War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Hezbollah is acting against the wishes of the Lebanese government and people under direct Iranian instruction, Lebanese MP Najat Aoun Saliba says, alleging Tehran’s intervention is “a threat to Lebanese sovereignty”, Al Jazeera reports.

“Iran made its opinion about the agreement and the direct negotiations known before Hezbollah even had its say, and that is very dangerous,” Saliba has told Al Jazeera.

“This shows how much Iran is interfering in and effectively imposing decisions on Hezbollah.”

Saliba says the Lebanese government have spoken clearly. “They said, ‘We want Lebanese-led negotiations, we want to choose the least damaging and least costly pathway, and that is why we are pursuing direct negotiations.”

Instead, Hezbollah is acting as Iran’s proxy and transferring the US-Iran war from Iranian territory to Lebanese soil, says Saliba.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said that Iran is “committed to fostering sustainable, constructive ties with Saudi Arabia”, IRIB reports.

“Standing against the world’s greatest power, equipped with nuclear weapons, for 40 days is no joke. World has realised the true power of the Iranian nation,” Araghchi was quoted as saying.

An Israeli drone strike killed Muhammad Naeem Daher in southern Lebanon, Lebanon’s National News Agency reports.

The agency said the drone targeted Daher inside his car in his hometown of Kfar Remman, in the Nabatieh district.

The Middle East conflict is pushing millions of people closer to hunger, as rising fuel and transport costs drive up food prices while funding shortfalls force aid agencies to scale back assistance, the UN World Food Programme said, AFP reports.

Joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February triggered a regional conflict stretching across the Gulf and into Lebanon, disrupting key shipping routes, including the Strait of Hormuz, forcing vessels to reroute and sharply constraining global energy flows and supply chains.

Israel has launched another wave of deadly attacks across southern Lebanon, killing several people and hitting residential areas, roads and towns before dawn, Lebanon’s official National News Agency reports according to Al Jazeera.

The agency said Israeli warplanes struck Doueir, destroying a residential building and killing a young man. Another person suffered critical injuries.

In Haboush, two people were killed in separate strikes on the same town. Another Israeli strike on Qalawiya Tower killed one person and wounded another.

Israeli aircraft also bombed Nabatieh al-Fawqa, Zibdine, Shoukin and Jebchit, as artillery fire hit Kfar Tebnit, Kfar Remman and areas around Mayfadoun.

Near Tyre, Israeli warplanes struck close to Jabal Amel Hospital, targeting the Bank Audi area. In Khiam, Israeli forces carried out a heavy machine-gun sweep and a major demolition operation in Bab al-Thaniya.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Imran Riza, the UN Resident Coordinator in Lebanon, discuss the ongoing preparations to launch a new emergency appeal to assist the country in addressing the humanitarian consequences of the war.

In a post on social media platform X, the Lebanese presidency said, “The appeal aims to secure urgent assistance for displaced persons and those affected by the conflict.”

Israel’s military has also warned residents of south Lebanon’s Sarafand, a town on the coastal road between Tyre and Sidon, to immediately evacuate ahead of expected attacks against Hezbollah, AFP reports.

“In light of the terrorist Hezbollah’s violation of the ceasefire agreement and its targeting of Israel’s home front, the Israel Defence Forces are compelled to act against it forcefully, especially in your areas,” the military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X, listing six towns and villages including Sarafand and Saksakiyeh, which is also on the coastal road.

He added: “Out of concern for your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and move north of the Zahrani River,” which runs some 40 kilometres north of the border.

The UN more than doubled its aid appeal for Lebanon as the country reels from Israel’s war against Hezbollah, saying nearly $640 million was needed over six months, according to AFP.

“The humanitarian crisis in Lebanon is severe and deteriorating,” the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in a revised appeal for the country.

“Repeated displacements, insufficient shelter capacity and limited prospects for safe return are deepening vulnerability,” it said, warning that “affected people are rapidly exhausting their coping capacities, and essential services are under increasing strain”.

The Israeli army claims that it killed Abdul Harb, a commander in Hezbollah’s engineering unit, in a strike last week. The Lebanese group has not confirmed the killing, according to Al Jazeera.

In a statement on X, the army claimed Harb was involved in assembling and activating explosives aimed at Israeli forces operating in southern Lebanon.

It described him as a senior Hezbollah commander who had been involved in attacks on Israeli forces since the 2006 Lebanon war.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei has slammed Germany over its failure to secure a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, stressing that it was a “stark rebuke” from the international community over its stance of US-Israeli aggression against Iran and Gaza.

In a post on X, Baghaei said the failure to secure a seat “reflects growing global outrage over the German ruling establishment’s irresponsible, hypocritical, and complicit stance toward the genocide in Gaza and US-Israel’s military aggression against Iran”.

“Germany, one of the largest suppliers of lethal weapons to Israel, has consistently justified the genocide of Palestinians. And when the Israeli regime launched its aggression on Iran, Berlin refused to condemn it; instead, it shamelessly described it as “dirty work that Israel is doing for all of us.”

European shares slip at open and are on track to end the week marginally lower as uncertainty prevailed over Middle East peace efforts, while technology stocks led declines, pausing after a blistering two-month rally, Reuters reports.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index edges 0.2 per cent down to 623.10 points by 0713 GMT and is set to log a 0.5pc drop for the week.

Brent crude prices are at $95 a barrel and looked set to end the week higher, as chances for a diplomatic resolution between US and Iran looked slim.

Technology stocks lead declines among sectors with a 2pc drop, easing after a strong rally that has helped the shares gain over 33pc in the past two months — the most among STOXX 600 sectors.

Oil prices edge down after Oman has said operations at Mina al Fahal port were proceeding normally, following a Reuters report that oil loadings have been suspended after an explosion.

Brent crude futures fall 24 cents, or 0.25 per cent, to $94.79 a barrel by 0704 GMT after settling down 2.84pc in the previous session.

US West Texas Intermediate crude is at $92.48 a barrel, down 56 cents, or 0.6pc, following a 3.1pc loss a day ago.

Petroleum Development Oman has said that operations at Mina Al Fahal port are proceeding normally, after three sources told Reuters earlier that oil loading had been suspended following an explosion near its mooring berths.

Israel’s military warned residents of three villages north of the Litani River in southern Lebanon to evacuate on Friday ahead of expected attacks against Hezbollah, AFP reports.

“For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and move away from the villages and towns by at least 1,000 metres into open areas. Anyone who is near Hezbollah operatives, their facilities, or their weapons endangers their life!” the army’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X.

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem has rejected a conditional truce announced by Lebanese and Israeli envoys, demanding a comprehensive ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal instead.

Israeli strikes overnight in the south Lebanon city of Tyre killed seven people, a source from Lebanon’s civil defence told AFP, despite a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war.

One strike near the Jabal Amel hospital killed four people, wounded seven and lightly damaged the facility, while another elsewhere in the city killed three and wounded five, including two children.

The UN nuclear watchdog has been unable to inspect nuclear facilities in Iran affected by the war last June, Associated Press reports, citing a confidential report by the watchdog circulated to member states and seen by the news agency.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that it “cannot provide any information on the current size, composition or whereabouts of the stockpile of enriched uranium in Iran or whether Iran has suspended all enrichment-related activities”, the report stated.

Further, the IAEA warned that it was “unable to discharge its safeguards responsibilities” that it has under the Safeguards Agreement of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, adding that it is “indispensable and urgent” for Tehran to implement its obligations under that Treaty.

US President Donald Trump is used to getting his own way with Republican lawmakers— but there are signs of dissent as his party nervously eyes the looming midterm elections.

From a vote against the Iran war to dissent over his $1.8 billion “anti-weaponisation fund” and costly White House ballroom, the nearly 80-year-old president has faced growing pushback.

It comes as Trump faces record-low approval ratings 500 days into his second term, deepening Republican fears that they could lose control of Congress in November’s midterms.

Read more here.

The US Democratic congresswoman from Michigan said she will continue to fight for Congress to use its powers to limit Trump’s ability to support Israel’s “unjust invasion” of Lebanon, despite her resolution receiving support from less than a quarter of House members, Al Jazeera reports.

“I am grateful to the 90 members of Congress who joined me and my sister-in-service Delia Ramirez in voting to put an end to US support for these war crimes and mass atrocities,” Tlaib said in a statement.

Tlaib added that “far too many of my colleagues continue to fail to recognise the humanity of the Lebanese people”.

India’s central bank left interest rates unchanged, despite the Middle East conflict threatening to stoke inflation and heap pressure on a weak rupee, AFP reports.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said the benchmark repurchase rate, the level at which it lends to commercial banks, would remain at 5.25 per cent after a unanimous vote by a six-member panel.

Central banks in emerging and frontier markets from Indonesia to Sri Lanka have hiked rates in recent weeks to bolster their currencies and tamp down inflationary pressures.

New Delhi has sought to shield Indians by both limiting and staggering fuel price hikes, which has left inflation still below the RBI’s medium-term target of 4pc.

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reports that an Israeli airstrike overnight on a building in the town of Doueir, in the Nabatieh district of southern Lebanon, killed one person, according to Al Jazeera.

The attack also wounded another person, according to the agency.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi held an important meeting with his Iranian counterpart Eskandar Momeni, focusing on bilateral relations and the current regional situation.

During the talks, both ministers exchanged views on Pakistan-Iran relations and the latest regional situation, according to a post by the interior ministry on X.

They also discussed the reduction of tensions and internal security matters.

US President Donald Trump said he ​believed progress was being made ⁠between Israel ​and Lebanon and that ​Lebanon deserved to have peace, Reuters reports.

He ⁠continued: “And I think progress is ​made. It’s been ​going ⁠on for a long time, you ⁠know.”

Israeli warplanes launched four missiles that struck in the vicinity of the Jabal Amel Hospital in Tyre, according to Al Jazeera.

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reports the strikes wounded 12 people and destroyed a bank building.

Shipping industry journal Lloyd’s List reports that Iran’s crude oil exports dropped by 84 per cent in May compared with the previous month, Al Jazeera reports.

Iran’s crude exports in May were also 87pc lower than the 12-month average up to the end of April, Lloyd’s List added.

It also reported that Iran has been using smaller oil tankers to ship crude, since Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) are at a higher risk of being intercepted by US forces.

US President Donald Trump said that Washington did not need a deal with Iran to get enriched uranium from the country, Reuters reports.

“We could get it right now. I don’t think they could stop us if we wanted, but there’s no reason to. It’s entombed,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.

Trump also said that he did not want to meet with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.

But he added that if Washington and Tehran reached a deal, it was possible that the two would meet and added: “If it happened … I’d be respectful”.