The Latest Iranians flee their capital as Trump urges unconditional surrender

Tehran, Jun 17 (AP) Residents of Iran's capital were seen leaving the city and shops and the historic Grand Bazaar were closed Tuesday, the fifth day of the intensifying conflict started by Israel.
     President Donald Trump urged Iran to surrender unconditionally and said the US knows where Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is hiding — but doesn't want him killed “for now.”
     Trump's post on social media came a day after he urged the immediate evacuation of Tehran, home to some 9.5 million people.
     Iranian authorities insist everything is under control and no guidance has been issued, even as witnesses in Tehran say sirens blare every few hours and people rush for shelter amid ongoing Israeli attacks.
     On the roads out of Tehran to the west, traffic stood bumper to bumper, and long lines also could be seen at gas stations.
     “It looks like no one is living in this city,” one resident told The Associated Press by phone.
    
     Here's the latest:
    
     Russia's UN ambassador says Israel-Iran military exchanges risk 'wider conflagration'
     However, UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters, “That is a risk not just for the region — because it's already a geopolitical thing.”
     He said Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Trump after the Israeli attacks began and told the US president that Moscow is ready to do what it can “to facilitate” a de-escalation.
     Nebenzia also raised concerns about Israeli attacks causing a radiation leak the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran, as well as its threats to attack the underground Fordo facility and other nuclear sites.
    
     British warplanes are arriving in the Middle East
     UK Defence Secretary John Healy said that the additional fighter aircraft the UK announced it was sending to the Middle East have begun arriving.
     Healey told a defence conference in London that he is ensuring “force protection is now at its highest level” and said the move is to “protect our personnel, it's to reassure our partners, and it's to reinforce the urgent need for de-escalation.”
     UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced at the weekend that the UK would be deploying more military aircraft including Typhoons and air-to-air refuellers to the Middle East. The secretary did not specify where the aircraft were being stationed.
    
     Iran is likely clamping down on internet traffic, group says
     NetBlocks, a group that tracks internet disruptions by nations, said it detected a reduction of internet access in Iran.
     “Analysis of telemetry shows a significant reduction in internet traffic in Iran,” it said. “The incident comes amid an escalating conflict with Israel and is likely to limit the public's ability to access information at a critical time.”
    
     Iran tells people to delete WhatsApp over fears it's sending data to Israel
     Iranian state television on Tuesday afternoon urged the public to remove the messaging app WhatsApp from their smart phones, alleging without offering any evidence the app gathered user information to send to Israel.
     In a statement, WhatsApp said it was “concerned these false reports will be an excuse for our services to be blocked at a time when people need them the most.” WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption, meaning a service provider in the middle can't read a message.
     “We do not track your precise location, we don't keep logs of who everyone is messaging and we do not track the personal messages people are sending one another, it added. “We do not provide bulk information to any government.”
     WhatsApp is owned by Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Istagram.
    
     JD Vance addresses MAGA divide on Israel-Iran as Trump weighs next steps
     Prominent Trump supporters, including Georgia Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and conservative pundit Tucker Carlson have raised concerns about how far the president should go in backing Israel after vowing during his campaign to keep the US out of expensive and endless wars.
     The vice president in a posting on X on Tuesday said he wanted to address “a lot of crazy stuff on social media” about Trump's approach to Iran.
     Vance made the case that Trump has been consistent that “Iran cannot have uranium enrichment” and has said “repeatedly that this would happen one of two ways--the easy way or the “other” way.”
     “He may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian enrichment. That decision ultimately belongs to the president,” Vance added. “And of course, people are right to be worried about foreign entanglement after the last 25 years of idiotic foreign policy. But I believe the president has earned some trust on this issue.”

     China's Xi expresses 'deep concerns' over the escalating Israel-Iran tensions
     According to the Chinese foreign ministry statement on Tuesday, President Xi Jinping expressed opposition to “any acts that infringe on the sovereignty, security, territorial integrity of other countries.”
     Xi called for efforts to de-escalate conflicts and offered help from the Chinese government to restore peace and stability in the region. Xi made the remarks while attending the second China-Central Asia Summit in Kazakhstan.
    
     Tehran empties as Israeli strikes hit homes and offices. One resident describes chaos
     The streets of the Iranian capital are nearly deserted, police are using loudspeakers to tell people to stay indoors, and emergency travel is the only exception, according to one resident, an Afghan store worker.
     “It looks like no one is living in this city,” he said. On the conflict's second day, he saw an Israeli missile strike a government building, sending glass, office furniture, documents and other debris into the road below. A second strike minutes later set the building ablaze.
     In the past day, he said a missile hit a residential tower, injuring women and children. Rescue teams pulled victims from the rubble.
     “Many civilians were killed and injured in the first two days,” he said, adding that most residents have now fled. Messaging apps remain unreliable. He spoke to The Associated Press over the phone, declining to give his name for fear of reprisals.
    
     German leader doesn't think US has decided whether to directly enter Israel-Iran conflict
     “There is apparently no decision yet by the American government; it very much depends on how far the mullah regime is prepared to return to the negotiating table,” said German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, using a dismissive term for the Islamic Republic.
     Merz added: “If not, there could be such a further development. But we will have to wait and see.”
     Speaking to Germany's Welt television on the sidelines of the G7 summit Tuesday, he said he believes the Israeli attacks in recent days have very much weakened the Iranian government.
     He also told ARD television that there's still room for Iran's leaders “to come back to the negotiating table and hold talks.” But if Iran doesn't, he said “Israel will pursue its path to the end.”

     UN opens, then immediately closes a summit on Israeli-Palestinian peace plan
     The widening Israel-Iran conflict has added a new casualty: the high-level UN summit to promote a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians, which is now postponed indefinitely.
     Co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France, the UN General Assembly meeting was set to run from Tuesday through Friday.
     Saudi Arabia's UN Ambassador Abdulaziz Alwasil, citing “logistical and security reasons,” said conditions were not right to hold the conference.
     France's UN Ambassador Jerome Bonnafont affirmed support for the talks, saying France remains committed to ending the war in Gaza and “a just and lasting solution for the Palestinian cause.”
     The postponement was supported by the conference participants. The General Assembly mandated the summit be held by June, following a resolution late last year.
    
     Iran appears to be limiting people's phone and internet access
     Iran appeared to be slowly restricting access for the public to the outside world on Tuesday night as landline telephones appeared to be no longer able to receive or dial international phone calls.
     Iran offered no acknowledgment of the restriction, which has happened during nationwide protests in the past and during the 1980s Iran-Iraq war.
     International websites as well appeared to be restricted for internet users. However, local websites appeared to be functioning. That likely signals Iran has turned on its so-called “halal net,” Iran's own locally controlled version of the internet aimed at restricting what the public can see.
    
     The UN watchdog now says Israeli strikes had direct impacts' on Iran's Natanz enrichment site
     The International Atomic Energy Agency says it now believes Israeli airstrikes on Iran's Natanz enrichment site had “direct impacts” on the facility's underground centrifuge halls. It did not elaborate.
     It's the first time the UN nuclear watchdog has assessed damage from the strikes in the underground parts of Natanz, which is the main enrichment facility of Iran's program.
     Earlier, it was clear that Natanz's above-ground enrichment hall had been destroyed, as well as electrical equipment that powered the facility. (AP) NPK
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)