Donald Trump claims key nuclear sites in Iran were “obliterated” by US strikes overnight on Saturday. The Iranian armed forces have threatened the US with a “decisive response”. Follow the latest below and listen to The World podcast as you scroll.
Monday 23 June 2025 08:05, UK
By Sarah Taaffe-Maguire, business and economics reporter
The latest escalation between the US and Israel against Iran has unsurprisingly increased the cost of oil.
But after an initial spike on the open last night, prices eased.
A barrel of Brent crude – the benchmark price – actually costs less than it did on Thursday at $78.16.
As oil markets opened for the first time since the weekend strikes, the price shot up to $80.13, a five-month high last seen in late January.
It’s worth remembering that this is around the average price for 2024.
While the increase since late last week isn’t so sharp, oil is up substantially throughout June.
This time last month, a barrel cost $64, when prices were depressed after the world reeled from Donald Trump’s April tariff announcements.
Iran is not the world’s largest producer, and no oil sites have been hit, allowing investors to remain relatively calm, for now.
There is a “solidarity among the Iranian people”, a journalist from the country has said.
Speaking from Tehran, Emad Anshenas told Wilfred Frost on Sky News Breakfast that anyone in Iran who was in favour of negotiations over the US strikes were now on the “weak side”.
“The [government] cannot come out and tell the Iranian people we are going to negotiate the US which attacked us,” he said, adding “it will be very hard for them to talk about negotiations”.
Asked where the majority of public opinion is, he said: “For the first time in four or five decades I see a solidarity among the Iranian people which was never seen inside Iran before.
“We probably had this solidarity during the Iran-Iraq war and now it is back again.
“If you walk through the Iranian streets everyone is asking for a hard response, especially against Israel.
“And now everyone is questioning why the nuclear bomb is not being produced.”
The Iranian armed forces says the US should expect heavy consequences for its strikes.
The attacks have expanded the scope of legitimate targets for Iran’s armed forces, a spokesperson for its Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said.
Ebrahim Zolfaqari ended his statement in English: “Mr Trump, the gambler, you may start this war, but we will be the ones to end it.”
The Israeli air force says it is striking military infrastructure sites in Kermanshah, a city of about a million people in western Iran.
More than 15 Israeli jets were involved in the assault, which the air force said destroyed several missile launch and storage sites.
Israeli strikes on Iran’s Yazd province killed ten Revolutionary Guards yesterday, according to the semi-official Tasnim News Agency.
The Israeli Defence Forces said fighter jets struck a strategic missile command centre, where long-range missiles were stored.
Approximately 60 missiles have been launched from this command centre toward Israel, it said.
The US strikes came after a week of open conflict between Israel and Iran, sparked by Israel’s sudden barrage of attacks against Iran’s nuclear and military structure.
Here we give you a recap of what has happened so far.
Israel attacks: Israel attacked Iran on 13 June, striking Iranian military and nuclear sites and killing several top military officials and nuclear scientists.
Why? Israeli leaders argued Iran could quickly assemble a nuclear weapon, making it an imminent threat, while US intelligence and the International Atomic Energy Agency assessed Tehran was not actively pursuing a bomb.
Iran retaliates: Iran retaliated by firing missiles and drones at Israel, some of which penetrated the country’s vaunted Iron Dome air defence system.
More strikes and counter-strikes: Israeli strikes on Iran killed at least 950 people, including 380 civilians, and wounded 3,450 others, according to the Washington-based group Human Rights Activists. Israel said Iranian attacks killed 24 people and wounded hundreds.
US joins conflict: Bombers carried out “massive precision strikes” on Iran’s Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites on Saturday night, Trump said. American bunker-buster bombs were the only munitions that could have hit Fordow, buried beneath a mountain.
Aftermath: Defence secretary Pete Hegseth said the strikes were not aimed at toppling the Iranian government, but Donald Trump suggested regime change would be a positive outcome. For its part, Iran has threatened the US with a “decisive response”.
Watch: Mark Stone explains US strikes on Iran
Iran has executed a man convicted of collaborating with Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, according to reports.
Mohammadamin Shayesteh was arrested in late 2023, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
He was described by Tasnim as “the head of a cyber-team affiliated with Mossad.”
An Iranian armed forces commander has threatened the US with a “decisive response”, according to reports.
“Every time the Americans committed crimes, they received a decisive response, and it will be the same this time too,” General Hatami said, in comments reported by the state-run Fars News Agency.
If you’re just joining us, Donald Trump has published a series of posts on his social media site, Truth Social, about the strikes on Iran overnight.
Here are the key takeaways…
And you can watch US correspondent Mark Stone‘s report on Trump’s approach to the attack…
Iran warned Donald Trump it would activate sleeper-cell attacks inside the US if it were attacked in a message sent in the days before the American strikes, sources say.
The communique got to Trump through an intermediary at the G7 summit in Canada last week, which Trump left early, two US officials and a person with knowledge of the threat told our US partner network NBC News.
His administration, as well as law enforcement agencies in key cities, are on high alert for any potential retaliation inside the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security warned yesterday that the “Iran conflict is causing a heightened threat environment in the United States”.
There could be an increased possibility of terrorist attacks in the US “if Iranian leadership issued a religious ruling calling for retaliatory violence against targets in the homeland”.
Iran could launch cyberattacks on US networks and target US government officials.
Vice President JD Vance told NBC News the administration is looking at the possibility of a homeland attack “very closely”.
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