US urges China to keep Iran from shutting key trade route

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged China Sunday to help deter Iran from shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial trade route, following American strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.

"I encourage the Chinese government in Beijing to call them about that because they heavily depend on the Strait of Hormuz for their oil," Rubio said on Fox News.

Analysts have said Iran may opt to retaliate to Washington's early Sunday attack by shutting the Strait, a waterway through which one-fifth of global oil output passes.

"If they do that, it will be another terrible mistake. It's economic suicide for them if they do it, and we retain options to deal with that," Rubio added.

"But other countries should be looking at that as well, it would hurt other countries' economies a lot worse than ours. It would be, I think, a massive escalation that would merit a response. Not just by us but from others," he said.

Meanwhile, Iran has threatened bases used by the US military, with an advisor to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei saying they will be considered a "legitimate target for our armed forces."

However, it remains to be seen whether the US strikes will push Tehran to de-escalate the conflict or to widen it further.

China has joined Russia and a chorus of Arab states in condemning the US attacks, saying that they "escalate tensions in the Middle East."

EU says 'extremely dangerous' if Iran closes Strait of Hormuz

The EU's top diplomat warned Monday it would be "extremely dangerous" should Iran shut down the crucial Strait of Hormuz trading route over US strikes on its nuclear sites.

"Any Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz would be extremely dangerous," Kaja Kallas wrote on X, as EU foreign ministers met in Brussels for talks with the Iran-Israel conflict high on the agenda.

Kheibarshekan missiles fired at Israel

The Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said it has, for the first time, launched multiwarhead Kheibarshekan (castle buster) ballistic missiles in its retaliatory strikes against the Zionist regime, reported Tasnim news agency on Monday.
The IRGC on Sunday gave details of the 20th wave of Iran’s attacks against the Zionist regime as part of the Operation True Promise III.

It said the most recent stage of attacks was launched by firing 40 solid- and liquid-fuel ballistic missiles.

Multiwarhead Kheibarshekan ballistic missiles -the third generation of the IRGC Aerospace Force’s missiles- were fired in Sunday’s strike for the first time, the IRGC said, adding that modern and surprising tactics were employed to increase the accuracy of missiles and ensure their effective and destructive impact on the targets.

The Iranian missiles hit various targets such as Ben Gurion airport, the Israeli regime’s biological research centre, and its replacement command-and-control centers, the IRGC stated.

The guided ballistic missiles launched by Iran had manoeuverable and highly-explosive warheads that were being guided until the final moment of devastating impact, the statement noted.

It said the sirens in the occupied territories sounded only after the missiles hit the targets, upsetting the balance of the enemy.

The IRGC warned that the main sections of the capacities of the Iranian Armed Forces have not become operational in the counterattacks so far.

The Zionist regime waged an unprovoked war of aggression against Iran on June 13. It has carried out airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear, military and residential sites that resulted in the martyrdom of over 400 Iranians, including top military commanders, nuclear scientists and ordinary citizens.

The Iranian military forces started counterattacks immediately afterwards. They Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Aerospace Force has carried out 20 waves of retaliatory missile strikes against the Zionist regime as of June 22 as part of Operation True Promise III.–Agencies