Iran Warns Against 'New Or Separate Arrangements' For Hormuz Strait
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has warned that "any attempt to adopt new or separate arrangements" for the Strait of Hormuz would "increase the tensions" and delay reopening the strategic waterway.
Speaking while on a visit to Baghdad on June 28, Araqchi said alternative arrangements would "lead to more complicated situations and delays in the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz."
He also urged all parties to "adhere to the memorandum of understanding and not to allow this MoU to deviate from its course."
Speaking after meeting with Araqchi, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said Iraq supported reopening the Strait of Hormuz but opposed any widening of the conflict in the Gulf.
Iran says the memorandum gives it responsibility for implementing the reopening of the strait. However, the memorandum also calls for consultations with Oman and other Gulf littoral states on the strait's future administration and maritime services, while the United States has backed an alternative shipping route near Oman's coast.
The framework agreement was intended to end months of fighting and reopen the strait, which usually accounts for around one fifth of global oil and gas supplies, but both Tehran and Washington have since accused each other of violating the truce amid renewed military exchanges.
With reporting by AFP
As Cease-Fire Brings Uneasy Calm, Iranians Wonder What Comes Next
Life in Tehran appears to be edging back toward peacetime normalcy as a cease-fire holds and negotiations between the United States and Iran continue. Cafes that shuttered during air strikes have reopened. Streets that were once empty are again busy with traffic and pedestrians. Shops are open late, and families have returned to evening walks.
Most Iranians say they are relieved that the bombing has stopped and that daily life is no longer punctuated by the fear of explosions. But beneath the calm surface, a deeper sense of anger and disappointment lingers among some.
According to several Iranians who spoke to RFE/RL’s Radio Farda, the end of the fighting has brought peace, but not the change many had hoped for.
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Bahrain, Kuwait Slam Iranian Attacks As Gulf Tensions Rise
Bahrain said its air defenses intercepted Iranian missiles and drones on June 28 after Tehran launched attacks on targets in Bahrain and Kuwait in retaliation for US strikes on Iran. Kuwait condemned the attack on its territory.
Bahrain's military said it had "intercepted and destroyed a number of projectiles used in these treacherous Iranian attacks" and was on "maximum alert." The Foreign Ministry described the attack as a "dangerous escalation" and said Iran was "solely responsible" for undermining efforts to de-escalate the conflict.
Kuwait's Foreign Ministry condemned "in the strongest terms, the recurrence of Iran's heinous aggression," calling the strikes "a flagrant violation of its sovereignty."
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said it had attacked US military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait, claiming infrastructure at both bases had been destroyed.
The attacks came days after a framework agreement between Tehran and Washington took effect, easing tensions following months of conflict triggered by US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
However, the US carried out fresh strikes overnight into June 28 on "Iranian missile and drone storage locations, and coastal radar sites," saying they were in retaliation for an Iranian drone attack on a commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz.
Bahrain later reported damage to a residential building, but no fatalities.
US Hits Iran For Second Night As Trump Threatens To 'Complete The Job'; IRGC Retaliates
(This item has been updated to include IRGC statement.)
For the second straight night, US forces have struck "multiple targets" in Iran in response to Tehran's "aggression" against commercial shipping, as the fragile cease-fire in the Middle East continued to fray and US President Donald Trump threatened to wipe out the Islamic republic.
"United States aircraft just struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations, and coastal radar sites, for violating the Cease Fire Agreement, AGAIN! It is very possible that they will never learn!" he wrote on social media.
"There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started. If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!"
Hours later, Iran's hard-line Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said it had fired missiles and drones at US-linked sites at 2-3 a.m. on June 28 in retaliation, with Kuwait and Bahrain reporting incoming projectiles. Details were not immediately available.
The IRGC also threatened that any "cease-fire violations" will "bring all ongoing diplomatic processes to a complete halt."
US Central Command (CENTCOM) on June 27 said its forces launched the strikes in "direct response to continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping."
Iran did not immediately comment. The US statement did not disclose which specific targets were hit, but US defense officials said the latest strikes have been concluded.
"After yesterday’s US strikes in response to the Iranian attack on M/V Ever Lovely, Iran was given a chance to honor the cease-fire agreement but elected not to when its forces launched a one-way attack drone that hit M/T Kiku this morning at 4:30 a.m. ET," CENTCOM said in a social media post.
It said the Panamanian-flagged tanker was transiting near the important Strait of Hormuz with more than 2 million barrels of crude oil.
"US military aircraft targeted Iranian military surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities, and minelayer capabilities.
Iranian media reported that explosions were heard in southern coastal region of Sirik, which has been hit multiple times by US forces in recent weeks.
Earlier on June 27, Iran accused the US of violating the peace agreement that ended their recent conflict, after US forces carried out strikes on Iranian military targets on June 26.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry claimed that those attacks on coastal surveillance facilities were a "blatant violation" of the recent memorandum of understanding between the two countries as well as of the UN Charter.
A senior US official told RFE/RL that in the June 26 mission, six US aircraft carried out strikes on four targets inside Iran, including radar installations and missile and drone storage facilities in the coastal area of Sirik.
In its statement, the IRGC said its forces "destroyed eight important US military facilities at the Ali al-Salem base in Kuwait and at the Fifth Fleet naval base in Port Salman in Bahrain." Those reports could not be verified.
"Any enemy aggression, whatever the pretext, even against insignificant targets... will have a crushing response," the IRGC added.
Iran and the US are set to resume technical negotiations in Switzerland following the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) designed to end the war in Iran and throughout the Middle East, including Lebanon.
The cease-fire has remained fragile, with all sides accusing the other of violations.
Lebanon President Asks Trump To Help Prevent Framework Violations
Lebanon's leader has told US President Donald Trump in a call that he hopes Washington can help prevent violations of a framework deal with Israel and ensure commitments agreed to are fulfilled.
President Joseph Aoun particularly urged Trump to press Israel to withdraw from occupied areas in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese presidency said on June 27.
Aoun told Trump that Lebanon would assume its responsibilities in implementing the agreement, the presidency added in a statement.
The Lebanese presidency said on X that Trump had initiated the call, congratulating Aoun on the signing of the US-brokered deal between Israel and Lebanon.
The statement said Trump indicated he would meet soon with Aoun in Washington, although no details of a possible meeting were published.
Even with the deal, Aoun faces challenges with the implementation of the agreement.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem has rejected the US-brokered security agreement between Lebanon and Israel a day after it was signed, declaring the accord "null and void" and accusing the Lebanese government of surrendering the country's sovereignty.
Iran-backed Hezbollah, a militant group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon, is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, while the European Union has blacklisted its armed wing but not its political branch.
Lebanese state television reported an Israeli drone strike on June 27 in the Nabatiyeh area in the south. The Israeli military said it targeted a person who posed a threat to its forces.
With reporting by Reuters
Hezbollah Rejects Israel-Lebanon Deal
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem has rejected a US-brokered security agreement between Lebanon and Israel a day after it was signed, declaring the accord "null and void" and accusing the Lebanese government of surrendering the country's sovereignty.
The agreement, signed in Washington on June 26 after five rounds of talks, calls for a phased Israeli withdrawal from parts of southern Lebanon alongside the deployment of the Lebanese Army.
It also sets out a process for the verified disarmament of Hezbollah while allowing Israeli forces to remain temporarily in an expanded buffer zone.
The latest conflict erupted in March after Hezbollah launched rocket attacks on Israel following the killing of Iran's supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes. Israel responded with air strikes and a ground offensive in southern Lebanon, where its forces continue to hold territory.
In a statement on June 27, Qassem described the deal as "humiliating, shameful, and a surrender of sovereignty." He accused the government of "legitimizing the continuation of the (Israeli) occupation," saying it had crossed "all red lines."
Iran-backed Hezbollah, a militant group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon, is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, while the European Union has blacklisted its armed wing but not its political branch.
Also on June 27, Lebanon's state news agency reported an Israeli drone strike near Nabatieh al-Fawqa in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military said it had targeted an individual posing a threat to its forces.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
Oil Tanker Struck In Strait Of Hormuz
An tanker in the Strait of Hormuz was struck by an "unidentified projectile," British shipping-security monitor United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on June 27, after the first exchange of fire between the United States and Iran since they signed a framework agreement to end the recent Middle East war.
UKMTO said the tanker sustained damage to its bridge, but that "all crew are reported safe." It also said that there was "No environmental damage reported at present."
Maritime security firm Vanguard Tech has identified the vessel as the Panama-flagged oil tanker KIKU.
With reporting by AFP
Bahrain Reports Iranian Drone Attack After US Strikes
Bahrain says that it had come under an Iranian drone attack hours after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said it had struck US-linked targets in the region.
Bahrain's Foreign Ministry said on June 27 that several drones targeted at the Persian Gulf country at dawn, describing the attack as a "flagrant violation of the Gulf kingdom's sovereignty." The ministry did not identify the target or report any damage.
The ministry said "the Iranian regime’s continued attacks" at a time of regional and international efforts to reduce tensions placed "the sole responsibility for undermining peace efforts on Tehran."
The reported attack came after the US military said it had struck Iranian missile, drone, and radar sites in response to what Washington said was an Iranian drone attack on a commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps said it had retaliated by attacking US-linked targets in the region, without identifying them.
Hours before the reported attack on Bahrain, US Vice President JD Vance wrote on X that "Iran signed a ceasefire agreement. We have honored it."
He added that if Tehran had disagreements over how the memorandum of understanding -- a framework agreement reached earlier this month to end hostilities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz -- was being implemented, "they can pick up the phone," warning that "violence will be met with violence."
The latest exchanges marked the first military strikes since Washington and Tehran signed the framework agreement on June 17.
With reporting by dpa
Iran's Year-On-Year Inflation Nears 90%
Iran's year-on-year inflation rate climbed to 88.6 percent in June, while annual inflation rose to 62 percent, according to figures published by the country's Statistical Center on June 27.
The annual inflation rate was up 4.3 percentage points from May.
Year-on-year inflation compares consumer prices with the same month a year earlier. The Statistics Center said Iranian households paid, on average, 88.6 percent more in June than they did a year previously for the same basket of goods and services.
Inflation was even higher in rural areas, where the year-on-year rate exceeded 108 percent, according to the data.
Nationwide, prices for food, beverages, and tobacco were 134.6 percent higher than a year earlier.
Iran's economy has been battered by conflict, international sanctions, and longstanding structural problems.
The figures come after a year marked by a 12-day war with Israel, the January anti-government protests, and a 40-day conflict with the United States and Israel, all of which have added to economic pressures alongside longstanding corruption and sanctions.
In June, a senior Interior Ministry official said 60 percent of Iranians could no longer bear additional economic hardship and had lost hope that conditions would improve.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Farda
Iran Accuses US Of Violating Peace Deal, Claims Retaliatory Strikes
Iran has accused the United States of violating the peace agreement that ended their recent conflict, after US forces carried out strikes on Iranian military targets.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry claimed on June 27 that the attacks on coastal surveillance facilities were a "blatant violation" of the recent memorandum of understanding between the two countries as well as of the UN Charter.
The US military said it had struck Iranian missile and drone storage sites and coastal radar installations on June 26 in response to an Iranian attack on a cargo ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
Tehran said it had retaliated by striking targets linked to US forces, but did not identify the targets or their location.