Iran-US war latest: Tehran hits back after Trump boasts he has ‘destroyed their military’

​Iran’s deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said that the ⁠UN nuclear watchdog should avoid turning technical reports into “tools ⁠of political pressure” ​if ⁠it wanted to contribute ⁠to a diplomatic ​solution.

He ⁠said that ‌the loss of the agency’s oversight ‌at some facilities resulted ‌from the attacks rather than a ⁠lack of cooperation by Iran, adding that the International Atomic Energy Agency was using the consequences ‌of US and ​Israeli strikes ‌on Iranian nuclear ⁠sites to create “ambiguity” ⁠about Tehran’s nuclear programme.

The Iran Football Federation is accusing the United States of “vindictive behavior” over the refusal of visas for managerial and administrative members of its World Cup traveling party.

IFF said 14 officials and staffers have been refused visas prior to upcoming matches in Inglewood, California, and Seattle. The list includes the federation’s vice president Mehdi Mohammad Nabi and secretary-general Hedayat Mombeini.

According to the IFF, the visa denials have “effectively denied the Iranian national team the opportunity for a level playing field and a competition free from discrimination.”

The Iran squad has been preparing for the World Cup in Antalya, Turkey, and was set to fly to Mexico on Saturday. The team said it has received its visas from the Mexico Embassy in Antalya.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier this week that the Iranian traveling party would be watched closely for people with ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

A source familiar with discussions tells Reuters that the US is looking to make frozen Iranian assets available to Gulf countries to support repairs for future damage caused by Iran.

The source said the US will also consider whether those assets could be used to help pay for repairs for past damages.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has directed a team to assess costs for damage already inflicted on Gulf allies by Iran, they added.

Iran pounded its neighbours hosting US bases during the hot conflict, and has continued with intermittent strikes and drone attacks since the ceasefire took effect.

Two Lebanese army officers and a soldier were killed in an Israeli strike ⁠on a military vehicle in south Lebanon, the Lebanese army said, while the Israeli military said it was investigating the incident.

The Israeli military said it struck the vehicle ⁠after identifying what it described as a threat to its forces and receiving indications that Hezbollah was preparing to fire on Israeli troops from the area. Iran-aligned Hezbollah called the incident part of Israel’s continued aggression against Lebanon.

Iran has made a ceasefire between ‌Israel and Hezbollah a condition for any peace deal with Washington.

Hezbollah ​leader Naim Qassem this week rejected a US-brokered pact between Israel and the Lebanese government to halt ‌the fighting in Lebanon. The deal did not provide for an Israeli withdrawal and ​Hezbollah had not been party to the negotiations.

Israel has has said its forces would not withdraw or halt operations in the country amid increasing friction with the US.

US forces struck Iranian coastal radar sites on Saturday after shooting down drones launched by Iran toward the Strait of Hormuz, the US military said, in the latest escalation complicating efforts to end the war between the two countries.

The military believes ⁠the four Iranian drones were targeting regional maritime traffic, a US official told Reuters.

US Central Command said on X that the US then struck Iran’s surveillance sites in Goruk and Qeshm Island, which are both on the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s foreign ministry said the US action broke an April 8 ceasefire, adding that repeated such violations showed Washington had no intention of reducing tensions. It warned that the United States would bear responsibility for the consequences of its “illegal actions” and any further escalation.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had attacked US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain in retaliation for U.S. strikes and fired at four tankers trying to cross the strait without its permission.

Kuwait’s army ⁠said on Saturday it engaged seven ballistic missiles that entered the country’s airspace early in the morning and ​passed over ⁠several residential areas, resulting in the fall of some debris.

The army added that the Iranian attack caused material damage but no casualties. In Bahrain sirens sounded and residents were urged to seek shelter.

Despite concerns that the ceasefire could collapse, Trump told reporters on Friday that “the situation with Iran seems to be going quite well.”

He told an event that “we’re going to come out of Iran very quickly and it’s going to be very strong one way or the other, whether it’s a piece of paper or the very tough way.”

US and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative agreement a week ago to extend the ceasefire by 60 days and start a new round of talks on Iran’s nuclear program.

But Trump has called for unspecified changes and Iranian officials have shown no public sign of agreeing to the deal.

Asked on Friday why it was taking so long, Trump told NBC’s Meet the Press it was because “it’s a very hard thing for them.”

He added that the Iranians still have 21 to 22 per cent of their missiles. One of the war’s stated aims was destroying Tehran’s missile program.

The ongoing fighting in Lebanon, where Israeli forces have seized large swathes of the south while saying it targets the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, also challenges efforts to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has demanded that any lasting truce extend to Lebanon.

The Trump administration has touted the latest ceasefire agreed to earlier in the week by the Lebanese government and Israel after US-brokered talks in Washington. However, Hezbollah has rejected the agreement.

Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday killed nine people including three members of the Lebanese military, the Lebanese army and state media said. Israel’s military said it was reviewing the incident and that it operates against Hezbollah and not the Lebanese army.

Iran fired ballistic missiles and drones toward Bahrain and Kuwait early on Saturday, Bahrain’s government said, adding that they were intercepted.

It called on Tehran to immediately cease attacks on Gulf neighbors that it deemed a “serious escalation.”

Iran’s foreign ministry said the US had attacked surveillance facilities on Qeshm Island and near Sirik that it said were used to protect borders and “ensure the security of navigation in international waters.”

Tehran called the attack a violation of the fragile ceasefire.

The latest exchange of fire came as the Trump administration pressed Iran to make a deal to end the war that has strained the global economy and threatened a hunger crisis in some of the world’s most vulnerable countries.

A seven-month-old Palestinian baby boy has been killed after Israeli troops reportedly fired on his parents’ vehicle in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Sam Fahd Abu Haikal died on Friday evening, with his parents also wounded, while they were driving in the Tel Rumeida area, south of Hebron City.

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that the infant sustained critical injuries after being struck in the jaw by the same bullet that wounded his mother. He later succumbed to his injuries. His father, Fahd Abdul Aziz Abu Haikal, a lecturer at Bethlehem University, was shot in the hand. The family was travelling from Bethlehem to visit relatives in Hebron when soldiers opened fire, the agency stated.

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