War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi has discussed the “latest developments” in the region with his counterparts in Britain and Turkey, as well as Pakistani mediators.

The separate conversations focused on Iran’s response to Israel’s “repeated violations of the ceasefire in Lebanon”, his ministry said in a statement, without offering further details.

US President Donald Trump has told Axios that he will call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and press him not to retaliate after Iran’s missile strikes.

“I am going to call Bibi right now and tell him not to retaliate. Each of them had their fun. Israel had its strike, and Iran had its strike. We don’t need another one,” Axios quoted him as saying.

He further said, “The Iranian strikes didn’t hurt anybody. Hopefully Israel is not going to retaliate. If Bibi strikes them back, it’s just gonna keep going like the last 47 years — or the last 3,000 years.“

“We are very close to a final deal with Iran. It is going to be a good deal. I don’t want it to blow up because of what is happening now.“

The Israeli military has said that Iran has committed a “grave mistake” by launching a barrage of missiles at Israel, reports AFP.

“The Iranian terrorist regime has made a grave mistake by once again choosing the path of terror,” military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin.

Iran has closed the airspace over the west of the country after launching a salvo of missiles towards Israel in response to its latest strike on Lebanon, reports AFP.

“Due to safety and security assessments … the western part of the country’s airspace was declared closed until further notice,” said Majid Akhavan, the spokesman for the National Civil Aviation Organisation, in a statement carried by the news agency IRNA.

Iraq and Syria have closed their airspace as a safety precaution on after their eastern neighbour Iran launched missiles across their territory towards targets in Israel, reports AFP.

In a brief statement, the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority reported the closure of Iraqi airspace for 72 hours. Syria’s authority closed the country’s “southern air corridors” for 12 hours.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have said the Israeli army must stop its attacks on Lebanon, and warned that if it expands its attacks or responds to Iran’s actions, it will face “more crushing and regretful blows”.

“We had previously warned that if the crimes in the Dahieh area of Beirut expand, we will attack targets in the occupied territories,” IRGC top joint military command said.

The Israeli military has said it has so far intercepted all missiles fired by Iran.

“The IDF intercepted all missiles from Iran thus far. The IDF has currently identified additional launches fired toward the State of Israel,” the military said. “The Aerial Defense Array is currently identifying and intercepting threats. “

The Israeli military has warned of a second barrage of missiles fired from Iran, shortly after it reported the first such salvo since a fragile truce went into effect in April.

“An additional barrage of missiles was launched toward the State of Israel,” it said. “The aerial defence array is currently identifying and intercepting threats.”

The Israeli military’s Home Front Command has said that schools across the country will be shut on Monday after Iran fired missiles at Israel, reports AFP.

“Following an assessment of the situation, the Home Front Command has decided to modify the instructions and place the entire country under a restricted activity level,” the command said in a statement on Sunday night. “No educational activities may be conducted. “

The Israeli army has said it has detected incoming missile fire from Iran, a first since a fragile truce went into effect in the Middle East war in April, reports AFP.

“A short while ago, sirens were sounded in several areas across the country, following the identification of missiles launched from Iran toward the State of Israel,” the military said, in a statement.

An Israeli air raid on Beirut’s southern suburbs has killed two people, while the number of wounded has risen to 20, Lebanon’s health ministry said.

“The Israeli enemy’s airstrike on the Mreijeh area in the southern suburbs of Beirut resulted in two martyrs and 20 wounded, including 4 children and 4 women,” the ministry said in a statement.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says that the negotiating team consists of people who won’t back down, according to Iran’s ISNA news agency.

“We must enter the scene with strength and defend the rights of the nation.”

The Israeli military claims it has uncovered a sprawling tunnel network beneath the Beaufort castle in southern Lebanon, saying it was built to give Hezbollah a fortified strike hub just kilometres from Israeli territory.

“The tunnel network was constructed within a civilian area at a location that provides operational control over the Galilee Panhandle region, only six kilometres from Metula (in Israel), and served as a central Hezbollah … hub in the area,” the military said.

It claimed the tunnel network was “funded by Iran and engineered to shelter hundreds of fighters”.

“In one tunnel, approximately one kilometre in length, troops located six underground shafts, a storage room used for weapons, an anti-tank missile launcher, anti-tank missiles, grenades, ammunition, combat equipment, advanced medical equipment, and several living quarters, including shower facilities, restrooms, an operating room, and kitchens,” the military alleged.

Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani has discussed mediation efforts in a meeting with Egytian Foreign Minister Dr Badr Abdelatty, Qatar’s foreign ministry said in a statement on X.

“During the meeting, they reviewed cooperation between the two countries and ways to support and enhance them, and discussed mediation efforts between the US and Iran, as well as the latest developments in Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, and the occupied Palestinian territories,” the statement said.

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, says that “Iran’s assets are neither war spoils for Washington nor a payment fund for its allies”.

Responding to the media reports of the US, trying to make Iran’s assets accessible for the reconstruction of alleged damages inflicted on some of its regional allies, Gharibabdi said on X, “If Washington, as the primary aggressor in the military aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran, is truly seeking to compensate for damages, it should not get the address wrong: it should start with America itself and with the regime that is the main source of arson, aggression, and instability in the region.”

“Iran’s assets are neither war spoils for Washington nor a payment fund for its allies,” he said, warning, “Any seizure, transfer, or allocation of Iran’s property without the consent of the Iranian government is itself a new internationally wrongful act, giving rise to the responsibility of the United States—especially under conditions where it claims to seek negotiation and understanding—and will also prompt an appropriate response from Iran.

Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i, has said that the country stands alongside the people and resistance of Lebanon.

“Now, with the aggression of the Zionists, a veil of sorrow has settled upon the face of Beirut. With this dust of grief, hearts in Tehran have begun to tremble. We stand alongside the people and resistance of Lebanon,” he said in a social media post on X.

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf says that the US naval blockade of the country and its green light for Israel to escalate attacks in Lebanon make US bases and Israeli assets in the Middle East legitimate targets, Reuters reports.

dialogue, and through the naval blockade and violation of agreements regarding Lebanon they showed that they only understand the language of power,” Ghalibaf said in a social media post on X.

Ghalibaf, who is also Iran’s main negotiator in talks with the US, added that “the naval blockade against the Iranian nation and America’s green light today to the Zionist regime turn American and regime bases and assets in the region into legitimate targets”.

Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s National Security Commission, has warned Iran will “deliver a decisive and painful response” to the Israeli attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs, Al Jazeera reports.

US President Donald Trump called for more “surgical” strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon in an interview, AFP reports.

“I’d like to see Lebanon have a better life. I’d like to see a more surgical attack on Hezbollah. I think it should be more surgical,” Trump said, according to a transcript of the interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” recorded on Friday.

An Israeli raid on Beirut’s southern suburbs has killed two people and wounded 11 others, Al Jazeera reports, citing Lebanon’s National News Agency.

The agency said the strike hit two apartments in the Mreijeh-Tahwita al-Ghadir area, in another Israeli attack on a densely populated civilian neighbourhood.

President Donald Trump says the US will seize and destroy Iran’s highly enriched uranium, either with or without Tehran, Al Jazeera reports.

“We’ll take it out and destroy it, whether it’s on-site or whether we take it off-site,” he says in an interview on the NBC News programme ‘Meet the Press’.

“He adds that he wants to keep US troops in the Middle East until “completion”, further stating he doesn’t “consider them in danger”.

The two sides are “very close” to agreeing to a deal, Trump says.

“We have a couple of points. They don’t even seem like big points.”

A draft resolution the prepared by the United States and sent to other countries on the board of the UN nuclear watchdog ahead of a meeting this week demands Iran provide “precise information” on its bombed nuclear sites and enriched uranium stocks.

Iran must “provide the [International Atomic Energy] Agency with precise information on nuclear material accountancy and safeguarded nuclear facilities in Iran” and “grant the Agency all access it requires to verify this information” without delay, the text seen by Reuters says.