Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, citing “well-informed sources,” warned of new military strikes against Iran.
“What you periodically write about, what political analysts mention – the threat of new strikes against Iran persists, and, as some ‘well-informed sources’ report, is even being discussed in practical terms – this is also quite telling,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told journalists during a press conference.
Earlier in June, Israel launched preemptive airstrikes targeting Iran’s nuclear program, ballistic missile sites, and energy infrastructure. Citing an existential threat from Tehran’s uranium enrichment, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “eliminate” the capability for Iran to develop nuclear weapons.
The United States joined the fray on June 22 under Operation Midnight Hammer, deploying B-2 stealth bombers with 30,000-pound “bunker-buster” GBU-57 and submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles.
President Donald Trump hailed the assault on Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan as a “spectacular success,” claiming it “completely obliterated” Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.
Early U.S. intelligence assessments, however, paint a less rosy picture: entrances to underground sites were sealed, but core structures endured, delaying the program by only months to two years.
Much of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile had been relocated beforehand, as per satellite imagery and IAEA reports, with no radiation spikes detected.
Sanctions On Iran
Heavy sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program look set to go into force once again, even as a UN watchdog confirmed that inspections of its atomic sites had commenced.
Russia failed on Friday to delay the reimposition of the measures on Tehran in an effort with Beijing, with Moscow raising the prospect that it may not enforce the sanctions, despite being required to do so under international law.
European powers triggered the process to reimpose economic sanctions after demanding Iran reverse a series of steps it took after Israel and the United States bombed its nuclear sites in June.
The UN’s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, confirmed on Friday that inspections of Iranian nuclear sites had resumed this week after a hiatus following Washington and Israel’s strikes.
Resumption of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspections was a key measure demanded by the Europeans — Britain, France, and Germany.
“I signed an agreement with the agency in Cairo and the director general of the agency is quite satisfied and happy,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.
Araghchi has insisted any effort to reimpose sanctions is “legally void,” vowing never to “bow to pressure” on its nuclear program — but left the door open to more talks.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said Friday Tehran would not leave the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in retaliation to sanctions being reimposed.
China and Russia’s effort to buy time for diplomacy was rejected by nine countries against four in favor.
“UN sanctions, targeting Iranian proliferation, will be reimposed this weekend,” said Britain’s ambassador to the UN, Barbara Woodward.
“We stand ready to continue discussions with Iran on a diplomatic solution to address international concerns about its nuclear program. In turn, this could allow for the lifting of sanctions in the future.”
The UN sanctions, notably on Iran’s banking and oil sectors, are set to take effect automatically at the end of Saturday.
China and Russia at the Security Council session on Friday pushed a resolution that would have extended talks until April 18, 2026.
“We had hoped that we, that European colleagues in the US, would think twice, and that they would opt for the path of diplomacy and dialogue, instead of their clumsy blackmail,” the Russian deputy ambassador to the UN told the council prior to the vote.
“Did Washington, London, Paris, and Berlin make any compromises? No, they did not.”
France’s Ambassador to the UN, Jerome Bonnafé, told the council that all sides had been “trying to find, until the very last moment, a solution.”
France — speaking for itself, Germany, and Britain — has told Iran it must allow full access to UN nuclear inspectors, immediately resume nuclear negotiations, and offer transparency on highly enriched uranium, the whereabouts of which has been the subject of speculation.
The European nations and the US have consistently misrepresented Iran’s peaceful nuclear program,” said Araghchi, who insisted Tehran had put forward “several workable” proposals.
The European countries’ “pursuit of the so-called ‘snapback’ is… legally void, politically reckless and procedurally flawed,” he said.
The 2015 deal, negotiated during Barack Obama’s presidency, lifted sanctions in return for Iran drastically scaling back its controversial nuclear work.
President Donald Trump, in his first term, withdrew the United States from the deal and imposed sweeping, unilateral US sanctions, while pushing the Europeans to do likewise.
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s roving envoy who had been negotiating with Iran until Israel attacked, said Wednesday that Iran was in a “tough position” but also held out hope for a solution.
But Iran’s president was withering in his assessment of Washington’s diplomatic efforts, claiming that Witkoff and his team were not serious.
“We came to understandings a number of times, but they were never taken seriously by the Americans,” Pezeshkian told reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Iran has long contended that it is not seeking nuclear weapons, pointing to an edict by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and US intelligence has not concluded that the country has decided to build a nuclear weapon.
Iran-Backed Group Refuses To Disarm
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said the group would not allow itself to be disarmed as he addressed supporters marking one year since the killing by Israel of his predecessor Hassan Nasrallah.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli air strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut on September 27, 2024.
Without Nasrallah and with much of its military capability destroyed by Israel, Hezbollah’s grip on Lebanese politics has weakened, and Beirut has ordered the army to disarm the group.
“We will never abandon our weapons, nor will we relinquish them,” Qassem told the tens of thousands of supporters gathered at the tomb of the former chief on Saturday.
“We are ready for martyrdom,” he added.
Iran-backed Hezbollah, weakened by a deadly war with Israel last year, has organised a series of commemorative events to mark Nasrallah’s death.
Waving the group’s yellow banner as well as Lebanese, Palestinian, and Iranian flags, Hezbollah supporters gathered at the mausoleum, near Beirut airport, chanting “death to America, death to Israel.”
Iranian security chief Ali Larijani was in attendance. Tehran is a key supporter of Hezbollah.
Hezbollah is commemorating the killings of Nasrallah and second-in-command Hashem Safieddine in a series of events which began on Thursday with the projection of their images onto the iconic Raouche rock in Beirut, despite government opposition and the party’s lack of official authorisation.
That opposition in turn drew criticism of the government from Hezbollah supporters.
In a statement on Saturday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun expressed his hope that “this painful anniversary will serve as a rallying point, reinforcing the belief that Lebanon’s salvation lies in having one unified state, one army and constitutional institutions that protect sovereignty and uphold dignity”.
Despite a November ceasefire that ended over a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, the latter has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon and still has troops positioned at five border points inside Lebanon.
Hezbollah is under intense pressure to hand over its weapons, with the Lebanese army having drawn up a plan to disarm it, beginning in the south.
Lebanon itself is under pressure from the United States and ongoing Israeli strikes.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Lebanon’s efforts towards disarming Hezbollah from the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, but said he needed “more than words”.
Hezbollah was the only major armed group allowed to keep its weapons following Lebanon’s civil war, because it was fighting the continued Israeli occupation of the south.
The group’s heartlands are mainly in Shiite southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as south Beirut.
In October 2023, it began launching rockets at Israel in support of Hamas in Gaza. Months of exchanges escalated into all-out war in September 2024, before a ceasefire was agreed upon two months later.
Agence France-Presse
