Iran Thanks Pakistan for Abstaining From UN Security Council Vote on Nuclear Programme
Iran thanked Pakistan for abstaining from a vote that allowed a UN Security Council meeting on its nuclear programme to go ahead, with Tehran rejecting the session as legally unfounded. [1] Iran’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative Amir Saeid Iravani specifically acknowledged Pakistan and Somalia for not supporting the convening of this meeting, while praising Russia and China for opposing the session. [1] The meeting was requested by Bahrain and five European members of the Security Council — Denmark, France, Greece, Latvia and the United Kingdom — to discuss implementation of Resolution 2231, which endorsed the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, and the secretary general’s latest report on the matter. [1]
Iran Rejects UNSC Session on Nuclear Programme
Iran’s ambassador rejected the meeting under Resolution 2231, arguing it expired in October 2025 and carries no legal authority for reports or discussions. [1] There is therefore no legal basis for the Secretary General to submit reports, for the secretariat to brief the Council, or for the Security Council to discuss this issue under the agenda item Non-Proliferation, Mr Iravani said. [1] Tehran accused the US and Israel of unlawful military actions, stated its nuclear programme remains peaceful under IAEA monitoring, and blamed Western countries for misusing the Security Council. [1] Mr Iravani accused the United States and Israel of violating international law through military actions against Iran and said they should be held accountable. [1] The United States and the Israeli regime bear full responsibility for the consequences of their unlawful acts and must be held fully accountable, he said. [1] Rejecting allegations about Tehran’s nuclear activities, he said Iran’s programme remained peaceful and under international monitoring. [1] Its nuclear programme has never been diverted to military purposes and has remained exclusively peaceful under the most extensive IAEA verification regime, he said. [1] The Iranian envoy also accused Western countries of using the Security Council for political purposes, saying their claims were an attempt to distort Resolution 2231, misrepresent the facts, and misuse the Security Council. [1] Referring to tensions over the Strait of Hormuz, Mr Iravani said responsibility for restoring maritime navigation and carrying out demining operations rested exclusively with Tehran under the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding. [1] Responsibility for maritime navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, including its reopening and all necessary demining operations, rests exclusively with Iran, he said. [1] He warned that any outside interference could undermine the implementation of the agreement and increase regional tensions. [1]
Trump Issues Warning on Potential Assassination
US President Trump claimed to have issued standing orders for massive strikes on Iran if it assassinates him, though succession would pass to Vice President Vance who would make the final decision. [2] US President Donald Trump is suggesting he has left standing orders for the US military to destroy Iran at levels they've never seen before if Tehran follows through on its long-standing threats to kill him. [2] But the US government has no way to create an automatic, preauthorized dead man's switch that would prompt immediate retaliation. [2] Instead, if Trump were killed, the transfer of power to his successor is governed by the 25th Amendment and the Presidential Succession Act of 1947. [2] Vice President JD Vance instantaneously would become commander in chief and have authority for any retaliation. [2] Under such a scenario, Vance could do exactly what Trump called for, though there also is a chance he could decide not to follow his predecessor's orders or offer a direct response in a different way. [2] The United States does have extensive contingency plans for continuity of government in the event of a nuclear attack or other major catastrophe that wipes out most or all of Washington. [2] But those plans also do not allow for immediately launching retaliatory strikes upon the death of a president, even if that president had demanded that the military be ready to do so. [2] Trump nonetheless posted on his social media website Saturday that Iran had made threats to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate him and he said 1,000 missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat. [2] Iran's supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, said hours later that Iranians would continue to avenge the killing of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. [2] The elder Khamenei died in the initial US and Israeli strikes that started the war in late February, and he was mourned in funeral events throughout Iran this week. [2] His son said retaliation is the will of our nation and must certainly be carried out. [2] We pledge to take revenge for the pure blood of you and all the martyrs of these two wars from the criminal and disgraceful killers, he said on remarks aired on state television. [2] This revenge is the will of our nation and must certainly be carried out. [2] During those recent funeral events, mourners repeatedly held posters or banners calling for Trump to be killed along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. [2] The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Israel alerted US officials to fresh Iranian plots to kill Trump. [2] Trump was targeted in two domestic assassination attempts during the 2024 presidential campaign and saw a gunman storm the White House Correspondents' Association dinner he was attending in April. [2]
Concerns Grow Over Iran's Invisible Supreme Leader
Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has not appeared publicly since his appointment following his father's death in US-Israeli strikes, raising concerns about leadership visibility during crisis. [4] The whereabouts of Mojtaba Khamenei have been a mystery to Iranians and the rest of the world alike since his appointment as supreme leader a week after the strike that killed his father at the end of February. [4] His absence from the main funeral ceremonies for former leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was so complete there was not even a written message, leaving people to guess at his plans for Iran at a turbulent time in the Islamic Republic's 47-year history. [4] Installed with the backing of the powerful Revolutionary Guards, he suffered facial disfigurement and other injuries in the strike, senior sources say. [4] They say he has been making decisions but has not yet been well enough to appear in public. [4] Now, after hostilities with the US reignited this week, his role and health are of critical and growing concern. [4] I understand that, from a security standpoint, he should not appear in public. But the country is going through a very difficult time, said Taghi, 47, a shop owner in Isfahan who asked not to give his family name. [4] There is a need for the Supreme Leader to be seen. Even if he has been injured, people need to see that there is a leader and that he is running the country. [4] The choreography of Thursday's burial, with prayers for the late Khamenei conducted over his coffin by his three other sons at Iran's holiest shrine, underscored the central place of family relationships among the Islamic Republic's leadership. [4] Mojtaba Khamenei's three brothers are not seen as significant political players in Iran or likely to become so though they have all become senior clerics. [4] But Ali Khomeini, a grandson of the founder of Iran's 1979 revolution, will speak on Mojtaba's behalf at a mourning ceremony on Friday, a nod to the way such family ties are used to emphasize continuity in the clerical system. [4] Senior sources in Iran have attributed the lack of any new image or voice recording since his March 8 appointment by a clerical assembly to health and security considerations. [4] The last official word on his condition came from President Masoud Pezeshkian, who said in May that he met the leader and his condition was improving. [4] While the Revolutionary Guards appear to hold a tight rein over the country for now, it is not clear how long the leader of a theocratic state can remain out of sight. [4] How do you have a charismatic succession when the successor isn't there? It's going to be a problem for them even if they ride it out for the time being. It's not sustainable in the long run, said Ali Ansari, modern history professor at St Andrews University in Scotland. [4] His absence is starting to nag at Iranians, with more than 20 of those Reuters has contacted over recent weeks voicing concern about it in conversations about Iranian politics. [4] The supreme leader's absence, now that the war is over, will lead to growing uncertainty and disorder in the country, especially after the burial of the late leader, said Mohammadreza, a 51-year-old teacher in Tehran. [4]
US Delegation in Beirut for Lebanon-Israel Withdrawal Talks
A US military delegation met Lebanese officials in Beirut to discuss Israeli withdrawal from pilot zones in southern Lebanon under a June framework agreement, despite continued Israeli strikes. [3] A US military delegation met with Lebanon’s army in Beirut to discuss the implementation of Israel’s withdrawal from a pilot zone in occupied territory, a Lebanese military official told AFP on Saturday. [3] Under a framework agreement reached on June 26, Israel will gradually withdraw from areas of southern Lebanon where it has deployed troops to fight Hezbollah. [3] As part of the agreement, the long-disempowered Lebanese military will take full control of two small areas dubbed pilot zones. [3] The American military delegation arrived and began meetings with the Lebanese army command to discuss the mechanisms for implementing the first pilot zone from which the Israelis will withdraw, allowing the Lebanese army to deploy, the official said, requesting anonymity. [3] This is the main objective the American military delegation is bringing to Lebanon it is the translation and implementation of the framework agreement. [3] US ambassador Michel Issa told President Joseph Aoun on Thursday that the American delegation was coming to determine the mechanism for the deal’s implementation. [3] In Washington, a US official had said on condition of anonymity that the first pilot zone will launch in a matter of days, and further pilot zones are being mapped out and planned. [3] US Central Command will coordinate on the zones with both countries, he said. [3] The agreement rejected by Hezbollah does not set a timetable for Israel’s withdrawal, and Israeli officials have also vowed that their forces will remain in a security zone 10 kilometres deep as long as Hezbollah remains armed. [3] The war, which began in early March, displaced more than a million people in Lebanon, according to the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA. [3] On Saturday the agency said more than 732,000 people had now returned home, up from 640,000 a week before. [3] Israel has pursued intermittent strikes despite a truce in its war with Hezbollah, with Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reporting several in the south on Saturday. [3] The latest talks between Lebanon and Israel, which have no formal relations but have met for five rounds of negotiations since the start of the war, will take place in Rome next Wednesday and Thursday. [3] Lebanon conditions its participation on Israel withdrawing from two pilot zones. [3] The talks precede Aoun’s expected visit to Washington later this month at the invitation of his American counterpart Donald Trump. [3] On the other hand, an Israeli drone has dropped a sound bomb on the municipality of al-Mansouri, in southern Lebanon’s Tyre district, the country’s National News Agency reports. [3] US Democratic lawmaker Ro Khanna said he was detained by Israeli settlers armed with US-made rifles during a West Bank visit this week. [3] Speaking with Reuters on Thursday in a Palestinian village, Khanna said his group’s van was surrounded by settlers wielding M4 rifles a day earlier while touring a part of the southern West Bank where residents face frequent settler attacks. [3] And these hoodlums come in with machine guns M4, an American-made machine gun and they detain us. They block off the road. And then they call the IDF and the IDF is on their side, not on the side of the Americans, Khanna said, referring to the Israeli military. [3]
Escalating Rhetoric and Maritime Tensions
Iranian statements on Strait of Hormuz responsibilities, rejection of US demands, and warnings against external interference amid renewed strikes were outlined in recent remarks. [1] [5] I have made it very clear to the US Vice President in the negotiations that we do not trust them at all. In my opinion, only countries ready for war can negotiate with the US. That is why we have never stopped preparing to protect the country, Chairman of the Iranian Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf declared on 10/7. [5] Iran's top negotiator stated the country is ready to defend itself if the US violates agreements. [5] As soon as the US violates the agreements, we will be ready to launch a comprehensive defense campaign. We will act decisively to respond and ensure the rights of the Iranian people are respected, Mr Ghalibaf emphasized. [5] He said ending the conflict is a priority of all countries, but affirmed this conflict will never end with Iran's surrender. [5] Iran's Foreign Ministry rejected claims that Tehran had requested negotiations with the US after the escalation of tensions between the two countries in recent days. [5] Iran's Foreign Ministry warned Tehran would respond proportionately to any violation of the memorandum by the US side. [5] The US carried out airstrikes on 90 targets in Iran this week. [5] US Central Command said the US strikes were carried out in response to Iran's attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. [5] In response, Iran attacked US military bases in Bahrain and Kuwait, and accused Washington of violating the memorandum signed by both sides. [5] US President Donald Trump said he was unsure whether the situation regarding Iran would escalate into a full-scale armed conflict, but stressed the US has many ways to win. [5] President Trump warned of attacking Iran with unprecedented force if Tehran targets him. [5] My name has been on their target list for a long time. That is what we are facing, Mr Trump said in an interview with the New York Post. [5] The only thing is that I have left instructions that if anything happens to me, immediately bomb Iran on a scale they have never witnessed, Mr Trump emphasized. [5] President Trump also accused Iran of trying to target him for many years. [5]
