The US has launched a wave of strikes across southern Iran for a second consecutive day. Although there have been several breaches since a ceasefire was agreed between the two sides in April, the attacks this week – launched after the downing of a US helicopter over the strait of Hormuz – represent the most serious and extensive breakdown of the truce to date.
Here, Jonathan Yerushalmy explains what led to the attacks, what officials are saying and whether the deal can survive:
Some media reports suggest negotiations between the US and Iran are ongoing despite strikes launched by both sides this week.
Talks to reach a deal are still on track after overnight negotiations, CNN reported, citing a diplomatic source with knowledge of the situation.
This was followed by a report by Reuters that efforts to reach a preliminary deal have intensified as negotiators discuss a mechanism to release frozen Iranian funds, Iranian sources and a European official told the news agency.
Reuters quoted one of the Iranian sources saying: “Iran wants $6b to $12b of its frozen funds to be released to Tehran, while Washington wants to release funds in stages for humanitarian goods and rejects returning funds to Iran outright.”
Iran says US strikes render ceasefire 'practically meaningless'
The Iranian foreign ministry has condemned the latest US strikes on Tehran, saying the attacks have rendered the ceasefire as “practically meaningless”.
In a statement carried by Iranian media, the ministry said:
The illegal and criminal attacks by the US in recent hours are not only a flagrant violation of the United Nations Charter and the fundamental rules of international law regarding respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity of states, but have also rendered the ceasefire [of 8 April] practically meaningless.”
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The Jordanian military said its air defence systems intercepted 20 missiles launched from Iran this morning, according to the state-run Petra news agency.
“At dawn on Thursday, Jordanian air defence systems and the Royal Jordanian air force intercepted and shot down 20 missiles that had been launched from Iran towards the Azraq area in Zarqa governorate,” a statement quoted a military official as saying, referring to an area about 50 miles east of the capital Amman.
“The interception resulted in the fall of missile debris in the area, but no injuries or material damage were reported,” the statement added.
The Pakistani foreign ministry said the country will continue with mediation efforts to end the war despite an escalation in hostilities between the US and Iran.
“Pakistan remains deeply concerned at the situation in the region marked by recent escalation. We appeal to the parties to adhere to the understanding reached on the ceasefire,” the ministry spokesperson, Tahir Andrabi, told reporters in a briefing today.
“Pakistan reaffirms its support for the peaceful resolution of all outstanding issues. We are of the view that diplomacy and dialogue should be the guiding principles for achieving a negotiated settlement of all contentious issues in accordance with the rights and responsibilities of the relevant parties.”
Bahrain’s interior ministry said an 11-year-old girl was injured from falling debris after Iranian drones were intercepted by air defences in the capital Manama and Hamad Town.
The incident also damaged several vehicles and homes, the ministry said in a post on X, with pictures showing scorched cars and buildings.
Three Indian seafarers were killed in a US attack on an oil tanker earlier this week, India’s shipping minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, said.
“It is deeply unfortunate to learn of the tragic incident aboard the Palau-flagged MT Settebello. Sadly, three Indian seafarers initially reported missing are now confirmed dead after bodies have been located and identified,” he wrote in a post on X.
The US Central Command had accused the Settebello of violating an American blockade on Iranian ports.
In a post on X, it said: “At 11:14 p.m. on June 9, US forces disabled an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman for the second consecutive day after another vessel violated the ongoing blockade by attempting to transport oil from Iran.”
It added that a US aircraft “fired precision munitions into the ship’s engine room after the crew repeatedly failed to comply with directions from American forces”.
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The US-Iran ceasefire is more like a “lesser fire”, UN secretary-general António Guterres has said, urging all parties to “work towards a diplomatic settlement”.
“We should not minimize the risks of lesser fire becoming full fire,” Guterres said in his post on X.
The Middle East is being pulled deeper into crisis & the consequences reach far beyond the region.”
Kuwait resumes air traffic with flights set to resume
Kuwait’s civil aviation authority has announced that air traffic has resumed after it was suspended due to Iranian attacks.
Officials earlier announced that some flights were being diverted to alternative airports, after Kuwait said its air defences were firing at aerial targets.
In its statement, the civil aviation authority said Kuwait’s international airport was working normally, with flights set to resume.
As the story of the US-Iran war is written direct to social media, Donald Trump may be the genre’s premier unreliable narrator.
On Wednesday in the Oval Office, Trump warned of a fierce response to Iran’s missile and drone attacks on US allies in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan, but also said that a deal was within reach.
“We’re gonna hit ’em again hard today … and we’ll see what happens with a deal,” he said. “We’re really close to a deal but they keep on tapping us along, they keep playing us for suckers.”
The barrage and whiplash of White House claims of imminent deals and then threats that “a whole civilization will die tonight” have kept Trump squarely where he wants to be – dominating the news cycle – but they have also increasingly eroded trust in his declarations, even in life-and-death issues concerning a war.
Other leaders appear to be playing on the credibility gap within the US administration. Trump said he planned to tell Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, not to retaliate against Iran this week, but when Israel did strike Iran, he claimed in a BBC interview that the “missiles had already gone”. He later denied that Netanyhau had defied him, adding that when he tells Netanyahu “to do something, he does it”.
Similarly, the US president has repeatedly threatened Tehran with airstrikes on its civil and energy infrastructure – a campaign that many international observers have characterised as a potential war crime – but then repeatedly reverted to diplomacy or ultimatums with two-week windows that are soon forgotten.
The Trump administration is once again stuck, unable to translate its military superiority into political acquiescence, with little indication of movement on the ground in negotiations other than the president’s own volatile posts to Truth Social.
In his interview with CNN, Brett McGurk also offered some insight into the thinking behind the Trump administration’s actions this week, and why they may have so clearly telegraphed that another attack was coming on Thursday.
What they’re trying to do is manage that escalation, to basically say to Iran, we’re going to respond, this is coming, but this is not a restart of the campaign we started in February.”
But McGurk notes that everything coming from Iran is “escalatory”.
I’m seeing nothing from the Iranians right now suggesting they’re on the verge of a deal.”
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Brett McGurk, who served in senior national security positions in the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations, has told CNN that the strikes today were highly “telegraphed”, indicating that the US is perhaps “trying to put a ceiling” on the action today.
If these strikes are designed to pressure Iran into doing a deal, I don’t think that objective will be met.”
McGurk said that if the US is attempting to “shape the battlefield” to help ships get through the strait, then these strikes have “tactical merit”. But he adds they are unlikely to make a deal more likely.
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Twenty-two countries, including the United States, Australia and European nations, jointly warned Iran on Thursday to stop attacking people “on our soil”.
In a joint statement released before the US launched its second round of strikes on Iran, the countries condemned Iranian security services for their “deplorable” use of international and local criminal gangs for plots in Europe, North America and Australia.
Attempts to kill, kidnap, harass, intimidate, or otherwise attack people on our soil, undermines national sovereignty and international norms. These actions must stop immediately.”
The countries accused Iran of being behind a campaign of attacks across Europe targeting Jewish communities, Iranian journalists and US journalists.
The statement singles out an Iran-linked group, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI), which has claimed responsibility for attacks targeting Jewish communities in the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands.
HAYI reportedly said it was responsible for the stabbing of two Jewish men and a series of arson attacks on synagogues and community sites in north London over recent months.
Australia expelled Iran’s ambassador to Australia in August last year, accusing Tehran of directing at least two antisemitic attacks: an arson attack on a synagogue in Melbourne and the torching of a kosher cafe in Sydney.
Canberra also withdrew the Australian ambassador to Iran and suspended operations at its embassy in Tehran.
The statement was issued by Albania, Australia, Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and the US.
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Kuwait airspace closed amid Iranian attacks
Kuwait has closed its airspace after Iran announced new attacks on the gulf country, with officials saying some flights were being diverted to alternative airports.
Flights had been circling outside Kuwait for some time before the announcement, after it said its air defences were firing at aerial targets.
Kuwait International airport took a direct hit from an Iranian strikes last week, with one person killed and dozens more wounded.
Bahrain separately sounded its missile alert sirens on Thursday, after Iran said it was attacking the US navy’s fifth fleet which is headquartered in the country.
And the US embassy in Jordan issued an alert, saying “reports indicate missiles, drones, or rockets are in Jordanian airspace”.
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Thursday’s strikes are more evidence that Iran has the leverage in the negotiations with the Trump administration, according to Dan Shapiro, the former US ambassador to Israel.
It is Trump that is desperate for them to sign the agreement, as his statements reveal, and Iran that is dragging their feet.”
In a post online, Shapiro says that the strikes will reinforce for Iran that “time works in their favor”.
A deal that punts nuclear negotiations to a second phase and requires some sanctions relief is a lousy deal – and still the least bad available alternative.”
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Welcome
Welcome to our live coverage of the conflict in the Middle East.
The US has launched a second round of airstrikes, after Donald Trump warned that Tehran would “pay the price” for stalled negotiations, and Iran responded with strikes targeting Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan.
The US assault across multiple Iranian cities came as efforts to negotiate an end the war again appeared stuck, with Iran insisting it would maintain its chokehold on the strait of Hormuz.
It was the second consecutive day of back-and-forth strikes between the US and Iran, testing the limits of the shaky two-month ceasefire.
Here are the day’s main developments:
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US Central Command said it had “completed” its latest round of airstrikes just before sunrise in Iran. It said the strikes targeted “Iranian military surveillance capabilities, communication systems and air defense sites” and were carried out by the US air force, Marines and navy.
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The sounds of explosions echoed around Tehran, the port city of Bandar Abbas and other southern areas along the strait of Hormuz.
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Iran responded by launching strikes on Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan.
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Kuwait closed its airspace as its air defences fought off the attack. Kuwait’s directorate general of civil aviation said flights were being diverted to other airports, without elaborating.
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Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had fired ballistic missiles at a US command centre in Jordan, according to state media.
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Iran’s UN envoy said the US should refrain from threats of force if it wants a deal.
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Israel early on Thursday warned residents in the north to seek shelter after the detection of suspected incoming fire from Lebanon.
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The international benchmark for crude oil traded above $93 a barrel on Wednesday, up more than 25% since the start of the war.
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