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

Iran's mission to the United Nations says the United States and Israel have "destroyed" diplomacy with their air strikes on Iran, calling attempts to negotiate over Tehran's nuclear program "nothing more than deceitful ploy."

In a post on X on June 23, the mission also accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of "dragging" the United States into another war.

The post also accuses the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Israel, and Rafael Grossi, the general director of the UN nuclear watchdog, for the death of "innocent civilians."

While Israel and the United States have undertaken air strikes on Iran over its nuclear program, neither France nor the UK have been involved. Grossi is the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The mission did not specify what France, the UK, or Grossi were accused of doing.

The United States and Iran were scheduled to hold a sixth round of indirect nuclear negotiations on June 15 in Oman. Iran withdrew from the talks after Israeli jets launched air strikes on several Iranian military and nuclear sites on June 13.

Both sides have since launched daily air strikes at each other.

Grossi has appealed for all sides to return to dialogue and diplomacy, warning that if they don't, "violence and destruction could reach unthinkable levels, and the global non-proliferation regime as we know it could crumble and fall."

Verified footage posted on social media shows Israel's air strike on the Iranian capital on June 23. Watch here:

Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the 32-nation military alliance's member states "have long agreed that Iran must not develop a nuclear weapon."

"Allies have repeatedly urged Iran to meet its obligations under the nonproliferation treaty," Rutte told reporters ahead of a NATO summit in The Hague.

Rutte also pointed out that Iran is "heavily involved" in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, saying Tehran has delivered drones that Moscow’s forces are using to attack Ukraine and kill Ukrainian civilians.

"Iranian drones are killing innocent Ukrainians every day in cities, in communities without any respect for life," said Rutte.

Reza Pahlavi, the eldest son of Iran's last shah, said he had volunteered to become an interim leader for the country if the current regime were to fall.

Pahlavi, 64, made the comments during a news conference in Paris on June 23 -- a day after US Air Force jets bombed three Iranian nuclear sites, plunging the entire Middle East into new uncertainty. It comes as US President Donald Trump has mused openly about trying to force out the current theocratic regime.

"We are a proud, ancient, and resilient people," Pahlavi said. "To my compatriots: This is our moment. I am with you. Let us build this new Iran together."

He also directly addressed the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, calling on him to resign.

"Step down. And if you do, you will receive a fair trial and due process of law. Which is more than you have ever given any Iranian," he said.

"This is our Berlin Wall moment," he said.

Pahlavi is a controversial figure among Iran's global diaspora. For some, he symbolizes the brutal dictatorship that his father led until the 1979 Islamic Revolution. For others, he is a genuine alternative to the theocratic government that has ruled since 1979.

Israeli Defense Forces spokesman Ephraim Dufferin has been holding a press briefing in Tel Aviv.

After an Iranian strike on southern Israel caused a major power outage this morning and suggested Tehran was now targeting Israeli infrastructure, Dufferin was asked whether the IDF intends to respond in kind.

Radio Farda reports that he answered by saying Israel's operations will continue based on a predetermined plan and against symbols of the Iranian regime.

The Israel electricity authority announced that it had "quickly restored" power to 8,000 customers in the south of the country whose supply had been cut off.

Previously, Iranian media reported a missile had hit the Ashdod power plant in southern Israel.

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.