Live: US attacks Iran, IRGC retaliates as Lebanon deal advances

An Israeli airstrike killed three people in the Lebanese town of Jamaliyah, located near Baalbek in the Beqaa Valley in the east of the country, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.

The attack followed an Israeli military announcement claiming Hezbollah violated the ceasefire and stating it plans to keep up the attacks across the valley.

Despite the recently brokered ceasefire, ongoing Israeli strikes in southern and eastern Lebanon since midnight have intensified.

France wants to play a role in talks dealing with Iran's nuclear programme and will not approve the lifting of UN sanctions unless it is satisfied by the terms of a final accord, its foreign minister said.

Jean-Noel Barrot said on Friday there would be no stability in the region unless US talks with Iran also dealt with Iran's ballistic missile programme and support for proxies.

"The return for major concessions that will be asked of Iran is the lifting of sanctions, sanctions that were taken at the United Nations," he said.

Reminding that France is a permanent, veto-wielding member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the foreign minister stressed that French approval is legally required to lift the sanctions.

"Our objective is to get major concessions from the Iranian regime, a radical change in posture. And we will have our word to say, because as a member of the UNSC it will be necessarily linked to the resolution of this crisis," Barrot added.

The agreement reached between the United States and Iran this week calls for negotiations over Iran's nuclear programme to take place over the next 60 days, with a final deal to be endorsed by the Security Council.

France, Britain and Germany want a role in shaping the coming talks after being sidelined in recent months.

Britain's International Development Minister, Jenny Chapman, urged Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon to allow families displaced by three months of war to return to their homes

“Israel should withdraw from southern Lebanon.”

Britain's International Development Minister, Jenny Chapman, urged Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon to allow families displaced by three months of war to return to their homes pic.twitter.com/E3FjDgdUmY

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) June 19, 2026

Egypt's foreign minister, Badr Abdelatty, is set to host his counterparts from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey in the country's el-Alamein on Sunday.

The ministry said that Abdelatty "will hold a quadrilateral meeting on Sunday with Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Pakistan's Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, followed by an expanded session of talks and a joint press conference".

The ministry has not yet specified what the discussions will revolve around. 

The latest Israeli air strikes targeted several areas in southern Lebanon and Beqaa valley, located east of the country. 

The ministry of health reported that the death toll has risen to at least 18 since Israel began its attacks early on Friday. More than 33 others have also been wounded as a result. 

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Israeli shelling was reported across southern Lebanon early on Friday, including in Tyre and Nabatieh, despite a recent agreement between the US and Iran, which categorically calls for a halt to fighting between Israel and Lebanon.

While Israel's military said it was striking Hezbollah targets, the country's National News Agency indicated that areas targeted were populated residential towns. 

Here are the latest updates from the region: 

• Expected US-Iran talks on Friday at the Burgenstock mountaintop resort in Switzerland will not take place, the Swiss foreign ministry said in a statement. 

• French President Emmanuel Macron called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "show a sense of responsibility" amid increased military action in the region, adding that its military strategy in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank "runs contrary to Israel's own interests" in the long-run. 

• US Vice President JD Vance criticised Israeli cabinet members in a press briefing on Thursday, in a departure from his usual stance on Israel. He said that "Israelis, like everybody else, have to respect this peace process".

• US President Donald Trump in an interview with Axios said that the war on Iran showed "there are no limits" to his ability to exert power. "We have the most powerful military in the world, by far. Who else could have done a blockade like that?" he said.

• Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that if there are breaches of the peace deal with the US, Iran will not hesitate to respond. "In the event of bad faith, breach of contract, and excessive demands by the opposing side, we have no hesitation in delivering a crushing response to the enemy," he said in a post on X. 

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported that  at least 16 people have been killed in Nabatieh as a result of Israeli attacks early on Friday. 

Israeli shelling was reported across southern Lebanon early on Friday, including in Tyre and Nabatieh, state-media reported.

In one strike, an Israeli drone targeted a motorcycle on the Abbasiyyeh road in Tyre. It is unclear if there are any reported casualties.

The National News Agency also indicated that Israel launched air strikes and artillery shelling targeting several populated towns in Nabatieh overnight, resulting in a number of people wounded, killed and missing.

"Nabatieh and its surrounding area experienced one of the most difficult nights of the recent aggression, as the enemy escalated its attacks significantly," the agency reported. 

US President Donald Trump jumbled his justification to launch the war on Iran, whose nuclear programme he claimed was already obliterated in a June 2025 attack.

At first he toyed with the idea of overthrowing the Islamic Republic by backing Kurdish fighters and Iranian protesters. He also said the US would destroy Iran’s military and end its ballistic missile programme, which he framed as a threat to the US. He insisted on Iran’s “unconditional surrender”.

Former US officials say Trump’s Memorandum of Understanding achieves none of those stated war aims and leaves the US in a weaker position to advance its stated goals at the negotiating table.

“The US deployed its power foolishly and recklessly,” Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East negotiator for Republican and Democratic Presidents, told Middle East Eye.

“We have lost, vis-a-vis Iran, a lot of power and influence. Deterrence is gone. Iran has survived the largest deployment of American air, naval and missile assets since the Second Iraq War,” he added.

Read more: Trump's Iran pact seen as a strategic defeat in Washington

Expected US-Iran talks on Friday at the Burgenstock mountaintop resort in Switzerland will not take place, the Swiss foreign ministry said in a statement. 

French President Emmanuel Macron called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "show a sense of responsibility" amid increased military action in the region. 

The French president told broadcaster France 2 that Tel Aviv's military strategy in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank "runs contrary to Israel's own interests" in the long-run. 

❝I think that today Prime Minister Netanyahu does not have a policy❞

French President Macron voices support for Israel's security while criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, saying 'security cannot be ensured through the conquest of a neighboring territory' pic.twitter.com/Gz6lgxWSnI

— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) June 19, 2026

Israeli Ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, reaffirmed on Thursday that Tel Aviv remains committed to a truce deal reached with Lebanon under the condition that Hezbollah does not breach it.

"If Hezbollah does not violate the agreement, it will be kept," Leiter said in a post on X. "Under all circumstances, Israel retains its right to respond to attacks against it and to thwart threats to its territory, citizens and soldiers."

Israel has killed nearly 4,000 people and wounded over 11,800 others since it began its attacks on Lebanon in early March. Over 1.2 million have been displaced during this time period. 

Israel remains committed to the ceasefire agreement reached between Israel, Lebanon and the US.

If Hezbollah does not violate the agreement, it will be kept.

Under all circumstances, Israel retains its right to respond to attacks against it and to thwart threats to its…

— Ambassador Yechiel (Michael) Leiter (@yechielleiter) June 18, 2026

US Vice President JD Vance criticised Israeli cabinet members in a press briefing on Thursday, in a departure from his usual stance on Israel. 

"The Israelis, like everybody else, have to respect this peace process," Vance said. "That is fundamentally good for them and good for the entire region."

“If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.”

US Vice President JD Vance rebuked Israeli cabinet members in a departure from his usual pro-Israel rhetoric pic.twitter.com/MTvbj4HId5

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) June 19, 2026

The US defence ministry needs $80bn to cover costs from the war on Iran alongside non-war-related bills, the Wall Street Journal reported citing sources familiar with the matter. 

According to the paper, lawmakers have been urging the Trump administration to provide a comprehensive cost to the war, with one of the concerns being that the army depleted valuable arms that could be used elsewhere. 

Hezbollah said its fighters launched attacks on Israeli forces attempting to advance into Lebanese territory. 

The group said an Israeli military unit was lured into a "kill zone", where three Merkava tanks were destroyed nearby the  Ali al-Tahir area south of the country.

A second Israeli unit attempting to retrieve the first group were then targeted with a rocket barrage and mortar shells.