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
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 continues 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.
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.
With reporting by AFP and Reuters
Iran's Hard-Line Preachers Split Over Deal With Washington
The debate over Iran's potential agreement with the United States has spilled beyond the country's political class and into the religious establishments and street gatherings that have long served as the Islamic republic's most loyal base of support.
Since the outbreak of war and the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes, state-aligned clerics and eulogists have played an outsized role in rallying public support for the Islamic republic and armed forces through nightly gatherings in Tehran's squares and religious pulpits across the country.
But as a preliminary memorandum of understanding with Washington has taken shape, that same base has begun to show fissures and the significance of these divisions runs deeper than a dispute over a single agreement.
For years, the religious pulpit and the street gathering were among the most reliable instruments of political mobilization available to the Islamic republic.
Now, amid a landmark diplomatic process, those same instruments are amplifying the state’s internal contradictions -- at a moment when its new supreme leader has yet to appear in public or be heard on camera at all.
Read more here
Saudi Aramco Resumes Crude Loading At Ras Tanura Terminal
Saudi Aramco on June 26 resumed oil loadings at its Ras Tanura terminal after a halt of nearly four months, according to shipping data, as it joined a rush to move cargo as the industry hangs to hopes of a return to normality.
Saudi-based Aramco is the world's largest oil exporter and one of the most profitable.
The Saudi crude loadings come even as violence returned to the region on June 26 and early June27, with US forces striking several Iranian sites in response to Tehran's reported targeting of commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday.
Global oil prices fell declined more than $1 a barrel on June 26 after edging up on the reports of the attack on the commercial cargo ship.
Two Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) controlled by Saudi's shipping arm, Bahri, were seen loading crude at Ras Tanura, the world's biggest oil port. Another VLCC was heading toward the terminal, the data showed. A fourth VLCC was waiting nearby.
Each VLCC has a capacity of 2 million barrels of oil.
Tankers transporting oil from the United Arab Emirates transited the strait on June 26, with two laden VLCCs exiting and one heading to Zirku port, data showed.
With reporting by Reuters
US Forces Strike Iran In Response to Tehran's Attack On Hormuz Shipping
The US military said it conducted strikes against Iranian sites in response to Tehran's attack on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, in the latest threat to the fragile cease-fire agreed to by Washington and Tehran.
"US Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted strikes against Iran, June 26, as a powerful response to yesterday’s attack on a commercial ship that was transiting the Strait of Hormuz," the military said on social media.
The statement came shortly after US President Donald Trump told reporters "You'll find out" when asked about a potential US response to Iran's reported drone strikes on June 25 against cargo ships in the strait.
In a social media post before the strike was announced, Trump wrote that Iran had fired four drones at commercial shipping in the strait.
"One of the Drones solidly hit the upper deck of a large and very expensive Cargo Carrying Ship. Damage was done, but the Ship was able to proceed on its way. We knocked down three other Drones," Trump wrote.
In a post on X, US Vice President JD Vance said "violence will be met with violence."
"Iran signed a cease-fire agreement. We have honored it. If they have disagreements about how the MOU is being applied, they can pick up the phone. But violence will be met with violence," he wrote.
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.
Iranian state media said a projectile struck the area around a pier in Sirik in the south of Iran, a region hit regularly by US forces.
In response, Iran's hard-line Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said its navy had attacked US military targets in the region, state media reported, although the information could not be independently verified.
The strait had earlier been blocked by Iran but was reopened in recent days while Tehran and Washington attempt to negotiate a last peace deal.
CENTCOM said US warplanes struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar stations after Tehran struck the Singapore-flagged M/V Ever Lovely cargo ship on June 25 with a one-way attack drone.
"The unwarranted aggression against commercial shipping by Iranian forces clearly violated the cease-fire. Furthermore, Iran’s dangerous behavior undermined freedom of navigation as commerce increasingly flows through the vital international trade corridor," it said.
It said CENTCOM forces "continue to provide safe passage coordination and support to commercial vessels transiting the strait."
A senior US official told RFE/RL that 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.
The official said the targets were located along Iran’s southern coast near the Strait of Hormuz and on Qeshm Island, the official added.
On June 26, the Iranian Foreign Ministry warned that safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz cannot be ensured without coordination with Tehran.
Freedom of navigation through the strait has become one of the central issues in efforts to secure a lasting agreement between the US and Iran after Tehran effectively closed the waterway following US-Israeli air strikes earlier this year. Some 20 percent of the world's oil and gas supplies flowed through the strait prewar.
Several previous similar incidents have occurred during the cease-fire period, but the sides vowed to maintain the overall truce.