diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 2212ce5..27d54ef 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -7,12 +7,15 @@ name = "rune.runtime"
 dynamic = ["version"]
 requires-python = ">=3.11"
 dependencies = [
-   "pydantic>=2.10.3"
+   "pydantic>=2.10.3",
+   "python-dateutil>=2.9.0.post0",
+   "tzdata>=2025.2"
 ]
 optional-dependencies.dev = [
     "pytest>=8.4.1",
     "pytest-cov>=6.2.1",
-    "pytest-mock>=3.14.1"
+    "pytest-mock>=3.14.1",
+    "types-python-dateutil>=2.9.0.20250809"
 ]
 description = "rune-runtime: the Rune DSL runtime for Python"
 readme = "README.md"
diff --git a/src/rune/runtime/utils.py b/src/rune/runtime/utils.py
index fd335bb..dd405dd 100644
--- a/src/rune/runtime/utils.py
+++ b/src/rune/runtime/utils.py
@@ -3,8 +3,11 @@
 import logging
 import keyword
 import inspect
+import datetime
 from enum import Enum
 from typing import Callable, Any
+from zoneinfo import ZoneInfo, ZoneInfoNotFoundError
+from dateutil import parser
 
 __all__ = [
     'if_cond_fn', 'Multiprop', 'rune_any_elements', 'rune_get_only_element',
@@ -12,7 +15,8 @@
     'rune_join', 'rune_flatten_list', 'rune_resolve_attr',
     'rune_resolve_deep_attr', 'rune_count', 'rune_attr_exists',
     '_get_rune_object', 'rune_set_attr', 'rune_add_attr',
-    'rune_check_cardinality', 'rune_str', 'rune_check_one_of'
+    'rune_check_cardinality', 'rune_str', 'rune_check_one_of',
+    'rune_zoned_date_time'
 ]
 
 
@@ -133,6 +137,63 @@ def rune_str(x: Any) -> str:
     return str(x)
 
 
+def rune_zoned_date_time(dt_str: str) -> datetime.datetime:
+    """
+    Return a `datetime` parsed from *dt_str*.
+
+    The input may contain:
+      • a bare date-time,  
+      • a numeric UTC offset (e.g. “+02:00”),  
+      • an IANA time-zone name (e.g. “Europe/Paris”), or  
+      • both offset **and** zone (the offset is validated against the zone).
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    dt_str : str
+        Date/time string such as  
+        “2024-06-01 12:34:56 +05:30 Asia/Kolkata”.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    datetime.datetime
+        Time-zone-aware when an offset or zone is supplied, otherwise naive.
+
+    Raises
+    ------
+    ValueError
+        If the supplied offset contradicts the IANA zone.
+
+    Notes
+    -----
+    Parsing is delegated to `dateutil.parser.parse`; any of its
+    `ParserError`s propagate unchanged for malformed date fragments.
+    """
+    dt: datetime.datetime
+    extras: list[Any]
+    dt, extras = parser.parse(dt_str, fuzzy_with_tokens=True)  # type: ignore
+
+    # Try every leftover token (strip commas/periods) for a ZoneInfo name
+    zone = None
+    for tok in extras:
+        tok = tok.strip(' ,.;')
+        if not tok:
+            continue
+        try:
+            if tok:
+                zone = ZoneInfo(tok)
+                break
+        except ZoneInfoNotFoundError:
+            continue
+
+    if zone:
+        # Same offset-matching logic as before …
+        if dt.tzinfo and dt.utcoffset() != dt.astimezone(zone).utcoffset():
+            raise ValueError("Offset mismatch …")
+        dt = dt.astimezone(zone) if dt.tzinfo else dt.replace(tzinfo=zone)
+
+    return dt
+
+
 def _get_rune_object(base_model: str, attribute: str, value: Any) -> Any:
     model_class = globals()[base_model]
     instance_kwargs = {attribute: value}
diff --git a/test/test_zoned_date_time.py b/test/test_zoned_date_time.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..904b926
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test_zoned_date_time.py
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+'''tests related to the zoned datetime conversion'''
+import pytest
+from rune.runtime.utils import rune_zoned_date_time as rdt
+
+
+def test_naive():
+    '''no tz'''
+    assert rdt("2025-01-02 03:04:05").tzinfo is None
+
+
+def test_offset_only():
+    '''standard offset, no tz'''
+    d = rdt("2025-01-02 03:04:05 +02:00")
+    assert str(d.utcoffset()) == "2:00:00"
+
+
+def test_zone_only():
+    '''tz  present'''
+    d = rdt("2025-01-02 03:04:05 Europe/Paris")
+    assert d.tzinfo.key == "Europe/Paris"  # type: ignore
+
+
+def test_offset_and_zone_match():
+    '''tz and offset present'''
+    rdt("2025-01-02 03:04:05 +01:00 Europe/Paris")  # should not raise
+
+
+def test_offset_and_zone_mismatch():
+    '''tz and offset present but do not match'''
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+        rdt("2025-01-02 03:04:05 +03:00 Europe/Paris")
+
+# EOF