JERUSALEM, June 21, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Israel said Saturday it had killed 
three more Iranian commanders in its unprecedented bombing campaign against 
the Islamic republic, which Foreign Minister Gideon Saar claimed had delayed 
Tehran's alleged progress towards a nuclear weapon by two years.

Israel's military said a strike in Qom south of Tehran successfully targeted 
top Iranian official Saeed Izadi, in charge of coordination with Palestinian 
militant group Hamas, adding two other commanders from Iran's Revolutionary 
Guards were also killed overnight.

As Israel continued to strike Iran's nuclear facilities and military targets, 
Saar said in an interview that by his country's own assessment, it had 
"already delayed for at least two or three years the possibility for them to 
have a nuclear bomb".

"We will do everything that we can do there in order to remove this threat," 
Saar told German newspaper Bild, asserting Israel's onslaught would continue.

Israel and Iran have traded wave after wave of devastating strikes since 
Israel launched its aerial campaign on June 13, saying Tehran was on the 
verge of developing a nuclear weapon -- an accusation the Islamic republic 
has denied.

Israel said it had attacked Iran's Isfahan nuclear site for a second time 
after its air force announced it had also launched salvos against missile 
storage and launch sites in the centre of the country.

The army later said it was striking military infrastructure in southwest 
Iran.

US President Donald Trump warned on Friday that Tehran had a "maximum" of two 
weeks to avoid possible American air strikes, as Washington weighs whether to 
join Israel's campaign.

- 'Not prepared to negotiate' -

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Istanbul on Saturday for a 
meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to discuss the conflict.

Top diplomats from Britain, France and Germany met Araghchi in Geneva on 
Friday, and urged him to resume talks with the United States that had been 
derailed by Israel's attacks.

But Araghchi told NBC News after the meeting that "we're not prepared to 
negotiate with them (the United States) anymore, as long as the aggression 
continues".

Trump, dismissive of European diplomatic efforts, also said he was unlikely 
to ask Israel to stop its attacks to get Iran back to the table.

"If somebody's winning, it's a little bit harder to do," he said.

Any US involvement would likely feature powerful bunker-busting bombs that no 
other country possesses to destroy an underground uranium enrichment facility 
in Fordo.

A US-based NGO, the Human Rights Activists News Agency, said on Friday that 
based on its sources and media reports at least 657 people have been killed 
in Iran, including 263 civilians.

Iran's health ministry on Saturday gave a toll of more than 400 people killed 
and 3,056 in the Israeli strikes.

Nasrin, 39, who was receiving treatment at Hazrat Rasool hospital in Tehran 
and who gave only her first name, said she had been thrown across a room in 
her home by an Israeli strike on the Iranian capital

"I just hit the wall. I don't know how long I was unconscious. When I woke 
up, I was covered in blood from head to toe," she told AFP from her hospital 
bed.

- 'Pure speculation' -

Traffic police and the Fars news agency reported congestion on roads heading 
into Tehran on Saturday, indicating some inhabitants were returning to the 
capital.

Internet access remained highly unstable and limited in Tehran, with slow 
connections and many sites still inaccessible, according to AFP journalists.

Iran's retaliatory strikes have killed at least 25 people in Israel, 
according to official figures.

Overnight, Iran said it targeted central Israel with drones and missiles.

Israeli rescuers said there were no casualties after an Iranian drone struck 
a residential building in Beit She'an.

At the site of the strike in the north of Israel, mounds of soil had been 
gouged from the ground and the wall of a ground-floor room was destroyed.

Israel's National Public Diplomacy Directorate said more than 450 missiles 
have been fired at the country so far, along with about 400 drones.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted military sites and air 
force bases.

In Tel Aviv, where residents have faced regular Iranian strikes for nine 
days, some expressed growing fatigue under the constant threat from Iran.

"In the middle of the night, we have to wake the children and take them to 
the shelter," Omer, who gave only his first name, told AFP.

"They are tired all day after that," he added, explaining he still supported 
Israel's war aim of denying Iran a nuclear weapon.

Western powers have repeatedly expressed concerns about the expansion of 
Iran's nuclear programme, questioning in particular the country's accelerated 
uranium enrichment.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi has said Iran is the 
only country without nuclear weapons to enrich uranium to 60 percent.

However, he added that there was no evidence Tehran had all the components to 
make a functioning nuclear warhead.

Grossi told CNN it was "pure speculation" to say how long it would take Iran 
to develop weapons.