Talks, statements, sanctions, nuclear policy, and government decisions.
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent posted that any damage Iran inflicts on U.S. allies in the Gulf 'will be paid for with funds extracted from Iranian Accounts', and that any tolls paid to Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority will be offset the same way.
Official X post by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, NDTV Profit +1 more
In a Truth Social post, Trump said the U.S. would be hitting Iran 'VERY HARD TONIGHT' and that 'at some point in the not too distant future' it would take Kharg Island and other oil infrastructure and 'assume total control' of Iran's oil and gas markets, as he said it had with Venezuela. Brent rose about $2 to $94.16 within minutes, according to BBC data cited by The Guardian.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, speaking in Sofia, said the reciprocal attacks raised fears of escalation and recommended that 'the parties halt their mutual attacks and resume negotiations'. Pakistan's foreign ministry, the main mediator, appealed to both sides to adhere to the ceasefire understanding and said it would continue mediating.
New Indian Express live coverage, CBS News live coverage +2 more
Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry said continued attacks on the sovereignty of the three countries 'exacerbates tension' and urged a return to the Pakistan-sponsored negotiations and Qatar's efforts. The UAE and Qatar called the attacks a flagrant violation of sovereignty, Kuwait said it would not tolerate them, and the GCC secretary-general called them 'treacherous'.
Efforts to reach a preliminary U.S.-Iran deal intensified overnight as negotiators discussed a mechanism to release frozen Iranian funds, Iranian sources and a European official told Reuters; one Iranian source said Iran wanted $6 billion to $12 billion released, while Washington wanted staged releases for humanitarian goods.
Iran's foreign ministry called the latest U.S. strikes a flagrant violation of the UN Charter that had 'rendered the ceasefire [of 8 April] practically meaningless'. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas the attacks had made the truce 'ineffective' and that the U.S. was responsible for the consequences.
Qatari negotiators left Tehran after talks with Iranian officials that lasted into the early hours and were 'conducted in coordination with the United States', a diplomat told AFP.
Trump told Fox News he had spoken directly with Iranian officials who asked him to stop the strikes, that the bombing would 'stop shortly' but further strikes remained possible, and that the U.S. had fired 49 Tomahawk missiles at targets in Iran. Iranian officials rejected the claim of direct contact.
NBC News reported that leaders of about seven defence companies were preparing to meet Trump at the White House later in the week, where he was expected to press them to speed up weapons production amid concern over dwindling U.S. missile and interceptor stocks; one person said the meeting was 'going to be ugly'.
The Guardian live coverage citing NBC News, The Guardian live blog
The U.S. Treasury sanctioned nine individuals and entities it said supported weapons procurement for the IRGC and Iran's defence ministry, including China- and Hong Kong-based people and companies and a Hong Kong firm in Iran's clandestine banking network that attempted procurement-related transactions.
Addressing the UN Security Council, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the week had brought 'wider attacks and further deterioration' that could trigger a full resumption of conflict, warned against letting 'a lesser fire' become 'full war', and said 'a brutal price' was being paid by the region's people and spreading to the wider world through food and fuel costs.
United Nations Secretary-General, The Guardian live coverage +4 more
The IAEA Board of Governors passed a resolution submitted by the U.S., UK, France and Germany demanding that Iran urgently declare its remaining enriched uranium and give inspectors all the access they need, by 21 votes to three with 10 abstentions; Russia, China and Niger voted against. Iran's mission in Vienna called it 'political' and said Iran would protect its 'inalienable rights', and its ambassador said the resolution was an obstacle to talks with Washington.
Foreign Minister Joe Rajji told a French National Assembly hearing that direct negotiations between the Lebanese government and Israel were 'the only way' to restore peace, that Hezbollah was trying to block them, and that the military option had proved ineffective.
The U.S., UK, France, Germany, Canada, Australia and 18 other countries condemned lethal plotting in Europe, North America and Australia by Iran's IRGC intelligence organisation, Quds Force and intelligence ministry against dissidents, journalists and Jewish and Israeli communities. The statement singled out attacks claimed by the Iran-linked group HAYI, including arson and stabbings targeting Jewish communities in the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands.
GOV.UK (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office), The Guardian live coverage +1 more
A Qatari delegation arrived in Tehran to discuss bilateral relations, regional developments and efforts to end the war, Iranian media said, and a diplomat told AFP the negotiators had travelled after consultations with U.S. officials to address remaining differences between Washington and Tehran.
Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the U.S. was harming the diplomatic process with 'contradictory messages, frequent changes in positions and demands, and frequent violations of the ceasefire', that Israel was doing the same in Lebanon, and that 'following overnight events, we need to reassess'.
Iran's foreign ministry said regional countries, particularly in the Gulf, had a 'legal and moral responsibility' to prevent the U.S. and Israel from using their territory or facilities to attack Iran, hours after Iranian drones and missiles were fired at U.S. bases in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan.
Vice President JD Vance told CBS News that a deal with Iran 'could happen in the next week, but the deal could also happen months from now', that the U.S. was 'very close' to its goal but 'still got some wood to chop', and that much would be clear before the November midterm elections.
Lebanon's presidency said President Joseph Aoun and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the situation in Lebanon and the region and the U.S.-mediated negotiations between Lebanon and Israel in a phone call that afternoon.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on X that he was 'deeply alarmed' by the renewed escalation, that 'all attacks must stop immediately' and that the ceasefires in Lebanon, Iran and Gaza must be fully respected. A statement from his spokesperson the previous evening also called for navigational rights and freedoms to be respected, in an apparent reference to the Hormuz blockades.
Hezbollah said Iran's missile attacks on Israel were a message of 'moral, political and field commitment' made in defence of the Lebanese people, and called on the Lebanese government to 'correct' its relationship with Iran and use Iran's support to achieve Lebanon's goals.
Speaking to reporters at New York's JFK airport, Trump said the U.S. was in 'the final throes' of a deal that would bar Iranian nuclear weapons, that the Strait of Hormuz would open immediately upon signing, 'which could be in two or three days', and that Israel and Iran had 'called it quits' and would leave each other alone 'for another week or something'. Asked about a U.S. helicopter that went down near Hormuz, he said the pilots were fine.
Trump told Axios he had warned Netanyahu, 'Bibi, you better be careful, or you will be on your own very soon,' and said Iran had asked Washington to tell Israel to stop after halting its own attacks. Israeli media reported that Netanyahu had approved a major strike on Iran that afternoon and called it off after Trump's call, and L'Orient Today later reported that Netanyahu told the security cabinet that evening Israel might have to confront Iran without U.S. support.
The EU added the IRGC Navy's Hormozgan Provincial Command to its sanctions list, along with IRGC Navy deputy commander for political affairs Mohammad Akbarzadeh and Hamid Hosseini of Iran's oil, gas and petrochemical exporters' union, for restricting shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said it was the first use of the bloc's new freedom-of-navigation sanctions regime.
Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi arrived in Tehran carrying what he called a 'special letter' from army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei about ending the war. On June 7 he handed Sharif's written message to Foreign Minister Araghchi, who said they discussed the Pakistan-mediated efforts to end the war.
Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told the Mehr news agency that Iran insisted, at minimum, on 50 percent of its frozen funds being made available immediately upon signing a memorandum of understanding with the U.S., with the money released no more than one to two months after the deal.
The U.S. Treasury designated individuals, companies and vessels it said shipped hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of Iranian liquefied petroleum gas, disguised as Omani LPG, to buyers in South and East Asia through front companies in the UAE and China. It also sanctioned the Iranian exchange house Mehrdad Geramian Nik and Partners and its leadership for moving foreign currency for sanctioned Iranian banks.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said the U.S.-mediated text was 'booby-trapped' by requiring a complete Hezbollah ceasefire and the evacuation of its fighters from south of the Litani. He said he would accept an unconditional ceasefire on land, sea and air, with a Hezbollah pullback from south of the Litani in parallel with an Israeli withdrawal from the areas it occupies.
In a statement broadcast on Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV, leader Naim Qassem called the Lebanese government's direct negotiations with Israel a 'farce' and the truce 'surrender and defeat', rejected any link between Hezbollah's presence and a ceasefire or Israeli withdrawal, and demanded a complete ceasefire and Israeli pullout. He warned that northern Israel would not be safe as long as Lebanese villages were bombed.
AP Hezbollah rejects ceasefire, Al Jazeera live blog +3 more
A joint statement released by the U.S. State Department after two days of direct talks said Israel and Lebanon agreed to implement a ceasefire, contingent on a complete halt to Hezbollah fire and the evacuation of its operatives from south of the Litani, and to create 'pilot zones' under the Lebanese army's exclusive control. The two sides agreed to resume political and security talks the week of June 22.