US aircraft carrier heads west as Israel and Iran exchange strikes for fourth day as fighting intensifies

16 June 2025, 11:29 | Updated: 16 June 2025, 15:38

The USS Nimitz has cancelled a planned port call and is heading west as the conflict in the Middle East intensifies
The USS Nimitz has cancelled a planned port call and is heading west as the conflict in the Middle East intensifies. Picture: Getty

By Asher McShane

The US aircraft carrier the USS Nimitz has left the South China Sea and is heading west as the conflict between Israel and Iran descended into open warfare.

Listen to this article

Loading audio...

Donald Trump has issued a warning to Iran, the president saying the country will experience 'the full strength' of the American military if it attacks the US.

His warning comes amid reports he vetoed Israel's plans to assassinate Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The USS Nimitz had a planned port call in Vietnam later this week, but this has been called off as the conflict escalates.

File photo of U.S. Navy's aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (ventre)
The USS Nimitz is now heading west. Picture: South Korean Defense Ministry via Getty Images

Tracking websites show the vessel moving west along with its strike group - with reports citing an ‘an emergent operational requirement.’

Read more: UK warns against all travel to Israel as missile strikes continue into third night

Read more: Starmer calls in 'Britain's FBI' to investigate grooming gangs

Smoke billows from the Shahran oil depot, northwest of Tehran
Smoke billows from the Shahran oil depot, northwest of Tehran. Picture: Getty

Iran rained down missiles on Israel early this morning, triggering air raid sirens across the country.

At least eight Israelis were killed and dozens more inured when missiles made it through Israel’s defences and hit Tel Aviv and Haifa.

More than 220 Iranians have been killed and 1,200 injured since Friday.

Today, one Iranian missile fell near the American consulate in Tel Aviv, and its fallout caused minor damage, US Ambassador Mike Huckabee said on X. There were no injuries to American personnel.

A boy walks through the debris at the site of an Iranian missile strike in Bnei Brak, east of Tel Aviv,
A boy walks through the debris at the site of an Iranian missile strike in Bnei Brak, east of Tel Aviv. Picture: Getty

Iran announced it had launched some 100 missiles and vowed further retaliation for Israel's sweeping attacks on its military and nuclear infrastructure, which have killed at least 224 people in the country since Friday.

Israel said so far 24 people have been killed and more than 500 injured as Iran launched more than 370 missiles and hundreds of drones.

In response the Israeli military said fighter jets had struck 10 command centres in Tehran belonging to Iran's Quds Force, an elite arm of its Revolutionary Guard that conducts military and intelligence operations outside Iran.

Iranian missiles also struck the city of Haifa
Iranian missiles also struck the city of Haifa. Picture: Getty

Powerful explosions, likely from Israel's defence systems intercepting Iranian missiles, rocked Tel Aviv shortly before dawn on Monday, sending plumes of black smoke into the sky over the coastal city.

Authorities in the central Israeli city of Petah Tikva said that Iranian missiles had hit a residential building there, charring concrete walls, shattering windows and ripping the walls off multiple apartments.

The Israeli Magen David Adom emergency service reported that two women and two men - all in their 70s - and one other person were killed in the wave of missile attacks that struck four sites in central Israel.

"We clearly see that our civilians are being targeted," said Israeli police spokesman Dean Elsdunne outside the bombed-out building in Petah Tikva. "And this is just one scene. We have other sites like this near the coast, in the south."

Petah Tikva resident Yoram Suki rushed with his family to a shelter after hearing an air raid alert, and emerged after it was over to find his apartment destroyed.

"Thank God we were OK," the 60-year-old said.

Despite losing his home, he urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to keep up the attacks on Iran.

"It's totally worth it," he said. "This is for the sake of our children and grandchildren."

In addition to those killed, the MDA said paramedics had evacuated another 87 wounded people to hospitals, including a 30-year-old woman in serious condition, while rescuers were still searching for residents trapped beneath the rubble of their homes.

"When we arrived at the scene of the rocket strike, we saw massive destruction," said Dr Gal Rosen, a paramedic with MDA who said he had rescued a four-day-old baby as fires blazed from the building.

During an earlier barrage of Iranian missiles on central Israel on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Iran will stop its strikes if Israel does the same.

But after a day of intensive Israeli aerial attacks that extended targets beyond military installations to hit oil refineries and government buildings, the Revolutionary Guard struck a hard line on Monday, vowing that further rounds of strikes would be "more forceful, severe, precise and destructive than previous ones".

Health authorities also reported that 1,277 were wounded in Iran, without distinguishing between military officials and civilians.

Rights groups, such as the Washington-based Iranian advocacy group called Human Rights Activists, have suggested that the Iranian government's death toll is a significant undercount.

Human Rights Activists says it has documented more than 400 people killed, among them 197 civilians.

Israel argues that its assault on Iran's top military leaders, uranium enrichment sites and nuclear scientists was necessary to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Iran has always insisted its nuclear programme is peaceful, and the US and others have assessed that Tehran has not pursued a nuclear weapon since 2003.

But Iran has enriched ever-larger stockpiles of uranium to near weapons-grade levels in recent years and was believed to have the capacity to develop multiple weapons within months if it chose to do so.

Latest World News

See more Latest World News

At least 19 other Palestinians were killed across Gaza on Sunday, officials said.

IDF admits 'technical error' after ten people, including children, killed while fetching water

Colonel Ivan Voronich, head of an SBU intelligence Special Operations Centre, was shot dead by a silenced pistol in Kyiv on Thursday.

Putin hit squad ‘eliminated’ after broad daylight murder of top Ukrainian special forces chief

The sunset over a bay with fishing boats anchored in it.

British tourist dies after falling from balcony in Malta

Floods in the Barcelona town of Súria during the rainfall caused by the storm.

Spain storm warning as 100mm of rain fell in an hour submerging tourist hotspot

Family members mourn the loss of 15-year-old Akash Patni, who tragically died when an Air India flight crashed.

Families of Air India crash victims demand ‘justice and answers’ after report published

An investigation team inspects the wreckage of Air India flight 171 a day after it crashed in a residential area near the airport, in Ahmedabad on June 13, 2025.

Fuel to engines on doomed Air India plane 'cut off' moments before crash killed 260, report finds

A firefighter stands next to a burnt-out car following mass Russian drone and missile strikes in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv

Poland scrambles jets as Russia bombards Ukraine with massive overnight attack killing at least four

The US has held 'positive' talks with Zelenskyy

Trump confirms plans to send US air defence systems to Ukraine

Platja de Palma, Majorca, Mediterranean Sea, Balearic Islands, Spain, Southern Europe

Blow for holidaymakers in Mallorca as tourists slapped with swimming ban and popular beaches forced to close

Women mourn at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, where the victims of an Israeli strike which hit the Mustafa Hafez school, sheltering Palestinians displaced by the war, were brough

At least 789 people killed while receiving aid in Gaza, UN human rights office says

Carolina Wilga, 26, was found by a member of the public walking near the edge of a remote and rugged nature reserve after her van was discovered abandoned deep in the bush.

'Nothing short of remarkable': Backpacker Carolina Wilga found alive after 12 days in Australian outback

A teenager has died after being buried alive when a sand tunnel he was digging on a beach in Italy suddenly caved in.

Teenager suffocates to death after sand tunnel he built collapses on top of him

The woman drowned after being swept away by strong waves in Roda resort beach, Corfu Island, Greece.

Brit mum, 50, drowns in Corfu in front of husband and teenage son after being swept away by strong waves

Pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil is  suing Trump administration for $20m.

'It felt like kidnapping': Palestinian activist detained by ICE suing Donald Trump administration for $20m

Parts of an Air India plane that crashed on Thursday are seen on top of a building in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, June 13, 2025.

Investigators look into Air India's vital engine switches after plane crash killed 270 people

A top Ukrainian intelligence officer has been shot dead.

Ukrainian intelligence officer accused of sabotage attacks in Russia shot dead in Kyiv