US-Iran war Highlights: Iran cancels US technical talks over recent attacks, official says

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Iran skipped technical talks with the United States scheduled for Sunday.

Tehran cited recent attacks on Iran as one reason for not participating.

Iran also said key conditions of the US-Iran MoU remain unfulfilled.

Access to unfrozen Iranian funds is one of the outstanding conditions, according to Mehdi Fazaeili, a member of the Office of Preservation and Publication of the Works of Iran's Supreme Leader. (Reuters)

Tehran said attempts by commercial ships to avoid its preferred transit route through the Strait of Hormuz would escalate regional tensions.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said creating "new or separate arrangements" for navigation would complicate efforts to fully reopen the strategic waterway.

The warning came as fresh US-Iran military exchanges highlighted the fragility of the Pakistan-mediated peace agreement.

Iran's remarks followed Oman's announcement of an alternative shipping corridor along its coastline.

No Iranian strike hit its intended target, CBS News cited a US official as saying

Iran launched drones and missiles at US assets in Bahrain and Kuwait overnight.

Some projectiles were intercepted or shot down before reaching their targets. No US military personnel were injured in the attacks. No US military assets sustained any damage, the official said.

The official confirmed there were no impacts on US facilities in either Bahrain or Kuwait.

The latest exchange of missile, drone and air strikes between the United States and Iran has centered on one key provision of their interim Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) — Article 5, which governs navigation through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz.

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US official says Saturday's US strikes on Iran were "larger" than previous retaliatory attacks.

The strikes targeted areas where Iran had regrouped military assets after the ceasefire.

The official said Iran had reconstituted some of its military capabilities since the ceasefire on April 7.

The official claimed the strikes caused extensive damage to Iranian military infrastructure.

"There is a LOT that is damaged... a LOT... but they moved things around." (Fox News)

Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said:

"The confessions and even brazen boasting of some of the leaders of the US-Zionist enemy regarding these crimes, are indisputably an admission of crime, and these effectively pave the way for the vindication of the Iranian nation's rights that have been violated."

"Physical and psychological damages inflicted on each individual of the Iranian nation in the second and third imposed wars, from child killings and war crimes in Minab and Lamerd to attacks on medical centres, is each a legal file that must be pursued in both domestic and international courts."

"From murdering newborns to our dear elderly population... is each a file among thousands of major legal cases that must be earnestly pursued in domestic and international courts."

The article, titled “No choice but to build the atomic bomb,” claims that Iran must negotiate with its enemies from a position of strength, and was published by Iranian state news outlet Fars on Sunday.

"In the transition to a new order, Iran has no choice but to achieve nuclear deterrence so that the military option of occupying and dividing Iran is taken off the table. To achieve the peace it needs, Iran must definitely achieve nuclear deterrence to ensure that the remaining issues can be resolved through negotiation. Only then can negotiation be conducted from the right position," the article stated.

"The US has threatened China with nuclear attack twice, such as Trump's recent nuclear threats against Iran. But when does Kissinger secretly meet with the Chinese and then negotiate? When China builds atomic bombs," the article continues.

"Nuclear deterrence means that you can achieve a balance of power against the United States and Israel, which have atomic bombs, not so that there will be no war, but the scope of the conflict will be controllable," the article reads.

Bahrain strongly condemned the strike, accusing Tehran of deliberately escalating the conflict.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said: "A dangerous escalation that reveals that what Tehran is doing is not a passing act, nor an isolated incident, but rather a deliberate approach and a systematic pattern of repeated aggression."

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed responsibility for the attacks on Bahrain and neighbouring Kuwait.

The Iranian attack came after the United States carried out fresh strikes on Iranian military targets, saying the operation was launched in response to Tehran's alleged violation of the ceasefire through attacks on commercial shipping.

After Iran launched drone and missile attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait in retaliation for fresh US airstrikes, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking during a visit to Baghdad, warned that alternative shipping arrangements would only worsen the crisis.

"Any interference in this matter, any attempt to establish new or separate arrangements from those currently being carried out by the Islamic Republic of Iran, will only lead to further complications, delay the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and increase the level of tension," Araghchi said.

Iran launched drone and missile attacks Sunday targeting Bahrain and Kuwait in response to U.S. airstrikes that hit the Islamic Republic, and threatened a “complete halt” in negotiations to end the war if Washington continues its attacks. (AP)

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah warned on Sunday of "internal conflict" in Lebanon over the country's agreement with Israel, which the Iran-backed militant group rejects, predicting that the deal would not be implemented. (AFP)

Tehran and Washington continued to blame one another for breaching the ceasefire. In a statement issued on Saturday, Iran's foreign ministry described the US strikes as "an explicit violation of the first paragraph of the Memorandum of Understanding" signed by both countries earlier this month. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also claimed responsibility for retaliatory strikes against US sites, although it did not identify the locations.

The Pakistan Foreign Ministry on Sunday said Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar held a telephonic conversation with his Bahraini counterpart Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, where the two leaders “discussed the latest evolving regional situation following the signing of the Islamabad MoU”.

The development came hours after Baharin was struck by Iranian drones, in retaliation for the US strikes on the Islamic Republic.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei on Sunday accused Italy of “clear and direct” role in the war over Rome’s technical and logistical support for the US-Israeli attacks on the country.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who had previously denied her country’s involvement in the unlawful war, claimed that Rome never participated in the aggression, but only provided “technical and logistical” support to the US army.

“This is a glaring contradiction and a fallacious argument aimed at evading responsibility for complicity in a grave internationally wrongful act: publicly denying any aid or assistance to the aggressors, while openly acknowledging the ‘technical and logistical’ support that enabled and facilitated the unlawful American-Israeli war of aggression against Iran,” Baghaei said.

“Providing 'technical and logistical' support to the aggressors constitutes nothing less than a clear and direct contribution to the commission of an illegal war of choice — a blatant act of aggression and a serious violation of international law.”

Bahrain has condemned the latest Iranian attack on its territory. The kingdom also urged the UN Security Council to hold an urgent session over the incident.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Bahrain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the latest attack demonstrated that Iran's actions were "not an isolated incident", but rather a deliberate and repeated pattern of attacks against the kingdom's sovereignty and the security of its citizens and residents.

Kuwait’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed its “strongest denunciation of the repeated heinous Iranian aggressions” against the country.

The ministry also warned that such attacks undermine ongoing regional and global efforts at de-escalation and “represent a direct challenge to the international will supporting this path”.

It also said the state of Kuwait “reserves its full right to take all necessary measures to safeguard its sovereignty, preserve its security and stability, and protect its people and the residents on its territory”.

The burial of the former Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is expected to attract up to 20 million people, Brigadier General Hassan Hassanzadeh, commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)'s Tehran Command, has said.

According to a televised statement by Brigadier Hassanzadeh on Saturday, two ceremonies had been arranged in Tehran on July 4 and 5. He said planning has been based on maximum-capacity scenarios after preliminary estimates projected attendance of at least 12 to 15 million people, while some assessments placed potential participation as high as 20 million.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has said that it launched a large-scale missile and drone operation against eight US military installations in the region, describing the strikes as a "decisive response" to renewed American aggression against Iranian territory.

In a statement, the IRGC said its Navy and Aerospace Force jointly carried out the operation targeting eight "key US military installations," including the "Ali Al Salem Airbase in Kuwait" and the "US Fifth Fleet headquarters at Salman Port in Bahrain."

According to the statement, the operation followed attacks carried out by the enemy against five Iranian coastal outposts earlier in the day.

"The aggressor enemy, whose very nature is characterized by breaking commitments and violating agreements, attacked five coastal outposts of the Islamic Republic in the early hours of today under the pretext of responding to the IRGC Navy's confronting a trespassing vessel," the statement read.

Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said on Sunday that it had launched overnight attacks targeting Bahrain and Kuwait, warning that negotiations with the United States could come to a "complete halt" if Washington continued its military strikes, as per AP.

The statement, published by the state-run IRAN newspaper, marked Tehran's strongest warning so far regarding the future of talks over the interim agreement reached with the US. The deal established a 60-day period for both sides to negotiate a lasting end to the conflict.

The Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted the headquarters of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet in Bahrain as well as Al Asad Air Base in Kuwait.