Iran’s leadership HQ destroyed in airstrikes as Trump says it’s ‘too late’ for talks
Local media has reported that the "Assembly of Experts building" in the city of Qom, south of Tehran, was attacked on Tuesday.
Israel and US strikes have flattened the building of a body tasked with choosing Iran's new supreme leader.
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Iranian state media has reported that the "Assembly of Experts building" in the city of Qom, south of Tehran, was attacked on Tuesday.
Footage shows the building severely damaged in strikes confirmed by the Israeli military, with a large smoke plume rising into the sky.
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The Assembly of Experts consists of members who help to decide who assumes the role of Supreme Leader after Ayatollah Khamenei was killing in US and Israeli strikes on Saturday.
It is unclear who was inside at the time of the strikes, though state media said the main building was not hit.
The strikes come after US President Donald Trump told Iran that it was "too late" for talks, as Washington and Tel Aviv continued their offensive in the Middle East.
Mr Trump took to his Truth Social platform to claim Tehran's "air defense, air force, navy, and leadership is gone".
His words came after the Israeli military had earlier said its air force had struck the Iranian regime's leadership compound.
The IDF said "numerous munitions" were dropped on the Presidential Office and the Supreme National Security Council, before announcing it had begun a large-scale wave of strikes targeting infrastructure in Tehran.
Iranian civilians had been told by the Israeli military to leave areas near a Tehran industrial area and the Payam International Airport near the capital.
Iranian officials have accused the IDF of targeting nine Iranian hospitals, including Gandhi Hospital in Tehran, with their airstrikes.
The Israeli military said the attack which hit the Gandhi Hospital was "not targeted".
Some 787 Iranians have been killed in the US and Israeli strikes, which began on Saturday, the country's Red Crescent Society said.
Iran has retaliated with a wave of attacks across the Middle East and the ongoing conflict, which has now entered its fourth day, has caused economic chaos across the globe.
Oil and gas prices have skyrocketed amid fears the war would put a halt to seaborne exports of oil and liquefied natural gas from the Persian gulf.
The Brent benchmark oil price hit $85 a barrel for the first time since July 2024, while the benchmark UK gas price was above 160p per therm - the highest level since early 2023.
Iranian officials saying the country would "set fire to anyone who tries to pass through" the Strait of Hormuz, a key crude oil shipping route.
Ebrahim Jabbari, an adviser to the commander-in-chief of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), told state TV that said ships "should not come to this region. They will certainly face a serious response from us".
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is crucial to the global economy, with about 20% of the world's oil and gas passing through the waterway.
The US embassy in Saudi Arabia has since warned of imminent missile and drone attacks over Dhahran from Iran, where an American consulate is located.
The city is a major centre of the oil industry - and is home to the headquarters of the Saudi national oil firm Aramco.
US citizens have been urged to shelter in place and "review security plans in the event of an attack".
Global share prices have also bee hit, with the UK bond yields - the effective interest rate the government pays to borrow money - up as as investors reduced their estimates of more interest rate cuts from the Bank of England.
The UK Government announced today that the first UK charter flight carrying British nationals stranded in the Middle East would depart Oman "in the coming days"
Foreign secretary Yvette Cooper told the House of Commons that 130,000 Brits had signed up to the "Register Your Presence programme" in the Middle East as of Tuesday morning.
Britain is also set to deploy "a significant level of defensive capability" to Cyprus, following Iranian attacks on a British base there.
The Government intends to defend RAF Akrotiri after a drone struck the base shortly after midnight on Monday, causing minor material damage to an aircraft hangar.
Downing Street later confirmed it would bolster its defensive operations in the region by sending HMS Dragon with counter drone capabilities.
"We will always act in the interest of the UK and our allies," Sir Keir Starmer said.