Iran-US talks paused as Tehran holds mass funeral, memorial for slain supreme leader

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday accused Israel of trying to undermine the recently reached U.S.-Iran peace agreement, warning that renewed conflict would threaten efforts to stabilize the Middle East.

Speaking in Istanbul, Erdogan said regional governments must play a central role in preserving the agreement, arguing that any lasting peace depends on the participation of countries in the region.

"We are closely following the Israeli administration's attempts to dynamite the (U.S.-Iran) deal," Erdogan said. "The current war-addicted Israeli government must not be allowed to drown our geography in the smell of gunpowder and blood again."

Turkey has been one of the region's strongest advocates for continued diplomacy between Washington and Tehran and has repeatedly criticized Israel's military operations in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. Ankara has also accused Israel of taking steps that could jeopardize broader regional negotiations.

Erdogan's comments come as U.S.-Iran talks remain on a temporary pause during Iran's weeklong mourning period for former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, with several regional leaders urging both sides to keep diplomatic efforts on track.

President Donald Trump criticized Europe's immigration policies in a Truth Social post Saturday, arguing that accepting criminals from developing countries has fueled the continent's security and social challenges.

"Europe is learning that when you take in Third World criminals, you become a Third World Country," Trump wrote. "It happens quickly, in just a blink of the eye."

The president added that he was elected "just in time," suggesting his administration's immigration policies have helped the United States avoid a similar outcome.

Trump's comments come as immigration remains a major political issue across Europe. Several European Union countries, including Germany, France, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands, have reinstated or extended border checks within the Schengen free-travel zone, citing concerns over illegal migration and border security.

The debate has also intensified as governments across the continent weigh tougher immigration policies while Spain moves forward with plans to legalize hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants.

Immigration and border security have been central themes of Trump's presidency, with the administration arguing that stricter enforcement is necessary to protect public safety and national security.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu marked America's 250th Independence Day with a video message celebrating the U.S.-Israel alliance, calling America "the greatest force for liberty the modern world has known."

Netanyahu also reflected on a personal milestone, noting that America's bicentennial in 1976 coincided with Israel's Operation Jonathan — the Entebbe hostage rescue mission in Uganda — during which his brother, Yonatan Netanyahu, was killed leading Israeli commandos.

"One commander did not [return], my brother Yoni," Netanyahu said. "He gave his life so that others could live."

The Israeli leader said Israel and the United States continue to face common threats, arguing that both democracies remain united against their adversaries.

"The tyrants we face chant, 'Death to America, death to Israel,'" Netanyahu said. "They think freedom is weak. They think democracies are weak. They're wrong."

The message comes as Israel and Iran remain under a fragile ceasefire and the U.S. has paused nuclear talks with Tehran during Iran's weeklong memorial events for former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Netanyahu also announced Saturday a "near future" trip to the U.S. as President Donald Trump has paused Iran peace talks for a period of a week.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a "near future" trip to the U.S. as President Donald Trump has paused Iran peace talks for a period of a week.

"​Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump agreed to meet in the U.S. in the near future," his official X account announced Saturday afternoon.

Netanyahu wished America a happy birthday in the post, too.

Fox News reached out to the White House for comments on the upcoming Netanyahu visit to the U.S. but has not yet heard back.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz marked America’s 250th Independence Day by praising the U.S., and his counterparts in War Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump.

"The unbreakable alliance between Israel and the United States has never been stronger," Katz wrote. "Together, we are building a safer and better Middle East while defending freedom and defeating the forces of terror.

"President @realDonaldTrump has been one the greatest friend Israel has ever had, and under his leadership our strategic partnership has reached unprecedented heights."

The U.S. gave Iran a one-week pause because of a funeral, President Donald Trump announced in his Mount Rushmore speech Friday night.

“We knocked the hell out of Iran,” Trump said in his 28-minute speech that preceded a 23-minute light and fireworks display. “They’re dying to settle. They want to settle so badly.

“We gave them a week off for a funeral because we’re nice.”

Iran was hailing the ceasefire as a show of its leverage, while Trump cast it as a favor for a country in mourning of its lost leadership during the bruising strikes that began Feb. 28.

Iran may have a week to mourn, but Trump wants the world to know who he believes controls the clock.

Vice President JD Vance marked America’s 250th anniversary by telling U.S. service members that the words of the Declaration of Independence still define the nation’s purpose — a patriotic message delivered as Washington remains on alert over Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.

“Even today, 250 years to the day later, these words command a tremendous power over us as Americans,” Vance said, referring to the Declaration’s promise of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Speaking at a naval celebration, Vance saluted sailors, Marines and U.S. troops, while thanking more than 50 countries that sent vessels or aircraft to honor the milestone.

America’s founding words were not written for historians or academics, but for the soldiers who would fight to make them real, Vance hailed.

The remarks offered a July 4 contrast with events in Tehran, where Iran’s regime has been staging ceremonies around the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

While Iran’s leadership has used mourning rituals to project defiance, Vance leaned into American founding ideals, military service and allied support.

“The words might have been new,” Vance said of the Declaration, “but they expressed a feeling, something that already lived in the heart of every single American patriot.”

Iran’s leaders are selling the ceasefire as a victory over a superpower — a pause in the war that could unlock major economic benefits under a deal with Washington.

But among the mourners gathered in public displays of loyalty, the mood was not all defiance.

"The United States," mourner Fattah Bayaz, 63, told Reuters, "wants certain things. We should give some things, otherwise they blow up our officials in the air."

That blunt fear cuts through Tehran’s official narrative. The government is projecting unity, strength and triumph, but ordinary Iranians know the cost of escalation could be devastating.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Efforts to bring stability to the Middle East will not last unless regional countries are directly involved, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday, issuing a direct warning to Israel.

"We are closely following the Israeli administration's attempts to dynamite the [U.S.-Iran] deal," Erdogan argued, speaking in Istanbul alongside Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, urging any durable peace resolution to reflect the will and input of countries in the region.

"The current war-addicted Israeli government must not be allowed to drown our geography in the smell of gunpowder and blood again."

Turkey, a NATO member and neighbor of Iran, has repeatedly accused Israel of trying to disrupt diplomatic efforts involving Washington and Tehran.

Erdogan also criticized Israeli military actions in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, saying the region should not be pulled back into further violence.

Erdogan also said Turkey aimed to deepen cooperation with Pakistan in energy, transport, critical minerals, information technology and defense, while pursuing a bilateral trade target of $5 billion.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Iranian opposition figure Reza Pahlavi sharply criticized the Irainian farewell to late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, saying it lent legitimacy to what he called a state-manufactured “propaganda spectacle.”

“To the foreign representatives in Tehran to mourn Iran’s deceased dictator, Ali Khamenei: Iran is not mourning him,” Pahlavi wrote on X.

"Iran is mourning more than 40,000 sons and daughters slaughtered on January 8 and 9 by Khamenei, Ghalibaf, and their machinery of repression."

Pahlavi rebuked the July 4 event a waste of "the Iranian people's wealth to stage this propaganda spectacle," adding not "a single democratic leader attended."

President Donald Trump had promised to avenge the killing and silencing of protesters, leading to the Operation Epic Fury.

Trump's Epic Fury operation was initiated Feb. 28, just weeks after the slaughter of protesters.

The U.S.-Israeli strikes claimed the life of Khamenei on that date, and Iran is only now getting the opportunity under a ceasefire to say farewell to their former leader.

U.S. Central Command marked America’s 250th Independence Day on Saturday with a tribute to American service members and their families, even as the command remains focused on a fragile Middle East security picture involving Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.

“Since America’s founding, the nation’s best have honorably served in uniform with the sacrifice and support of loved ones,” CENTCOM wrote on X. “Today, on America’s 250th, we honor the millions who’ve deployed abroad, defended freedom, and proudly served across the CENTCOM theater. Happy 4th of July!”

The post paired a patriotic message with a “250” graphic filled with images of U.S. troops and operations across the region.

It landed as Washington continues to monitor the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important shipping corridors, after recent tensions with Iran and a temporary pause aimed at keeping navigation open.

Iran’s public farewell ceremony for late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is playing out in Tehran Saturday morning as the U.S. celebrates the July 4 holiday with America 250 ceremonies, putting two starkly different political spectacles on the same July 4 calendar.

The IRIB Pool feed from Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla began at 12:04 a.m. ET and is expected to end around noon ET on Saturday.

Hours later in Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump is scheduled to deliver remarks at 9:45 p.m. ET during the Salute to America celebration on the National Mall, followed by a fireworks display at about 10:30 p.m. ET.

Organizers say the July 4 program marks America’s 250th anniversary and will culminate with what they bill as the largest fireworks display in history.

The timing creates a split-screen Independence Day: Tehran’s mourning ceremony in the morning, steeped in revolutionary symbolism and state mobilization, followed by Washington’s evening display of presidential pageantry, military flyovers and fireworks.

France and the United Kingdom pledged to help Oman protect navigation through the Strait of Hormuz with a joint statement.

Oman had agreed to work with both countries to ensure its territorial waters remain safe for navigation. London and Paris also said they were prepared to support freedom of navigation through a broader multinational mission.

But it draw a strong rebuke from Iran, escalating a standoff over who controls security in one of the world’s most important shipping chokepoints.

“The Strait of Hormuz is not a theater for the military display of extra-regional powers,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi wrote on X.

Iran views itself as the “guarantor” of security in the waterway and warned that any military movement there would be met with sensitivity.

President Donald Trump has given Iran a break for its funeral ceremonies for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but Iran is not stopping its war and "revenge" rhetoric.

Chants of “Death to America” and “revenge, revenge” echoed through Tehran’s Grand Mosalla mosque as Iran began days of funeral ceremonies.

State media showed mourners packed into the prayer complex, many dressed in black, beating their chests, weeping and calling for retaliation.

The ceremony was both a religious farewell and a political message: Iran’s leadership wants the funeral to project unity, resolve and defiance after Khamenei’s killing in a U.S.-Israeli strike earlier this year.

Authorities are planning large processions through Iran and major Shiite holy cities, including Qom, Najaf and Karbala, before Khamenei is buried in Mashhad, home to the Imam Reza shrine.

Reuters contributed to this report.

One of the leading American institutes devoted to research on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program sounded an alarm this week over the regime's uninspected underground site in the Zagros Mountains. 

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have not been allowed to visit the secret site, known as Pickaxe Mountain.

The highly fortified facility is casting serious doubt on Iran’s willingness to abide by the terms of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) reached with the Trump administration. The United States, together with Israel, launched Operation Epic Fury Feb. 28, 2026, targeting Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities.

Experts from the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) argue that halting work at Pickaxe Mountain and allowing IAEA inspectors access would be a key good-faith measure to test whether Iran is prepared to abandon its pattern of deception.

Spencer Faragasso, a senior fellow with the group who covers Iran, North Korea, illicit trade, and nuclear issues, wrote on X: "Important update by us at @TheGoodISIS. The ongoing work at Pickaxe Mountain is deeply concerning. This work has continued steadily since at least 2020. In my view, this is a hedge by Iran in case negotiations fail — they will then have a nuclear facility in a late stage of construction. We assessed that Pickaxe is likely large enough to hold an enrichment plant."

Iran has used facilities at Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan to enrich uranium, the key material for a nuclear weapons program.

Mourners for slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed rage at the United States during his week-long memorial on Saturday.

Khamenei ruled Iran for 37 years before being killed in the initial wave of U.S.-Israeli airstrikes that kicked off the war in Iran earlier this year.

“We will certainly avenge his blood,” Arash Rahimi, 40, told the Reuters. “Everyone here has come to avenge the blood of their Supreme Leader. As our leader has said, we have a blood feud with the United States. Our relations with the United States will never be good.”

Khamenei's coffin, as well as some of those for close family members, are on public display in Tehran on Saturday.

"Let ⁠us wail!" a compere encouraged the crowds through a loudspeaker,: according to Reuters. "Everybody chant oppressed, everyone say Hussein," he said, invoking Shi'ite traditions of sacrifice, including that of the Prophet Mohammad's grandson Hussein. On cue, the crowds wailed and chanted.

Reuters contributed to this report.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz scolded Iran during this week's U.N. Security Council meeting, saying Tehran "will not silence" the body following claims by the Islamic Republic's representative that council members were spreading falsehoods about its recent attack targeting neighboring Gulf states.

"Let me remind you where you are," Waltz told Iranian diplomat Amir Saeid Iravani. "This is the United States of America. This is the United Nations Security Council. You will not silence this body."

Waltz's remarks came during an emergency meeting of the council in response to drone and missile attacks targeting Bahrain and Kuwait Sunday after new U.S. airstrikes against Iran.

During his remarks, Iravani argued the council should not have met, while accusing the U.S., Bahrain and other members of lying.

"Once again, the representative of the United States has resorted to lies and disinformation against Iran in a desperate attempt to justify the US's unlawful acts of aggression," Iravani said.

He also rejected the "unfounded accusations made by certain Western members of the Council and the representative of Bahrain."

"Instead of addressing the root cause of the current crisis, they have ignored the unlawful aggression committed against Iran and sought to shift blame onto the victim," he added. "Their double standards and hypocritical behavior have deprived them of any credibility to lecture others."

In a post on X, Waltz reiterated his position.

"Iran will not silence us on our own soil," he wrote. "That might work in Tehran, but not in the UN Security Council. We will tell the truth."

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Louis Casiano.

President Donald Trump targeted the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), venting frustration about the alliance in a series of social media posts.

"The United States spends more money on NATO than any other country, by far, to protect them, without getting any benefit from so doing: U.S. 999 Billion Dollars, United Kingdom, 90.5 Billion Dollars, France, 66.5 Billion Dollars, Italy, 48.8 Billion Dollars, Poland, 44.3 Billion Dollars. Others, including Germany, are MUCH LOWER. (2014-2025) Ridiculous!" the president asserted in a Thursday morning Truth Social post.

A NATO release, which explains that the "cut-off date for information used in this report was 3 June 2025" and that "figures for 2024 and 2025 are estimates," listed the estimated 2025 U.S. defense expenditure as $980 billion, the United Kingdom's as $90.508 billion, France as $66.531 billion, Italy as $48.8 billion, and Poland as $44.314 billion.

America's commander in chief also called out NATO in a post on Thursday night.

"Ridiculous for the U.S.A. to continue along this one sided path when the relationship is not reciprocal. They were not there for us!!!" Trump exclaimed in the post.

The president's vocal complaints about NATO came ahead of the alliance's upcoming summit in Ankara, Turkey, next week. Trump is scheduled to attend.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Alex Nitzberg.

Iran sent a warning Thursday to the United States and Israel as it prepares for the funeral of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Reuters reported.

"We warn the enemies of Iran, especially the U.S. and the Zionist regime (Israel), to avoid any miscalculation and to think about the harsh retaliation our armed forces would make to any threat and aggression against our country," Ali Abdollahi, commander of Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said in a statement carried by state media.

Funeral processions for Khamenei began Friday in Tehran and willl end July 9 with his burial in his hometown of Mashhad. Additional ceremonies are planned in Qom and Iraq between those dates.

The head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization also said that temporary airspace restrictions would be in place over several cities, including Tehran and Mashhad.