Western Europe just experienced its hottest June on record

(LONDON) — With the war in Iran still unresolved and an energy crisis linked to it battering the global economy, here’s a timeline of the key phases of the conflict, from the start of “Operation Epic Fury” to “Project Freedom,” intended to reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz.

Phase 1: Trump announces the start of combat operations in Iran

In a late-night video statement released to the nation on Feb. 28, just hours after U.S. and Israeli forces launched attacks on Iran, President Donald Trump announced that major combat operations were underway.

“Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people,” Trump said.

He said that chief among the goals of the joint U.S.-Israel operations was to eliminate once and for all Iran’s ambitions to obtain a nuclear weapon.

“They’ve rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions, and we can’t take it anymore,” said Trump, adding that after the U.S. “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities in June 2025, the regime began rebuilding its nuclear program and developing long-range missiles.

In his first press briefing four days after the start of combat operations, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said, “I stand before you today with one unmistakable message about Operation Epic Fury: America is winning decisively, devastatingly and without mercy.”

U.S. military officials said top government and military leaders of the Iranian regime were killed in the opening salvos of the conflict, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Hegseth said the hundreds of military targets were hit in the first hours of the operation, knocking out the IRGC’s ability to effectively communicate.

Iran retaliated by firing missiles at seven Gulf states, hitting civilian infrastructure and airports in the United Arab Emirates, residential areas in Qatar and an apartment building in Bahrain.

During the briefing, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine released the names of six U.S. service members killed in an Iranian drone strike on Port Shuaiba, Kuwait.

Phase 2: Strait of Hormuz becomes focal point of the war

As the fighting progressed, Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was named the country’s new supreme leader on March 8, despite reports that he was badly injured in the attack that killed his father.

In his purported first written statement, Mojtaba Khamenei directed the IRGC to continue to limit traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the maritime channel linking the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman, through which 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passed in 2024.

Tensions immediately escalated in the Strait of Hormuz following Mojtaba Khamenei’s directive to the IRGC. The Iranian military claimed on March 12 that it struck an oil tanker in the Persian Gulf, one of three commercial ships attacked that day near the Strait of Hormuz.

The attacks came just days after President Trump posted a message on his social media platform, saying if Iran attempted to stop the flow of oil in the strait, “They will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far.”

On March 21, Trump gave Iran an ultimatum to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to all commercial vessels in 48 hours. The president posted on his social media platform that if Iran didn’t comply, “The United States will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST.”

The following day, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a letter to the U.N. International Maritime Organization, saying the strait was open to “non-hostile” vessels.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on state TV on March 25 that “Iran’s power is the Hormuz Strait.”

Phase 3: US Naval blockade and ceasefire

Trump announced on March 23 that the U.S. and Iran were discussing an end to the war, giving the first indication of diplomatic talks since the start of the war. He gave Iran a five-day extension to reopen the strait, citing progress in ongoing peace negotiations.

The next day, the Trump administration offered Iran, through intermediaries in Pakistan, a 15-point plan to end the war.

Israeli Defense Forces announced on March 26 that Alireza Tangsiri, commander of the IRGC’s navy, was “eliminated” in a strike. The IDF also claimed the strike killed the head of Iran’s naval intelligence, Behnam Rezaei.

On March 26, Trump announced that he was pausing the attack on Iran’s energy plants for 10 days until April 6 at 8 p.m. ET., saying in a social media post, “Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well.”

Trump extended Iran’s deadline again on April 5, giving Iran until April 7 to make a deal. Iran responded to Trump’s 15-point peace plan with a 10-point proposal for ending the war, but the strait remained on lockdown.

Just hours ahead of the April 7 deadline, Trump again took to social media, writing, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”

That same day, Iran and the United States announced they had agreed to a two-week ceasefire that would include reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

But on April 8, Israel launched a heavy bombing attack against Hezbollah in Lebanon, prompting Iran to complain that Israel broke the ceasefire agreement and closed the strait again.

Vice President JD Vance then traveled to Islamabad, Pakistan, for peace talks with Iran, brokered by Pakistan. Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also participated in the talks, but Vance announced on April 11 that no agreement had been reached.

With the strait still closed, President Trump on April 13 announced a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports along the strait. “We can’t let a country blackmail or extort the world, because that’s what they’re doing,” Trump said.

Trump said on April 21 that the ceasefire was being extended indefinitely at the request of Pakistan, but that the naval blockade would stay in place.

Phase 4: ‘Project Freedom’

As the war dragged into May, Trump announced that the U.S. Central Command was launching “Project Freedom,” in which U.S. military ships would escort commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.

But the launch of Project Freedom on May 3 caused an escalation of tensions in the strait.

On May 4, Adm. Brad Cooper, head of the U.S. Central Command, said the IRGC had launched missiles, drones, and small boats toward ships the U.S. was protecting in the Strait of Hormuz. Cooper said the U.S. “defeated each and every one of those threats,” and that U.S. AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and others were used to “eliminate” the Iranian attack boats.

On May 5, Trump announced a temporary pause in Project Freedom at the request of Pakistan.

In a statement on social media on May 6, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the pause “will go a long way towards advancing regional peace, stability and reconciliation during this sensitive period.”

Trump said that while Project Freedom is paused, the U.S. naval blockade is still in effect.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LONDON) — Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Monday he would resign as the leader of his party and as prime minister, setting the stage for the United Kingdom’s seventh prime minister within a decade.

Starmer, who said he spoke on Monday with King Charles, said he expected to remain in office until a successor was chosen from within his Labour Party.

“The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election,” he said outside 10 Downing Street. “I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question, and I accept that answer with good grace.”

Starmer, who had led Labour since 2020, was elected to lead the country in a general election 2024. His replacement is expected to be chosen by his party.

Starmer said he asked party leaders to open nominations for a successor on July 9. He did not give a date for his departure from 10 Downing Street, but said he expected a new prime minister to be in place by September, when Parliament returns from its summer recess.

The resignation announcement followed months of turmoil for Starmer, with some members of his own party criticizing his leadership, saying he had not been able to deliver the rapid change needed after taking office following 14 years of Conservative Party rule in Britain.

Many in Starmer’s Labour party had written to Starmer asking him to step down following local elections in May, which saw the party lose more than 1,000 seats on local councils, results that were widely interpreted as a repudiation by British voters of Labour’s performance under the prime minister’s leadership.

A formal challenge to his premiership had not yet begun as of Monday, but some members of his party have in recent weeks coalesced in public support of Andy Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, as his potential successor.

Burnham, who won a special election on Friday to become a member of parliament representing Makerfield, was expected to be sworn in in the House of Commons on Monday.

Following Starmer’s announcement, Burnham said on social media that he would seek a nomination in the Labour leadership contest.

“People want to see progress on economic growth, cost of living, public services, housing and opportunities for the next generation,” he said. “Political change should never distract from the responsibility to improve people’s lives.”

Another potential successor, Wes Streeting, a member of parliament who resigned from his position as Starmer’s health secretary in May, threw his support behind Burnham on Monday.

“We could spend the summer exaggerating our small differences, or we can roll up our sleeves and help [Burnham] to deliver the change our Party and our country needs,” Streeting said in a statement. “That is the choise that I am making and I hope that everyone else will back Andy, too.”

Starmer long said he intended to see out his full five-year term, which began with his party’s 2024 landslide election victory, which also delivered Labour a historic majority in the House of Commons.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the EU Commission, praised Starmer after his announcement, saying, “It can take many leaders years to grow into the statesman you became in just two years. European and Ukrainian security is stronger because of you. Thank you, dear Keir.”

ABC News’ David Brennan, Jamie Dorrington and Zoe Magee contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LONDON) — The escalating Israeli operation against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon may prove to be the most intractable theater of the wider U.S.-Israeli confrontation with Iran, analysts who spoke with ABC News warned.

But the showdown unfolding in Lebanon could pose an existential threat to both Hezbollah and the Lebanese state, experts said, with the latter having long struggled to rein in the powerful militia but now facing growing pressure — and threats — from Israel to do more despite the danger of civil instability.

The technocratic government that came to power in Beirut on a wave of optimism in February 2025 is now facing “the worst possible combination of factors,” Emile Hokayem of the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank told ABC News during a recent webinar hosted by the U.K.-based Chatham House think tank.

Lebanon “is a secondary front at the moment that is likely to burn for longer both because the Israelis see the political-military opportunity, but also the Iranians see it as a place where they can bleed and distract the Israelis,” Hokayem added.

Cascading crises
Even before the latest round of violence erupted, observers were noting rising discontent with Hezbollah among the wider Lebanese population and their elected representatives. 

The recent scars of Hezbollah’s activities were all too visible. On the edges of Beirut’s stylish downtown area and the trendy Mar Mikhael neighborhood is the devastated port area, wrecked by a massive explosion in 2020, with efforts to apportion responsibility for the disaster allegedly repeatedly stymied by Hezbollah. While some blame Hezbollah, others blame the entire political ruling class and the systemic corruption in the country.

Villages across the Hezbollah-dominated south and east of the country lay in ruins from Israeli missiles, bombs and artillery shells fired in clashes since Hezbollah attacked Israel in solidarity with Hamas after the latter’s deadly surprise Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. In a U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon in 2024, the Israeli army partially withdrew, holding on to five positions in southern Lebanon.

Parts of Beirut’s southern Dahiyeh area — a longtime Hezbollah stronghold — were cratered, with giant posters of its slain totemic leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in a massive 2024 Israeli airstrike on the city, seen by ABC News late last year rising above the arterial road which runs through the area from the airport to the rest of the city.

The conflict significantly degraded Hezbollah’s capabilities, apparently setting the stage for Lebanon to appoint a new government with fewer ties to the group — led by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and President Joseph Aoun — after more than two years of a caretaker cabinet amid a political deadlock.

Neither were formally endorsed by Hezbollah. Aoun, the country’s former army chief, and his new government said they were committed to disarming Hezbollah, appealing to foreign partners to help.

Many observers suggested Hezbollah appeared to be in a historically weak position from late 2024 into early 2026. Its patrons in Tehran were themselves weakened by confrontations with Israel and, later, the U.S. Discontent inside Iran exploded into multiple rounds of anti-government protests, with Tehran’s funding and direction of foreign proxy forces a common grievance among demonstrators.

The fall of Tehran-aligned and Hezbollah-bolstered Syrian President Bashar al-Assad across the border in December 2024 robbed Hezbollah of strategic depth, vital arms smuggling routes and financial opportunities. Nasrallah — an icon of the Iran-directed “Axis of Resistance” — was dead, as were many of the group’s most senior military and strategic minds, according to long-time observers of the group.

Meanwhile, strikes that Israel described as targeted against Hezbollah personnel and infrastructure in Lebanon continued, killing hundreds of people despite the November 2024 ceasefire deal. Hezbollah did not respond, apparently pursuing a policy of strategic patience that some observers interpreted as operational weakness.

Before the outbreak of its latest war with Israel in 2023, estimates of Hezbollah’s military strength ranged from 30,000 to more than 50,000 personnel. Its parliamentary party won 15 seats in the last Lebanese legislative elections in 2022, securing around 20% of all votes to the tune of nearly 360,000 ballots, according to data from Lebanon’s Interior Ministry.

Aoun’s government took some steps to curtail Hezbollah’s uniquely powerful position, in which it had been able to establish — with Iranian help — what analysts often described as “a state within a state.” 

The Lebanese Armed Forces claimed in January to have completed the first phase of the plan to disarm all non-state groups in the area south of the Litani River — around 18 miles north of Israel’s border — as part of the 2024 ceasefire deal.

Those efforts continued after the U.S. and Israel launched their latest military campaign against Iran in late February. In early March, the Lebanese government declared all military activities by Hezbollah illegal. The army also set up checkpoints to search vehicles headed south for weapons.

But the idea of the state’s open confrontation with the Iranian-backed militia group prompts fears of a slide back into the bloody anarchy of the 1975-1990 civil war that killed more than 100,000 people and devastated the young nation.

Sectarian tensions are again rising in Lebanon. Last month, Salam criticized the country’s sectarian political system — designed to ensure power sharing between the country’s ethnic and religious groups — as “a source of harm both for the state and for the citizens.”

The state’s forces, while popular, are broadly considered to be weak relative to other regional militaries and non-state actors. Meanwhile, despite its recent setbacks, Hokayem said Hezbollah remains “a very powerful coercive force domestically in Lebanon, where they can punish, intimidate and possibly assassinate their enemies.”

Hezbollah’s new leader, Naim Qassem, said in August that the group would not surrender its weapons to the state, warning there would be “no life in Lebanon” if its arms were taken by force.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we see, in addition to communal violence, more targeted hits — including assassinations — inside the country,” Hokayem said of intensifying Hezbollah activity. “If the military, the security forces are not able to prevent that or contain this, then you can easily see a loss of trust in central institutions, which is already very low.”

“Given the trajectory of events, more likely than not the state will weaken despite what some people in Washington say or would like to believe,” he added.

A ‘prolonged’ conflict
Israeli forces are now moving deeper into southern Lebanon, with the Israel Defense Forces having issued a series of “urgent” warnings for the full evacuation of the country south of the Zahrani River, which sits around 36 miles north of the border. That order came on top of an evacuation order for all residents south of the Litani River — 18 miles north of the border — and for all residents in the southern Beirut suburbs.

Human Rights Watch said that more than a million people have been forced to flee their homes — nearly one-fifth of the entire population of the country. More than 1,000 people have been killed by Israeli attacks in Lebanon in the latest round of fighting, the country’s health ministry said.

Israel’s aggressive policy in Lebanon came after Hezbollah fired on northern Israel on March 2, joining Tehran in its response to the U.S.-Israeli campaign launched against Iran on Feb. 28.

Hezbollah defied assessments it had been substantially weakened by its two-year involvement in the war in Gaza, firing rockets and drones daily toward northern Israel. 

The IDF said this week that Hezbollah had fired over 2,000 projectiles toward Israel so far. That fire has killed four people — two civilians and two soldiers.

IDF Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said on March 22 that the Israeli operation “has only just begun,” describing the nascent campaign as “a prolonged operation.” As of March 24, the IDF had destroyed multiple bridges spanning the Litani River.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he instructed the IDF to “accelerate the destruction of Lebanese homes in the line of contact villages, to thwart threats to Israeli communities, in accordance with the model of Beit Hanoun and Rafah,” referring to Israel’s destruction of Gaza towns during the war on Hamas.

Katz said troops would seize and hold southern Lebanon up to the Litani River to create what he called a “defensive buffer.”

More extreme voices have demanded a permanent occupation. Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, for example, said the Litani should form “the new Israeli border,” in an echo of longheld ambitions of Israeli ultranationalists.

Lebanon’s president described the destruction of the bridges over the Litani and continued Israeli strikes elsewhere as a “dangerous escalation and flagrant violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty.” The measures, Aoun said, “are considered a prelude to a ground invasion.”

But there appears little hope of relief from Beirut’s two prime foreign partners — the U.S. and France — Hokayem said. “The Americans essentially have washed their hands of Lebanon,” he said, citing frustration with the government’s inability or unwillingness to rein in Hezbollah.

“In Washington there are people who have this illusion that you can break the back of Hezbollah, if only there was a bit more spine in some in Beirut,” Hokayem said. “It’s very difficult to see that.”

Barbara Leaf, who served as the assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs under President Joe Biden, said during the Chatham House event that the U.S. had taken a “hectoring” approach with the new Lebanese government. The message, Leaf said, is, “Take care of Hezbollah, and if not, the Israelis will.”

The U.S. Department of State has urged all Americans in Lebanon — of whom there were around 86,000 in 2022, according to the State Department — to leave the country as soon as possible.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump said of the situation in Lebanon, “We’re working on it very hard. We love Lebanon. We love the people of Lebanon, and we’re working very hard.” Hezbollah, he said, “has been a disaster for many years.”

Days later, Trump again said Hezbollah has been “a big problem” that was “rapidly being eliminated” by Israeli military action.

With clear U.S. backing, Israeli leaders appear set on a decisive operation in Lebanon, which forms one theater of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s drive to create what he calls a “new Middle East” shorn of Iranian influence.

Those ambitions will require a long-term presence on Lebanese territory, Yezid Sayigh, of the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center think tank in Beirut, wrote in early March. “A complementing Lebanese effort is necessary, hence the effort to force the Lebanese government’s hand one way or the other,” he added.

But the ongoing operation may undermine the very partners Israel needs in Beirut, Hokayem said. “A Lebanon in which so much territory is occupied will struggle to enter any kind of genuine peace negotiations with Israel,” he said.

“I don’t think they could be a central authority with enough strength and legitimacy,” he added.

Faced with yet another national crisis, many in Lebanon are pessimistic. The country must consider “the worst-case scenarios,” political scientist Ziad Majed wrote earlier this month.

This means, Majed said, huge destruction in Hezbollah’s heartlands in the south, the eastern Bekaa Valley and southern Beirut combined with a military occupation blocking hundreds of thousands of displaced people from returning to their homes.

Such a scenario, Majed warned, could “lead to suffocating living crises and social and political tensions that many might exploit for political opportunism, incitement and other forms of sectarian conflict.”

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.