Mideast Crisis

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities in June curbed Tehran's regional dominance and rendered Iraq more friendly to the United States.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said a 12-day war with Israel in June allowed Tehran to close many security gaps, calling it a miscalculation by the Jewish state that would end with the same result if repeated.

US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed regional issues including Iran on Monday, CNN reported, as Israeli defense officials warned that a renewed conflict was possible.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Israel suffered a decisive setback in a recent 12-day confrontation and warned that any further aggression would meet a stronger Iranian response, according to the force’s spokesman speaking on state television.

Former Iranian president Hassan Rouhani said Iran remains in a fragile security limbo months after the 12-day war in June, warning that the country cannot restore stability or economic confidence without rebuilding deterrence and addressing persistent public insecurity.

The UN nuclear watchdog’s latest rebuke shows that Iran’s turn to nuclear ambiguity is deepening concerns and may accelerate an escalation that all sides insist they want to avoid.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) remains a central conduit for Iranian funds reaching Hezbollah despite international sanctions, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

A rocket strike on Iraq’s Khor Mor gas field late on Wednesday forced its closure and caused widespread power outages across the Kurdistan region, in an attack local officials cited by Reuters blamed on Iran-backed militias.

Israeli defense company Elbit Systems said its Hermes 900 drones helped locate dozens of concealed Iranian ballistic missile launchers during the June war between Israel and Iran, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Iran’s UN ambassador demanded full compensation from Washington on Wednesday in a letter to the UN leadership, arguing the United States bears responsibility for damage Iran says resulted from joint US-Israeli strikes during June’s 12-day conflict.

Lebanon’s political leaders reacted on Wednesday against Tehran’s perceived meddling in the country’s internal debates over Hezbollah’s disarmament, following comments from a top Iranian official.

The Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) recruited a Ugandan construction worker to surveil Israel's embassies in Uganda and Senegal, materials from a European intelligence source reviewed by Iran International indicate.

Iran's foreign minister on Wednesday pressed Germany to release any findings into German companies suspected of supplying materials for chemical weapons deployed by Saddam Hussein during the 1980s Iran-Iraq war.

Hamzeh Safavi, a Tehran University professor and son of senior Khamenei military adviser, said Iran should consider a Saudi-backed approach that conditions any recognition of Israel on acceptance of a two-state solution along 1967 borders, the Financial Times reported.

Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, called for direct confrontation with Israel on Sunday after Hezbollah said a senior commander and four other members were killed in an Israeli strike near Beirut.

Iran denounced Israel’s strike in Beirut that killed Hezbollah’s top military commander, saying it breached the November 2024 ceasefire, the foreign ministry said on Sunday.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said on Sunday that Tehran had faced down the United States’ Central Command and NATO on its own in June’s 12-day war with Israel, describing the conflict as a strategic victory that forced its adversaries to seek a halt to fighting.

Iran’s nuclear strategy has entered an ambiguous new phase, said veteran non-proliferation expert Mark Fitzpatrick, and Israel’s attacks in June could have left intact Tehran's ability to pivot toward a bomb if it so chose.