Netanyahu says Israel will not withdraw from southern Lebanon
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would remain in a security zone in southern Lebanon “as long as required,” while Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Iran against responding to Israeli military operations there.
Speaking at a ceremony for new combat officers on Thursday, Netanyahu said Israel had shifted from areas it merely controlled to “commanding terrain” in southern Lebanon, including positions near Beaufort, and would not withdraw.
“We are not going to withdraw from it,” Netanyahu said. “We will protect the residents of the north and all Israeli citizens from there.”
Netanyahu said he and Katz had instructed the Israeli military to act freely against any threat to Israeli troops or communities in northern Israel.
Katz was more explicit in linking Lebanon to Iran. He said Israel would not leave its security zones in Lebanon, Syria or Gaza “without a time limit,” despite pressure, and warned Tehran against treating Israeli action in Lebanon as a trigger for wider escalation.
“If Iran attacks Israel because of our actions in Lebanon, or for any other reason, we will attack it with full force,” Katz said, adding that Israel would make clear what he called the gap in power between the two sides.
Netanyahu also repeated Israel’s red line on Iran’s nuclear program, saying that “with an agreement or without an agreement,” Iran would not be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons while he remained prime minister.
Montenegrin police and the FBI have arrested an Iranian national wanted by the United States over a major hacking campaign that allegedly targeted US universities and benefited Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Reuters reported.
The 39-year-old man, who holds Iranian and Turkish citizenship, was identified by Montenegrin media as Amir Barati and was arrested in the Adriatic resort town of Kotor, Montenegro’s police directorate said Thursday.
He is wanted by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on charges including conspiracy to commit computer fraud, hacking and identity theft. The case will now go before a High Court judge in Podgorica for extradition proceedings.
Montenegrin police said the suspect had carried out large-scale cyberattacks from 2013 onward, targeting more than 150 universities in the United States and causing damage estimated at more than $3.4 billion.
Police said the stolen data and access to compromised university accounts were used for the benefit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other Iranian entities, including universities.
Barati’s name does not appear on the FBI’s public list of nine Iranian hackers charged in 2018 over the Mabna Institute campaign, but the allegations described by Montenegrin police closely match that case, including the 2013 start date, the university targets, the IRGC connection and the $3.4 billion damage estimate.
The overlap leaves open the possibility that Barati was tied to the same broader operation or to a related US case, though neither US nor Montenegrin authorities have publicly linked him to the 2018 indictment.
The FBI said in 2018 that the Mabna Institute, an Iran-based company created in 2013, was used to steal access to non-Iranian academic and scientific resources through computer intrusions. US authorities said members of the institute were contracted by the IRGC and other Iranian government clients.
According to the FBI, the campaign compromised about 144 US-based universities and 176 foreign universities in 21 countries. It also targeted private companies, US government entities, the states of Hawaii and Indiana, and the United Nations.
US authorities said the hackers targeted more than 100,000 professor accounts worldwide and successfully compromised about 8,000 of them. They stole more than 30 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property, including journal access, research papers, electronic books and other proprietary academic material.
The campaign relied heavily on spearphishing emails that appeared to come from other academics. Victims were directed to fake university login pages, where their credentials were captured and later used to access library databases and research platforms.
The FBI said the stolen material covered a wide range of fields, including science, technology, engineering, medicine, social sciences and other academic disciplines.
US investigators also said the hackers used password-spraying attacks against companies and government targets, gaining access to email accounts and sensitive data. Victims included academic publishers, media and entertainment companies, technology firms and investment firms.
When the 2018 charges were announced, then-FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich said apprehending the suspects would be difficult but “not impossible,” adding that the defendants could be arrested if they traveled outside Iran.
“Where we can’t apprehend these individuals quickly, we will resort to different methods – naming and shaming, sanctions, and a lot of publicity,” Bowdich said at the time. “We will keep at it, because the FBI and our partners at the Department of Justice have a very long memory.”
The arrest in Montenegro suggests that warning may now be playing out years later, as one suspect allegedly linked to the campaign faces possible extradition to the United States.
The case comes amid renewed US warnings about Iranian cyber operations. In April, US cybersecurity, law enforcement and intelligence agencies warned of escalating Iranian hacking campaigns targeting equipment across critical infrastructure.
A woman and child look at clothes displayed outside a shop in Tehran, June 11, 2026
Economists and business analysts in Iran say the country's biggest challenges may come after any agreement with the United States, arguing that structural reforms will be as crucial as sanctions relief to achieving a durable economic recovery.
They say Tehran must use the post-war period to impose budgetary discipline, avoid past currency-stabilization mistakes and overhaul its bureaucracy to attract foreign investment, rather than treating the current pause as a short-lived tactical opportunity.
Business strategy consultant Ali Nazemzadeh argued that historical experience—from post-World War II Germany and Japan to Iran's reconstruction after the Iran-Iraq War and the 2008 global financial crisis—suggests economies rarely collapse permanently after major shocks.
Instead, they undergo periods of restructuring and renewal.
Writing in Jahan-e Sanat earlier this week, Nazemzadeh urged business leaders to abandon a passive "waiting mode" and prepare for a post-crisis economy that could unleash pent-up demand and redistribute market share toward the most resilient firms.
Although the 12-day and 40-day wars constrained business decision-making through currency volatility, internet disruptions, the triggering of the UN snapback mechanism, domestic unrest and military tensions, he argued that economic recovery remains historically inevitable.
With its natural resources, strategic location and population of 90 million, "Iran cannot fail to develop after a wartime era," he wrote, describing crises as an "economic sieve" that allows businesses with liquidity, disciplined management and clear strategy to emerge stronger.
Economist Pouya Jabal Ameli echoed that view, arguing that while the interim agreement may not permanently end the cycle of war and ceasefire, it creates a crucial window ahead of the 60-day deadline for negotiating a comprehensive settlement.
He urged policymakers to treat the period not as a tactical pause but as a launchpad for deep structural reforms.
By taking advantage of falling inflation expectations, enforcing budgetary discipline, avoiding historical currency-stabilization traps such as Dutch disease, and preparing a bureaucratic overhaul capable of attracting foreign investment, Iran could shift its global image from conflict toward economic renewal.
Jabal Ameli concluded that Iranian officials should view the memorandum—and any subsequent agreement with the United States—as an opportunity for structural reform rather than a short-term tactical maneuver.
Offering a more optimistic political assessment, pro-reform daily Sharq described the memorandum as "the first direct official agreement between the presidents of Iran and the U.S. in over four decades."
Columnist Abdolrahman Fathollahi argued the agreement could pave the way for a durable ceasefire, economic recovery and the gradual lifting of sanctions while noting that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei had approved the talks only conditionally and continued to stress distrust of Washington.
He also pointed to repeated warnings from the IRGC and the Supreme National Security Council that Iran had prepared retaliatory measures should the United States fail to honour its commitments.
Despite criticism from a handful of hardline lawmakers, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who also serves as Iran's chief negotiator, declared parliament's backing for the process.
"With the finalization of the memorandum, the difficult path of fulfilling commitments and reclaiming the rights of the Iranian nation has only just begun," he said.
Fathollahi cautioned against excessive optimism, arguing that the agreement's ultimate success "will be determined not in its text, but in the degree of adherence to commitments, the management of regional crises, and the tests ahead."
Rafael Mariano Grossi Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) speaks with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi during a courtesy visit to Takaichi at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Japan, June 26, 2026.
UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said at a news conference in Japan that the US-Iran memorandum of understanding gives IAEA inspectors access to Iran, pushing back after Tehran suggested key nuclear sites would remain off-limits until a final deal is reached and sanctions are lifted.
“There is an agreement, and to comply with that agreement, the IAEA will have to have access and inspect,” Grossi told reporters in Tokyo, according to Reuters. “We hope to be there soon.”
Grossi said Iran had declared it did not intend to develop nuclear weapons, but added that statements of intent were not enough after the recent conflict.
“But of course intentions are not enough. We have to have a very strong verification system in place,” he said, adding that inspections should resume “as soon as is practicable.”
He also said the IAEA had “barely initiated” talks with Iran on what to do with Tehran’s uranium stockpile following the preliminary agreement with Washington.
“Initial conversations have taken place ... We expect this work to pick up soon,” Grossi said.
Tehran suspended cooperation with the IAEA last July under a law passed by parliament after last year’s 12-day war with Israel, leaving the watchdog with limited visibility over key parts of Iran’s nuclear program.
The United States is weighing whether to shift some military operations away from vulnerable Persian Gulf sites after Iranian strikes caused extensive damage to its naval base in Bahrain, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Citing satellite imagery, verified social media footage and interviews with current and former service members, the Journal said Naval Support Activity Bahrain, home to the US Fifth Fleet, was repeatedly targeted between late February and June.
The strikes damaged the base’s command headquarters, at least a dozen other buildings and two satellite communications terminals, according to the report.
Washington is considering refitting the Bahrain base while reducing its footprint in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and moving some operations farther west, potentially to Israel, two officials told the Journal.
The report suggests Iran’s missile and drone campaign has forced a broader US rethink of how exposed its Persian Gulf military network remains to future attacks.
South Korea will move to field a long-range suicide drone system modeled on Iran’s Shahed-136, as militaries race to build cheaper, mass-produced weapons after drones reshaped wars from Ukraine to Iran, Yonhap reported.
Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back said Seoul would accelerate deployment of the Korean-style long-range loitering munition, known as K-Lucas, as part of a wider drone and counter-drone strategy. He said low-cost drones were now being deployed in large numbers and had “fundamentally” changed the nature of warfare.
The K-Lucas system is reverse-engineered from Iran’s Shahed-136, a long-range one-way attack drone designed to strike fixed targets and destroy itself on impact. The Shahed has become one of Iran’s most influential military exports and a symbol of the shift toward “affordable mass”: using large numbers of relatively cheap drones to exhaust air defenses and reduce reliance on expensive missiles.
The same logic has already shaped other militaries: Russia has used Iranian-designed Shahed drones extensively in Ukraine, while the United States has developed its own LUCAS one-way attack drone based on the Shahed design.
South Korea’s plan comes as Seoul faces growing concern over North Korea’s unmanned capabilities. Ahn said Pyongyang continues to advance a range of drone systems, creating new threats to South Korea’s military, critical infrastructure and civilian facilities.
Under the plan, South Korea aims to acquire more than 20,000 low-cost drones by 2030, including short-range reconnaissance drones and small loitering munitions. It also plans to develop next-generation systems such as AI-powered drone swarms.
The Defense Ministry will also reorganize its Drone Operations Command into a new National Defense Drone Headquarters. The current command has faced scrutiny over its alleged role in a drone incursion into North Korea in October 2024, an operation believed to have been linked to former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed martial law attempt later that year.
Ahn also reaffirmed plans to train 500,000 “drone warriors,” with the goal of making drone operation a basic skill across the armed forces.
