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Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Hezbollah on Friday to stay out of the Iran-Israel conflict, saying the group “has not learned the lesson of its predecessors.”
“The Lebanese proxy should be careful and understand that if there is terror – there will be no Hezbollah,” Katz wrote on X.
His comments followed a statement by Hezbollah’s leader Sheikh Naim Qassem, who said the group was not neutral in the face of Israeli and US aggression and backed Iran’s right to defend itself.
Israeli attacks on Iran have killed at least 657 people and injured 2,037 over the past seven days, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said on Friday.
The toll includes 263 civilian deaths and 164 military personnel, while the status of 230 others remains unclear, according to the report. The most recent fatalities were two soldiers killed in the city of Abhar, Zanjan province, HRANA said.
Israel’s war against Iran entered its eighth day Friday, with mutual missile attacks continuing, diplomacy intensifying, and the fate of the underground Fordow nuclear site hanging in the air.
President Donald Trump is weighing a US strike, while Israel says it will act alone within days if necessary. Here's a brief summary of events leading to Friday.
Underground site in crosshairs
- Trump is determined to disable Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility by force or diplomacy, CBS and Axios reported.
- Trump will decide within two weeks whether to order a strike, the White House said Thursday.
- Two Israeli security sources told Iran International that Israel will strike Fordow within 48–72 hours—with or without US support.
- The Guardian reports Trump is unconvinced the GBU-57 bomb can destroy Fordow; Pentagon warned only a tactical nuke would guarantee success—something Trump is not considering.
- CIA Director Ratcliffe reportedly described Iran as “on the one-yard line” of building a bomb.
- NYT says Iran may seek a nuclear weapon if Fordow is hit or Khamenei is killed.
Israeli strikes continue
- Israel targeted an industrial complex in Rasht and other targets in Gorgan
- Satellite images confirmed heavy damage to Arak’s reactor dome.
- Israeli officials’ remarks fueled the speculations that Israeli was poised to kill Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei
- Netanyahu said regime change in Iran is up to its people, but could result from the war.
- A building housing top officials was targeted in northern Tehran.
Iran vows to retaliate, launches more missiles
- Khamenei appeared in a defiant video rejecting Trump’s calls to surrender, saying any US attack would cause “irreparable damage.”
- Tehran warned of retaliation on US soil if Washington intervenes, but left door open to diplomacy
- Iran reiterated it may pursue nuclear weapons if Khamenei is assassinated or Fordow is hit.
- New salvos Thursday hit a major hospital in southern Israel
- IRGC media reported attempts to mobilize Qom clerics for compromise with Israel.
Tehran shaken, losses mount
- Rights groups say more than 300 have been killed in Iran, including nuclear scientists and IRGC members.
- Strikes have hit almost every Tehran district, prompting mass flight.
- Air defenses activated again Thursday night amid new Israeli strikes.
- Targets included the Intelligence and Foreign ministries and key military sites.
- Funerals and martyr posters are now common across the capital.
US prepares, denies offensive role
- The USS Ford strike group and over 30 refueling tankers are in the region.
- Satellite images show US military aircraft being removed from a base in Qatar.
- Trump’s G7 exit and social media posts stirred speculation about imminent US action.
Diplomacy intensifies but stalls
- US envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran’s Abbas Araghchi have held multiple phone calls.
- UK foreign minister to deliver US message to Iran in Geneva Friday; France and Germany joining.
- UN chief Guterres welcomed the talks but said violence must end now.
- Iran told Guterres it will keep fighting until the UN acts against Israel.
- Hezbollah’s deputy chief said the group is “not neutral” and backs Iran.
Global fallout escalates
- Russia evacuated nationals; Czechia closed its Tehran embassy.
- Germany urged Israel to show restraint in military operations.
- Oil prices spiked; Iran faces the worst internet blackout since 2019.
- Iran threatened Israeli Channel 14 with military action.
- Iran arrested over 160 people for alleged online support of Israel.
- Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi called for a ceasefire and international peace push.
Iran is hijacking private security cameras in Israel to monitor impact zones and collect real-time intelligence, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing current and former Israeli cyber officials.
The report quotes Refael Franco, former deputy director of the Israel National Cyber Directorate, who warned that in the days following Iran’s missile strikes on Tel Aviv, Iranian operatives had been attempting to connect to private surveillance systems to improve targeting accuracy.
A spokesperson for Israel’s cyber agency confirmed the ongoing threat, saying such attempts had intensified during the current conflict. Iran’s use of hijacked cameras echoes similar tactics previously employed by Hamas and Russia.
Bloomberg notes that weak passwords, outdated firmware, and poorly configured systems leave many private cameras vulnerable, creating what experts call a “dual-use” risk for civilians and intelligence.
The potential use of tactical nuclear weapons by the United States in Iran would be a catastrophic development, the Kremlin said, according to a report by Russia’s TASS news agency.
