EPA
As we mentioned earlier, US media are reporting that an initial assessment produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency says US strikes on Iran only set back its nuclear programme by a few months.
In a post on social media, the White House press secretary, Karoline
Leavitt, says: “This alleged ‘assessment’ is flat-out wrong and was
classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked to CNN by an anonymous,
low-level loser in the intelligence community.
“The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump, and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran’s nuclear program.
“Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.”
The BBC’s US partner, CBS News, reports that a source familiar with the assessment has confirmed to them that a preliminary assessment indicates the strikes set back the programme by months, and did not obliterate the facilities.
The source says the assessment indicates strikes on the Fordo facility caved in the entrances but that the enrichment infrastructure buried further underground remains largely intact.
They also appear to contradict Leavitt’s claim about the quality of the assessment, saying such preliminary assessments tend to hold up.
Brandon Drenon
Reporting from Washington DC
The White House has scheduled a classified briefing with
Congress on Friday, House Speaker Mike Johnson said, following days of
frustration over Trump’s decision to order strikes on Iranian nuclear
facilities without congressional approval.
“Senior administration officials will present the
latest information pertaining to the situation involving Israel and Iran,”
Johnson wrote on X.
The confirmation from Johnson comes after a classified
briefing scheduled for Tuesday with members of the Senate was abruptly
cancelled earlier today, sparking outrage among Democrats.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the postponement
“outrageous”, “evasive” and “derelict”.
Lawmakers in both parties have accused Trump of an abuse of
powers by directly involving the US in attacks on Iran without congressional
approval.
However, Johnson and a majority of Republicans have mostly
backed Trump’s decision, pointing to past presidents from both parties who
engaged in foreign conflict without the okay from Congress.
It is now past midnight in Tehran and Tel Aviv, so let’s have look back at Tuesday’s developments:
- The ceasefire between Israel and Iran appears to be holding, with both acknowledging it is in place
- It follows an angry intervention by US President Donald Trump who earlier accused both sides of violating the truce
- The Israeli and the Iranian governments both claimed victory in their recent conflict
- Trump is attending the Nato summit in the Netherlands, where the focus is on defence spending among the countries that make up the alliance
- The Pentagon insisted Iran’s nuclear capability has been “obliterated”, as US media reports cast doubt on the claim
Soroush Negahdari
BBC Monitoring
Several mini drones were intercepted and destroyed over the
northern Iranian city of Rasht, according to local officials.
The semi-official ISNA news agency quoted Gilan Province’s
deputy governor as saying that the aerial targets were detected and brought
down by the region’s air defence systems earlier tonight.
The official did not report any injuries or damage.
Soroush Negahdari and Ghoncheh Habibiazad
BBC Monitoring and BBC Persian
Reuters
Rubble, shattered windows, walls that need fixing, people who need checking up on because they’ve lost a loved one during the strikes, and those who couldn’t make money because of internet disruptions – this is how the people we’ve spoken to describe the mood in Iran.
Meanwhile, Iranian state television shows scenes of jubilant crowds celebrating what it calls a “national victory” following the US-announced ceasefire between Iran and Israel.
BBC journalists cannot operate freely inside the country, so we’ve spoken to people inside on secure, encrypted messaging apps.
“I wonder if the schedule for the power cuts will now be updated after the ceasefire and Iran’s ‘victory’,” a resident of Tehran said wryly. Another told us. “Even before the war, I wasn’t optimistic about the future – now there’s a mountain of problems added to that.”
There are people inside the country who fear darker days ahead for a country already dealing with poverty, inflation, energy shortages, environmental decline, and deep-rooted social injustice.
Those we spoke to, and some on social media, are also expressing scepticism about the fate of the fragile ceasefire. There is widespread uncertainty over whether the truce signals lasting peace or just a pause before more hardship.
Reuters
The leaders of Nato member states are meeting in the Netherlands today and tomorrow for a summit.
It’s a scheduled event, and the biggest item on the agenda is a plan to increase defence spending, but leaders have also been discussing the situation in the Middle East.
Downing Street says that at a meeting between UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the leaders “reflected on the volatile situation in the Middle East” and agreed now is “the time for diplomacy and for Iran to come to the negotiating table”.
The Israel Defense Forces says “earlier this evening” two drones approached Israeli territory “most likely from Iran” and were intercepted.
It says the Israeli Air Force made the interceptions, and that they happened outside of Israeli territory.
Gabriela Pomeroy
Live reporter
Ran Rutenberg
Doctor Ran Rutenberg says he hopes the fragile ceasefire
will hold as he has had “one of the toughest weeks” of his life.
It’s been “very stressful” working in the
emergency room at Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, he tells
me. After every missile hits, he sees an influx of patients coming in from
nearby cities, “injured by glass, shrapnel, or from slabs of concrete,
furniture and ceilings falling on them”, he says.
Rutenberg worked at the hospital 12 days in a row since the
conflict between Israel and Iran began.
After a missile hit a nearby high-rise residential building,
50 people came in all at once – some moderately injured and some in a critical
condition, he says.
“The patients don’t talk, they just look distressed and
terrified, because they just had a missile land on their house,” he says.
Some of the injured are still in hospital days after the attack.
Rutenberg says he hopes a ceasefire means he might finally
get some rest.
Cai Pigliucci
Reporting from the State Department
There have been a trickle of reports from US media outlets
that the US’s strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities did not destroy the core
components of the country’s nuclear programme and likely only set it back by
months.
CNN and the New York Times cite an early assessment from the
US’s Defense Intelligence Agency – an assessment that could change. The BBC
cannot independently verify these claims.
But the Pentagon has provided the BBC with a statement from
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who says: “Based on everything we have
seen – and I’ve seen it all – our bombing campaign obliterated Iran’s ability
to create nuclear weapons.
“Our massive bombs hit exactly the right spot at each
target – and worked perfectly. The impact of those bombs is buried under a
mountain of rubble in Iran; so anyone who says the bombs were not devastating
is just trying to undermine the president and the successful mission.”
Ione Wells
Reporting from Jerusalem
After this war started, the Israeli government imposed restrictions on the country, meaning life for ordinary people changed drastically.
Normally bustling streets were deserted, many non-essential shops and schools shut, and the airspace also closed.
Now, the government has announced that in most of the country, apart from communities near Gaza, restrictions will lift.
This means the Airports Authority has said flights will resume from Israel’s major airports in Tel Aviv and Haifa, schools will re-open and the health system – which previously said it would reduce operations and provide only essential treatments – is returning to normal.
This suggests that at least for now the Israeli government is confident this ceasefire will hold.
But we still don’t know what the terms of it are, or how long cessations have been agreed for, and it has already proved fragile.
Nomia Iqbal
North America correspondent
I’ve just been at the State Department for a briefing.
Press Secretary Tammy Bruce was very evasive on a lot questions about Iran.
She was definitive however on their future, saying Iran “won’t have a nuclear weapon.” But US satellite imagery shows that the nuclear sites are damaged, not destroyed.
Would the US strike again or lean on diplomacy? She insisted that we believe the president when he says the sites are destroyed.
This comes despite intel briefings being delayed for the House and Senate – so at the moment it’s really only the administration’s word for it.
More now from Netanyahu’s televised address, which was delivered in Hebrew.
The Israeli prime minister has reiterated his pledge that Iran will not gain access to nuclear weapons, saying that Israel will “sever” any further attempts to restore such a project.
He adds that Israel has “destroyed Iran’s missile production industry”, destroying dozens of factories and severely damaging missiles stockpiles and launchers.
“Iran’s malicious intention to threaten the existence of Israel with tens of thousands of ballistic missiles – this threat has been removed,” he says, adding: “We have dealt crushing blows to the evil regime.”
The Israeli prime minister says that the IDF delivered Iran “the hardest blow” since the beginning of the conflict at dawn today.
The strikes eliminated “hundreds of regime factories and regime activists,” he adds, calling it the “most crushing attack Tehran has seen in the last 50 years.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the ceasefire between Iran and Israel as a “historic victory”.
He says the “victory will be remembered for generations. We removed two immediate existential threats – a nuclear threat and a ballistic missile threat. If we had not acted, we would soon be facing the danger of annihilation.”
Netanyahu says that the IDF “eliminated Iran’s senior command”, including three chiefs of staff, nuclear scientists and other top officials.
Israel’s campaign also destroyed nuclear facilities in Isfahan, Natanz and Arak, the prime minister says.
He has also hailed US President Donald Trump’s involvement in the campaign.
“Our friend President Trump has stood by us in an unprecedented way – under his direction the US military destroyed the deep-earth enrichment site at Fordo,” Netanyahu says.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has just delivered a televised statement in Hebrew.
We will bring you updates on his remarks shortly.
President Trump has arrived in Amsterdam for the Nato summit, where he’s set to meet the security alliance’s 32 leaders and attend a dinner hosted by the Dutch king.
His flight landed at Amsterdam’s Schipol airport a little after 19:30 local time (18:30 BST).
On board Air Force One, Trump reportedly spoke to members of the press “pool” – the journalists that travel with the president – and has credited Israel for backing off from further strikes on Iran.
He has also told journalists that he expects to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy on the sidelines of the summit.
It is the US president’s first Nato summit since 2019.
Reuters
BBC Persian
We have received a number of messages from Iranians since the ceasefire began to take effect earlier today. Below is a brief overview of what people have had to say – all but one asked to remain anonymous.
“This ceasefire will definitely not last, because Israel has not yet achieved all of its objectives, and we’ve seen this type of ceasefire many times in Gaza and Lebanon, but it was never implemented. This regime must come to an end,” one says.
Another says that “what we see today is not peace, but rather a new plan from Trump and Netanyahu”.
They add that the Iranian regime has “effectively shown its weakness with the ceasefire” and it could start a “staged collapse”.
One person, Mehdi, says they believe the conflict has “guaranteed the survival of the Islamic Republic for another four decades”.
The cost of the war has been “much higher” for the people than the government, they say, but add that a benefit has been to draw a contrast between the regime, who they say are prioritising themselves, and an opposition “whose primary priority” is unity.
Another adds: “It is our duty to distance ourselves from warmongering and support diplomatic solutions – even if they are complex and time consuming. Perhaps this temporary halt will be the beginning of a better path.”
Alice Cuddy
Reporting from Jerusalem
I’ve been hearing from people across Israel about
their reactions to today’s ceasefire.
Twenty-six-year-old student Ran from Jerusalem
tells me over WhatsApp that the past 12 days “were not easy for most of
us”.
“I’m thankful I didn’t know anyone who got
hurt but I know a lot of people whose houses got damaged from the
missiles,” he says. “Mostly I’m happy it’s over but it was necessary
– most of all I feel we can now live in a safer country.”
Golan, a resident of Haifa in northern Israel,
says it’s “too early to celebrate”.
“It’s worth waiting a few days before
getting excited and returning to your routine,” he says.
In southern Israel, Rami Gold says he believes
“it’s time for a ceasefire”, adding “we still have the Gaza
problem to solve”.
From Tel Aviv, Mia Goldstein messages to tell me
she is “relieved” that the strikes could be ending.
In the southern city of Beersheba, which was hit
by an Iranian missile this morning, Oren Cohen says he does not know if he can “count
on” the ceasefire lasting, but is focused on repairing the damage at his
home and supporting his children.
Reuters
Iran’s president has issued a statement acknowledging a
ceasefire with Israel, the country’s state media reports.
Masoud Pezeshkian says that the conflict was “imposed”
on Iran by Israel’s “adventurism” and claims that “people of
Iran” determined the end of the “12-day war”.
Reuters
The Israeli military has released a statement acknowledging
a ceasefire with Iran and saying “now the focus shifts back to Gaza”.
Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir,
says the military has “concluded a significant phase, but the campaign
against Iran is not over”.
“We are entering a new phase based on the achievements
of the current one. We’ve set Iran’s nuclear project back by years, and the
same applies to its missile programme,” he says.
He describes actions taken by the Israeli military as a
“phenomenal achievement”, adding: “Now the focus shifts back to
Gaza – to bring the hostages home and to dismantle the Hamas regime.”
James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent
In most wars, ceasefires are negotiated, not announced on
social media.
So the pause in fighting between Israel and Iran is unusual,
in so much that it was largely imposed by the United States.
It also means there is a lot that is unclear. What would be
a violation of this ceasefire?
What would the penalty be? What would be considered a
legitimate retaliation in such circumstances?
For example, what if a group loosely allied to Iran – such
as the Houthis in Yemen – attacked Israel. Would or could Israel legitimately
attack Iran in response?
The terms of this pause seem to be little more than both
sides halting their missiles. Is Iran expected to resume negotiations over its
nuclear programme?
Could it get economic sanctions’ relief in return? Questions
all to which there are as yet no answers.
