Timeline of the Iran crisis
Dated entries from June 2025 to today, newest first. Each entry links to the reporting or document it rests on. Dates are given in the local time of the event where sources specify it.
2026
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Hundreds of thousands rally in Tehran
The government staged its largest organised demonstration since the war began. The Revolutionary Guard commander Hassan Hassanzadeh said more than 600,000 people had registered for a civilian rifle-training scheme called Janfaday-e Iran and that more than a million were expected. State television put the Friday morning crowd above 300,000.
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UN mission finds grounds to believe the US committed a war crime
The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, chaired by Sara Hossain, reported to the Human Rights Council that there are reasonable grounds to believe the United States committed the war crime of launching indiscriminate attacks in two strikes on 28 February: on a primary school in Minab and on a sports complex in Lamerd.
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Russia and China veto the UN sanctions monitoring panel
The Security Council failed to renew the mandate of the panel of experts monitoring nuclear sanctions on Iran. Russia’s ambassador Vasily Nebenzya and China’s ambassador Fu Cong both voted against. The mandate expires on 27 September.
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US approves visas for Iran's UN General Assembly delegation
The State Department approved visas for Iran’s core delegation, including President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, to attend the General Assembly in New York.
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Saudi Arabia reroutes crude around the strait
Saudi Arabia announced it would move crude through an Oman route, and Brent fell 2.7 per cent. Amnesty International published findings naming 62 security force commanders it says should be investigated over the suppression of protests.
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Houthis seize a Yemeni port as oil climbs above $100
Brent crude stood near $108 a barrel as Iranian attacks on shipping and a Houthi advance in Yemen drove a second consecutive day of sharp price rises. Human Rights Watch published findings on what it called an ongoing unlawful execution campaign against protesters.
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IAEA Board adopts a resolution on Iranian cooperation
Two days after Director General Rafael Grossi told the Board the agency had lost continuity of knowledge over Iran’s enriched uranium, the Board adopted a resolution urging Iran to cooperate. The nuclear file was referred to the UN Security Council.
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Pezeshkian says Iran would return to the ceasefire if Washington does
Speaking at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Kyrgyzstan after the first exchange of fire in a month, President Masoud Pezeshkian said that if the United States returned to its commitments under the memorandum of understanding, Iran would reciprocate immediately.
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US Treasury announces further sanctions
Washington announced additional economic measures against Iran a week after the memorandum of understanding expired, having already revoked oil sanctions waivers.
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The Islamabad memorandum expires
The 60-day negotiating window opened by the 17 June memorandum of understanding ran out with no wider agreement. By late August the Strait of Hormuz remained effectively closed to normal traffic and attacks on shipping continued.
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The second ceasefire collapses
The ceasefire broke down after Iranian attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, and fighting resumed through the rest of July.
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Emergency Security Council briefing at Bahrain's request
The Council met in emergency session on the regional consequences of the war.
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Iran and the US sign the Islamabad memorandum of understanding
The two presidents signed a memorandum calling for a halt to hostilities, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and oil sanctions waivers, conditional on 60 days of nuclear negotiations. The dual blockade was lifted.
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IAEA Board demands stockpile disclosure
The Board adopted resolution GOV/2026/40, demanding that Iran disclose information on its enriched uranium stockpile and grant inspectors immediate access.
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IAEA reports it cannot verify Iran's programme
The quarterly report GOV/2026/33 said the agency remained largely unable to verify Iran’s implementation of its safeguards obligations and had lost continuity of knowledge across all of Iran’s declared nuclear facilities.
Security Council Report; Institute for Science and International Security
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Trump imposes a naval blockade
After the Islamabad talks collapsed, the United States imposed a full naval blockade on Iran. The ceasefire was extended indefinitely on 21 April with the blockade still in place.
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First ceasefire, mediated by Pakistan
A two-week ceasefire was announced covering the United States, Iran and Israel, with Pakistan mediating. It was violated within hours, and talks in Islamabad on 12 and 13 April collapsed after a single day.
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Mojtaba Khamenei named supreme leader
The Assembly of Experts named the 56-year-old son of the killed supreme leader as his successor, the first father-to-son succession in the history of the Islamic Republic. He was wounded in the 28 February strike and has not appeared in public since.
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The United States and Israel attack Iran
Joint strikes opened the war and killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. On the same day, strikes hit a primary school in Minab and a sports complex in Lamerd; a UN mission later found reasonable grounds to believe those two attacks were a war crime.
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Protests and a lethal crackdown
Nationwide protests preceded the war. The Associated Press reports that more than 7,000 people were killed and tens of thousands detained. Amnesty International says the suppression bears the same hallmarks as the crackdown on the Mahsa Amini protests, on a larger scale.
2025
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The JCPOA reaches its original expiry date
Resolution 2231’s termination day. Russia and China maintain that Council consideration of Iran’s nuclear file ended here and that all UN sanctions were permanently lifted. The E3 and the United States say the August snapback reinstated them. The dispute has paralysed the sanctions committee ever since.
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France, Germany and the UK trigger snapback
The three European parties to the nuclear deal invoked the mechanism to reinstate UN sanctions on Iran, a step whose legal validity Russia and China reject.
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The Twelve-Day War and its ceasefire
Israeli and US strikes on Iran, including on the nuclear sites, ended in a ceasefire on 24 June 2025. The IAEA dates the loss of continuity of knowledge over Iran’s enriched uranium to the attacks of that June.
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