Full story
Iran justifies strikes
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran launched targeted strikes against several military sites in northern Israel as “lawful self-defense,” carried out on Sunday evening, June 7, 2026, in strict compliance with Article 51 of the UN Charter.
“European Union: Attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran are not legitimate”
The ministry said the operations were taken in response to “repeated violations of the April 7 ceasefire and the resumption of aggressive actions against Lebanon and the Islamic Republic of Iran,” and it cited strikes over the past two weeks targeting Iranian vessels and strategic installations in Iran’s southern regions.
Iran’s diplomatic mission described the actions as “collusion with the US military,” further accusing Washington of complicity in maritime piracy against the Iranian people.
The statement warned that “any malicious adventure against Lebanon or the Islamic Republic of Iran will be met with a crushing and comprehensive response from the brave Armed Forces of Iran,” and it said the ceasefire in Lebanon was an inseparable component of the broader April 7, 2026 agreement.
Beirut, missiles, and warnings
Tabnak’s international service said a volley of multiple missiles fired from various parts of Iran targeted Israel, while it also described Israeli attacks on Beirut’s southern Dahieh as continuing “wide-scale violation of the ceasefire agreement.”
Hebrew media, citing an Israeli military source, reported that in the attack on Beirut’s southern Dahieh, 10 guided missiles of the GBU type were used, and Tabnak said two dead and 11 wounded were reported in the attack on Dahieh.
Lebanon’s Ministry of Health, as cited by Tabnak, announced that as a result of Israeli attacks since March 2, 3,613 have died and 11,072 have been injured.
Tabnak also quoted Netanyahu’s office saying the Israeli army, under Netanyahu and the defense minister, carried out an attack on Hezbollah’s headquarters in southern Beirut’s Dahieh, and it quoted Netanyahu confirming the attack with “We will not allow Hezbollah to target us and we will act accordingly.”
International pushback and escalation
Iran’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, Amir Saeed Iravani, told the Secretary-General and the Security Council that Iran’s defensive operation is directed solely at “the targets and capacities that originate from or are used to support acts of aggression against the Iranian people.”
“Iran's Foreign Ministry has stated that the Islamic Republic's defensive strikes against military targets in the northern occupied territories were carried out within the framework of inherent self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter, following repeated ceasefire violations by the Zionist regime”
Iravani said Iran’s defensive actions against bases and military facilities of the United States in the region should “in no way be interpreted as hostility or enmity toward regional countries,” and he argued that the inherent right of the Islamic Republic of Iran to legitimate defense is explicitly stated in Article 51 of the UN Charter.
In Brussels, the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaya Kalas told reporters that “the attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran are not legitimate,” and he said EU member states have “no desire to enter this war.”
Kalas said under international law the use of force is only legitimate in two cases—“legitimate self-defense and a UN Security Council decision”—and he added that “neither condition exists” in the current conditions.
