Khamenei warns US of retaliation, Israel again blocks aid | Hook News Brief

Hook News Brief | 27.06.25

Iran warns US to stay away or risk attack

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has threatened to respond to any future US attack by striking American military bases in the Middle East.

In his first public comments since a ceasefire with Israel was declared, Khamenei said Iran had “delivered a slap to America’s face” with the Iranian missile attack on a US base in Qatar. Furthermore he claimed that the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites “did not achieve anything”, that Donald Trump had “exaggerated” their impact and vowed never to surrender to the US.

Hegseth doubles down on the efficacy of the US strikes; Attacks media

Speaking of the US, Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth, doubled down on the efficacy of the US strikes on Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities and said that Trump had “decimated … obliterated” the country’s nuclear program.

Hegseth also said he was unaware of any intelligence suggesting Iran had moved any of its highly enriched uranium.

Notably, Hegseth attacked the media for questioning the Iran strikes. He decried that the media wants Trump to fail and hence they “have to cheer against the efficacy of these strikes”

Ukraine claims to have stopped Russian troops advancing on Sumy

Shifting focus to the Russia-Ukraine war, the head of Ukraine's army, Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, has said his troops have stopped Russian advances in the northeastern border region of Sumy.

Syrskyi said the line of combat had been "stabilised", that the Russian summer offensive in the area had been "choked off" implying that Russia's pressure on the region was declining. However, Syrskyi warned that more fortifications were urgently needed.

Israel blocks aid to Gaza again; Spain PM describes the situation as ‘genocide’

In the Middle East, Israel has closed crossings into northern Gaza, cutting the most direct route for aid to reach hundreds of thousands of people at risk of famine.

The fresh blockade will increase diplomatic pressure on Israel as attention shifts from its brief conflict with Iran, with Spain’s PM, Pedro Sánchez, describing the situation as ‘genocide’

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