𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Our world affairs editor Sam Kiley is in Tel Aviv:

Israel claimed that it had killed the Iranian officer responsible for arming Hamas in Gaza.

The commander of the Quds Force’s Weapons Transfer Unit (Unit 190) in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Behnam Shahriyari, was killed by the Israeli air force in an overnight strike against his vehicle the IDF said.

The attack shows the continued deep penetration of Israeli’s Mossad intelligence agency in Iran and was another assassination of a senior officer as part of a campaign to break the back of Iran’s security structures.

Shahriyari “worked for years to arm various terrorist organizations in order to directly advance the Iranian regime’s plan to destroy the State of Israel” the IDF said.

Israel itself suffered not overnight casualties from a significantly lower level of Iranian missile and drone attacks which involved only five missiles – down from 23 the day before.

Israel says it has killed Mohammad Saeed Izadi, the veteran commander who served as the head of the Palestine Corps within Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Quds Force.

This was the IRGC’s overseas operations arm with ties to armed groups across the region.

He was believed to be a liaison between Iran and Hamas and played a role in co-ordinating support by Tehran for armed Palestinian groups.

Izadi reportedly helped arm Iran and Hamas – and Israel says he helped orchestrate an assault on Israel in assistance of Hamas’ 7 October attack.

Izadi was killed in an Israeli attack on an apartment in the city of Qom, coming more than a year after he narrowly survived an Israeli air strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, in April 2024, the BBC reported.

Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan told his counterparts from Muslim countries that Israel was dragging the region into “total disaster” with its attacks on Iran.

Speaking at a foreign ministers’ meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul, he added world powers must prevent the war from spiralling into a wider conflict.

Mr Fidan called on Muslim countries to stand with Iran against Israel, and said the region had an “Israel problem” after its assault on Gaza and attacks on Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran.

Iran has said it is open to pursuing diplomatic talks with European nations, but only on the condition that Israel ends its military operations and those responsible are held to account.

Following a meeting in Geneva with European diplomats, foreign minister Abbas Araghchi expressed “serious concern” over the failure of France, Germany, the UK, and the EU to condemn what he described as Israel’s surprise strike and ongoing aggression against Iran. He warned that any assault on Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities would represent a severe violation of international law.

“I explicitly and clearly stated that Iran’s defensive capabilities are not negotiable,” the minister said, reported the Associated Press. However, he added that Iran is ready to keep talking with the Europeans “in the near future”.

His comments came as Israel’s top military commander said the country was preparing for a potentially prolonged conflict.

Gulf Cooperation Council ambassadors have expressed concerns to UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi about the safety of nuclear facilities close to their countries amid the Israeli-Iranian crisis, Qatar state news agency reported on Saturday.

The ambassadors warned Grossi during a meeting in Vienna about the “dangerous repercussions” of targeting nuclear facilities.

The warning comes after the Israeli military said at one point on Thursday that it had struck the Russian-built Bushehr facility, but later said the comment had been made by mistake. Bushehr is Iran’s only operating nuclear power plant, which sits on the Gulf coast.

The potential consequences of an attack on the plant – contaminating the air and water – have long been a concern in the Gulf states.

When Ellie, a British-Iranian living in the United Kingdom, tried to call her mother in Tehran, a robotic female voice answered instead.

“Alo? Alo?” the voice said, then asked in English: “Who is calling?” A few seconds passed.

“I can’t heard you,” the voice continued, its English imperfect. “Who you want to speak with? I’m Alyssia. Do you remember me? I think I don’t know who are you.”

Ellie, 44, is one of nine Iranians living abroad — including in the U.K and U.S. — who said they have gotten strange, robotic voices when they attempted to call their loved ones in Iran since Israel launched airstrikes on the country a week ago.

Tehran has agreed with European powers to speed up negotiations over its nuclear programme, French president Emmanuel Macron has said.

Mr Macron said he received a call from Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian who made the commitment on Saturday.

“I am demanding: Iran must never acquire nuclear weapons, and it is up to it to provide every assurance that its intentions are peaceful,” Macron said on social media X.

“I am convinced that there is a way out of the war and to avoid greater dangers.”