War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Tehran accused Nato on Thursday of “complicity” in the US-Israeli war against Iran, after the bloc’s chief noted its support for the United States in the conflict, AFP reports.

Responding to US President Donald Trump’s criticism of allies for not supporting the war, Nato boss Mark Rutte told Fox News that hundreds of American planes launched from bases in Italy.

“Country after country, ally after ally after ally, have made their bases available for Epic Fury,” Rutte told US TV channel Fox News, referring to the US military operation in Iran.

“Five hundred US planes took off from US bases in Italy to support Epic Fury,” he said, referring the US name for the operation against Iran.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei condemned the Nato chief’s admission of “active complicity” in the “unlawful war”.

“This is a clear and damning admission of Nato’s active complicity in an unlawful war of aggression against a sovereign UN Member State,” Baqaei wrote on X.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says his country’s armed forces responded to the US-Israeli attacks in a way that neither of the attacking countries “could have imagined,” Al Jazeera reports.

Pezeshkian said Iran is now “recognised throughout the world as a powerful and dignified nation”.

“Our enemies believed … they could bring the Islamic Republic to an end within three days and install their proxies.

“However, our armed forces… created an epic the enemy could never have imagined,” Pezeshkian said.

US President Donald Trump faced pointed criticism over the Iran war in a closed-door meeting with fellow Republicans, shortly before his administration asked Congress for tens of billions of dollars to pay for the conflict, Reuters reports.

Several Republicans in the closed-door meeting said Trump engaged in a shouting match with Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who said the administration needed to explain a framework deal Trump signed last week that provides financial incentives for Iran but does not accomplish any of the goals he laid out at the war’s beginning.

“The American people need to know more than we are being told,” Cassidy told reporters. “It does not appear, although I don’t know for sure, that the course of this is going the way that we were told.”

Brent crude fell more than one per cent, slipping below its closing level on the eve of the Middle East war, as investors grow optimistic about US-Iran peace talks and tankers continue through the Strait of Hormuz, AFP reports.

The contract for August hit a low of $72.44 a barrel, compared with the February 27 close of $72.48. Brent soared as high as $119 in the weeks after the United States and Israel began their strikes on Iran on February 28.

US President Donald Trump met with munitions makers at the White House as his administration pushes to expand weapons production after military operations in Iran and other conflicts drew down US stockpiles, Reuters reports.

The United States has supplied large quantities of weapons to allies while also using munitions in its own military operations, raising concerns about inventories of key air-defence and precision-guided weapons, and increasing pressure on contractors to boost output.

Two people briefed on the meeting said it ran longer than expected because everyone was given time to speak. The sources said Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg at times pushed back on industry claims about production progress, citing delays on key programmes.

South Korea has said that five more South Korean-run vessels have crossed the Strait of Hormuz in the latest sign that restrictions on passage are easing, Al Jazeera reports.

The ministry said 13 South Korean ships remain in the strait.

US President Donald Trump said a deal with Iran that included fees in the Strait of Hormuz would be “unacceptable”, Reuters reports.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps has said said safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz is only possible through routes designated by Iran, and that a new route announced without coordination with Iran is unacceptable and a safety risk, Reuters reports.

IRGC said it will take action against vessels that fail to comply with the requirements.

Saudi FM Prince Faisal bin Farhan has held a phone call with Iran FM Abbas Araghchi, the Saudi foreign ministry says.

During the call, the two ministers reviewed the latest developments in the negotiations between Iran and the US, as well as the “progress made to implement the agreed understandings”.

“They also discussed regional developments and emphasised the importance of continuing efforts to advance dialogue and diplomatic solutions that serve the shared interests of all countries and peoples of the region,” the Saudi ministry says.

US President Donald Trump has said, in comments to the media after a lunch with Republican senators, that “Iran is agreeing to everything I want, and they have to.”

“Otherwise, we just go back and do what we have to do,” he added.

Some 20 million barrels of crude oil have exited the Strait of Hormuz in the last 24 hours, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright says at the Reuters Global Energy Forum in New York, according to Al Jazeera.

Wright blames Iranian mines in the vital waterway for delays in a return to normal oil shipping levels.

UN peacekeepers reported no missile trajectories or airstrikes from midnight to 4pm local time (1300 GMT) today, Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, has revealed, according to Al Jazeera.

Haq said that last night, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) “observed two missile trajectories launched from south of the Blue Line that landed north of the Litani River”.

Despite the relative calm, Unifil “observed ongoing Israeli airspace violations, mostly by drones”.

According to Haq, Israeli ground activity was also observed, which included “armoured vehicle movements, engineering work, and logistical activity”.

He says Unifil also “observed four Israeli patrol boats within Lebanese territorial waters southwest of Naqoura”.

Monitor TankerTrackers.com reports that 40 million barrels of crude oil have been exported by Iran since June 15.

It adds that exactly half of that amount shipped out on June 19.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reports that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has had a telephone conversation with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan.

“The two sides … while reviewing the latest regional developments, emphasised the importance of continuing consultations, maintaining diplomatic channels, and strengthening joint cooperation in order to support regional stability, advance the negotiation process, and achieve positive and lasting results,” the news agency reports.

The Israeli military claims it carried out an airstrike targeting suspected Hezbollah fighters who crossed into the so-called “security zone” it has created in southern Lebanon, the second such incident it reported within hours today, AFP reports.

“A short while ago, a vehicle carrying suspects was identified crossing the security zone in the Ali al-Taher Ridge area, posing a threat to IDF soldiers,” the military claims.

“Following the identification, the Israeli Air Force struck the suspects in order to remove the threat,” it adds, vowing that the military “would not allow Hezbollah” to harm its troops.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei has rejected remarks by US Secretary of State Rubio linking regional instability to Iran-backed groups, arguing that American policies are the main obstacle to peace in the Middle East, Al Jazeera reports.

“No one will be fooled,” he writes on X, together with a clip of Rubio condemning Iraq-based armed groups, as well as Hezbollah and Hamas.

“We can’t have a peaceful region so long as American militarism and interventionism persist, and their occupying proxy [Israel] continues, with absolute impunity, to inflict endless wars across the region and perpetrate genocide, terror violence and every atrocities,” Baghaei adds.

US President Donald Trump claims Iran is making very big concessions, Reuters reports.

“We’re winning by a lot. Iran is making very big concessions. We’ll see what happens,” Trump tells reporters.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Washington will be “completely aligned” with its allies in the Gulf as it pursues negotiations with Iran aimed at finding a permanent settlement to the Middle East war, AFP reports.

“We’re going to be completely aligned with our partners in the Gulf. That’s why we’re meeting with all of them tomorrow,” he states, adding the US will “engage them on conversations about every decision that’s made with regards to this negotiation”.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has expressed confidence that all countries are against Iran imposing fees for transiting the crucial Strait of Hormuz, AFP reports.

“I know of no country on the planet that supports tolling or fees for the use of the strait,” Rubio says during a tour of the Gulf to reassure close US allies who were hit hard by Iran during the Middle East war.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio believes technical talks between the United States and Iran will resume on June 29 or 30 in Switzerland, AFP reports.

“The technical group will be back, I believe, on the 29th or the 30th… I believe they’re going back to Switzerland, if I’m not mistaken,” Rubio says.

Rubio has been asked whether Washington would support Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

“The only reason Israel is in Lebanon is because Hezbollah launches rockets and drones from there. They’ve made that clear,” the US top diplomat has replied, according to Al Jazeera.

He stressed that Washington wants Lebanon’s military and government to be in greater control of Lebanese territory while claiming that Israel does “not have any claims on the territory of Lebanon”.

“The more of that area the Lebanese armed forces is able to secure, the less of it’s in Hezbollah’s control, the less Israel will be in Lebanon.”

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has described a 60-day sanctions waiver for Iran as “a temporary measure” while stressing that Washington expects Tehran to “live up to the commitments” made in the deal, Al Jazeera reports.

“If they don’t live up to those commitments, the president [Trump] has a lot of options at his disposal including — I’m not saying he’s going to do it, I’m saying including — reversing these sanctions,” Rubio has told reporters in Kuwait City.

“They made very straight-up commitments in Switzerland and the president has been very clear they need to keep those commitments,” he says.

“If they do, we’ll keep forward. If not, the president will have options at his disposal for what to do about it. Let’s hope they keep those commitments.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding is a “temporary measure … for 60 days”, adding that Washington expects Tehran to live up to the commitments it made during recent talks in Switzerland.

“If they don’t live up to those commitments, the President has a lot of options at his disposal,“ he tells reporters in Kuwait.