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Latest war news. Iran: Rubio holds talks in Bahrain with the Gulf Cooperation Council
The US Secretary of State is due to meet officials from Marnama and the leaders of a group of six Sunni monarchies comprising Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait
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Oil prices fall below pre-war levels, with Brent at $72
Brent crude, the international benchmark for Europe, has fallen below the levels seen prior to the US and Israeli attack on Iran, thanks to the gradual resumption of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. The price of a barrel for August delivery fell by more than 1% in overnight trading, reaching $72.44, compared with the closing price of $72.48 on 27 February, the day before the conflict began.
Hegseth ‘retires’ General Donahue: the last American hero
At 23.59 on 30 August 2021, as Kabul descended into chaos and twenty years of war were drawing to a close in the way Washington had hoped to avoid, a general, wearing a helmet and carrying a rifle slung over his shoulder, crossed the tarmac at Hamid Karzai Airport and boarded the last military aircraft to leave Afghanistan. The photograph was taken through a night-vision goggle. The image was greenish and grainy. It would become one of the symbols of post-9/11 America.
The man pictured was Christopher Donahue, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, one of the most famous units in the US Army. That night, he was the one to board the last American flight leaving Kabul, symbolically bringing to a close a war that had cost the Americans over two thousand service personnel and thousands of billions of dollars.
UNICEF: 38,558 serious violations against children were documented in 2025
“The Secretary-General’s latest report on children and armed conflict documents 38,558 verified grave violations against children in 2025. Behind that figure are children who have been killed and maimed, recruited and used by armed forces and armed groups, abducted, subjected to sexual violence, denied humanitarian assistance and deprived of education, healthcare and protection.” This was stated by Catherine Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF.
These are “alarming figures that tell only part of the story. Many other violations go unreported due to insecurity, difficulties in gaining access, and fear of reprisals”. The report also highlights “a deeply worrying development: for the first time, government forces and their affiliates are responsible for more serious violations against children than non-state armed groups”. It also points to several other alarming trends. “Firstly, children continue to be killed and maimed in staggering numbers by explosive weapons in populated areas.”
In 2025, almost 70 per cent of child casualties were caused by explosive weapons. The highest figures were recorded in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Israel, the State of Palestine and Lebanon. And the number of children who are victims of multiple and serious violations is rising. In 2025, this figure rose again, exceeding the 3,100 mark. “This means that a single child has endured several terrible things. They are abducted or recruited and, in many cases, are also victims of rape or other forms of sexual violence.” Cases where humanitarian access is denied are also on the rise.
In 2025, the United Nations recorded over 8,000 incidents involving restrictions on humanitarian operations, attacks on humanitarian personnel and resources, and interference with the delivery of aid. The highest numbers were recorded in Israel and the State of Palestine, Libya and Ukraine. Furthermore, humanitarian workers themselves are increasingly the target of attacks: local workers on the front line of crises affecting their own communities account for the majority of those killed, injured or detained. The growing use of drones is also a cause for serious concern.
Apart from the immediate risk of death or injury, drones can also have serious psychological repercussions on children. “Despite these worrying trends, there are some reasons for hope,” notes Russell. “In 2025, more than 13,000 children left the armed forces or armed groups. These children received support for reintegration and protection from UNICEF and our partners.”
Il Segretario di Stato americano Marco Rubio parla con i giornalisti prima di imbarcarsi su un aereo da trasporto C-17 Globemaster III dell’Aeronautica Militare degli Stati Uniti diretto in Bahrein, all’Aeroporto Internazionale del Kuwait, durante la sua visita in Medio Oriente per discutere l’accordo provvisorio tra gli Stati Uniti e l’Iran con gli alleati arabi del Golfo, a Kuwait City, Kuwait, 24 giugno 2026. REUTERS/Eric Lee/Pool REUTERS
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The War in Pictures
War in Iran and the Middle East, 25 June.
Guerra in Iran e Medio Oriente, 25 giugno
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25 June 2026
The White House is asking Congress for $88 billion in additional funding
The White House has asked the US Congress for nearly 88 billion dollars in additional funding, the ‘majority’ of which is needed to meet ‘urgent requirements’ relating to the war in Iran. More than 67 billion dollars would be allocated to the Pentagon – specifically for the ‘operational costs’ of the conflict launched by the US and Israel on 28 February and to ‘replenish ammunition stocks’ – according to a letter sent to Congress by Russ Vought, the White House budget director.
In March, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had suggested that the Pentagon might need a further $200 billion to fund the war. The Trump administration’s request could face opposition from Congress, where almost all Democrats have opposed the conflict from the outset and where some members of the Republican majority are beginning to question the costs involved.
“President Trump is asking taxpayers to clean up the mess he himself has created ,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. “After dragging America into an irresponsible war, he now wants Congress to hand him tens of billions of dollars more to repair the damage, whilst families are paying ever-higher prices,” he added, describing the move as a “blank cheque for Trump”.
25 June 2026
Tehran says no one may pass through the Strait of Hormuz without its authorisation
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards have warned against any transit through the Strait of Hormuz without their authorisation, threatening to take ‘appropriate measures’ against vessels that fail to comply. Iran is considering introducing ‘transit fees’ (which did not exist prior to the conflict), whilst the United States opposes this move, arguing that it is an ‘international waterway’, despite the fact that the waters of the strait border the coasts of both Iran and the Sultanate of Oman.
“The only authorised route for passage through the Strait of Hormuz is that announced by the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the Revolutionary Guards have stated. Any transit not authorised by Iran is described as ‘unacceptable and dangerous’ and will result in the adoption of ‘appropriate measures’; this warning is contained in a statement criticising ‘the announcement by certain authorities of a new maritime route’.
The text adds that ‘the Islamic Republic of Iran will take every possible measure to ensure the safe passage of commercial vessels’.
25 June 2026
Tehran: ‘NATO is an accomplice of the US in the war’
Tehran accuses NATO of “complicity” in the Israeli-American war against Iran, after the alliance’s secretary-general yesterday emphasised NATO’s support for the US. In response to US President Donald Trump’s criticism of allies for failing to support the war, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told Fox News that hundreds of American aircraft had taken off from bases in Italia. “Country after country, ally after ally, have made their bases available for Epic Fury,” Rutte told Fox News, referring to the US military operation in Iran. “Five hundred US aircraft have taken off from American bases in Italia to support Epic Fury.” Rutte also told Fox News that Romania “had to reduce commercial flights and the number of aircraft because it needed to use the airports for in-flight refuelling facilities” during the war with Iran. The spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Esmaeil Baghaei, condemns the NATO Secretary-General’s alleged admission of “active complicity” in the “illegal war”. “This is a clear and unequivocal admission of NATO’s active complicity in an illegal war of aggression against a sovereign member state of the United Nations,” Baghaei wrote on X, accusing NATO of “a flagrant violation of the peremptory norms of international law and the core principles of the United Nations Charter”. Italia was quick to distance itself from Rutte’s remarks, which, according to the Ministry of Defence, conveyed “a completely misleading message, confusing the type of authorised flights”. Italia stated that it had only authorised US “technical and logistical” flights during the Epic Fury mission, in accordance with existing agreements with the United States.
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25 June 2026
US: Republican Senate backtracks on Iran
The US Senate has rejected a resolution aimed at preventing US President Donald Trump from resuming the war with Iran, just one day after passing an almost identical measure that had served as a symbolic rebuke of the White House’s handling of the conflict.
The resolution was rejected by 50 votes to 47 in a late-night procedural vote. Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who on Tuesday had voted with the Democrats in favour of the previous resolution, changed his position and opposed the new measure moving forward. Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, who had voted in favour of all previous resolutions since the start of the war, voted ‘present’.
“My view on the debate between war and executive power has not changed, and I have voted this way on several occasions,” Paul wrote on X. “But as hostilities appear to have ended and the President has asked me to consider his negotiating position, I will do so. My abstention is a way of giving the President more room and leverage to negotiate a lasting peace,” he said.
Two Republicans, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, voted with the Democrats to move the resolution forward. One Democrat, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, voted against it.
The vote represents a defeat for the Democrats, who the previous day had celebrated the passing of a resolution on war powers as a symbolic rebuke of an unpopular conflict. However, Wednesday evening’s decision neither amends nor repeals the resolution that had already been passed: it merely blocks the progress of another similar measure.
25 June 2026
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Bahrain
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is due to meet officials from Bahrain today on the final leg of a tour of the Middle East, during which he has sought to promote the Trump administration’s agreement with Iran amongst Arab allies in the Gulf, who remain sceptical.
Rubio acknowledged the sensitivity of his mission in presenting the peace agreement to Arab leaders in the Gulf, who fear that excessive concessions could strengthen Tehran and alter the balance of regional security and oil flows.
Having arrived on Wednesday evening in Bahrain’s capital, Manama — home to the headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet — Rubio will also meet with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a group of six Sunni monarchies comprising Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.
His three-day tour of the oil-rich Gulf is the first high-level diplomatic mission since last week’s framework agreement between the United States and Iran to end the conflict.
“We will not do anything that might jeopardise the security of our allies, our long-standing allies in the region,” he told reporters in Kuwait.
