Iranian Deputy Health Minister Abdolrahman Rostamian said on Saturday that the civilian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on Iran has risen to 430. During a visit to Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran, Rostamian added that the number of wounded has exceeded 3,500.
This significant increase in the death toll is in comparison to the last official statistics announced by the Iranian Ministry of Health on June 15, which reported the deaths of 224 civilians.
In this context, five members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard were killed in an attack targeting a military site in Lorestan Province, western Iran. An Israeli airstrike targeted a site in the city of Khorramabad, according to a statement carried by the Iranian Mehr News Agency, citing the Guard's command in the province.
The Iranian military also published a list of 15 soldiers, including senior officers, who it said were killed in Israeli attacks targeting its air defense bases.
Amid the ongoing attacks, the Israeli occupation army announced on Saturday that it is "currently carrying out strikes on military infrastructure in southwestern Iran," without providing further details.
Meanwhile, Israel's Channel 12 reported that 17 Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed since the start of the clashes between the two sides nine days ago, including three in an Israeli attack on a Tehran apartment Friday night. Among those killed was a prominent nuclear weapons scientist named Ithar Tabatabai Kamsheh, who was killed along with his wife.
While Iranian authorities have yet to comment on these reports by 10:29 GMT, Israeli Army Radio also confirmed the assassination of another Iranian nuclear scientist at dawn on Saturday, along with two of his assistants, without providing further details.
For his part, Ali Larijani, a senior advisor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, threatened International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, saying in a social media post: "He will pay the price after the war with Israel ends," referring to what he described as his "contradictory statements" regarding the status of Iran's nuclear program, which Iranian officials said helped justify the Israeli attack.
Grossi stated during a UN Security Council session on Friday that Iran possesses sufficient material to manufacture a nuclear bomb, but does not appear to be currently doing so.
In a related development, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi warned on Saturday that US intervention in the war on the side of Israel "would be very dangerous for everyone."
Araghchi made his remarks to reporters in Istanbul upon his return from talks in Geneva, stressing that any US military intervention in the ongoing conflict "would be extremely disastrous."
Since dawn on June 13, Israel, with US support, has launched a massive attack on Iran, targeting nuclear facilities, missile bases, military leaders, and nuclear scientists. Tehran responded by launching ballistic missiles and drones into Israeli territory, in the largest direct confrontation between the two sides to date.
The risk of expanding the conflict looms, with Western and Israeli reports suggesting the United States could join Israel in its aggression against Iran.
