TOP STORIES
US-Iran Talks: Details Emerge of Secret Diplomatic Efforts | CNN
The Trump administration has discussed possibly helping Iran access as much as $30 billion to build a civilian-energy-producing nuclear program, easing sanctions, and freeing up billions of dollars in restricted Iranian funds – all part of an intensifying attempt to bring Tehran back to the negotiating table, four sources familiar with the matter said. Key players from the US and the Middle East have talked with the Iranians behind the scenes even amid the flurry of military strikes in Iran and Israel over the past two weeks, the sources said. Those discussions have continued this week after a ceasefire deal was struck, the sources said. Trump administration officials emphasized that several proposals have been floated. They are preliminary and evolving with one consistent non-negotiable: zero Iranian enrichment of uranium, which Iran has consistently said it needs.
US Demands Iran Surrenders Enriched Uranium | Israel Hayom
The US intends to present Iran with three baseline demands for reentering negotiations: a total ban on uranium enrichment on Iranian soil, the removal of all highly enriched uranium Iran has stockpiled, and limitations on future missile production. These conditions indicate that not all of Iran's enriched uranium was eliminated during joint US-Israeli strikes. . . . Washington and Jerusalem are concerned that if Iran still retains a significant portion of this material, it might secretly accelerate its nuclear ambitions or develop a radiological weapon. Intelligence agencies are now prioritizing close surveillance to ensure Tehran remains far from nuclear capability. The US demand carries an implicit warning: if Iran refuses to surrender its enriched uranium, it risks facing another military strike.
No Known Intelligence That Iran Moved Uranium, US Defense Chief Says | Reuters
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday said he was unaware of any intelligence suggesting Iran had moved any of its highly enriched uranium to shield it from U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear program during the weekend. . . . U.S. President Donald Trump, who watched the exchange with reporters, echoed his defense secretary, saying it would have taken too long to remove anything. “The cars and small trucks at the site were those of concrete workers trying to cover up the top of the shafts. Nothing was taken out of (the) facility,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, without providing evidence.
UANI IN THE NEWS
It is a certainty that Iran’s decades-long nuclear ambitions have been dealt a severe blow. Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, now considered “inoperative”, were the collective centrepiece of Iran’s uranium enrichment. But permanent dismantlement—“obliteration,” in President Trump’s word—is not as simple as bombing key sites alone. If the international community really wants to ensure Iran stays nuclear-neutered, several key steps remain.
UANI Senior Advisor Norman Roule Discusses the Damage Done to Iranian Nuclear Facilities | CNN
“I am confident that Iran has suffered a catastrophic, catastrophic blow to its enrichment program [and] it’s conversion-to-metal program, and that this has set them back for a very, very long time. But we’ll know more about this as this data comes through.”
Alive but Weakened, Iran’s Khamenei Faces New Challenges | Agence France-Presse
Jason Brodsky, policy director at the US-based United Against Nuclear Iran, said [Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei appeared “frail and hoarse” and also “detached from reality” in insisting that Iran's nuclear programme did not suffer significant damage. “Nevertheless, I remain sceptical of the theories that Khamenei has been sidelined,” he told AFP. “I have no doubt the war will prompt a debate within the Islamic Republic’s political elite as to how best to rebuild the system's capabilities, but in the end, the buck has always stopped with Khamenei,” he said.
NUCLEAR DIPLOMACY & NUCLEAR PROGRAM
Centrifuges at Fordo ‘No Longer Operational,’ U.N. Nuclear Watchdog Head Says | New York Times
[International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael] Grossi told Radio France Internationale in an interview that while evaluating the damage from the strikes using satellite images alone was difficult, given the power of the bombs dropped on Fordo and the technical characteristics of the plant, “we already know that these centrifuges are no longer operational.” The centrifuges — giant machines that spin at supersonic speeds to enrich uranium — require a high degree of precision and are vulnerable to intense vibrations, he said. “There was no escaping significant physical damage,” Mr. Grossi said. “So we can come to a fairly accurate technical conclusion.” He said, however, that it would be “too much” to assert that Iran’s nuclear program had been “wiped out” after the Israeli and American bombing campaign. Mr. Grossi noted that not all of Iran’s nuclear sites had been struck, and said Iranian officials had told him that they would take “protective measures” for the uranium they had already enriched.
Iran FM: Non-Cooperation with UN Nuclear Watchdog is Now Law | New Arab
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Thursday that a bill suspending cooperation with UN nuclear watchdog was now “binding” after being passed by lawmakers and approved by a top vetting body. The Iranian body tasked with vetting legislation approved a bill to suspend cooperation with the United Nations nuclear watchdog on Thursday, citing recent US and Israeli strikes. Iranian lawmakers voted in favour of the bill on Wednesday, a day after a ceasefire ended a 12-day war with Israel that saw Israeli and US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Araghchi Says Attacks Dealt Blow to Nuclear Facilities | Iran International
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Thursday acknowledged that US and Israeli strikes had done “serious harm” to its nuclear sites in the most wide-ranging remarks since the end of a 12-day war by Tehran’s top diplomat. “This damage has not been minor—serious harm has been done to our facilities. They are currently conducting a thorough assessment of the damage,” he said in an interview with the state broadcaster, referring to Iran's Atomic Energy Agency.
US Gained Nothing from Strikes, Iran’s Supreme Leader Says | BBC News
Iran's supreme leader has insisted the US “gained no achievements” from strikes on its nuclear facilities, in his first public address since a ceasefire with Israel was agreed on Tuesday. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the strikes did not “accomplish anything significant” to disrupt Iran's nuclear programme, and described the retaliation against an American air base in Qatar as dealing a “heavy blow.” It came as Washington doubled down on its assessment that the strikes had severely undermined Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Fate of Iran’s Enriched Uranium Is a Mystery | New York Times
After days of debate over how severely U.S. strikes had damaged three nuclear facilities in Iran, the fate of the country’s stockpile of enriched uranium remains a bigger mystery. . . . There is little doubt that Iran’s entire nuclear program was substantially diminished by U.S. and Israeli strikes, and that it would struggle to quickly produce additional nuclear fuel. But U.S. intelligence agencies had long assessed that, faced with the possibility of an attack on its nuclear facilities, Iran would try to move its stockpile of enriched uranium, either to keep as leverage in diplomatic negotiations or to use in a race to build a bomb.
The top-secret Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) assessment that claimed Iran’s nuclear sites suffered only moderate damage likely relied on faulty information from deceitful Iranian sources, according to several former U.S. intelligence officers, one of whom described the document as so unreliable “you can wipe your ass with it.”
Iran currently has no plan to meet with the United States, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday in an interview on state TV, contradicting US President Donald Trump’s statement that Washington planned to have talks with Iran next week. The Iranian foreign minister says Tehran was assessing whether talks with the US were in its interest, following five previous rounds of negotiations that were cut short by Israel and the US attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities.
White House Says No Meeting with Iran Currently Scheduled | CBS News
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that the Trump administration doesn't have any meetings scheduled with Iran, one day after President Trump said that the U.S. and Iran would talk and meet “next week.” . . . On Thursday, Leavitt explained the basic goal of any future meetings. “We want to ensure we can get to a place where Iran agrees to a non-enrichment, civil nuclear program," Leavitt said. “And there are many other requests that the United States has.”
Tehran Yet to Respond as US Accepts Oman’s Proposal for New Talks | Iran International
The United States has agreed to a proposal from Oman to host a new round of talks with Iran early next week, but Tehran has yet to give a final response, regional sources told Iran International..
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS
Trump Admin Launches Full-Court Press Defending Iran Strikes as Questions Remain | ABC News
“You want to call it destroyed. You want to call it defeated. You want to call it obliterated. Choose your word. This was an historically successful attack and we should celebrate as Americans,” a defiant [Defense Secretary] Hegseth said from the podium as he railed against the news media coverage of the events and the leaked initial intelligence assessment. . . . Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, who on Sunday had said it was “way too early” to make complete damage assessments, at Thursday’s news conference declined to give a detailed damage assessment. “By design, we don't grade our own homework. The intelligence community does,” Caine said. “But here's what we know following the attacks and the strikes on Fordo,” Caine continued. “First, that the weapons were built, tested and loaded properly. Two, the weapons were released on speed and on parameters. Three, the weapons all guided to their intended targets and to their intended aim points. Four, the weapons functioned as designed, meaning they exploded.” . . . Hegseth and Caine were asked about the uranium during their 45-minute news conference. Neither provided a clear answer.
The Administration Is Struggling to Back Up Trump’s Bold Claims on Iran Strikes | Politico
The Trump administration is running into a problem as it touts the U.S. strikes in Iran as an unqualified triumph: It hasn’t yet provided clear evidence to prove it. . . . So far, officials have not been able to publicly provide convincing evidence that the entirety of Iran’s sprawling nuclear program was destroyed—a conclusion that would likely take spy agencies weeks if not months to establish. Assessments they have offered are light on details and flit between ambiguous language about whether Tehran’s nuclear program has been destroyed or just experienced a major setback—a lesser achievement. Moreover, in working to debunk the leaked assessment saying Iran’s nuclear program may have only been set back months, Trump administration officials have stressed that it is too early to evaluate the strikes—though that’s precisely what they are trying to do.
Senators Diverge Sharply on Damage Done by Iran Strikes After Classified Briefing | Associated Press
Senators emerged from a classified briefing Thursday with sharply diverging assessments of President Donald Trump’s bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites, with Republicans calling the mission a clear success and Democrats expressing deep skepticism.
Khamenei Sidestepped in Iran-Israel Ceasefire Decision | Iran International
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was not involved in the negotiations or approval of the recent ceasefire agreement between Iran and Israel, according to information obtained by Iran International. Decision-making regarding the truce was handled instead by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and President Masoud Pezeshkian, who moved swiftly to respond to a ceasefire proposal from US President Donald Trump. A source familiar with the details of the deliberations told Iran International that the council intended to respond quickly to the American proposal. However, at the time, there was no opportunity to contact Khamenei. The ceasefire was therefore approved and communicated without the supreme leader’s knowledge.
Israel Says Iran’s Supreme Leader Avoided Assassination by Going Underground | Reuters
Israel would have killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were it possible during the countries' 12-day war, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday. . . . “But Khamenei understood this, went underground to very great depths, and broke off contacts with the commanders who replaced those commanders who were eliminated, so it wasn’t realistic in the end,” he said.
At midnight on June 13, Israel’s generals gathered in a bunker beneath Israeli air force headquarters and watched as jets descended on Tehran in an operation they called “Red Wedding.” Hours later and 1,000 miles away, Iran’s top military commanders were dead—a mass killing much like the famous wedding scene from the show “Game of Thrones.” The combination of intelligence information and military precision that enabled the attack surprised people around the world. But it wasn’t the only improbable success at the outset of Israel’s 12-day campaign.
Trump Threatens to Sue New York Times and CNN over Iran Bomb Strike Reporting | Independent
President Donald Trump has threatened to sue The New York Times and CNN over its reporting on the amount of destruction caused by U.S. military strikes on Iran’s nuclear program
PROXY WARS, TERRORISM, & HOMELAND SECURITY
ICE Arrests 130 Iranian Nationals amid Heightened Security Concerns | Fox News
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 130 Iranian nationals throughout the United States in the last week, and 670 Iranian nationals are in ICE detention, as the Trump administration continues to increase arrests of Iranian nationals in the country illegally amid security concerns. . . . “The presence in this country of undocumented migrants or Iranian nationals who have links to Hezbollah, IRGC, is, in my judgment, a domestic law enforcement concern of the highest magnitude,” former Obama-era Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said . . .
Why Powerful Pro-Tehran Militias in Iraq Stayed Quiet amid Iran Conflict | Washington Post
When U.S. forces struck three Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend, concern rippled through the population of neighboring Iraq, where pro-Iranian militias wield much influence and the majority of the people, like in Iran, are Shiite Muslims. The prospect for retaliation in Iraq against the United States briefly loomed. . . . But those Iraqi militias have proved to be conspicuously quiet. These groups have been shaped by previous struggles for influence in Iraq between the U.S. and Iran, emerging warier of involvement in external conflict and more independent of external backers. The Iran-linked militias have also become central players in the Iraqi government, earning billions of dollars from state coffers, operating extensive business networks and holding more power than ever before. There is much at stake if these groups become a target, Middle East analysts say.
Battling to Survive, Hamas Faces Defiant Clans and Doubts over Iran | Reuters
Short of commanders, deprived of much of its tunnel network and unsure of support from its ally Iran, Hamas is battling to survive in Gaza in the face of rebellious local clans and relentless Israeli military pressure. Hamas fighters are operating autonomously under orders to hold out as long as possible but the Islamist group is struggling to maintain its grip as Israel openly backs tribes opposing it, three sources close to Hamas said.
SANCTIONS, SHIPPING, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
China's Iran Oil Imports Surge in June on Rising Shipments, Teapot Demand | Reuters
China's Iranian oil imports surged in June as shipments accelerated before the recent conflict in the region and demand from independent refineries improved, analysts said. The world’s top oil importer and biggest buyer of Iranian crude brought in more than 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) from June 1-20, according to ship-tracker Vortexa, a record high based on the firm’s data. Kpler’s data put the month-to-date average of China's Iranian oil and condensate imports at 1.46 million bpd as of June 27, up from one million bpd in May.
PROTESTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Iran Carries Out Wave of Arrests and Executions in Wake of Israel Conflict | BBC News
Iranian authorities have carried out a wave of arrests and multiple executions of people suspected of links to Israeli intelligence agencies, in the wake of the recent war between the two countries. It comes after what officials describe as an unprecedented infiltration of Iranian security services by Israeli agents.
Unconfirmed reports claim that several Jewish community leaders in Iran have been arrested in recent days on suspicion of having ties to Israel, in the aftermath of the 12-day war between the two countries. According to the French-Iranian women’s rights group Femme Azadi, rabbis and other religious leaders in both Tehran and Shiraz were arrested and accused, without any evidence, of having ties to Israel.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Thursday that his country had delivered a “slap to America’s face” by striking a U.S. air base in Qatar and warned against further attacks in his first public comments since a ceasefire agreement with Israel. . . . The 86-year-old . . . appeared more tired than he had just a week ago, speaking in a hoarse voice and occasionally stumbling over his words. The supreme leader downplayed U.S. strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites Sunday using bunker-buster bombs and cruise missiles, saying that U.S. President Donald Trump—who said the attack “completely and fully obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program—had exaggerated its impact.
After Punishing Conflict, Iranians Doubt Khamenei Victory Declaration | Iran International
Iranians speaking via Iran International’s submission line doubted Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s declaration of victory over the United States and Israel in a televised speech on Thursday. “If the killing of the Revolutionary Guards' top commanders in the first 10 minutes of war counts as a victory, then let Khamenei live in his delusions,” said one person, whose identity was withheld for their safety. “The people have seen and felt the Islamic Republic’s defeat and humiliation.”
Iran Intelligence Agency Texts Citizens Seeking Reports of 'Suspicious Activity' | IranWire
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Organization sent text messages to Iranian citizens on Thursday, urging them to report “suspicious movements” to the security agency, according to information received by IranWire. The messages claimed there had been “exemplary cooperation and assistance” from the public with the IRGC intelligence arm in recent days.
CONGRESS & IRAN
Classified Briefing on Iran Nuclear Damage Leaves Democrats Unconvinced | Iran International
A classified intelligence briefing for lawmakers on Thursday failed to bridge a deepening partisan rift over the success of US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, with prominent Democrats still questioning their effectiveness. The presentation in line with common government practice was made by CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine. “The briefing raised more questions than it answered,” Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said baldly.
RUSSIA & IRAN
Russia Says It Wants Iran to Keep Cooperating with UN Nuclear Watchdog | Reuters
Russia wants Iran to continue its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.
CHINA & IRAN
Iran’s defense minister has traveled to diplomatic and economic ally China on his first reported trip abroad since a 12-day clash with Israel that briefly dragged the US into a new regional conflict. Aziz Nasirzadeh is one of nine defense ministers that Chinese state media say attended a gathering of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a China- and Russia-led regional security grouping that has grown in prominence as Beijing and Moscow look to build alternative international blocs to those backed by the United States. . . . Attending countries “expressed a strong willingness to consolidate and develop military collaboration,” according to China’s official news agency Xinhua. Iran’s Nasirzadeh “expressed gratitude to China for its understanding and support of Iran’s legitimate stance,” Xinhua also reported.
ISRAEL, PAKISTAN, & IRAN
Netanyahu Wants to Meet Trump at White House After Iran War Success | Axios
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to meet with President Trump at the White House in the coming weeks to celebrate the joint U.S-Israeli bombing of Iran's nuclear program, three Israeli officials said.
US Talks to Pakistan About Promoting ‘Durable Peace Between Israel and Iran’ | Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held a call on Thursday in which they discussed promoting “a durable peace between Israel and Iran,” the State Department said in a statement.
MISCELLANEOUS
Poll: Most Voters Back Iran Strikes, but Worry About Attacks on U.S. | Axios
The U.S. attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities Saturday have left American voters with contradictory feelings, a new poll finds: A majority favored limited strikes, but nearly as many said they were worried about a widening war and Iran retaliating on U.S. soil. Meanwhile, most viewed the U.S. attacks as a success — and are likely to back similar military action as a result.