Trump Says Cease-Fire 'Now In Effect' In Iran-Israel Conflict

Europe is still looking for a role in the Israel-Iran conflict after it was caught by surprise following the United States' strikes on Iran over the weekend.

But it's fair to say there is a sense of humiliation as the American attack on various nuclear facilities in Iran came some 24 hours after the foreign ministers of the E3 (France, Germany, and the United Kingdom) and the EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas met with their Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araqhchi, in Geneva on June 20.

Those talks didn't lead to much, not even an agreement for a new rendezvous.

But Kallas was adamant when pressed on the issue going into the EU foreign affairs council on June 23 that Tehran has been opening up on nuclear and broader security issues.

Not that US President Donald Trump agreed. He claimed European efforts had gone nowhere and the Iranians weren’t even that keen to speak to them.

So what now?

European foreign ministers will be discussing the issue in Brussels, and there are a few contours of a common position -- even if it may not have much impact on the ongoing conflict.

Read more here.

Some black-and-white video that seems to be CCTV footage has been released, apparently showing the moment of the Israeli strike near Evin prison. (Video embed taken from the Instagram page of RFE/RL's Radio Farda)

Hours after the Israeli attack, the Iranian state-run news agency released a video report of the damage caused by the attack. The footage shows images of the ruins and at least one injured person.

Some more UGC footage has been posted of an apparent Israeli strike on Seppah Square in the city of Karaj in nothern Iran in a part of the city associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

Abolfazl Ghadiani, who is incarcerated in Evin prison said in a phone call to his son that all the windows in Ward 4 -- where political prisoners are held -- had been broken.

"My father called from Evin Prison. Evin Prison has been attacked and all the windows of the ward have been broken," Ahmad Ghadiani wrote in a post on X. "Apparently, the health center has also been damaged and someone said that the prison gate has been broken into."

The Fars news agency, which is close to the Iran's revolutionary guards, reported on the afternoon of June 23 that the prison was targeted by a drone or a small explosive device.

With all the current talk of regime change in Iran, now's probably a good time to re-up this graphic showing how the country's levers of power actually operate.

Israel's defense minister confirmed Tehran's notorious Evin prison was a target during air strikes on June 23.

"The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] is now attacking with unprecedented force regime targets and government repression bodies in the heart of Tehran, including the Basij headquarters, Evin Prison for political prisoners and opponents of the regime, the "Israel Destruction" clock in Palestine Square, the internal security headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards, the ideology headquarters, and other regime targets," Israel Katz said in a post on X.

Evin Prison is primarily used for political prisoners, dissidents, and individuals accused of security-related offenses. Established in 1972, the facility has long been associated with reports of human rights abuses and harsh detention conditions. It has garnered international attention due to cases involving the political figures, activists, journalists, and scholars detained there.

Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told an emergency meeting of the organization's board of governors in Vienna on June 23 that access is needed to Iranian nuclear facilities after recent Israeli and US air strikes to "account for" its enriched uranium supplies.

Grossi said he recieved a letter from Iran 10 days ago that said "special measures" had been taken to protect nuclear equipment and materials, but that a halt in attacks is needed for IAEA teams to go in an assess the situation properly.

"Craters are now visible at the Fordow site, Iran's main facility for enriching uranium at 60 percent, indicating the use of ground-penetrating munitions," he said referring to air strikes at the weekend by the United States.

Grossi said "very significant damage" was likely inflicted on site.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the US bombing of Iran “unprovoked aggression,” as he told Iran’s visiting foreign minister that Moscow was trying help the Iranian people.

Speaking at a June 23 Kremlin meeting with Abbas Araqchi, Putin called this weekend’s strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities “unjustified.”

"This is an absolutely unprovoked aggression against Iran," Putin said in televised comments.

Araqchi thanked Putin in response, telling him Russia stood on "the right side of history.”

Russia is a close ally of Iran, having helped it build a nuclear power generating plant, among other things.

Iran, for its part, has supplied Russia with drones and extensive drone technology that Moscow has used in its ongoing war on Ukraine.

The Mizan news agency linked to Iran's judiciary has confirmed that projectiles had hit the country's notorious Evin Prison, which incarcerates political prisoners, damaging parts of the facility. The agency claims that "all means have been used to manage the prison complex, and the situation is now under control."

Serhiy Danylov, the deputy director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies in Ukraine, has been talking to Current Time about the US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities and Russia's role in the region.

Here's what he had to say about potential responses from Tehran:

Well, there are three options. Terrorism -- the weapon of the weak and the poor. Terror is very cheap. But in this case, the Iranians have always acted through proxies. Here, the Americans are warning that they will interpret any terrorist act as a direct attack on the United States, meaning that American bombings of Iran will continue.

A strike on American military bases-- that’s the most obvious and most widely anticipated consequence. But there are nuances here as well. The bases vary in significance. There’s a base in Iraq that has been shelled multiple times, once by the Iranians themselves. In other cases, by proxies -- specifically, Iraqi Shi'ite militias. There are far more important bases -- in Qatar, in Bahrain, or the air base in Qatar.

I don’t really believe that the [Iranian] response will be very loud or very strong. More likely, it will be some kind of middle-ground option -- symbolic, just enough for the Iranian regime to say, 'We responded, we crushed the enemy.' [...] If they strike an Iraqi base, for example, it will mean that the incident is, so to speak, concluded. And that’s it, move on.

As for the third option -- blocking the Strait of Hormuz -- I don’t really believe in that either, for many reasons. They would only block the strait in the event of existential threats -- meaning, when the regime decides it no longer matters because they’re going to be swept away or destroyed by external aggression anyway.

He also had this to say about how the latest developments may affect Iranian perceptions of Russia:

In Iran, frustration and dissatisfaction with Russia are growing—both within the establishment and among ordinary citizens. Russia is perceived as a country that trades away Iran’s interests, and clearly, that perception is accurate. Russia is seen as a traitor, as one that made promises and failed to deliver.

Now, obviously, the Iranians will be asking, for example, for ammunition for the Pantsir-S1 air defense system, which they actively use and which is one of the few capabilities they still have left.

They’ll ask for missiles for air defense, or just air defense equipment in general -- but they won’t get anything. Perhaps some ammunition might arrive by sea, but overall, Russia can’t really do anything for Iran right now.

In fact, I think it doesn’t even want to -- because for Russia, its relationship with Donald Trump is much more important than its relationship with Iran.