Iran says US strikes damage diplomatic efforts as sides trade blow

TEHRAN

A woman walks past a giant banner depicting Iranian missiles and a sword belonging to Imam Ali, the first Imam of the Shiites, at the Vanak Square in Tehran on June 10, 2026. (AFP)

Iranian Foreign Ministry said on June 10 that the United States had damaged the ongoing international diplomatic effort to end the war, after more U.S. strikes on targets in southern Iran.

“Unfortunately, the United States is damaging this diplomatic process through the contradictory messages it sends, its repeated shifts in positions and demands, and, worst of all, through repeated violations of the ceasefire,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said, in a video message carried by Iranian media.

“Any diplomatic process is damaged by the use of force and by resorting to unlawful actions on the ground.”

Iran attacked U.S. bases in Jordan and Bahrain on June 10, the latest salvo in tit-for-tat strikes with the United States after the downing of a U.S. helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz.

The worst bout of fighting between Washington and Tehran since their April 8 ceasefire has cast further doubt on U.S. President Donald Trump’s earlier claim that negotiations were in their “final throes” before reaching an enduring settlement to end the Middle East war.

The fresh Iranian strikes came after the United States carried out its own attacks on the Islamic Republic in response to Tehran shooting down an American helicopter.

Iranian forces fired long-range missiles and targeted and destroyed four major targets in Jordan, including F35 fighter nests at an air base and the U.S. command center in Al-Azraq.

Jordan’s military said it shot down five missiles from Iran, with no casualties or material damage.

The hostilities extended to other countries in the Middle East, with air raid sirens sounding in Bahrain after the Guards said they had struck another U.S. base there.

The incidents came after the U.S. military said it had “completed” what Trump portrayed as a retaliatory assault on Iran over the downing of an Apache attack helicopter.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees American forces in the Middle East, said on X that it had “struck Iranian air defense, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of
Hormuz with precision munitions from U.S. Air Force and Navy fighter jets.”

The shaky ceasefire between Washington and Tehran already faced a serious test over the weekend when Iran and Israel briefly resumed their attacks, before later announcing a halt.

Iran has insisted any deal to end the war must include a truce in Lebanon, which was drawn into the conflict when Iran-backed Hezbollah militants within its borders fired rockets at Israel on March 2.

Israel responded with an extensive campaign of airstrikes and a ground invasion that has killed more than 3,600 people. Exchanges of fire with Hezbollah have not stopped despite a nominal truce.

Lebanese officials said 11 people were killed in airstrikes on the southern city of Tyre on June 9.