Air defenses activated as strikes continue in Tehran

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Thursday that Tehran has so far exercised restraint in the face of regional conflict, warning the United States against further escalation.

"We have shown self-restraint in response to the expansion of war in the region," Ghalibaf said in remarks reported by Iranian media.

Addressing the United States, he added: "The delusional American president should know he cannot impose peace on us through imposed war and threats."

Change or fall of the Islamic Republic establishment is not a goal but could be a result of the conflict between Iran and Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with Israeli public broadcaster Kan.

He added that the matter is for the Iranian people to decide, saying, “There is no substitute for this.”

He added that Israel has destroyed over half of Iran’s missile launchers.

“We’re striking [Iran’] launchers. It doesn’t matter so much how many rockets they have. What matters is how many launchers they have — and we’re already getting there. I think we’ve already passed the halfway mark of the launchers they have.”

US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi have held multiple phone conversations since the Iran-Israel conflict erupted last week, aiming to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis, Reuters reported on Thursday.

Citing three unnamed diplomats, the report said Araghchi told Witkoff that Tehran would not return to negotiations unless Israel halted its attacks on the Islamic Republic.

The talks also touched on a US proposal from late May to create a regional uranium enrichment consortium outside Iran, which Tehran has rejected.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council warned on Thursday that Tehran would adopt a "different strategy" if a third party were to join Israel in the ongoing conflict.