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Here’s where things stand on Saturday 21 June 2025:
- Iran said it would not discuss the future of its nuclear programme while under attack by Israel, as the countries continue to exchange aerial attacks for an eighth day.
- At least 17 people, including three in serious condition, have been wounded in Israel after Iran’s latest missile salvo, with explosions reported in several locations.
- A meeting between Iran’s foreign minister and top European diplomats yielded hopes of further talks but no indication of any immediate concrete breakthrough.
- Israel’s envoy to the UN says the country will not apologise for its attacks across Iran, pledging to continue “until Iran’s nuclear threat is dismantled”.
- The White House says, due to “chance of negotiation”, President Donald Trump will decide in the next two weeks whether the US will join Israel in attacking Iran.
Iran’s foreign minister says ‘don’t know how we can trust’ US any more
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says it is up to the US administration “to show their determination” to reach a negotiated solution.
“Or they have something else in their mind, and they want to attack Iran anyway,” Araghchi said in an interview with NBC News in Geneva, where he took part in talks earlier today with his European counterparts.
“So they had perhaps this plan and they just needed negotiations perhaps to cover it up,” the minister said.
“We don’t know how we can trust them any more,” Araghchi continued. “What they did was in fact a betrayal to diplomacy.”
For months, the Trump administration had engaged with talks to reach a nuclear deal with Iran. But that process was suspended after Israel launched its attacks against Iran, shortly before a new round of nuclear talks were scheduled in Oman.
Israeli and Iranian diplomats clash at UN meeting over conflict
Iran’s UN ambassador, Amir-Saeid Iravani, stressed the civilian toll of Israel’s attacks on the country during the UN Security Council meeting in New York, at one point holding up photos of Iranian children killed in the bombings.
He said Israel’s attacks constitute “gross violations of international law”, and he urged the UN to take action.
While Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, launched heavy criticism of his Iranian counterpart, accusing him of “playing victim” by urging the UN Security Council to uphold international law and stop Israel’s attacks on Iran.
US senators slam Netanyahu as Israel bombs, starves Gaza
Chris Van Hollen and Elizabeth Warren, two Democrats in the US Senate, have urged the world to pay attention to what Israel continues to do in Gaza amid its conflict with Iran.
“Don’t look away,” Van Hollen wrote on X. “Since the start of the Israel-Iran war 7 days ago, over 400 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, many shot while seeking food. It’s unconscionable that Netanyahu has not allowed international orgs to resume food delivery.”
For her part, Warren said the Israeli prime minister “may think no one will notice what he’s doing in Gaza while he bombs Iran”.
“People face starvation. 55,000 killed. Aid workers and doctors turned away at the border. Shooting at innocent people desperate for food. The world sees you, Benjamin Netanyahu,” she wrote.
Photos: Starving Palestinians in Gaza queue for a hot meal
Israeli forces raid village in occupied West Bank six times today: Report
Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting that the village of al-Lubban Asharqiya, near Nablus in the north of the occupied West Bank, has been raided six times by the Israeli military.
Local sources told Wafa that several young Palestinian men were detained during the raids. Israeli soldiers also fired live ammunition and stun grenades, according to the report.
Palestinians in the West Bank have experienced a surge in Israeli military and settler violence amid the war in Gaza.
The northern West Bank has been particularly hard-hit, with thousands of people forcibly displaced from their homes.
US Muslim group urges Trump to drop ‘poison pill’ of zero enrichment
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says Washington needs to make a deal with Tehran – and to do it, it needs to drop its demand that Iran agree to zero uranium enrichment.
“All the president needs to do to make a deal with Iran is drop the Israeli government’s poison pill demand that Iran completely give up its right under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to enrich uranium at low levels only suitable for civilian nuclear energy,” the group said.
“Everyone knows that the Israeli government’s zero enrichment demand was meant to make a deal impossible. President Trump can easily make a deal with independent monitoring and civilian-level enrichment that verifiably prevents Iran from making a nuclear weapon. War is not necessary.”
As we’ve been reporting, Trump has insisted that Iran is close to having a nuclear weapon despite US intelligence, UN energy agency and other assessments concluding that is false.
“The manufactured hysteria about Iran echoes the false claims that Netanyahu and others made when pushing our nation to invade Iraq based on the weapons of mass destruction lie 20 years ago,” CAIR said.
“President Trump should drop the poison pill demand and make a nuclear deal that averts an unnecessary and disastrous US war with Iran.”
UN experts condemn Israel’s attacks on Iran, urge end to conflict
They say Israel’s attacks “represent a flagrant violation” of international law.
“Israel’s attack and Iran’s response – with successive waves of attacks against each other’s territory – have resulted in many civilian casualties, confirming our grave concerns about this destructive cycle of violence,” the experts said in a statement.
“We are particularly alarmed by reports of the deaths and injuries of women and children, who are among the most vulnerable in armed conflict and disproportionately bear the brunt of such violence.”
The experts also questioned the timing of Israel’s first attacks on Iran, shortly before US and Iranian representatives were set to take part in nuclear talks.
“This aggravates the charges against Israel of posing a threat to peace and security in the region and beyond,” they said.
One person killed in Israeli drone attack in southern Lebanon: Report
Earlier, we reported that the Israeli military claimed it had attacked Hezbollah military sites and rocket launchers in southern Lebanon.
Now, the Lebanese News Agency says an Israeli drone targeted a motorcycle in the town of Baraachit in the Bint Jbeil district, killing one person and wounding another.
Videos posted by local news sources and verified by Al Jazeera show a motorcycle on fire and surrounded by a crowd of people in southern Lebanon.
Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities a ‘dangerous precedent’: China’s UN envoy
Fu Cong, speaking at the UN Security Council earlier, said that Israel should “cease fire as soon as possible” to prevent the situation from escalating.
Cong said Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities set a “dangerous precedent” that could have “catastrophic consequences”.
He said the nuclear issue must be returned “to the track of dialogue and negotiation”.
Israeli army says another Iranian drone intercepted
The military says the interception took place in northern Israel.
Israel claims to have downed over a dozen UAVs on Friday
In its latest war update, the Israeli air force claims to have intercepted more than 15 unmanned aerial vehicles launched from Iran towards Israel in the past 24 hours.
It stated that they were intercepted by air defence systems, fighter jets, and helicopters.
US intelligence assessment on Iran nuclear programme ‘sound’
As we’ve just reported, Trump has dismissed the conclusion of his own national intelligence chief, who said in April that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon.
Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, explained that Tulsi Gabbard, the US director of national intelligence, who issued the determination on Iran, “does not speak for herself” or her team alone.
“She speaks for all the intelligence agencies combined,” Bishara stressed.
“This intelligence is supposed to be sound. This is not just one person or one team saying something. It’s the entire intelligence community in the United States. He [Trump] would dismiss them? For what?
“For a lie by a rogue element called Benjamin Netanyahu, who has lied all his life, a con artist who is indicted for his crimes in Gaza? It’s just astounding.”
US intelligence assessment on Iran nuclear programme ‘sound’
As we’ve just reported, Trump has dismissed the conclusion of his own national intelligence chief, who said in April that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon.
Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, explained that Tulsi Gabbard, the US director of national intelligence, who issued the determination on Iran, “does not speak for herself” or her team alone.
“She speaks for all the intelligence agencies combined,” Bishara stressed.
“This intelligence is supposed to be sound. This is not just one person or one team saying something. It’s the entire intelligence community in the United States. He [Trump] would dismiss them? For what?
“For a lie by a rogue element called Benjamin Netanyahu, who has lied all his life, a con artist who is indicted for his crimes in Gaza? It’s just astounding.”
Israeli army says it completed wave of attacks on western Iran
The military says 15 fighter jets and more than 30 weapons were used in the wave of strikes.
It said the attacks targeted “missile launch sites”, without providing additional details.
As we’ve been reporting, Israel’s attacks on Iran have killed hundreds of civilians over the past week across the country.
‘A war to preserve Israel’s nuclear monopoly in Middle East’
Iran doesn’t have nuclear weapons, but the US and its allies in the West paint it as the biggest threat to the region.
Meanwhile, they fully support Israel, the only country in the Middle East with nuclear weapons, as it carries out a genocide in Gaza and attacks Iran.
Tony Karon, managing editor of AJ+, breaks down how this double standard is fuelling regional instability – and strengthening the case in Iran for seeking nuclear weapons as a deterrent. Check it out below.
Has Trump delayed US action on Iran for two weeks?
When Israel first attacked Iran late on June 13, the Trump administration clearly stated that it had not been involved, calling Israel’s attack “unilateral”. It has become clear since then, however, that the US did have knowledge of the attacks in advance.
Trump also said he believed Iran was “very close” to having a nuclear weapon during the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Canada this week, contradicting his own US intelligence reports. This marked a shift from his position in May, when he made public statements that Tehran and Washington were close to a nuclear deal.
On Wednesday, Trump refused to say whether the US would join the conflict.
“I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do,” he told reporters outside the White House.
Finally, on Thursday, Trump appeared to give a two-week deadline for talks with Iran to succeed before the US would take action.
Read our explainer on the topic here.
Trump signals he won’t pressure Israel to end its attacks
He was asked whether or not he would as the European diplomats have really been imploring, for the US to put pressure on Israel to stop its aerial assault on Iran in order to give room for these talks.
He said that because Israel is winning and doing “very well”, that it is hard to talk to the winning side – so really making a point that he’s not going to make an effort to ask Israel to ease up on its aerial bombing of Iranian targets.
It seems that Trump is very squarely on Israel’s side as things are progressing, and … it appears that he is not leaning towards the diplomacy route, though, again, he is giving himself that two weeks’ time to make a final decision.
IAEA reports contamination at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reported an acute danger from radiation and chemical substances at the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran, which has come under Israeli attacks.
While radiation levels outside the building complex are normal, “within the Natanz facility, that is both radiological and chemical contamination” and it is possible that uranium isotopes are scattered throughout the facility, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told the UN Security Council in New York.
“The radiation primarily consists of alpha particles, [which pose] a significant danger if inhaled or digested. This risk can be effectively managed with appropriate protective measures,” Grossi explained.
The main concern inside the facility is chemical toxicity, he added.
‘My intelligence community is wrong’ on Iran’s nuclear programme, Trump says
US President Donald Trump has told reporters that his director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was wrong to suggest there is no evidence Iran is building a nuclear weapon.
“Well, my intelligence community is wrong,” he replied when asked by reporters about Gabbard’s position.
Trump also said that while he “might” support a ceasefire deal between Israel and Iran, “Israel’s doing well in terms of war, and I think you would say that Iran is doing less well”.
In response to another question, he said, “Europe is not going to be able to help” in the Israel-Iran conflict.
What is Europe’s stance on the Israel-Iran conflict?
The German leader and European Commission president were quick to back Israel as the conflict began with Iran last Friday.
The European Union has since called for de-escalation, reflecting growing anxiety over what might happen next.
So, what is the thinking in European capitals – and how much influence does Europe really have?
Photos: Aftermath of Iranian missile attack in Haifa
UN says 13-year-old boy hurt in attack on Gaza aid point has died
Abed al-Rahman had appeared in an earlier UNICEF video from his hospital bed after he was seriously injured when Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinian aid seekers in the Gaza Strip.
“Earlier this week, we were devastated to learn” that the 13-year-old had died of his injuries, the UN agency said in a post on X.
“Dehydration. Hunger. Indiscriminate attacks. Gaza’s children face the unthinkable every single day.”
Israeli army chief warns of ‘prolonged’ war with Iran
Israel’s military chief Eyal Zamir said his country should be “ready for a prolonged campaign” against Iran, as the longtime foes exchanged fire for the eighth day.
“We have embarked on the most complex campaign in our history to remove a threat of such magnitude, against such an enemy. We must be ready for a prolonged campaign,” Zamir said in a video statement.
He added that “the campaign is not over. Although we have made significant achievements, difficult days still lie ahead.”
US-Israeli narrative against Iran not convincing
Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, says the US, Israel and some European countries “are trying to dictate what happens in the Middle East as if we live in the early part of the 20th century”.
Bishara said reality has been flipped on its head in many ways since Israel began its attacks against Iran a week ago.
He noted that Israel is a nuclear power that has attacked a country, Iran, which is a signatory to the UN’s non-proliferation treaty and had hundreds of nuclear inspections last year.
“It’s very sloppy, the way the West is making its case. I don’t think it’s convincing to anyone, including to the European and American publics,” Bishara said.
Iran running out of options as it can’t rely on Trump to restrain Israel
Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, says he does not think US President Donald Trump will pressure Israel to pull back from strikes on Iran.
“On the contrary, I think in Trump’s mind Israel’s strikes against Iran are part of the coercive diplomacy that he sees as getting to an acceptable end game,” he told Al Jazeera from Washington, DC.
“This two-week [deadline announced by Trump] is an opportunity to show force – we hear they’re sending more aircraft, more naval vessels to the region – and to open the door to negotiations, both Iran-Europe and Iran with Witkoff, to see if we can’t get a diplomatic solution here.
“But I see no real prospect of Washington asking the Israelis to hold back. I think, if anything, they’re going to encourage them to keep up the pressure.”
He said Iran does not have a lot of good options as Israel has effective control of Iranian airspace and is largely defending effectively against Iranian strikes.
“I don’t think Iran really has the ability to say, ‘We’re not going to talk as long as we’re getting hit.’ I think in many respects the Iranian regime has its back up against the wall, militarily,” he said.
“The key question is: Is Iran going to blink? Is Iran going to use coercive pressure to try to make a deal before it faces even more military pressure, that is to say a potential American use of force?”
Iranian missile launches show ‘growing precision and capability’
Sina Toossi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy think tank in Washington, DC, says Iran’s strategy of firing large missile barrages at Israel appear to have drained Israeli interceptors, allowing its latest missiles to make direct hits.
“This points to better accuracy, degraded defences, and a shift to inflicting long-term attrition on Israel,” Toossi wrote on X.
Toossi said unnamed, “well-placed” sources in the US have indicated that some of these strikes have hit military and intelligence targets in Israel.
“Behind the scenes, Israeli officials are reportedly reeling,” he said.
US judge orders release of pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil
A US judge has ordered that Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil must be released from immigration custody, a major victory for rights groups that challenged what they called the Trump administration’s unlawful targeting of a pro-Palestinian activist.
Khalil, a prominent figure in pro-Palestinian protests against Israel’s war on Gaza, was arrested by immigration agents in the lobby of his university residence in Manhattan on March 8. President Donald Trump has called the protests anti-Semitic and promised to deport foreign students who took part.
Khalil condemned anti-Semitism and racism in interviews with CNN and other news outlets last year, and many observers say allegations of anti-Semitism are used against protesters in an attempt to shut down legitimate criticism of Israeli actions.
Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the United States, says he is being punished for his political speech in violation of the US Constitution’s First Amendment.
At least 82 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza today
Israeli strikes have been ongoing across the Gaza Strip. Here is a quick breakdown of some of those killed:
- 37 Palestinians killed in central Gaza, of whom 23 were aid seekers.
- 23 Palestinians killed in Gaza City.
- 22 Palestinians killed in the south of the Gaza Strip, 11 of them were aid seekers.
If you’re just joining us
Let’s bring you up to speed on the latest developments:
- Few details have been released after an hours-long meeting between Iran’s foreign ministers and some of his European counterparts in Geneva, but the British foreign minister urges further discussions.
- Iran’s IRNA news agency reports that the Iranian delegation to the talks emphasised “that only a halt to aggression can open the path to diplomacy”.
- Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it has fired its 17th wave of missiles at Israeli military facilities, including the Nevatim and Hatzerim bases.
- Israel’s envoy to the UN says the country will not apologise for its attacks across Iran, pledging to continue “until Iran’s nuclear threat is dismantled”.
- In Gaza, at least 73 Palestinians have been killed today in Israeli attacks, including nearly three dozen killed while waiting to receive aid near the Netzarim Corridor.
Very few details about what was discussed in Geneva
It doesn’t sound like there was any breakthrough, or even any progress – hearing Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, he’s basically reiterating what has consistently been the Iranian position.
We have heard from David Lammy, the UK foreign secretary, that he is urging Iran to continue talks with the US.
Now, we know from Abas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, that that is what the Iranians say they will absolutely not do. They said they will not be talking to the United States while they’re still under attack from Israel.
Now, David Lammy did warn about the dangers of regional escalation. He said that we are at a perilous moment, but he was very light on detail about what it is that these diplomats spent the last several hours talking about.
They are saying they continue to urge Iran to stop all uranium enrichment. There isn’t anything about any kind of a perhaps creative solution that could bring the two sides back from the brink.
It’s the same issues, it’s that same deadlock that we had throughout the months that Iran was negotiating with the US. So, they did say they urge Iran to continue their dialogue, but at this point, how that will happen is unclear.
Iran ready for diplomacy ‘once aggression is stopped’: Araghchi
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has been speaking to reporters in Geneva. Here’s what he had to say:
“Iran’s nuclear programme is peaceful and has always been under the IAEA safeguards and monitoring. Hence, armed attacks against safeguarded nuclear facilities by a regime which is not a party to any WMD treaties is a serious crime and violation of international law.”
He said he expressed “grave concern” of the failure of the E3 countries – Germany, UK and France – and the European Union to condemn those attacks.
“Iran is ready to consider diplomacy once again – once the aggression is stopped and the aggressor is held accountable for the crimes committed,” Araghchi said.
“In this regard, I made it crystal clear that Iran’s defence capabilities are not negotiable.”
He added, “We support the continuation of discussion with the E3 and EU, and expressed our readiness to meet again in the near future.”
French foreign minister says Iran open to negotiating solution
Jean-Noel Barrot has told reporters after talks in Geneva that his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi has signalled “his willingness to continue these discussions on the nuclear programme and, more broadly, on all issues”.
“We expect Iran to be open to discussions, including with the United States, to reach a negotiated settlement through dialogue to this crisis situation, which poses considerable risks for the Middle East region as well as Europe,” the French foreign minister said.
‘This is a perilous moment’: Lammy
British Foreign Minister David Lammy says that in the meeting with his counterparts from Iran, France, Germany, as well as the European Union’s foreign policy chief, they decided they were “keen to continue ongoing discussions and negotiations”.
“This is a perilous moment, and it is hugely important that we don’t see regional escalation of this conflict”, he told reporters.
He said the European leaders had been clear that “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon”.
Iraq says 50 Israeli warplanes violated its airspace
Iraq’s representative to the UN says the violations took place shortly before today’s Security Council meeting.
Abbas Kadhom Obaid al-Fatlawi, the charge d’affaires of Iraq’s UN mission, told the council the aircraft came from the Syrian-Jordanian border areas.
“Twenty aeroplanes started, followed by 30 aeroplanes heading to the south of Iraq, and they flew over Basra, Najaf and Karbala cities,” he said.
“These violations are violations of international law and the UN Charter,” he said.
“They also constitute a threat to the sacred sites and regions, which might cause strong popular reactions, considering the importance of these holy sites for our peoples.”
Photos: Bodies of aid seekers killed by Israeli forces in Gaza arrive at al-Shifa Hospital
What’s been happening at the UN Security Council?
As we’ve been reporting, the council is holding a special meeting to discuss the Israel-Iran conflict. Here’s a quick look at what’s been said so far:
- Iran’s UN ambassador condemns Israel for killing civilians in its attacks across Iran and urges the UN to take concrete action to uphold international law.
- Israeli envoy Danon attacks his Iranian counterpart, saying Israel “will not apologise for striking Iranian nuclear facilities”.
- The US ambassador has reiterated Washington’s unwavering support for Israel, blaming Iran for failing to agree to a nuclear deal.
- Russia’s envoy stresses that Israel attacked Iran on the eve of a round of nuclear talks and accuses Israel of showing a blatant disregard for attempts to find a diplomatic solution to end the conflict.
- IAEA chief Rafael Grossi calls for “maximum restraint”, warning that attacks on nuclear facilities could result in radioactive releases with great consequences within and beyond the boundaries of the state that has been attacked.
Israeli military says it struck Hezbollah sites in Lebanon
The Israeli military in its latest war update says it has attacked Hezbollah military sites and rocket launchers in southern Lebanon.
In the update, it claimed Hezbollah had been “trying to restore its activity at these sites”, which was a “violation” of the ceasefire agreement.
Israeli attacks continue to kill dozens across the Gaza Strip
Here is a reminder that alongside its strikes on Iran, Israel has been continuing its attacks on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Today’s death toll from Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip stands at 73.
A medical source at al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat told Al Jazeera that 35 people were killed and a number of others wounded after being targeted by the Israeli army while waiting to receive aid near the Netzarim Corridor.
