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00:12
US Hits Iranian Sites For Second Night After Tehran Targets Shipping
For the second straight night, US forces have struck “multiple targets” in Iran, saying it was in response to “continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping,” as the fragile cease-fire in the Middle East continues to fray.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the strikes on June 27 came at the direction of the commander -in-chief, US President Donald Trump.
Iran did not immediately comment. The US statement did not disclose which specific targets were hit.
“After yesterdays 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 asocial media post.
Smoke rises from explosions at an unknown location following what US Central Command said were strikes on Iran on June 26. CENTCOM said its forces struck Iran again on June 27.
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 exlosions 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.
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23:22
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, theLebanese presidency saidon 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.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.
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 ReutersShare
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16:57
Hezbollah Rejects Israel-Lebanon Deal
Israeli military vehicles drive amid damaged buildings in southern Lebanon on June 27.
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 AFPShare
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13:31
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-flaggedoil tanker KIKU.
With reporting by AFPShare
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13:08
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 regimes 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 Vancewrote on Xthat “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 dpaShare
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11:37
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.
