Iran wants an investigation of the US strikes on its nuclear sites, its nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami said in a letter to International Atomic Energy Agency Chief Rafael Grossi, urging him to condemn the US action and take appropriate measures, according to Iran’s SNN news network.
Eslami criticised Grossi for his “inaction and complicity”, and added that Iran would pursue appropriate legal measures to tackle the matter.
Grossi said on Sunday that he was calling an emergency meeting of his agency’s 35-nation Board of Governors after the US said it carried out military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Tara Cobham22 June 2025 08:58
The head of the Paris-based opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran has said Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was responsible for the nuclear programme that had now “gone up in smoke” and needed to go.
“Now Khamenei must go. The Iranian people welcome the end of the war and seek peace and freedom,” Maryam Rajavi said in a statement issued on Sunday, following unprecedented US strikes that President Donald Trump said had “obliterated” its key nuclear facilities.
“Khamenei is responsible for an unpatriotic project that, in addition to costing countless lives, has cost the Iranian people at least $2 trillion, and now it has all gone up in smoke.”
Maryam Rajavi, the head of the Paris-based opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (REUTERS)
Tara Cobham22 June 2025 08:57
The business and trade secretary has vowed Britain will “take all actions necessary to defnd our own interests, our own people, and of course that of our key allies if they are under threat”.
Jonathan Reynolds also told Sky News: “We have moved British military assets to the region.”
However, he also reiterated the government’s calls for a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
Tara Cobham22 June 2025 08:54
The Independent’s political editor David Maddox reports:
Jonathan Reynolds has confirmed the UK government is “in active conversations to get people out” of Israel, Iran and the wider region.
“That will be hours not days,” the business and trade secretary added.
“We have been making extensive preparations.”
He told Sky News British citizens in the region are “the government’s first priority”.
Tara Cobham22 June 2025 08:51
Trump accuses Obama of wanting war with Iran in resurfaced clip
Footage of Donald Trump accusing then-president Barack Obama of wanting to start a war with Iran in 2011 has resurfaced after the US president launched strikes on three Iran nuclear sites. In a video posted in November 2011, Mr Trump said: “Our president will start a war with Iran because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate.” Iran has said a “dangerous war” with the US has begun after Mr Trump announced that US warplanes had “obliterated” three nuclear facility sites in Iran on Saturday. At around 8pm on 21 June, Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social that “very successful” strikes had been carried out on the nuclear facilities in Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan.
The British business and trade secretary has confirmed that the UK was not involved in the US’s strikes on Iran.
Jonathan Reynolds did tell Sky News that the government was made aware in advance that the attacks were going to be carried out.
Bahrain has urged its citizens and residents to use main roads only when necessary to “allow relevant authorities to use roads efficiently” after the US strikes on Iran, the interior ministry has said on X this morning.
The Gulf country hosts a US military base.
It said in the statement: “In light of recent developments in the regional security situation, we urge citizens and residents to use main roads only when necessary, to maintain public safety and to allow the relevant authorities to use the roads efficiently.”
Tara Cobham22 June 2025 08:42
The Metopolitan Police on Sunday said they had charged seven Iranians with grievous bodily harm after a reported fight at a protest near the embassy last week.
The force said they had been alerted to an apparent fight outside the Iranian embassy on Friday, which local media reported occurred during a protest against the Iranian leadership.
Police said eight people were arrested in connection with the incident, including one man who was in hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries. Another man was also hospitalised.
“Seven of those arrested were charged with causing grievous bodily harm,” the Met said in a statement. “All are Iranian nationals.”
Police said that they had been remanded in custody ahead of a court appearance on Monday. The eighth person was still in hospital and had been bailed, they added.
Tara Cobham22 June 2025 08:37
The EU’s foreign policy chief has warned Iran “must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon”.
Kaja Kallas said in a post on X this morning: “Iran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, as it would be a threat to international security.
“I urge all sides to step back, return to the negotiating table and prevent further escalation.
“EU foreign ministers will discuss the situation tomorrow.”
Tara Cobham22 June 2025 08:35
Israel and Iran have been engaged in shadow warfare for decades, with a long history of clandestine attacks by land, sea, air and cyberspace, which Tehran has conducted via its various proxies and allies in the region.
The two nations had been allies prior to the Islamic Revolution in 1979, which installed a new theocratic regime ideologically opposed to Israel’s existence. Israel would also come to view Tehran’s nuclear ambitions as an existential threat.
When Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, Iran’s new regime helped to establish Hezbollah by lending the militant group funds and training. Tehran also funds Hamas in Gaza, Yemen’s Houthis, and other paramilitary groups in Iraq and Syria, according to the US State Department.
But after Hamas sparked the ongoing war in Gaza on 7 October 2023, Israel has killed much of the group’s senior leadership, while also decimating Hezbollah and striking Houthi targets over the same period, leaving Tehran significantly more isolated.
Tara Cobham22 June 2025 08:28
