The United States Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, has been in discussion with Iran for some time. On 15 April he said that must stop and eliminate’ nuclear enrichment. Conversations between the US and Iran continued but the discussions were not going well.

On 11 June the US ordered non-essential embassy staff and their families to withdraw from several embassies in the Middle East. The draw-down came as Iran threatened to target US military bases in the region if conflict breaks out, while Donald Trump said he was “less confident” about reaching a nuclear deal

The BBC reported on 12 June 2025 that International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) board had ruled that Iran was in violation of its obligations under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty for its failure to cooperate fully with IAEA inspections and amassing an estimated 400kg of highly enriched uranium. Western intelligence assessments until now have generally said that while Iran is stockpiling the components of a bomb, it had not taken the final decision to build one.

A few hours later Iran said it had built and would activate a third nuclear enrichment facility.

On 13 June 2025 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war on Iran (calling it a “military operation Rising Lion”), even though his friend and supporter Donald Trump had asked him not to do so immediately as he was still hopeful of a positive outcome from his negotiations with Iran.

The attack involved over 200 aircraft and killed the head of the Revolutionary Guards, Gen Hossein Salami, the army chief of staff, Maj Gen Mohammad Bagheri, and the commander of the Khatam al-Anbia joint forces headquarters, Maj Gen Gholamali Rashid, as well as six nuclear scientists, including Fereydoun Abbasi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization from 2011 to 2013.

In addition it struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear weaponization programme, targeting Iran’s main enrichment facility in Natanz.

The US was due to continue its discussions with Iran on Sunday. Trump said “Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb and we are hoping to get back to the negotiating table. We will see.” He added that the US would defend both the US and Israel in the event of Iranian retaliation.

These discussions were cancelled as a consequence of the attack.

In the days that followed Iran and Israel sent increasing numbers of missiles and drones at each other. In justifying the attack, Netanyahu said he had acted to pre-empt a secret Iranian programme to build a nuclear bomb, claiming without evidence that Tehran already had the capacity to build nine nuclear bombs. Western intelligence assessments generally say Iran has not taken the final decision to build a bomb.

Netanyahu has said the Israeli offensive aims to thwart the “existential” threats posed by Iran’s nuclear and missile programmes. He did not mention Israel’s existential threats towards Gaza or a Palestinian state.