The Iranian foreign minister has announced the news to the media
SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA – JUNE 20: (RUSSIA OUT) Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during the plenary session of the 28th Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum SPIEF 2025, June 20, 2025, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. President Vladimir Putin attended the annual major economic forum. (Photo by Contributor/Getty Images)(Image: 2025 Contributor#8523328/Getty)
The Iranian foreign minister is to meet Vladimir Putin on Monday. The Financial Times reports that the step was announced by Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi as he spoke to the media in Istanbul.
“Russia is a friend of Iran and we have a strategic relationship,” Araghchi said. “I will have serious consultations with the Russian president tomorrow.”
He was also asked if Iran would now consider hitting US bases in the Middle East or shutting the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow shipping route in the Gulf that is one of the world’s most important shipping routes.
“There are a variety of options available to us,” he said. He told the press Donald Trump, US President, had betrayed his own voters by launching strikes on three nuclear sites in Iran.
He said: “While President Trump was elected on a platform of putting an end to America’s costly involvement of forever wars in our part of the world, he’s betrayed not only Iran by abusing our commitment to diplomacy but also deceived his own voters by submitting to the mission of a wanted war criminal who has grown accustomed to exploiting the lives and wealth of American citizens to further the Israeli regime’s objectives.”
He also said: “The warmongering, lawless administration in Washington is solely and fully responsible for the dangerous consequences and far reaching implications of its act of aggression.”
He said “there is no red line” that the US has not crossed, and noted: “The most dangerous one was what happened only last night when they crossed a very big red line by attacking nuclear facilities only.”
The Press Association reports that satellite images taken on Sunday show damage to the mountainside at the underground site at Fordo. The pictures, by Planet Labs PBC, show the once-brown mountain now has parts turned grey.
Its contours appear slightly different than in previous images, suggesting a blast threw up debris around the site. It has also been claimed that unusual activity took palce at the Fordow uranium enrichment plant in the days before the US action.
‘Unusual activity’ at Fordow in recent days
The BBC reports that satellite firm Maxar has shared images taken in recent days. Maxar says images taken on June 19 and 20 show “unusual truck and vehicular activity” near the entrance to the facility.
They say pictures show a group of 16 cargo trucks along an access road leading to a tunnel entrance, as well as trucks and bulldozers near the main site.
Maxar says new excavations can be seen nearby. The firm says there is evidence of earthworks – suggesting Iran may have been attempting to reinforce the complex ahead of any possible US strikes.