Israel has targeted Iran's Fordow nuclear site, after the US bombed the facility at the weekend, while also apparently striking the entrance of an Iranian prison. Iran has asked Russia for help, while vowing revenge against the US. Follow the latest and listen to The World podcast below.
Monday 23 June 2025 15:20, UK
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As we've been reporting, Iran's foreign minister met Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin earlier today.
Abbas Araghchi brought Putin a letter from Iran's supreme leader, asking for more help from Russia after the attacks by Israel and the US.
The Kremlin described it as a good meeting. But prior to the visit, sources in Iran suggested they had hoped for more support from Russia.
Ivor Bennett, our Moscow correspondent, explains the background to the Russian-Iranian relationship, and what Putin is likely to do next.
Donald Trump has urged companies to keep "oil prices down" or risk "playing right into the hands of the enemy" as fears rise that ongoing fighting in the Middle East could cause them to spike.
The US president had this to say on Truth Social in the last hour...
On Sunday, Trump called into question the future of Iran's ruling government after a surprise attack on three of the country鈥檚 nuclear sites.
His bombardment of three sites in Iran quickly sparked debate in Congress over his authority to launch the strikes, with many Republicans praising Trump for decisive action even as many Democrats - and some from Trump's own party, too - warned he should have sought congressional approval.
UK government plans to proscribe Palestine Action, effectively branding it as a terrorist organisation, are "irrational", a member of the protest group has said.
The group targeted RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire last week, and vandalised two military planes.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is preparing a written ministerial statement which would make becoming a member of the group illegal.
Palestine Action member Saeed Farouk told Wilfred Frost on Sky News Breakfast earlier it was a "knee-jerk reaction from the government".
It is trying to "rush" the ban through based on the fact the group "was able to humiliate them and show serious flaws in the defences of the RAF base itself," Farouk argued.
He said the proposal was "absurd" and he could not speculate at this point what the plans were for the group if proscribed.
"It is a Britain-based, civil society-based action group. It will put the group on a list of people like ISIS, which is irrational. It makes no sense whatsoever," he added.
Asked if the group regretted the decision to target the RAF base, Farouk said: "Not at all.
"We're in the middle of one of the most widely documented genocides, not only in my lifetime, but in history.
"The British people have made it absolutely clear that they won't accept the government's role in the genocide, the government's role in supporting Israel, and the only way that the British people have found to stop it is to be directly involved in breaking the material chain.
"This is what was necessary."
After meeting with Vladimir Putin, Iran's foreign minister has said he had a good meeting with the Russian leader, Russia's state news agency RIA reports.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin and Abbas Araghchi discussed developments in the Middle East in detail, with a particular focus on steering the regional situation toward a peaceful resolution.
As we reported earlier, during their meeting today Putin condemned the "unprovoked aggression" towards Iran.
He also said the strikes on the country had "no basis and no justification."
He added that Russia - one of Iran's key allies - was making efforts to provide assistance to the Iranian people.
The German government is adapting its precautions in case of possible retaliatory strikes by Iran in close consultation with partners, a government official has said.
After the US attacked key Iranian nuclear sites this weekend, there have been fears over how Iran will respond.
Iran has vowed to defend itself after the US dropped 30,000-pound bunker buster bombs onto the mountain above Iran's Fordow nuclear site.
In a post to the Truth Social platform, Donald Trump also raised the idea of regime change in Iran.
Speaking on its adaptation of precautions today, a German official said: "We have done so since before the operations began. We will continue to do so.
"But we are making ongoing adjustments and are in very close and very constructive consultation with our partners".
NATO chief Mark Rutte is speaking ahead of the NATO summit.
Addressing the situation in Iran, he says that NATO allies have long agreed that Iran must not develop a nuclear weapon.
"Allies have repeatedly urged Iran to meet its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)," he says.
Rutte goes on to say the alliance's new defence investment plan will be 5% of GDP and this will help ensure security and defence.
"As leaders begin to gather for the summit here, this is our focus - ensuring we have all we need to deter and defend against any threat," he adds.
He notes the most "significant threat" facing the defence alliance is Russia.
Watch Rutte's speech below:
As the Israel-Iran conflict continues, a news conference in Paris might not seem hugely significant.
But today the son of the last shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, has been pitching himself as the steward of a "democratic transition" in his homeland, and has called on the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to "step down" - saying he will "receive a fair trial" if he does.
Pahlavi's father was deposed in 1979 by the Islamic Revolution, which led to today's Islamic republic in the country.
Speaking at the Maison de la Chimie conference centre in Paris, Pahlavi said Iran is at a "crossroads", with one path offering "bloodshed and chaos", and the other a "peaceful democratic transition".
Asked during pre-selected questions from journalists whether he'd like regime change to be a goal of the US and Israel, Pahlavi said it was "not any foreign government鈥檚 job" to "define regime change" but to "recognise that this is the ask of the Iranian people", according to our US partner NBC News.
"Where do Western democracies stand?" he asked. "Are they going to continue throwing the regime a lifeline, or recognise that this is a golden opportunity?"
Why does this matter?
It might not - there will undoubtedly be scepticism about Pahlavi's actual influence, intentions and democratic credentials.
But since the US bombed Iranian nuclear facilities at the weekend, there has been debate about Donald Trump's long-term ambition for the country.
Pete Hegseth, his defence secretary, said in a news conference at the Pentagon yesterday that the US did not want regime change in Iran. JD Vance, Trump's vice president, also said the US is not at war with Iran but with its ambition to have a nuclear weapon.
Watch below: Hegseth's news conference yesterday
As is his way, Donald Trump has muddied the waters on Truth Social, though. He suggested overnight he could be open to a change of government in Iran.
"If the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn鈥檛 there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!," the US president wrote.
Despite protests in Iran in recent years, if the current rulers were overthrown - a big if, given the control exerted by the current regime, even in its now weakened state - there would be uncertainty about whatever came next.
Pahlavi, though, is one of the few figures able to oppose the supreme leader publicly.
Earlier, we brought you footage of an Israeli strike apparently blowing the entrance gates off at Evin Prison in Iran (see 11.49 post).
Despite the strikes, the jail in Tehran is "under control", according to the Iranian authorities.
The Iranian Judiciary Media Centre said the situation at the jail is "now stable" and "all resources have been mobilised to manage the situation".
The prison is known for incarcerating dissidents, political activists and journalists.
Israel said earlier it was explicitly targeting the "heart of Tehran".
Israel's attack damaged parts of the prison, the Iranian Judiciary Media Centre said, adding that it was "clearly carried out in violation of international law".
We have just heard from the Qatari government after the US embassy in Qatar told its citizens in the country to "shelter in place" until further notice (see post at 12.17pm).
Dr Majed Al Ansari, Qatar's official foreign ministry spokesperson, has said the security situation in the country is "stable" and the advisories issued by a number of embassies to their nationals "do not necessarily reflect the existence of specific or credible threats".
The official also said the authorities are closely monitoring the situation and remain "fully prepared" to take all necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of citizens, residents and visitors.
This is his full statement...
Air France has suspended flights to Tel Aviv until 14 July, a spokesperson for the airline has said.
The operator has also cancelled flights to and from Dubai and Riyadh until 24 June.
Flights to and from Beirut in Lebanon are also suspended until 25 June, the airline has said.
Separately, Finland-based airline Finnair said on Monday it had cancelled its flights to and from Qatar's capital Doha until 30 June due to the security situation in the Middle East.
