Iran-Israel war live updates: Donald Trump labels intelligence leak ‘fake news’ and an ‘attempt to demean’ strike

Let’s zoom out a little and recap the key events today so far:

Despite a few wobbles, the ceasefire between Israel and Iran has so far been upheld.Leaked intelligence cast doubt on the US President’s insistence that Iran’s nuclear facilities were “obliterated” by US strikes. Donald Trump hit back at surrounding media reports on social media.  Diplomats at a UN Security Council session warned “time is running out” on a negotiation window for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.NATO leaders gathered in The Netherlands for the alliance’s annual summit. Britain, France and Germany agreed it’s now “time for diplomacy” in the Middle East.

Stay with us as we bring you the latest updates throughout the day.

Hi Bailey,

Thanks for your question.

It’s had a few wobbles, but the ceasefire is still in place.

Here’s a quick recap of what transpired:

Soon after the ceasefire came into effect, Israel accused Iran of firing more missiles and it vowed to “respond with force”. Iran denied launching any after the truce deadline, with the Revolutionary Guard claiming the last wave was fired minutes before. Israel struck an Iranian radar site near Tehran in response. US President Donald Trump intervened through a series of Truth Social posts and by dropping an expletive.Reports of isolated drone attacks have emerged from both sides today, but nothing seems to have come of them. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard even went on to debunk the claim of an Israeli drone attack in Tabriz. 

All in all, it would seem both states are, at this stage, committed to returning to the negotiating table.

As I reported earlier, US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff says the US and Iran are engaged in talks on this very matter.

Earlier, Israel’s ambassador to the UN also alluded to Israel also being open to diplomacy, saying the nations “have to speak and negotiate”.

According to Trump in the social media post that first announced the truce, the ceasefire will come to an end at 2pm AEST and the war will officially conclude.

Neither Israel nor Iran has publicly agreed to this parameter, though.

The US president has given his first comment on the intelligence leak that has cast doubt on his claim that US air strikes “obliterated” Iranian nuclear sites at the weekend.

In a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump accused CNN and The New York Times, which first reported on the classified report, of attempting to “demean” the mission, which he said was “ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MILITARY STRIKES IN HISTORY”.

(Truth Social )

You can read more about the intel leak below. 

The PM is asked what he makes of Donald Trump’s comments about the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran.

“I think President Trump made some pretty clear statements,” he says.

“I don’t think it needs any further reflection. He stated his views pretty abruptly and I think they were pretty clear.”

He said Trump’s comments were consistent with the government’s calls for de-escalation and diplomacy in the region.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says there is still no prospect of flights out of Iran for the thousands of Australians registered for repatriation.

“The situation is obviously very volatile there,” he says. 

“At the moment, there are of course not flights out of Iran. Overnight, 118 Australians have been airlifted out of Tel Aviv.”

Satellite pictures by Maxar technologies shows the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center before and after US strikes.

The images, taken two days apart, show damage to the facility’s tunnel entrances located south of Isfahan city.

The US used B-2 stealth bombers armed with “bunker-buster” bombs to attack the facility.

Satellite image on June 20 (above), and June 22. (Reuters: Maxar Technologies)

Australians wanting to leave Israel may soon have “more regular ways” to get out as airspace reopens during the ceasefire deal, Labor frontbencher Matt Keogh says.

Keogh says if the ceasefire holds, commercial flights could soon reopen for those wanting to return to Australia.

“Australians that are still looking to leave will be able to find more regular ways of getting out. And, as the ceasefire has taken hold and continues, that should see a return to more ordinary transport operations,” he told ABC Radio National Breakfast. 

Australian Defence Force personnel and diplomats helped 119 people fly out of Tel Aviv on a military-assisted flight last night.

Earlier this morning, Treasurer Jim Chalmers wouldn’t say when we could expect another flight to depart today, but stressed the government and officials were “working very hard to get people out of harm’s way”.

US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff says the US and Iran are engaged in both direct talks and through intermediaries about getting back to the negotiating table.

“The conversations are promising. We’re hopeful,” he said in an interview with Fox News.

“Now it’s time to sit down with the Iranians and get to a comprehensive peace deal.”

Witkoff did not provide details but said the US’s air strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites achieved their objectives: eliminating Iran’s ability to convert any weapons-grade uranium into an actual weapon; and setting back Iran’s ability to enrich uranium to that point by years.

Reporting by AP 

A video purporting to show a strike on Iran’s Evin prison has been widely shared online in recent days.

The facility in Tehran has been the primary prison for political detainees since Iran’s 1979 revolution, according to Reuters.

But, as ABC NEWS Verify reports, not all is what it seems in the footage.

You can read the full story below. 

Iran’s ambassador to Australia, Ahmad Sadeghi, says Donald Trump’s disparaging comments this morning were “mainly in reference to the Israelis”.

Overnight, the US president told reporters Iran and Israel “don’t know what the f*** they’re doing” in reference to the ceasefire.

“As soon as we got the agreement about the ceasefire, we observed it,” Mr Sadeghi told Sunrise. 

Sadeghi denied Iran breached the commitments under the non-proliferation treaty.

Asked about what damage the US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities caused, the ambassador said he did not have an “exact technical assessment”.

“That is something that the technical teams, with regard to Iran and IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] maybe later on have to just find out about it, the dimension of the damage.

He denied the Ayatollah is in hiding.

Newly-released satellite pictures by Maxar technologies show air strike craters near the once-secret Fordow Fuel Enrichment Facility near Qom in Iran.

As my colleague Elissa Steedman just reported, US President Donald Trump is insisting US strikes “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities, despite leaked intelligence casting doubt on the claim.

The facility, buried deep in the mountain, has recently been enriching uranium to levels high above the minimum needed for civilian use, Reuters reports.

Satellite image shows new airstrike craters on the perimeter of the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Facility. (Reuters: Maxar Technologies)An access road to the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Facility. (Reuters: Maxar Technologies)A satellite overview of Fordow Fuel Enrichment Facility. (Reuters: Maxar Technologies)

The International Atomic Energy Agency has said the bombings sealed off the entrances to two of the facilities, but not much else is known about the extent of the damage.

All morning, we’ve been reporting the responses to leaked intel, which suggests US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites were not as successful as the Trump administration has claimed.

Now, the US president has had a say… sort of.

On his social media platform Truth Social, Donald Trump shared a screenshot of a news report quoting his defence secretary,  Pete Hegseth. 

“Based on everything we have seen — and I’ve seen it all — our bombing campaign obliterated Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons,” the statement from Hegseth reads.

“Our massive bombs hit exactly the right spot at each target and worked perfectly.

“The impact of those bombs is buried under a mountain of rubble in Iran; so anyone who says the bombs were not devastating is just trying to undermine the President and the successful mission.”

Trump added no caption.

Satellite images have shown craters over the Fordow nuclear site, but, as the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency
it’s difficult to determine the extent of the damage beyond that.

You can read more about what the leaked intelligence revealed below.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was a big focus the UN Security Council session earlier.

Diplomats warned that the objectives of the agreement, also known as the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, were unmet.

So, what is the JCPOA?

Essentially, the 159-page deal offered Tehran relief from economic sanctions in exchange for strict limits on uranium enrichment, stockpile levels and centrifuge use.

It also required Iran to allow the UN’s nuclear watchdog to carry out robust monitoring and verification.

But the deal, which came into effect on January 16, 2016, has been in limbo for years. 

That’s after the US, one of the key signatories, withdrew in 2018 as part of President Donald Trump’s maximum-pressure campaign. 

Just over a year later, Iran announced it had breached a stockpiling limit. And in January 2020, the nation announced it would no longer abide by the agreement’s limitations.

Key provisions of the deal are set to expire in October, unless extended by the Security Council.

As that date approaches, several diplomats have today warned the window for negotiating with Iran is closing.

“Time is running out,” French ambassador Jérôme Bonnafont said.

“France and its E3 partners remain ready to use the leverage established by resolution 2231, that of a ‘snapback’ [of sanctions], if a satisfactory agreement is not reached by summer.”

Jérôme Bonnafont at today’s Security Council session. (Reuters: Brendan McDermid)

A funeral for seven people, including a child, killed in a recent Israeli attack on Iran has been held in the Iranian city of Qom.

The coffins of the dead were carried through the streets on Tuesday as hundreds of mourners walked beside them, some waving Iranian flags.

A shaky ceasefire between Israel and Iran began to take hold on Tuesday amid pressure from US President Donald Trump, raising hopes for an end to the war between the Middle East arch-foes.

A funeral for seven people killed in an Israeli attack on Iran. (Reuters: Supplied)

Reporting with Reuters

A long list of unanswered questions remains.

We still don’t know the terms of the fragile Iran-Israel ceasefire.

While both Iran and Israel have acknowledged the shaky ceasefire, no details have emerged about the terms of the deal or what concessions either side may have made.

It’s unclear what role Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s leader, played in the talks.

The deal got off to a rocky start after both Iran and Israel accused each other of breaking the truce.

The ceasefire continues to hold, with both sides saying they had fought “for so long and so hard”.

Reporting with Reuters and AP

Earlier, my colleague Brad Ryan reported that leaked intelligence suggests US raids on Iran only set back its nuclear program by a few months.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has now taken to social media to rubbish the reports, labelling them “fake news”.

“This alleged ‘assessment’ is flat-out wrong and was classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked to CNN by an anonymous, low-level loser in the intelligence community,” she wrote on X.

“Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.”

Israel’s military has announced that it is easing nationwide civil defense restrictions starting at 8 pm, local time, suggesting confidence the ceasefire will hold.

This restores full gatherings and permits most of the country to return to work.

The decision, approved by Defense Minister Israel Katz, applies to all areas except communities near the Gaza border, which will continue to follow Southern Command guidelines, the military says.

Reporting with AP

White House officials were due to inform US politicians about the weekend’s bombing raid on Iran’s nuclear sites during a classified briefing today.

But the session has been rescheduled to Friday, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson says.

“I have just confirmed with the White House that the classified bipartisan briefing for all House Members will now be held on Friday,” he wrote on X.

“Senior Administration officials will present the latest information pertaining to the situation involving Israel and Iran.”

The scheduling change has caused uproar among Democrats, with House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries questioning whether there are “facts that the Trump administration is trying to hide”.

It’s not immediately clear why the briefing has been rescheduled.

US President Donald Trump’s stance on seeking regime change in Iran has subtly shifted a few times since the war broke out.

While he first claimed to have nixed Israeli plans to assassinate Iran’s supreme leader, Trump went on to muse on the possibility earlier this week in a Truth Social post.

“It’s not politically correct to use the term, ‘Regime Change,’ but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!” he wrote.

Now, it appears the ceasefire has cooled the thought once again.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on his way to the NATO summit, Trump was asked about whether he would like to see a regime change in Iran.

“No, I don’t want it,” he said. “I’d like to see everything calm down as quickly as possible.

“Regime change takes chaos, and ideally, we don’t want to see so much chaos.”

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Israeli ambassador Danny Danon has told UN reporters Israel and Iran will “have to speak and negotiate” as the ceasefire continues.

While it’s still too early to assess all the strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, he says: “We know we were able to push back the program, we were able to remove the imminent threat that we had.”

In response to a question, Danon says: “I think that President Trump deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.”

Reporting by AP