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By Cordelia Lynch, Asia correspondent, in Tel Aviv

Israel has the firm edge in this conflict.

It's taken out Iran's top brass and their replacements. It's taken control of the skies over Tehran and it's not ruling out regime change either.

And Benjamin Netanyahu, who just a week ago was facing huge political opposition, now has the public and even his opponents backing him. But Iran's supreme leader isn't backing down - vowing to stand firm and warning the United States there will be huge risks if it joins the battle.

Yaakov Amidror, former head of the Israeli National Security Council, believes that's an empty threat.

"I think that the Iranians are using irrelevant language. They are bluffing. They don't have the capabilities they had two years ago. Hezbollah is gone. Hamas doesn't exist as a threat," he told me.

Amidror, who participated in high-level talks with US officials about the Iranian nuclear programme when he was national security advisor, believes Israel only needs the US for one thing - bunker-busting bombs to destroy Iran's Fordow nuclear facility.

"We don't have the capabilities to destroy from the air. The Americans have better capabilities to do it from the air. And for that, we need the Americans," he said.

Striking support for Israeli offensive on streets of Tel Aviv

The big question is just how involved the US is willing to be.

Donald Trump spent the first months of his term holding back Israel's push for an assault on Iran鈥檚 nuclear program. Now he appears to be seriously considering using American aircraft in the fight.

Whatever he decides, on the streets of Tel Aviv, there is striking support and even a bit of swagger around the Israeli offensive.

Iran recently issued an evacuation notice to the residents of Neve Tzedek, the first Jewish neighbourhood built outside of the old port city of Jaffa. And yet I met people who not only seem unfazed by that threat, but also confident about the days and possibly weeks ahead.

"I'm very relaxed here, this is Israel you know, we are safe here," Adi told me as he sat outside a cafe.

Israelis believe Netanyahu has moved at a critical time

Many people I've spoken to recently in Israel believe Netanyahu has moved at a critical time and successfully - even if they have been critical of his leadership on many other fronts.

For Adi's friend Jackie, tackling Tehran is long overdue.

"For 45 years Iran has said to all the world we are going to destroy Israel," he said.

It is a country he says "manufactures weapons and little else".

Many Israelis have been raised on the belief Iran is an existential threat. But this is a perilous moment. And there's no white flag yet. All eyes are now on the United States and a leader who can so quickly turn.

Donald Trump has said Iran wants to meet and he "may do that", as he prepares to hold a meeting on the Israel-Iran conflict in the Situation Room.

Speaking at the White House the US president said Israel's strikes on Iran were "devastating".

"It's a terrible thing," he said. "I hate to see all that death, so much death and destruction."

He said Israel is doing well in its attacks aimed at dismantling Iran's nuclear facilities, and he believed Iran was a few weeks away from having a nuclear weapon before the attacks began.

Trump said he has "ideas as to what to do" but added: "I like to make a final decision one second before it's due."

He said his supporters don't want to see Iran get a nuclear weapon.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps says it has fired Sejil super-heavy, long-range, two-stage missiles at Israel.

The missiles are around 18m long and can strike targets as far away as 2,000km.

The IRGC says the missiles begin their 12th wave of attacks.

Earlier it said Israelis "must choose between a slow death in a hellish life inside bunkers or flee Israel".

Republican senator Ted Cruz says Donald Trump is not in danger of breaching his campaign promise not to take the US into another foreign war.

The US president has said he is considering a strike on Iran.

"Nobody is talking about invading Iran, we're not going to see boots on the ground," he tells US correspondent David Blevins.

He says Israel has a "discreet need" for bunker-busting bombs to attack Iran's Fordow nuclear site, which America has.

"Iran is also building ICBMs," he says.

"An ICBM is to take a nuclear weapon to the United States to murder Americans and President Trump is going to keep Americans safe."

By Deborah Haynes, security and defence editor

The US may ask the UK to station American refuelling aircraft at a British base in Cyprus as Donald Trump weighs up whether to join Israel's war against Iran.

American B-52 bombers and jets are already deployed to Diego Garcia, a British base in the Indian Ocean, as part of a massive expansion of US firepower in the region.

However, it is not thought that conversations have taken place yet about pre-positioning B-2 stealth bombers at Diego Garcia. These US warplanes are armed with bunker-busting bombs big enough to reach Iran's Fordow nuclear site, built deep into a mountain.

Under long-standing rules, the UK must grant permission to the US to use Diego Garcia for military operations.

The White House will need Britain's green light to be able to launch bombing raids against Iran from the site.

It is not clear whether that request has been made or what the answer would be.

British troops on alert

It is not thought the UK believes President Trump has made a decision about whether to strike Iran but officials are preparing for all eventualities.

British troops based in small numbers across the region, including Iraq, Bahrain and the RAF base at Akrotiri in Cyprus, are on alert in case the fighting spreads.

Any move by Mr Trump to bomb Iran could prompt the Iranian military to strike American, British and other allied targets across the Middle East.

UK sends additional Typhoon jets to Cyprus

Bolstering its defences, the British government has sent additional Typhoon jets to Akrotiri, taking the number to 14 along with two tanker aircraft, it is understood.

More British warplanes may also be deployed.

US forces in defensive posture

The US military has already sent tanker aircraft 鈥� which are used to refuel fighter jets mid-flight 鈥� to Spain and Greece and may also request to use the Royal Air Force base at Akrotiri in Cyprus.

An American aircraft carrier is also expected to arrive in the region within the next five to seven days. Three US fast jet squadrons have already been deployed.

The huge array of military strength is currently in a defensive posture, designed to deter Iran from striking against US interests. However, it could be turned into an offensive force.

A former director of intelligence at Israeli spy agency Mossad has told Sky News it was "shocking" how quickly Israel "took down" Iran's air defences.

On 13 June, the Israeli military started carrying out aerial attacks on Iran, hitting sites including some of its most important nuclear installations.

Israel said Iran was on the verge of building a nuclear bomb - something Tehran has always denied seeking from its uranium enrichment programme.

Since those attacks, both countries have been trading daily missile strikes.

Ex-Mossad boss Zohar Palti told The World with Yalda Hakim that it took his country's air force 36-48 hours to "dominate completely" the skies above Iran.

Read more and watch the interview here:

The US military is ready to carry out any decision Donald Trump may make on Iran, the country's defence secretary has said.

Testifying before a Senate committee, Pete Hegseth acknowledged being ready to carry out any orders on Iran and warned Tehran it should have heeded the US president's calls for it to make a deal on its nuclear programme.

"They should have made a deal, President Trump's word means something. The world understands that," he said.

"And at the Defence Department, our job is to stand ready and prepared with options and that's precisely what we're doing."

Hegseth was asked at the Senate Armed Services Committee whether the Trump administration was moving to re-establish deterrence, a term used to describe actions meant to constrain an adversary from taking hostile action.

He said: "I think we already have in many ways in this environment re-established deterrence. The question is, in the coming days, exactly what direction that goes."

Pictures show a drone downed in Isfahan, Iran, which the Iranian army says belongs to Israel.

This morning, the Israeli Defence Forces said one of its drones had been blown out of the AG百家乐在线官网 by a surface-to-air missile.

The Iranian Army has now released these images.

Iran will impose temporary restrictions on internet access, the communications ministry has said, according to Iranian media.

The statement said the move was to prevent "the enemy from threatening citizens' lives and property".

Internet monitor NetBlocks said: "Live network data show Iran is now in the midst of a near-total national internet blackout; the incident follows a series of earlier partial disruptions and comes amid escalating military tensions with Israel after days of back-and-forth missile strikes."

The nuclear watchdog does not believe Iran was trying to develop a nuclear weapon, its chief tells Sky News.

"We came to the conclusion we could not affirm there is any systematic effort in Iran at the moment to manufacture a nuclear weapon," says Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

He tells lead world news presenter Yalda Hakim the IAEA's report, which has been widely cited by Israel, found Iran is enriching 60% uranium, the only country in the world doing that, so "there were elements for concern".

"But as to saying they are building and manufacturing a nuclear weapon - no, we didn't say that."

Asked if the IAEA was concerned about the impact of nuclear facilities being targeted by Israel, Grossi says: "Of course we are."

He warns there "is always the possibility of a radiological event" when a nuclear site is hit, such as the "dispersion of nuclear material in the atmosphere".