• Demands reparations and compensation; asks UN to hold US, Israel responsible for war that killed hundreds
• Despite US strikes, Tehran can resume enrichment ‘in months’, IAEA warns

TEHRAN: Iran on Sunday expressed “serious doubts” that Israel will abide by a US-brokered ceasefire that ended their 12-day war, demanding that the United Nations hold Tel Aviv and Washington responsible for the conflict.

The conflict began on June 13, when Israel launched a bombing campaign targeting military commanders and scientists linked to Iran’s nuclear programme.

“We did not start the war, but we have responded to the aggressor with all our power,” Iran’s armed forces chief of staff, Abdolrahim Mousavi, was quoted as saying by state television.

“We have serious doubts over the enemy’s compliance with its commitments including the ceasefire, we are ready to respond with force.”

During the war, Iran say it arrested dozens of people it accused of spying for Israel, and also seized equipment including drones and weapons.

Iran’s parliament on Sunday voted to ban the unauthorised use of communications equipment, including tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service, according to the official news agency IRNA.

In a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Tehran has formally requested that the Security Council blame its adversaries for the war and compel them to pay for damages.

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“We officially request hereby that the Security Council recognise the Israeli regime and the United States as the initiators of the act of aggression and acknowledge their subsequent responsibility, including the payment of compensation and reparations,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote.

Enrichment resumption

Despite US assertions that its strikes obliterated key nuclear sites, the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog cast doubt on how effective the campaign was in permanently halting Iran’s progress.

Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Iran could be producing enriched uranium again within months.

“The capacities they have are there. They can have, you know, in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium, or less than that,” Grossi told CBS News.

He noted that while strikes on facilities in Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan significantly set back Iran’s abilities, its nuclear knowledge is irreversible.

“You cannot disinvent this. You cannot undo the knowledge that you have or the capacities that you have,” Mr Grossi said.

Casualties and talks

The war killed at least 627 civilians in Iran and injured 4,900, according to Iran’s health ministry.

Retaliatory missile attacks by Iran killed 28 people in Israel, Israeli authorities said.

One of the deadliest single events of the war was an Israeli strike last Monday on Tehran’s Evin prison, which Iran’s judiciary said on Sunday killed at least 71 people.

The victims included staff, guards, prisoners, and visiting relatives.

The facility is known for holding political prisoners and foreign nationals.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called the strike “unacceptable” but said two detained French nationals held at Evin for three years were not believed to have been harmed.

Iran’s prison authority said it transferred an unspecified number of inmates out of the prison after the attack.

The fighting derailed nuclear talks between Iran and the United States, a staunch ally of Israel. US president, who announced the ceasefire, has threatened further stri­kes if Iran enriches uranium to worrisome levels.

According to the IAEA, Iran enriched uranium to 60pc in 2021, far beyond the 3.67pc limit set by the 2015 nuclear deal from which the US unilaterally withdrew in 2018.

Uranium enriched to 90pc is needed to produce a nuclear weapon.

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2025