cbsnews

Updated on: June 15, 2025 / 10:09 PM EDT/ CBS/AP

Israel and Irantraded more missile attacksSunday despite calls for a halt to the fighting, with neither country backing down as their conflict raged for a third day. The exchange of fire comes as talks on Iran's nuclear program in Oman between the U.S. and Iran were called off.

Iran said Israel struck its oil refineries, killed the intelligence chief of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and hit population centers in intensive aerial attacks that raised the death toll in the country since Israel launched its major campaign Friday to 224 people. Health authorities also reported that 1,277 were wounded, without distinguishing between military officials and civilians.

Israel — widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East — has aimed its missiles at Iran's rapidly advancing nuclear program and military leadership. Israel said Iran has fired over 270 missiles since Friday, 22 of which had slipped through the country's sophisticated multi-tiered air defenses as of Sunday and caused havoc in residential suburbs, killing 14 people and wounding 390 others.

Warning sirens sounded again in Israel early Monday morning as Israel's military said Iran had again launched another wave of missiles. Local Israeli media reported multiple injuries after at least one appeared to break through the country's air defenses.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that if the Israeli strikes on Iran stop, then "our responses will also stop." He said the United States "is a partner in these attacks and must take responsibility."

Explosions echoed across Tehran and were reported elsewhere in the country early Sunday.

In Israel, at least 10 people were killed in Iranian strikes overnight and into Sunday, according to Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service. It brought the country's total death toll to 14, including a 10-year-old and a 9-year-old in Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv, since the strikes began on Friday night.

Israel's defense minister warned Saturday that "Tehran will burn" if Iran continues firing missiles at Israel.

Speaking after an assessment meeting with the army's chief of staff, Defense Minister Israel Katz said Iran will pay a heavy price for harming Israeli citizens.

"If (Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei continues to fire missiles at the Israeli home front — Tehran will burn," Katz said.

Following Israel's expanded assault, Katz followed up early Sunday morning with a post that read, "Tehran is burning."

Claiming to operate almost freely in the skies over Iran, Israel said its attacks Sunday hit Iran's Defense Ministry, missile launch sites and factories producing air defense components.

Iran also acknowledged Israel had killed three more of its top generals, including Gen. Mohammad Kazemi, the Revolutionary Guard intelligence chief.

But Israeli strikes have increasingly extended beyond Iranian military installations to hit government buildings including the Foreign Ministry and several energy facilities, Iranian authorities said, most recently sparking huge fires at the Shahran oil depot north of Tehran and a fuel tank south of the city.

Those new targets Sunday, coming after Israel attacked Iran's South Pars, the world's largest natural gas field, raised the prospect of a broader assault on Iran's heavily sanctioned energy industry that remains vital to the global economy and markets.

Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh and other Iranian diplomats shared photos of the Foreign Ministry's offices and library laid to waste by flying shrapnel.

Iran's state TV broadcast footage of a dust-covered man carrying a baby away from the ruins of a residential building and a woman covered in blood making panicked phone call from the site of an Israeli missile strike in downtown Tehran. The spokesperson for Iran's Health Ministry, Hossein Kermanpour, said 90% of the 224 people killed were civilians.

The Washington-based rights advocacy group, called Human Rights Activists, reported a far higher death toll in Iran from Israeli strikes, saying the attacks have killed at least 406 people and wounded another 654.

State TV reported that metro stations and mosques would be made converted into bomb shelters beginning Sunday night. Tehran residents told of long lines at gas stations and cars backed up for hours as families fled the city.

Traffic police closed a number of roads outside the city to control congestion. Energy officials on state TV sought to reassure the jittery public there was no gasoline shortage despite the long lines.

Iranian state-linked media acknowledged explosions and fires stemming from an attack on an Iranian refueling aircraft in Mashhad deep in the country's northeast. Israel described the attack on Mashhad as the farthest strike it has carried out in Iranian territory.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has made the destruction of Iran's nuclear program his top priority, brushed off urgent calls from world leaders to de-escalate, saying Israel's strikes so far are "nothing compared to what they will feel under the sway of our forces in the coming days."

Israel's initial assault used warplanes — as well as drones smuggled into the country in advance, according to officials — to hit key facilities and kill top generals and scientists.

"The individuals who were eliminated played a central part of the progress toward nuclear weapons," the IDF said in a news release. "Their elimination represents a significant blow to the Iranian regime's ability to acquire weapons of mass destruction."

Iran retaliated by launching waves of drones and ballistic missiles at Israel, where explosions lit the night skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and shook the buildings below. The Israeli military urged civilians, already rattled by 20 months of war in Gaza sparked by Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, to head to shelter for hours. U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News that U.S. forces helped Israel intercept Iranian missiles on Friday.

Israel's ongoing strikes have halted — for now — diplomacy between the U.S. and Iran. Oman's foreign minister, Badr al-Busaidi, said on social media that talks on Sunday "will not now take place," but he added that "diplomacy and dialogue remain the only pathway to lasting peace."

A senior administration official told CBS News, "While there will be no meeting Sunday, we remain committed to talks and hope the Iranians will come to the table soon."

Araghchi, Iran's foreign minister, said Saturday that the nuclear talks were "unjustifiable" after Israel's strikes, which he said were the "result of the direct support by Washington."

President Trump, who has expressed full support for Israel's actions, offered a stark warning to Iran against retaliating against U.S. targets in the Middle East. He also predicted Israel and Iran would "soon" make a deal to end their escalating conflict.

In a post on his Truth Social account early Sunday, Mr. Trump reiterated that the U.S. was not involved in the attacks on Iran and warned that any retaliation directed against it would bring an American response "at levels never seen before."

"However, we can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict!!!" he wrote.

Hours later, Mr. Trump took to social media again to predict, "Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal."

The president claimed he has built a track record for de-escalating conflicts, and that he would get Israel and Iran to cease hostilities "just like I got India and Pakistan to make" after the two countries' recent cross-border confrontation.

Mr. Trump also pointed to efforts by his administration during his first term to mediate disputes between Serbia and Kosovo and Egypt and Ethiopia.

"Likewise, we will have PEACE, soon, between Israel and Iran!" he wrote. "Many calls and meetings now taking place. I do a lot, and never get credit for anything, but that's OK, the PEOPLE understand. MAKE THE MIDDLE EAST GREAT AGAIN!"

One of Mr. Trump's allies in the senate, Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, told "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Sunday morning that Mr. Trump "sent a clear message to the Ayatollahs, that if you hit America in any way, whether our troops or our citizens or our ships, for instance, then you're going to feel the full force and strength of the U.S. military in a way no one's ever seen."

Among the key sites Israel attacked was Iran's main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz, where black smoke could be seen rising into the air. It also appeared to strike a second, smaller nuclear enrichment facility in Fordo, about 60 miles southeast of Tehran, according to an Iranian news outlet close to the government that reported hearing explosions nearby.

Israel said it also struck a nuclear research facility in Isfahan, and said it destroyed dozens of radar installations and surface-to-air missile launchers in western Iran. Iran confirmed the strike at Isfahan.

U.N. nuclear chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that the above-ground section of the Natanz facility was destroyed. The main centrifuge facility underground did not appear to have been hit, but the loss of power could have damaged the infrastructure there, he said.

Israel also struck a nuclear research facility in Isfahan. The International Atomic Energy Agency said four "critical buildings" were damaged, including its uranium conversion facility. It said there was no sign of increased radiation at Natanz or Isfahan.

An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with official procedures, said that according to the army's initial assessment, "it will take much more than a few weeks" for Iran to repair the damage to the Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites. The official said the army had "concrete intelligence that production in Isfahan was for military purposes."

On "Face the Nation," Cotton said Iran is "close to having enough pure weapons-grade uranium for several weapons," and that's why both Mr. Trump and Netanyahu thought "things were coming to a head" with Thursday night's launch.

"A second reason is Iran is rapidly producing ballistic missiles, both medium range to target Israel, and short range to target our troops, and they add substantially to those stockpiles every single month," Cotton added. "And at a time when Iran is both continuing its work on its nuclear program and trying to rebuild its offensive missile capacity, that the window to actually stop Iran from entering that zone of immunity was rapidly closing."

© 2025 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

June 15, 2025 / 11:52 PM EDT/ CBS News

The U.S. State Department has issued a directive to all of its embassies and consular posts to, "at their discretion," relay or reiterate to their host governments that the United States "is not involved in Israel's unilateralaction against targets in Iranand did not provide tanker support," according to a source familiar with its contents.

In a communication known as an ALDAC cable — referring to All Diplomatic and Consular Posts — that the source described to CBS News, the department also noted that the United States "remains committed to a diplomatic resolution to the Iran nuclear issue."

The cable stressed embassies should communicate to their international counterparts that the "safety and security of all American citizens remains the top priority for the U.S. government," and that "no government, proxy or independent actor should target American citizens, bases, or infrastructure," also adding, "Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon."

"The U.S. military remains in a defensive posture to protect U.S. personnel, forces, and infrastructure in the region and to minimize casualties, particularly amid the persistent threat posed by Iranian ballistic missiles," excerpts of the cable said, according to the source.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The internal directive comes amid intensifying waves ofassaultsby Israel and Iran, whose capital city of Tehran was bombarded on Sunday as the fighting began entering a fourth day. More than 220 Iranians and at least 14 Israelis have been killed in the clashes since they began, according to local authorities.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that the United States "is a partner in these attacks and must take responsibility."

In asecurity alertissued Sunday, the U.S. State Department announced that its embassies and consulates in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv would remain closed on Monday, in compliance with Israel Home Front Command Guidance. It urged all U.S. government employees and their family members to continue sheltering in place until further notice.

Asked as he was departing Washington, D.C., for the Group of 7, or G7, Summit in Canada how the U.S. was working to de-escalate the conflict, President Trump told reporters on Sunday, "I think it's time for a deal, and we'll see what happens."

He said the U.S. would continue to support Israel in its defense, with American officials confirming military forces have been operating by land, sea and air to intercept Iranian missiles.

In an earlier social mediapost, Mr. Trump said if U.S. interests were attacked by Iran, "the full strength and might of the U.S. Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before."

Mr. Trump's statements came as previously announced nuclear talks between the United States and Iran were called off. U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff had been slated to travel to Oman on Sunday for a sixth round of direct and indirect negotiations. Iran told mediators in Qatar and Oman it would not negotiate "while under attack," a source with knowledge of the communication told CBS News.

—Claire Day contributed reporting

© 2025 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

June 16, 2025 / 7:36 AM EDT/ CBS/AP

Hong Kong— An Air India flight returned to Hong Kong on Monday shortly after takeoff due to a midair "technical issue," the airline said, just four days after another one of the company's flights crashed and killed at least 270 people. The plane that turned around on Monday was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, as was theAir India flight that crashed into buildingsin the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on Thursday morning.

Air India said in a statement that the New Delhi-bound plane landed back in Hong Kong safely Monday and was undergoing checks "as a matter of abundant precaution."

Airport Authority Hong Kong said in a separate statement that flight AI315 returned to the southern Chinese city's airport around 1 p.m.

Flight AI315 was a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, as was AI171, the Air India flight that struck a medical college hostel in Ahmedabad just minutes after it took off from the city's airport on Thursday. The crash killed 241 people on board the plane and at least 29 on the ground. One passenger, a British national, survived.

Air India, the nation's flag carrier airline, said alternative arrangements were made to fly the affected passengers from the Hong Kong to New Delhi flight to their destination at the earliest convenience.

Indian authorities ordered Air India to carry out additional safety checks on all of the airline's Boeing 787s in the wake of the Thursday crash, but neither those authorities nor Boeing have suggested grounding the planes.

There are more than 360 Boeing 787-8s in service around the world, with American Airlines operating more than any other carrier.

© 2025 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Updated on: June 16, 2025 / 7:47 AM EDT/ CBS News

President Trump opposed a recent Israeli plan to killIran's Supreme LeaderAyatollah Ali Khamenei, three U.S. officials told CBS News on Sunday.

The Israelis had the opportunity to assassinate Khamenei and Mr. Trump conveyed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that it wasn't a good idea, one U.S. official told CBS News. They said the conversation between Netanyahu and Mr. Trump happened since Israel launched amassive attack on Iran last week.

Mr. Trump's rejection of the proposal was first reported byReuters.

A senior U.S. official told CBS News on Saturday that there has been no direct contact between the U.S. and Iran. An Israeli official in Washington, D.C., told CBS News on Saturday that there is regular contact between the U.S. and Israel, with leaders having spoken Monday, Thursday and Friday.

During an interview with Fox News' "Special Report with Bret Baier" on Sunday, Netanyahu did not directly confirm or deny Reuters' reporting when asked about it.

"There's so many false reports of conversations that never happened and I'm not going to get into that," he said. "But I can tell you I think we do what we need to do. We will do what we need to do and I think the United States knows what is good for the United States and I'm just not going to get into it."

A spokesperson for Netanyahu told CBS News on Monday that the reports were false.

Earlier, an Israeli official told CBS News that, "in principle," Israel doesn't "kill political leaders, we are focused on nuclear and military. I don't think anyone making decisions about those programs should be living free and easy."

As the Ayatollah is the one who makes those decisions, the official noted "the Supreme Leader should be changing bedrooms at night."

Mr. Trump has not commented publicly on the report. On Sunday, he issued a stark warning to Iran against retaliating against U.S. targets in the Middle East.

In a post on Truth Social, Mr. Trump said the U.S. "had nothing to do with the attack on Iran" as Israel and Iran traded missile attacks for a third straight day.

"If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the U.S. Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before," Mr. Trump said.

Hours later, Mr. Trump appeared to predict "Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal."

The president said he has a track record for de-escalating conflicts, and that he would get Israel and Iran to cease hostilities "just like I got India and Pakistan to make" after the two countries' recent cross-border confrontation.

Mr. Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday about the growing Israel-Iran conflict. He is also set to travel later Sunday to Canada for Group of Seven, or G7, leaders' summit, where the Mideast crisis is expected to loom large.

Margaret Brennancontributed to this report.

Lucia Suarez Sang is an associate managing editor at CBSNews.com. Previously, Lucia was the director of digital content at FOX61 News in Connecticut and has previously written for outlets including FoxNews.com, Fox News Latino and the Rutland Herald.

© 2025 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

June 16, 2025 / 9:34 AM EDT/ CBS/AP

Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip— At least 34 Palestinians were killed Monday in new shootings near food distribution centers run by a controversial Israeli- and U.S.-backed group in the south of theGaza Strip, the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health said. The toll was the deadliest yet in the near-daily shootings that have taken place as thousands of Palestinians move through Israeli military-controlled areas to try to reach the food "hubs" run by theprivate contractor Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Two witnesses said Israeli troops opened fire early Monday in an attempt to control the crowds. There was no immediate comment by the Israeli military. It has said after numerous previous instances that troops had fired warning shots at what it called suspect individuals approaching their positions.

Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry said 33 Palestinians were killed trying to reach the GHF center near the southern city of Rafah on Monday while another was fatally shot trying to reach a GHF hub in central Gaza. It said four other people were killed elsewhere in the war-torn enclave.

Two Palestinians trying to get food at the Rafah site, Heba Jouda and Mohammed Abed, told The Associated Press that Israeli forces fired on the crowds at around 4 a.m. at the Flag Roundabout. The traffic circle, hundreds of yards from the GHF center, has repeatedly been the scene of shootings. The military has designated specific routes to access the food centers, and GHF has warned aid-seekers that leaving the roads is dangerous, but many do in an attempt to get to the food first.

Israel and the United States say the new GHF system is needed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off aid. GHF says there has been no violence in or around the sites themselves. The funding for and management of GHF have remained unclear since it began operations in mid-May, but it is staffed by private, well-armed American security contractors.

U.N. agencies and major aid groups, which have delivered humanitarian aid across Gaza since the start of the 20-month Israel-Hamas war, have rejected the new system, saying it can't meet the territory's needs and allows Israel to use aid as a weapon. They deny there is widespread theft of aid by Hamas.

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the U.N.'s agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, slammed GHF in a statement on Monday as a "lethal distribution system" and lamented that "tragedies go on unabated" in Gaza "while attention shifts elsewhere," in an apparent reference to the new outbreak of significantfighting between Israel and Iran.

Israel launched surprise strikes on Iran's nuclear sites and senior scientists and commanders late on Thursday, sparking an ongoing exchange of fire that the Israeli military says has killed at least two dozen civilians in the country, and reportedly hundreds in Iran.

"Scores of people have been killed & injured in the past days including of starving people trying to get some food from a lethal distribution system," Lazzarini said in a social media post. "Restrictions on bringing in aid from the UN including @UNRWA continue despite an abundance of assistance ready to be moved into Gaza. In addition, severe shortages of fuel are now hampering the delivery of critical services especially health & water. Killings & wars will breed more wars & bloodshed. Civilians will always suffer first & suffer most."

Israeli officials have repeatedly accused United Nations aid agencies of failing to collect and distribute food it allows into Gaza, a significant portion of which the Israeli military now controls and warns civilians to avoid due to its ongoing operations.

Palestinian health officials say scores of people have been killed and hundreds wounded since the GHF sites opened last month. Experts, including U.N. agency chiefs, have warned that Israel's ongoing military campaign and restrictions on the entry of aid have put Gaza, which is home to more than 2 million Palestinians, at risk of famine.

© 2025 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

June 16, 2025 / 10:41 AM EDT/ CBS/AP

TheLouvre, the world's most-visited museum and a global symbol of art, beauty and endurance, was shuttered on Monday — not by war, not by terror, but by its own exhausted staff, who say the institution is crumbling from within.

It was an almost unthinkable sight: the home to works by Leonardo da Vinci and millennia of civilization's greatest treasures — paralyzed by the very people tasked with welcoming the world to its galleries.

The spontaneous strike erupted during a routine internal meeting, as gallery attendants, ticket agents and security personnel refused to take up their posts in protest over unmanageable crowds, chronic understaffing and what one union called "untenable" working conditions.

It's a rare thing for the Louvre to close its doors to the public. It has happened during war, during the pandemic, and in a handful of strikes — including spontaneous walkouts over overcrowding in 2019 and safety fears in 2013. But seldom has it felt quite like this: tourists lining the plaza, tickets in hand, with no clear explanation for why the museum had, without warning, simply stopped.

"It's the Mona Lisa moan out here," said Kevin Ward, 62, from Milwaukee, one of thousands of confused visitors corralled into unmoving lines beneath I.M. Pei's glass pyramid. "Thousands of people waiting, no communication, no explanation. I guess even she needs a day off."

The moment felt bigger than a labor protest. The Louvre has become a bellwether ofglobal overtourism— a gilded palace overwhelmed by its own popularity. As tourism magnets from Venice to the Acropolis scramble to cap crowds, the world's most iconic museum is reaching a reckoning of its own.

The disruption comes just months after President Emmanuel Macron unveiled a sweepingdecadelong planto rescue the Louvre from precisely the problems now boiling over — water leaks, dangerous temperature swings, outdated infrastructure, and foot traffic far beyond what the museum can handle. But for workers on the ground, that promised future feels distant.

"We can't wait six years for help," said Sarah Sefian of the CGT-Culture union. "Our teams are under pressure now. It's not just about the art — it's about the people protecting it."

She said that what began as a scheduled monthly information session "turned into a mass expression of exasperation." Talks between workers and management began at 10:30 a.m. and continued into the afternoon. As of the early afternoon, the museum remained closed.

The Louvre welcomed 8.7 million visitors last year — more than double what its infrastructure was designed to accommodate. Even with a daily cap of 30,000, staff say the experience has become a daily test of endurance, with too few rest areas, limited bathrooms, and summer heat magnified by the pyramid's greenhouse effect.

At the center of it all, as always, is the Mona Lisa — a 16th-century portrait that draws modern-day crowds more akin to a celebrity meet-and-greet than an art experience. Roughly 20,000 people a day squeeze into the Salle des États, the museum's largest room, just to snap a selfie with Leonardo da Vinci's enigmatic woman behind protective glass. The scene is often noisy, jostling, and so dense that many barely glance at the masterpieces flanking her — works by Titian and Veronese that go largely ignored.

"You don't see a painting," said Ji-Hyun Park, 28, who flew from Seoul to Paris. "You see phones. You see elbows. You feel heat. And then, you're pushed out."

Macron's renovation blueprint, dubbed the "Louvre New Renaissance," promises a remedy. The Mona Lisa will finally get her own dedicated room, accessible through a timed-entry ticket. A new entrance near the Seine River is also planned by 2031 to relieve pressure from the overwhelmed pyramid hub.

In a leaked memo, Louvre President Laurence des Cars warned that parts of the building are "no longer watertight," that temperature fluctuations endanger priceless art, and that even basic visitor needs — food, restrooms, signage — fall far below international standards. She described the experience simply as "a physical ordeal."

"We have problems with the building," des Cars acknowledged to CBS News earlier this year. She said the issues are partly due to age, as the palace that houses the museum was initially constructed in the early 13th century.

"It's nine centuries of history, at the heart of Paris and at the heart of the history of France," said des Cars.

She also said one of the objectives of the renovation is to improve visitor flow, so that people can find the collections they most want to see more easily "and also discover the wonders of the Louvre."

The full renovation plan — with a projected cost of 700 million to 800 million euros (around $810 million to $930 million) — is expected to be financed through ticket revenue, private donations, state funds and licensing fees from the Louvre's Abu Dhabi branch. Ticket prices for non-EU tourists are expected to rise later this year.

© 2025 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.