Beirut, June 18: Intense Israeli airstrikes targeted Iran’s capital early Wednesday in a conflict that a human rights group said had killed at least 600 people across Iran and wounded 1,326 others.The Washington-based group Human Rights Activists said it had identified 239 of those killed in Israeli strikes as civilians and 126 as security personnel.
The group, which also provided detailed casualty figures during the 2022 protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, crosschecks local reports in the Islamic Republic against a network of sources it has developed in the country.
Iran has not been publishing regular death tolls during the conflict and has minimized casualties in the past. Its last update, issued Monday, put the death toll at 224 people killed and 1,277 others wounded.
Uncertainty roiled the region and residents of Tehran fled their homes in droves on the sixth day of Israel’s air campaign aimed at Iran’s military and nuclear program.
Israel asserts it had to launch its airstrike campaign to stop Iran from getting closer to being able to build a nuclear weapon. It came as Iran and the United States had been negotiating over the possibility of a new diplomatic deal over Tehran’s program, though President Donald Trump has said Israel’s campaign came after a 60-day window he set for the talks.
Iran long has insisted its nuclear program was peaceful, though it was the only non-nuclear-armed state to enrich uranium up to 60%, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, was still conducting inspections, though limited, in the country. U.S. intelligence agencies as well have said they did not believe Iran was actively pursuing the bomb.
Iran has retaliated against Israel’s airstrike campaign by launching some 400 missiles and hundreds of drones at Israel. So far, 24 people have been killed in Israel.