Chicago – June 08, 2026
Israel said on Monday it hit a petrochemical plant in Iran’s southwest, along with strikes elsewhere on military targets, after U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to refrain from further attacks.
In the first hit on an energy site inside Iran since the April 8 ceasefire, Israel said it struck targets at the Mahshahr petrochemical complex, while a provincial official told Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency parts of the plant were damaged.
Hours earlier, Trump said new strikes by Israel and Iran would not affect his administration’s peace talks with Tehran, adding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “doesn’t call the shots.”
Trump has leaned on Israel to stop its attacks in Lebanon to allow room for a deal to end the wider war with Iran, including rebuking Netanyahu with obscenities in a phone call last week.
However, earlier on Sunday Israel launched strikes in the Beirut area for the first time since the U.S. announced a truce plan for Lebanon last week.
Iran fired salvos of missiles at Israeli targets in retaliation, putting U.S.-Iran peace talks at risk. But Trump insisted that an agreement to end the wider war remained well within reach.
