“US Israel Iran War”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “certainly gotten some things wrong”, US Vice-President JD Vance has said, as ties between the two partners in the war against Iran appear to have become strained in recent weeks.

While Vance would not provide examples, he told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, that Netanyahu “aggressively asserts the interests of his country” but that they were not always aligned with those of the US.

His comments mark a further public admission that relations between the two allies have come under pressure of late.

President Trump threatened to strike Iran “VERY HARD” again Thursday night and take “total control” of the country’s oil and gas markets, a sign that he has abandoned the diplomatic route and is aiming to force Tehran into a nuclear deal it has resisted for months.

The U.S. “in the not too distant future” would be taking Kharg Island, which sits off Iran’s southern coast and is the country’s main oil export hub, Trump added in the Truth Social post, “and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela, which is working out brilliantly for both Venezuela and the United States of America.”

CENTCOM STATEMENT: At 11:20 p.m. ET on June 10, U.S. forces disabled the Guinea/Bissau flagged oil tanker M/T Jalveer in the Gulf of Oman after it attempted to transport Iranian oil through the blockade.

The crew repeatedly failed to comply with directions from U.S. forces,… pic.twitter.com/XOrTLaq0fS

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) June 11, 2026

The US and Iran have exchanged fire after the US threatened retaliation for the downing of an American military helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz on Monday.

The US Central Command (Centcom) said on Tuesday it had “completed” airstrikes launched at 17:00 ET.

In response, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had launched a drone strike on a US base in Bahrain and a missile strike on a US base in Jordan, according to state-run media, and Kuwait’s army said it was intercepting an attack.

President Donald Trump has accused Iran of shooting down a US helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz and vowed to respond to the attack out of “necessity”.

Two crew members of the Apache helicopter that crashed following the attack were rescued by an American sea drone, the Pentagon said in a statement.

“There were two pilots involved, both are safe and uninjured,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack.”

TRUMP: ‘NO STICKING POINTS’: To hear President Donald Trump tell it, a deal to open the Strait of Hormuz and bar Iran from ever having nuclear weapons is just days away. By one count, Trump has made similar statements more than three dozen times in the past few months. However, speaking to reporters at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York last night, Trump insisted negotiations were about to conclude with a “powerful deal.”

“We’re in the final throes of what will be a very, very good deal that will not allow in any way, shape, or form nuclear weapons, et cetera,” Trump said after watching game three of the NBA Finals in New York. “And the Strait will open up right away. It’ll open up immediately upon signing, which could be in two or three days.”

When Iran launched missiles and drones at Israel overnight in response to Israeli attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon, the immediate military significance of the attack appeared to be limited. The political significance, however, may be far greater.

For years, Iran has generally justified direct attacks on Israel as retaliation for actions against Iranian territory, commanders or interests. This time was different. Tehran acted after an attack on one of its allies, following an Israeli strike on what it said was a Hezbollah-linked building in southern Beirut.

In the midst of ongoing diplomatic efforts and an ostensible truce, Iran launched missile and drone strikes on Kuwait and Bahrain — countries not even remotely involved in its conflict with Israel and the US — and then revealed that it signed a $25 billion nuclear deal with Russia.

Iran’s regime, controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is headed by General Ahmad Vahidi, appears not to have the slightest intention of decreasing its hostilities.

In the seemingly endless to and fro over the Trump administration’s attempts to negotiate a peace deal with Tehran, the one red line upon which there can be no hint of compromise is US President Donald J. Trump’s insistence that the ayatollahs will never be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons.

While speculation continues to mount that a deal to end the three-month conflict between Iran and the US is in the offing, it is clear that Iran is still resisting demands that it surrender the estimated 970 pounds of enriched uranium — whose main utility is for the production of nuclear warheads.

When details were leaked about the latest phone call between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, the headlines focused on the wave of profanities from the US president.

“What the f— are you doing?” shouted Mr Trump in reference to the Israeli prime minister’s continued bombing of Lebanon. “You’re f—ing crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me.”

It is strong stuff, revealing genuine anger, but it is not the first time an American president has lost his patience with the aggressive brinkmanship of Mr Netanyahu.

The US military has said it launched “self-defence” strikes on Iran overnight, and shot down ballistic missiles and drones fired at ships and Gulf countries.

The strikes on Qeshm Island, in the Strait of Hormuz, were “in response to attempted attacks by Iran across the Middle East”, US Central Command (Centcom) said.

Centcom said Iran had fired two missiles at Kuwait and three at Bahrain, all of which broke apart or were intercepted. Iran said it had attacked US bases and helicopters in a “regional country” using missiles and drones in retaliation.

The US has said it hit Iranian military sites over the weekend while Tehran said it responded by targeting a US base, marking the third escalation in a week around the Strait of Hormuz.

US Central Command (Centcom) said it launched “self-defence strikes” in response to “aggressive Iranian actions”, which included a US drone being shot down over international waters.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had targeted an air base used by US forces for an attack on Iran.

A shadowy new partnership appears to have formed between two of the most powerful figures in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Yet in the West it has been almost entirely overlooked.

It is no secret that the mainstream coverage of the Iran war has lacked nuance. But nowhere has this been clearer than in efforts to understand the regime’s internal power structure following the elimination of supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Many countries in the region, including Pakistan, seem to be urging and pushing the United States to stop its firm stance on Iran’s regime. They appear to prefer watered-down agreements and accepting Iran’s terms.

These countries clearly are acting in their own interests, not America’s. The Iranian regime, while having its proxies target their oil fields, has not, however, been nearly as much of a threat to them as it has been, for nearly half a century, to Israel and the United States.