Skip next section What you need to know
What you need to know
- Iranian and Israeli leaders both said they were stopping attacks, with each claiming their strikes to be successful
- Israel and Iran both fired at each other in the latest escalation
- US President Donald Trump had called for an immediate halt in fighting
- The Iran-backed Houthis have threatened to target Israel-linked ships in the Red Sea
- The EU’s top diplomat has urged all parties to return to the negotiating table
Read below for a roundup of news related to the Iran war and the wider Middle East on Monday, June 8, 2026.
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Skip next section Netanyahu says fire on front with Iran ‘is contained’ at present06/08/2026June 8, 2026
Netanyahu says fire on front with Iran ‘is contained’ at present
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israeli strikes on Iran had led to the Islamic Republic ceasing its latest round of attacks.
“At this moment, the fire on that front is contained — after we struck the terror regime in Tehran, it stopped attacking us,” Netanyahu said in a televised statement.
However he warned that should Iran “make the mistake of resuming attacks against us, we will respond with full force.”
Iran had also announced a halt in fire, but had instead claimed this was after its “warning strikes” had delivered a “painful response” to Israel.
Netanyahu also touched on the reports of tension between him and US President Donald Trump over the latest round of fire in his video address.
“Israel has a full right to defend itself, and we implement it when needed. I say this to you, just as I say it with appreciation and respect in my good conversations with my friend President Trump,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu said that both Iran and the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon had been significantly weakened but that Israel’s conflict with them was not yet over. He said they had mistakenly tried to impose a “new equation” on Israel in the preceding 24 hours.
“They thought they could fire at Israel from Lebanese and Iranian territory and that we would not respond,” Netanyahu said.
Around the same time as Netanyahu’s address, Israel’s Education Ministry said that most schools would reopen for classes as normal on Tuesday.
https://p.dw.com/p/5F2HeSkip next section EU approves more sanctions against Iran06/08/2026June 8, 2026
EU approves more sanctions against Iran
In response to the near-total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the European Union has imposed additional sanctions on Iran.
According to an EU statement, the measures target the Hormozgan Provincial Command of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN), as well as Mohammad Akbarzadeh, the deputy commander who acts as a spokesperson for the IRGCN.
Additionally, Hamid Hosseini, a representative of Iran’s Oil, Gas, and Petrochemical Products Exporters’ Union, has been sanctioned.
According to the EU, all of them were involved in disrupting transit through the strait. The sanctions decision requires the freezing of assets within the European Union. An EU entry and transit ban is also applicable to individuals.
Top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas said this is the first time the EU has applied its new freedom-of-navigation sanctions system, adding that it will be applied again “where necessary.”
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https://p.dw.com/p/5F1agSkip next section Iran still at negotiating table, president says06/08/2026June 8, 2026
Iran still at negotiating table, president says
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that Tehran remained at the negotiating table after halting attacks on Israel.
“Diplomacy and defense are the two wings of national power; we have neither left the battlefield nor the negotiating table,” Pezeshkian wrote on X.
He also added that Tehran “will not retreat in the face of any threat.”
Earlier on Monday, US President Donald Trump in a post on Truth Social urged srael and Iran to “immediately stop shooting.”
Later, he added in a new post that “final negotiations” towards peace were proceeding “subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way.”
https://p.dw.com/p/5F1YVSkip next section Iran says it is ending attacks on Israel06/08/2026June 8, 2026
Iran says it is ending attacks on Israel
The Iranian military announced on Monday that it was halting its offensive operations against Israel after a day of reciprocal missile exchanges.
The Tehran regime’s joint command said “much more severe and crushing measures than before will follow” if Israel or its allies carry out any further “aggression and hostile acts,” including in southern Lebanon.
The traded missile fire marked the most serious confrontation since a ceasefire took effect in April.
https://p.dw.com/p/5F11HSkip next section Lebanon: Israel has breached ceasefire 3,500 times06/08/2026June 8, 2026
Lebanon: Israel has breached ceasefire 3,500 times
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has claimed that Israel has carried out nearly 3,500 air strikes on Lebanon and hundreds of controlled explosions since a fragile US-brokered ceasefire came into effect in mid-April.
In comments published by his office after a cabinet meeting, Salam said that Israeli forces had since carried out 3,491 air strikes, 407 controlled demolitions and six “razing” operations which have reportedly left some villages in southern Lebanon entirely flattened.
The Israeli military is yet to respond to Salam’s figures but regularly claims that it only targets premises and infrastructure belonging to the Iran-backed Islamist group Hezbollah.
https://p.dw.com/p/5F0wtSkip next section Israel: Iran has fired nearly 30 missiles since Sunday06/08/2026June 8, 2026
Israel: Iran has fired nearly 30 missiles since Sunday
An Israeli military official has claimed that Iran has fired nearly 30 missiles toward Israel since the resumption of hostilities between the two countries on Sunday.
“Last night the Iranian regime began firing ballistic missiles towards Israel … they fired close to 30 ballistic missiles towards Israel,” the official told journalists on Monday, adding that Yemen‘s Houthi rebels have fired two missiles at the country in separate attacks.
Iran has stated that it launched two waves of missiles at targets in Israel in response to Israeli air strikes on the Lebanese capital, Beirut, over the weekend.
https://p.dw.com/p/5F0d6Skip next section Trump demands stop to Israel-Iranian attacks06/08/2026June 8, 2026
Trump demands stop to Israel-Iranian attacks
US President Donald Trump has demanded an immediate cessation of the renewed hostilities between Israel and Iran after the two countries began exchanging missile fire again.
“Israel and Iran must immediately stop ‘shooting,’” Trump wrote on social media.
He said Iran and Israel wanted a ceasefire and that peace negotiations were ongoing, “subject to ignorance or stupidity” getting in the way.
The statements come after a phone interview with the Financial Times in which Trump claimed that he “calls the shots” in the conflict in the Middle East, not Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Furthermore, an Israeli official said on Monday that Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, the head of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), had been in contact with the head of US Central Command (CENTCOM) twice in the past 24 hours.
“Over the past day, the IDF chief of the general staff has spoken twice to the commander of CENTCOM and they are discussing the situation,” the official said, without elaborating.
Israel appears to have ignored requests from Washington in an overnight phone call not to launch retaliatory strikes against Iran, according to media reports.
https://p.dw.com/p/5F0WaSkip next section Israel targets Iranian air defenses, explosions heard in Tehran06/08/2026June 8, 2026
Israel targets Iranian air defenses, explosions heard in Tehran
The Israeli military claimed on Monday to have completed a successful attack on Iranian air defense installations involving “dozens” of aircraft.
“A short time ago, dozens of Israeli air force fighter jets carried out a large-scale strike against strategic air defense systems,” said a statement, adding that the targets had been destroyed.
According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the systems targeted had been deployed across Iran as part of efforts to “reestablish detection and defense capacity” following earlier Israeli strikes several months ago.
Meanwhile, central Tehran was rocked by a huge explosion followed by repeated blasts believed to have come from air defense systems.
The AFP news agency reported that the initial explosion shook the premises of the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
“The exact location and source of this explosion are still unknown,” reported the local Fars state news agency. “Simultaneously, air defense was also activated in some parts of Tehran.”
https://p.dw.com/p/5F01hSkip next section India: Expansion of Gulf crisis would be ‘worrying’06/08/2026June 8, 2026
India: Expansion of Gulf crisis would be ‘worrying’
An expansion of the war in the Middle East to other areas is a cause for concern, according to Indian Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
“It may remain a conflict not confined to that theater … you know you could have problems elsewhere,” he told local broadcaster CNN-News18 on Monday.
“Maybe some other theater starts off. That would be worrying.”
Puri said that India has total oil and gas reserves to last 76-80 days.
https://p.dw.com/p/5EzoNSkip next section China ‘deeply concerned’ by Middle East escalation06/08/2026June 8, 2026
China ‘deeply concerned’ by Middle East escalation
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday that Beijing was “deeply concerned” by the renewed hostilities between Israel and Iran and expressed hope that a fragile truce in the conflict would be respected.
“Resuming hostilities is not in any party’s interest,” spokesman Lin Jian told a news briefing, adding: “It is hoped all relevant parties will fulfil their commitment to a ceasefire.”
China‘s focus, however, was on North Korea on Monday as President Xi Jinping arrived in Pyongyang for a rare state visit — his first in seven years.
https://p.dw.com/p/5EzLcSkip next section Iran says US responsible for escalation with Israel06/08/2026June 8, 2026
Iran says US responsible for escalation with Israel
The Iranian Foreign Ministry said on Monday that it holds the United States “responsible for the consequences of any escalation” in Middle East.
“Israel[‘s] actions cannot be separated from US policies,” said a Foreign Ministry spokesman, adding: “[The] US holds direct responsibility [for] recent ceasefire breaches.”
The spokesman also took aim at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), accusing the UN nuclear watchdog of “disregard[ing] realities of the conflict” and of political bias in the ongoing crisis.
The renewed Israeli strikes on Iran have come despite US President Donald Trump reportedly warning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to refrain from further attacks.
“I call the shots. I call all the shots. He [Netanyahu] doesn’t call the shots,” claimed Trump, speaking to the Financial Times, insisting that the renewed hostilities were “not going to have any impact” on a peace deal.
A senior US official told The Associated Press (AP) on Sunday that Trump had urged Netanyahu not to retaliate immediately for the Iranian missile attack, which itself came in response to Israeli strikes on the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
AP also reported that officials from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan and Qatar involved in mediation efforts between Iran and the US were “furious” at the Israeli strikes on Beirut, which came while the Pakistani interior minister was in Tehran in a bid to encourage negotiations.
The mediators reportedly told the US administration that the Beirut strike was designed “to disrupt our efforts to reach a deal” and that “Trump has to stop Netanyahu’s reckless maneuvers.”
https://p.dw.com/p/5EzHjSkip next section Yemen: Houthis announce ‘ban’ on Israeli Red Sea shipping06/08/2026June 8, 2026
Yemen: Houthis announce ‘ban’ on Israeli Red Sea shipping
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have declared a ban on Israeli shipping in the Red Sea and claimed a missile strike on Israel.
“We declare a complete and total ban on Israeli maritime navigation in the Red Sea,” read a Houthi statement. “We consider all enemy movements to be legitimate military targets for our armed forces from the moment this statement is issued.”
The Houthis, who had previously harassed cargo ships in the Red Sea during Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, joined the current Middle East war in support of Iran in March – but had not conducted any attacks on Israel since a fragile ceasefire began on April 8.
On Monday morning, however, they said they “launched a missile barrage targeting sensitive Israeli enemy targets,” claiming the strikes “achieved their objectives with precision.”
The Israeli military said earlier that it had “identified the launch of a missile from Yemen toward Israeli territory” and that “aerial defense systems are operating to intercept the threat.”
Along with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis form part of the so-called “Axis of Resistance” grouping of pro-Iran forces opposed to Israel and the United States.
With the Strait of Hormuz closed, the Red Sea passage between the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Suez Canal has acquired additional importance for commercial shipping, but is vulnerable to attacks from Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen.
https://p.dw.com/p/5EzE6Skip next section Middle East ‘does not need further escalation’ — EU’s Kallas06/08/2026June 8, 2026
Middle East ‘does not need further escalation’ — EU’s Kallas
The European Union‘s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has criticized the latest exchanges of missile fire between Israel and Iran and called for all parties to negotiate.
“I don’t think the region needs further escalation,” she told reporters ahead of a gathering of EU defense ministers in Nicosia, Cyprus, on Monday morning.
Kallas insisted that a “diplomatic solution” be found to the conflict and called on all sides to “sit down at the negotiating table and come to an agreement.”
The former Estonian prime minister said European countries were prepared to help escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz — “but the first point really has to be a ceasefire.”
She said Brussels was “in contact with both sides and is communicating this message to them.”
Only after a ceasefire could “difficult” topics such as Iran‘s nuclear program be discussed, she added.
https://p.dw.com/p/5Ez8rSkip next section Oil prices rise following latest exchanges06/08/2026June 8, 2026
Oil prices rise following latest exchanges
The price of oil was up around 4% on Monday morning in response to the latest exchange of missile fire between Israel and Iran.
Following the latest escalation, global standard Brent crude was trading at around $97 a barrel for delivery in August.
The conflict in the Middle East and the continuing closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 20% of the world’s oil supplies pass, has led to global shortages and price increases, with Brent crude reaching a peak of $120 a barrel earlier in the year.
https://p.dw.com/p/5Ez3xSkip next section Israel strikes Iranian petrochemical plant06/08/2026June 8, 2026
Israel strikes Iranian petrochemical plant
Israeli missiles struck a petrochemical plant in southwestern Iran on Monday morning, according to both Iranian and Israeli authorities.
An official from Iran’s Khuzestan province said the Karun petrochemical plant near the city of Mahshahr had been hit and partially damaged, according to the Fars state news agency.
The Israeli military said it struck “several targets” at the complex.
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