speaker Nabih Berri told local MTV News last night.

‘It has no interest in doing so and would pay a heavy price. Iran does not need us. It is Israel that needs support.’

Israel has been cautioning Iranian proxy group Hezbollah not to involve itself as Israel and Iran continue to exchange blows.

Late last year, Israel and Hezbollah agreed to terms that would see Hezbollah retract and more Lebanese army troops brought in to patrol the border with the U.N.

Israel has nonetheless continued strikes into Lebanon, hitting southern Beirut on the eve of Eid Al Adha earlier this month.

The military claimed it had identified a Hezbollah unit producing ‘thousands’ of drones underground, funded by ‘Iranian terrorists’.

Ali Shamkhani, a senior advisor to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is alive and in a stable condition, according to Iranian media, after being reported dead earlier this week.

Shamkhani was said to have been seriously wounded in an Israeli attack a week ago. Iranian state TV network IRINN reported that he succumbed to injuries and died.

But now the semi-official Tasnim news agency, based in Iran, has quoted him as having said ‘I am alive and ready to sacrifice myself’ in a message to the Ayatollah and the Iranian nation.

Shamkhani, a close aide to the Ayatollah Khamenei, was reported to have died earlier this week. Now, Iranian media says he is alive and ‘ready to sacrifice myself’.

Iranian missiles struck near a military branch in Israel’s Beersheba (Be’er Sheva) on Friday, Al Jazeera is reporting.

Strikes were said to have damaged a Microsoft office in the Gav-Tam Negev advanced technologies park.

The park borders Ben Gurion University and the C4i branch campus of the Israeli army, its telecoms branch, the Qatari outlet says, noting the strikes would have come down before typical business hours.

Seven people are reported to have been injured in the attack.

Emergency personnel work next to burnt cars and damaged residential buildings at an impact site following Iran’s missile strike on Israel, in Be’er Sheva, Israel, June 20

Israeli soldiers work next to a damaged residential building at an impact site following Iran’s missile strike on Israel, in Be’er Sheva, Israel, June 20

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned Lebanon’s Hezbollah to exercise caution on Friday, saying Israel’s patience with ‘terrorists’ who threaten it had worn thin.

The head of Iran-backed Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, said on Thursday that the Lebanese group would act as it saw fit in the face of what he called ‘brutal Israeli-American aggression’ against Iran.

Hezbollah’s military leadership was vanquished late last year after Israel launched a ground invasion of Lebanon to oust the Iranian-proxy group, citing failure to uphold the terms of a long-established ceasefire agreement.

An even heavier blow to Hezbollah was the fall in December of Syria’s Bashar Assad when Sunni rebels marched on the capital and removed him from power. Now, a government hostile to Iran and Hezbollah rules from Damascus.

Supporters of Iraq’s Hezbollah Brigades attend a gathering to condemn Israel’s attack on Iran in the city of Nasiriyah, in Iraq’s southern Dhi Qar province on June 19, 2025

Israel’s military said on Friday that it had struck dozens of targets in Tehran overnight, including what it called a centre for the ‘research and development of Iran’s nuclear weapons project’.

In a statement, the army said it had ‘completed a series of strikes in the heart of Tehran’ as the crisis entered its eighth day.

‘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,’ it claimed.

According to the Israeli military the SPND headquarters ‘is used for research and development of advanced technologies and weapons supporting the Iranian regime’s military capabilities.’

The army said that during the night on Thursday more than 60 fighter jets struck dozens of military targets.

‘Among the targets were sites producing missile components and facilities manufacturing raw materials used in casting missile engines,’ it added.

The military also said it intercepted overnight four UAVs launched from Iran.

American use of tactical nuclear weapons in the Middle East would lead to catastrophic consequences, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the Russian TASS news agency.

‘There have been a lot of speculations,’ Peskov caveated, responding to media reports that Washington had not yet ruled out the use nuclear weapons to attack the entrenched underground Fordow enrichment site in Iran.

‘This would be a catastrophic development,’ he said. ‘But there are so many speculations that in fact, it’s impossible to comment on them.’

Fordow remains the most heavily defended known enrichment site in Iran, buried some 80 to 90 metres underground.

Israel is believed to lack the capability to destroy the site with its current arsenal, though insiders have suggested multiple raids could weaken the site.

The American B-2 Spirit bombers, capable of carrying GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs), could deal heavy damage – though would require U.S. intervention.

Russia has presented itself as a possible mediating force between U.S.-backed Israel and Iran in recent days, though U.S. President Donald Trump has publicly been reluctant to accept the offer.

Good morning and welcome to MailOnline’s live coverage of the Iran-Israel conflict as it enters its eighth day.

Russia has today warned America any use of tactical nuclear weapons in Iran would be ‘catastrophic’ as it wades into the situation in the Middle East.

Russian news service Tass is reporting the Kremlin has issued a fresh plea for Trump to avoid using bunker busting bombs on Iranian nuclear facilities

It comes as Donald Trump will decide within the next two weeks on whether the U.S. will conduct a strike on Iran.

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