Newshour

Strikes by Israel and Iran continue as the conflict between the two countries intensifies and stretches into a third day. We’ll hear from the Israeli army, a former senior US envoy and a resident of Tehran.

Also on the programme: we speak to a senior US senator who was friends with the lawmakers killed in the Minnesota shootings; and the writer on writing about being unable, physically, to write.

The podcast version of this programme was edited on 15th June.

(Photo: Israelis take shelter at the side of a highway as siren sounds following missile attack from Iran on Israel, in central Israel June 15, 2025. Credit: Reuters)

Iran and Israel continue trading strikes, seventy-two hours after Israel launched an attack against Iran's nuclear infrastructure and key military figures. We speak to key figures in the region to understand Israel's aims, the role of US diplomacy and how Iran might respond in the future.

Israel and Iran threaten to step up their military confrontation, nearly 48 hours after the Israeli strikes began. Newshour analyses Israel's strategy and assesses how close Iran was to making a nuclear weapon.

Also in the programme: two US politicians are shot in Minnesota; and Bangladesh's interim Prime Minister Muhammad Yunus on the ending of aid to his country.

(Picture: Missiles launched from Iran are intercepted, as seen from the city of Ashkelon, Israel, June 13, 2025. Credit: Reuters)

The Israeli military is continuing its strikes on Iran - following overnight explosions at Mehrabad airport in Tehran. On Friday Israeli planes struck Iranian nuclear and military sites assassinating several military leaders and nine top nuclear scientists. Iranian state media says sixty civilians including twenty children were also killed in an Israeli air strike on a residential complex in the capital. In response Iran has carried out missile strikes on Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Tehran has warned the US, France and Britain that their bases and ships in the region will be targeted if they help stop its strikes on Israel.

Also, we speak to Muhammad Yunus, the interim leader of Bangladesh.

And a new film about the West Virginia town, where people go to avoid the electro-magnetic radiation of modern life.

(photo: Rescuers work at the site of a damaged building, in the aftermath of Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 14, 2025. Credit: REU)

The BBC World Service Debate considers the rapidly changing international landscape since Donald Trump returned to the White House.

The US President says his legacy will be as a peacemaker and unifier. So far he’s brought Putin to the negotiating table and made Europe take its security seriously in a way it hasn’t for decades. But his methods have horrified critics, who say his shock and awe approach to diplomacy is reckless and chaotic. The President’s unpredictability has rocked global alliances. Is Donald Trump making the world safer or more dangerous?

In front of a live audience in the BBC’s Radio Theatre in London, the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent, Lyse Doucet, is joined by:

KT McFarland, former US Deputy National Security Advisor to President Trump in his first term

(Photo: U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on June 12, 2025. Credit: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)

Iran has launched an aerial attack on Israel in an operation it's called True Promise 3. Black smoke has been seen rising over Tel Aviv's skyline. Earlier today, the Israeli military said it had struck the Isfahan nuclear facility in Iran - as its strikes on the country continued.

Also on the programme: Colombian superstar Shakira tells us about life as an immigrant in the US; and a report on the Air India crash.

(Image: Missiles launched from Iran are intercepted as seen from Tel Aviv, Israel on 13 June 2025.Credit: Reuters/Jamal Awad)

Israel's military say they struck dozens of military targets, including nuclear targets in different areas of Iran.

Iran says the attacks by Israel are a declaration of war and there are warnings of a strong retaliatory response by Iran to the attacks which killed numerous military officials and scientists.

Also in the programme: Investigators in India have found the on-board video recorder from the Air India plane which crashed on Thursday, killing more than 240 people. We'll report from the crash site in Ahmedabad.

(Photo shows smoke rising from a damaged building in the aftermath of Israeli strikes in Tehran, Iran on 13 June 13, 2025. Credit: Majid Asgaripour/West Asia News Agency via Reuters)

Air India has confirmed that only one of the 242 people on board its flight that crashed into a doctors' hostel in Ahmedabad has survived.

Also in the programme: Donald Trump has urged Israel not to launch an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities - we hear from a former US ambassador to Israel; and scientists have discovered a previously unknown species of dinosaur hidden in plain sight in a Mongolian museum's fossil collection.

(Photo: Air India plane with over 240 on board crashes after take-off in Ahmedabad - 12 June 2025. Credit: Siddharaj Solanki/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

The local police chief tells the BBC that 204 bodies have been recovered - it's not known how many of those victims were on the plane, or were on the ground when the plane crashed. One passenger has survived, a local police chief says, with Indian media reporting he is British. The plane crashed into accommodation used by doctors. We speak to a British MP in touch with the family members of some on board.

Also on the programme: Rioting – described by the police as “racist thuggery” – in Northern Ireland. And the new images from space that are helping explain the science of the sun.

(Photo: A tail of an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane that crashed is seen stuck on a building after the incident in Ahmedabad, India. CREDIT: REUTERS/Amit Dave)

As protests against raids targeting illegal immigrants continue in Los Angeles, we hear the latest from the city and speak to a former director of the US border agency ICE, Ronald Vitiello.

Also in the programme: the role of rare earth minerals in an apparent warming of trade relations between the US and China; and reflections of former Palestinian foreign minister Nasser al-Kidwa on finding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And memories of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys band, who has died at the age of eighty-two.

(Photo: Members of California National Guard speak to a man outside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building, after days of protests against federal immigration sweeps in Los Angeles, 11 June 2025. Credit: REUTERS/David Ryder)