Islamic Republic's survival proves Israel was defeated in war, Tehran says

"The general outlines of the bill to strengthen the armed forces in comprehensive confrontation with the crimes and aggressions of the Zionist regime were approved,” committee spokesman Ebrahim Rezaei was quoted as saying by Iranian media.

Rezaei added that the bill was referred to the committee’s defense subcommittee for further review.

According to Rezaei, the bill—introduced by Tehran MP Ali Khezrian—has so far secured the backing of 120 members of the parliament.

Rezaei said the bill was discussed on Sunday during a meeting attended by representatives from the defense ministry, the armed forces general staff, the army, and the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).

He added that the deputy defense minister told the committee the ministry was working to secure increased funding to meet the country’s defense requirements.

Iran's government spokesperson announced a 200% increase in the military budget in October 2024, saying that the purpose of the move was to "strengthen the country's defense capabilities."

The budget for Iran’s armed forces was 7,220 trillion rials in last year’s budget bill. Given the exchange rate defined in that budget (330,000 rials per dollar), Iran’s military budget last year could be estimated at $15.7 billion.

Based on this, the allocated budget for Iran’s armed forces in the coming year could be estimated at $46 billion.

“The assassination attempt on President Pezeshkian will not go unanswered — Israel will pay the price,” the official was quoted as saying.

“Israel deliberately targeted the Iranian president during an important National Security Council meeting during the war,” the official added.

In addition to the president, the official said the operation targeted “the heads of the executive, legislative, and judicial authorities,” describing it as part of “an Israeli plan aimed at overthrowing the regime in the country.”

The report comes a day after IRGC-affiliated Fars news reported that Pezeshkian sustained a leg injury following an Israeli airstrike on a meeting of Iran's Supreme National Security Council in the lower floors of a building in western Tehran on June 16.

The Israeli military declined to comment about the report when contacted by Iran International.

The Fars report said that in addition to Pezeshkian, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Judiciary chief Mohseni Ejei and other senior officials were attending the meeting.

Six bombs or missiles targeted the building’s entry and exit points in order to block escape routes and disrupt airflow, Fars News said, adding that the attack was modeled after an operation designed to assassinate Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut.

Following the explosions, power to the floor was cut, but the officials managed to escape through an emergency hatch that had been prepared in advance, the report said.

While the report did not specify the location of the meeting, the Israeli airstrike is believed to have targeted a building in Tehran’s Shahrak-e Bagheri district on June 16.

Missile strikes and bombings in Tehran and other cities released vast quantities of pollutants into the air and water systems and generated massive quantities of hazardous debris, the department said on Sunday.

“The attacks not only caused civilian casualties and infrastructural damage, but also severely compromised the country’s natural resources.”

Tehran alone generated an estimated 150,000 tons of war rubble, according to the report, with cleanup costs exceeding 7,500 billion rials ($8.7 million), as per the report.

Waste disposal from industrial and military sites added another 3,000 billion rials ($3.5 million).

“Oil storage sites in Rey and Kan were also hit, destroying 19.5 million liters of fuel and releasing more than 47,000 tons of greenhouse gases and nearly 579,000 kilograms of airborne toxins into the capital's atmosphere,” read the statement from the department.

“These emissions pushed air quality in several provinces into the hazardous range.”

The department also warned of threats to water tables, soil, and biodiversity due to chemical leakage, sewage overflow, and thermal radiation, adding that assessments were ongoing and that full reports would be submitted to national and international authorities.

According to the UK-based Conflict and Environment Observatory, which monitors the environmental impact of war and military activity, there has been significant environmental damage in Israel too.

Missiles which hit a refinery complex in the country triggered fires and pipeline damage, its report said.

Israel's latest government figures state there were 43 fires in buildings and 65 forest fires and fires in open areas.

"Damage to urban areas, including to commercial and residential buildings, can create inhalational hazards for people from pulverised building materials and combustion products," The Conflict and Environment Observatory added, after the Iranian attacks of 530 ballistic missiles, destroyed large swathes of residential areas in addition to more secretive sites.

“It’s not over, it’s never over,” he told Fox News on Saturday night. “We have to keep Iran in check … Nothing is guaranteed on this, you safeguard your success.”

Netanyahu said that while the current government remains in power in Tehran, the threat remains too. “I realize that the marriage of nuclear weapons with a militant Islamic regime is the greatest threat Israel faces and the world faces,” he said.

Israel invaded Iran in a series of surprise strikes on June 13, leading to a 12-day war which brought massive destruction on both sides.

In Iran, rights group HRANA says more than 1,100 Iranians died in the war, with thousands more injured. In Israel, the death toll was 28 with thousands more injured.

A week after Israel's surprise attacks, the US struck Iran’s three major nuclear sites, Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, with President Donald Trump saying to have ‘obliterated’ Iran’s nuclear program.

Intelligence assessments suggest that Iran retains a hidden stockpile of enriched uranium and the technical capacity to rebuild, according to reports by Reuters.

However, as the US continues to pursue diplomatic channels with Iran to contain any continuation of its nuclear program, Netanyahu said the only way forward would be an Iran without enrichment, no ballistic missiles beyond 300 miles as stipulated under international treaties, and no ‘terror axis’, referring to Iran’s military allies across the Middle East.

“We went to war because we knew that if we didn’t, we’d end up dead. Iran was rushing to develop nuclear weapons and could have had one within a year."

“They have could had tens of thousands of ballistic missiles each weighing a ton … with unbelievable devastation …. And in a country the size of new jersey you have to act. … if you don’t act you’re not going to be around … I knew if we didn’t act now, we may never act again,” he said.

Since the founding of the Islamic Republic, Iran’s leaders have called for the end of the Jewish state. A clock in Palestine Square, in the capital, Tehran, counts down the days until Israel's destruction.

Tehran racing to build nuclear weapons, Netanyahu says

Following the damage done last year to Iran’s allies in the region, including the fall of Syria’s long-time president, Bashar al-Assad, and the weakening of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, Netanyahu said Iran had turned its focus on its nuclear program in a bid to eliminate its archenemy, Israel.

“They understood they had one other way to kill us and that was to race for nuclear weapons. They had enriched uranium, but they needed to have the weapon, they didn’t have the bullet, the thing that detonates the bullet."

“They rushed to weaponize after the fall of Hezbollah and the fall of the axis and we could see that, that within a year they’d have an atomic bomb and they’d actually use it, and try to wipe us out,” Netanyahu said.

Iran has always denied allegations of building a nuclear weapon, saying its program is for peaceful purposes.

Since the ceasefire, Iran has expelled the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, accusing the group of having provided information to the US and Israel.

“Europeans can no longer move about comfortably in their own countries,” Mohammad Javad Larijani, a former senior judiciary official who also served as a top adviser to the Supreme Leader, warned in comments broadcast on state television.

“It’s entirely possible that in the near future, five drones could strike a European city.”

The statement comes as the Islamic Republic faces renewed international pressure over its nuclear program. Britain, France and Germany, three signatories to the 2015 nuclear agreement, are considering the option of triggering a snapback of United Nations sanctions if Iran is deemed non-compliant.

This month, Iran expelled the International Atomic Energy Agency's inspectors, accusing them of being a political tool and having given intelligence to aid the attacks made by Israel and the US on Iran's nuclear facilities last month.

Last week, the UK Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) released a report warning that Iran poses one of the most severe state-based threats to British national security, on par with adversaries like Russia and China.

And last year, the European Parliament also issued warnings about the threat posed by Iran. A statement said: "The Iranian regime’s use of criminal networks as terrorist proxies in Europe poses a grave threat to our internal security."

Larijani's warning to Europe comes just days after he suggested US President Donald Trump could be assassinated by a drone strike while vacationing in Florida.

“Trump has done something [in supporting Israel's war on Iran] so that he can no longer sunbathe in Mar-a-Lago,” he said. “As he lies there with his stomach to the sun, a small drone might hit him in the navel. It’s very simple.”

'Israel, US may attack Iran again'

Larijani said that it is possible that Israel and the United States will seek to launch another attack on Iran.

“The United States and Israel know that if they strike again, our response will be heavier and more unexpected. America is calculating carefully."

Speaking of last month's war with Israel, sparked by surprise attacks on Iran on June 13, Larijani said: “The war began with us being surprised. We did not expect such technologies to be used in the attack. They had inserted and stationed many operatives inside Iran," over 700 Iranians arrested in the wake of the war accused of supporting Israel.

“The enemy can no longer rely on its old methods. This time, we will not be surprised," he added.