Over the past year of 2025, Iranians have been living under the prolonged shadow of war and sanctions. Six months after the 12-day war back in June, Israel threatened that it could strike Iran again.  

The ongoing confrontations between Palestine and Israel, and between Israel and Iran, have completely reshaped the Middle East's security order amid deepening turmoil.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday at an event that Israel was monitoring Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran as they rearm and would act if necessary.

"We are not looking for confrontations, but our eyes are open to any possible danger," Netanyahu said before traveling to America for a year-end meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.

According to an Israeli official, the two leaders would meet to assess Iran's progress on ballistic missiles and the prospect of further military actions.

The 12-day war

In the early hours of June 13, Israel launched a surprise attack against Iran's military and nuclear facilities, citing what it claimed to be a growing threat from Iran's nuclear program.

Top military figures, including Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Mohammad Bagheri and Chief Commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Hossein Salami, and prominent nuclear scientists, were reportedly killed.

Tehran was quick to respond. Israel "has prepared a bitter fate for itself, which it will definitely receive," Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei immediately said in a statement. By the evening of June 13, Iran launched Operation Honest Promise 3, firing Shahed drones and hypersonic missiles towards Israel.

Air raid sirens sounded across the country as missiles flew across the sky above Jerusalem.

Later, the U.S. joined the conflict. On June 22, American army forces carried out coordinated strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities – Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan – using bunker-buster munitions and submarine-launched missiles.

This marked the first U.S. offensive on Iranian territory in decades, which, according to Washington, wiped out Iran's nuclear program. Iranian forces fired missiles, striking America's Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, in retaliation.

The conflict ended with a U.S. and Qatari-mediated ceasefire, with both Israel and Iran claiming victory. Israel also warned Iran that any attempt to rebuild either its nuclear or missile program would invite an attack.

Read more:

Timeline: 12 days of Israel-Iran conflict

Deadlock over nuclear talks

The United States and Iran held five rounds of nuclear talks prior to the 12-day war, mediated by Oman, with Tehran hoping to resolve the nuclear issue in exchange for sanctions relief through political and diplomatic means.

Yet the sudden strike in June brought the negotiations to a halt. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, rejected any direct nuclear negotiations with the U.S.

On Tuesday, at a United Nations Security Council meeting, the U.S. and Iran sparred over conditions for reviving nuclear talks.

Iran rejects Washington's terms – notably over uranium enrichment on Iranian soil – a practice the West wants eliminated to minimize the risk of weaponization, but which Tehran has firmly rejected.

"We have been clear, however, about certain expectations for any arrangement. Foremost, there can be no enrichment inside of Iran, and that remains our principle," Trump's deputy Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus told the UNSC.

Iran stated its commitment to core principles of the 2015 nuclear deal, which prevents it from developing nuclear weapons, and "genuine negotiations."

"We appreciate any fair and meaningful negotiation, but insisting on zero enrichment policy, it is contrary to our rights as a member of the NPT, and it means that they are not pursuing the fair negotiation," Iran's UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani told the meeting, referring to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Read more:

Israel-Iran Ceasefire: Iranian FM: Ceasefire with Israel is fragile, but Iran does not want war

What's next for 2026

Iran is still working to restore its missile program – a move Tehran considers "non-negotiable" to defend its sovereignty.

Iran's defense capabilities were designed to deter potential aggressors and were not negotiable or subject to bargaining, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said at a weekly briefing on Monday.

The 12-day war is a manifestation of Iran that its domestically developed missile and drone systems are capable of forming an effective deterrent against Israel, which breaks Israel's monopoly on military technology in the region.

However, the direct involvement of the United States and Europe's follow-up sanctions have again placed Iran under multifaceted pressure—military, economic, and beyond.

Looking ahead, Iran's path to breaking through is fraught with challenges. Militarily, how to build effective deterrence while avoiding a full-scale war. And diplomatically, how to break out of the sanctions siege and establish deeper ties with the international community.

Only by establishing a broad mechanism for dialogue to resolve existing issues through political and diplomatic means would further escalation of the situation be avoided.

Supervisor: Mu Li

Producers: Li Chao, Li Zhao

Reporters: Li Jiannan

Intern editors: Wang Yiran, Ni Bing