War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

The Panama Canal is not planning vessel passage restrictions for the remainder of this year, even if the El Nino weather pattern begins in the second half of the year as predicted, which could hit the Central American country with another drought, the waterway tells Reuters.

The Panama Canal is currently allowing 38 ships to pass through the interoceanic way per day and has seen a demand increase in recent months, mainly due to the US-Israel war on Iran, which is affecting the use of other canals like Suez.

After two days of talks between Lebanon and Israel, the ongoing ceasefire has been extended by 45 days “to enable further progress” in negotiations, according to the US State Department.

Spokesperson Tommy Pigott says in a post on X that the department will “reconvene the political track of negotiations on June 2 and June 3”.

“In addition, a security track will be launched at the Pentagon on May 29 with military delegations from both countries,” he adds.

“We hope these discussions will advance lasting peace between the two countries, full recognition of each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and establishing genuine security along their shared border.”

Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee has issued a forced displacement threat for residents in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, Al Jazeera reports.

Adraee has posted a map on X ordering people to evacuate the area near several buildings, claiming they were being used by Hezbollah.

Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, says the Israeli military obstructed peacekeepers with the UN force in southern Lebanon (Unifil) twice, Al Jazeera reports.

In one instance, south of the Lebanese town of al-Bayada, “a tank halted peacekeepers escorting the Lebanese Red Cross, pointing its main gun towards the convoy, and instructed them to leave the area”, Haq tells reporters. “The convoy was later able to proceed.”

The second incident saw an Israeli tank “briefly” block a Unifil patrol near Naqoura, Haq says.

“Such restrictions are inconsistent with the obligation to respect Unifil’s freedom of movement,” he added. “We call on all actors to fully respect this obligation.”

Haq also tells reporters that three mortar rounds fired by the Israeli military landed about 70 metres from a Unifil position near Rmeich, a village near the Lebanon-Israel border.

Hezbollah claims it launched drones at an Israeli barracks near Nahariya in northern Israel, as Lebanon-Israel talks enter a second day, AFP reports.

In a statement, the Lebanese group claimed that it had targeted the Liman barracks north of Nahariya, “with a squadron of attack drones”.

European stock markets have closed sharply lower as inflation concerns deepen following talks between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping that failed to ease tensions linked to the US-Israeli war on Iran, Al Jazeera reports.

The Paris exchange fell 1.60 per cent, Frankfurt dropped 2.07pc, London declined 1.71pc, and Milan slid 1.87pc, reflecting broader investor anxiety over rising prices and geopolitical uncertainty.

Two people have been killed in an Israeli raid targeting the town of Tibnin in southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera reports citing National News Agency.

The US energy secretary expects to see growth in pipeline capacity through Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other countries in the Middle East, predicting that the Strait of Hormuz’s importance for global oil and gas shipments will decrease, Al Jazeera reports.

“There’ll be other routes for energy to get out” of the Gulf region, Wright tells CNBC.

“I think we will see a decreasing importance from the Strait of Hormuz but not a decreasing importance of those nations’ energy production and energy supply,” he adds.

“They’re great allies of the United States, they’re key energy suppliers to the world, and we need to see prosperity, peace and economic growth returning to that region.”

The United Arab Emirates has dismissed allegations by Iran that the country was directly involved in the Middle East war, according to a statement from the Emirati foreign ministry.

“During the meeting, [Emirati diplomat Khalifa bin Shaheen Al Marar] affirmed the UAE’s categorical rejection of Iranian claims and attempts to justify Iranian terrorist attacks targeting the UAE and other brotherly and friendly nations in the region, in flagrant violation of the UN Charter, international law, and the principles of good neighbourliness,” the statement reads.

The ministry adds that “attempts at pressure, accusations, or the dissemination of biased claims will not undermine the UAE’s steadfast positions, nor will they deter it from protecting its supreme national interests and safeguarding its sovereignty and independence of decision-making”.

The US will replenish every barrel of oil it releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Energy Secretary Chris Wright has said at an event in Sabine Pass, Texas, according to Reuters.

“We’re releasing oil now, and for each barrel we’re releasing, we’re going to get at least 1.2 barrels of oil back into the reserve. We’ll leave it fuller than when we started,” he says.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi says Beijing believes a solution to issues in the Strait of Hormuz “lies in achieving a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire” between Washington and Tehran, Al Jazeera reports.

In comments shared by China’s official Xinhua news agency, Wang says President Xi Jinping emphasised in his talks with US President Donald Trump “that force cannot solve problems and dialogue is the only right path”.

“Negotiations will not be achieved overnight, but once the door to dialogue has been opened, it should not be closed again,” Wang adds.

“China has been working diligently to promote peace talks and will continue to play its role in pushing for a swift end to the fighting and restoring peace in the Middle East.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has announced that 11 Pakistanis and 20 Iranians, aboard vessels seized by the United States on the high seas, have been successfully repatriated.

“All individuals are in good health and high spirits,” Dar wrote in a post on X, adding that the welfare of Pakistanis abroad, particularly those in distress, remains the government’s highest priority.

“All individuals have reached Bangkok from Singapore and already boarded the flight scheduled to reach Islamabad later tonight,” he added. “Our [Iranian] brothers will then be facilitated to return to their homeland.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has stated that his country will “carry out [its] historical duty as protector of security” in the Strait of Hormuz.

In a post on X, Araghchi says he discussed this with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, adding that Iran is a “reliable partner of all friendly nations, who can rely on safety of commerce”.

US Central Command says that since the imposition of a naval blockade on Iranian ports, 75 commercial vessels have been redirected and four others disabled to “ensure compliance”.

Spain’s boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest over Israel’s war on Gaza puts it “on the right side of history”, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said ahead of the final in Austria.

“In the face of illegal war and also genocide, silence is not an option. And we cannot remain indifferent to what continues to happen in Gaza and in Lebanon,” Sanchez says in a video message posted on X.

“This year, therefore, will indeed be different. We will not be in Vienna, but we will do so with the conviction that we are on the right side of history.”

Lebanon’s health ministry says that 657 people have been killed and 1,444 injured since a ceasefire was declared between Lebanon and Hezbollah in mid-April, Al Jazeera reports.

It adds that at least 2,951 people have been killed and 8,988 others wounded in Israeli attacks since March 2.

US President Donald Trump has said he would accept Iran suspending its nuclear weapons programme for 20 years, as long as its commitment is “real”, according to Al Jazeera.

In a series of statements, Hezbollah has claimed to have hit an Israeli tank near the town of Bayada, as well as targeting three Israeli military bulldozers operating in the town of Khiam, Al Jazeera reports.

The Lebanese group has also claimed a rocket and artillery attack on a group of Israeli soldiers positioned in the town of Rashaf.

According to Al Jazeera, the Lebanese and Israeli delegations have arrived at the US State Department on the second day of US-sponsored negotiations.

When asked if he had rejected Iran’s latest proposal, US President Donald Trump has replied in the affirmative.

“I looked at it, and if I don’t like the first sentence, I just throw it away,” he tells reporters on Air Force One.

Asked what the first sentence of the rejected proposal was, Trump says it was “unacceptable”.

“If they have any nuclear of any form, I don’t read the rest of it,” he states.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei says Iran’s “courageous resistance” has made the country better prepared to confront the US, Al Jazeera reports.

In a statement to mark National Persian Language Preservation Day and commemorate the poet Ferdowsi, Khamenei says Iran “has demonstrated during the recent Sacred Defence (against the US-Zionist invasion) that Ferdowsi’s legendary tales are a reality of their lives and a reflection of their heroic character”.

He adds that the “valiant, Quranic concepts” in Ferdowsi’s epic poem Shahnameh “unite all Iranian ethnicities and social strata in preserving their identity, independence and in the battle against the ‘Zahhak-like’ aggressors”, referring to the personification of evil in Iranian mythology.

The naval forces of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards are allowing more ships to pass through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, state television says, after Tehran blocked the waterway following US-Israeli strikes, AFP reports.

“More vessels can now pass through the Strait of Hormuz with the coordination of the naval forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” or IRGC, a state TV reporter said from the southern port city of Bandar Abbas.

“This indicates that many countries have accepted the new legal protocols that Iran and the IRGC naval forces have established in this region and in the Strait of Hormuz.”

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says he had a good phone call with US President Donald Trump after his China trip and that both agreed Iran must return to the negotiating table, open the Strait of Hormuz and must not be allowed to have nuclear weapons, Reuters reports.

Merz said in posts on X that he and Trump also discussed a peaceful solution for Ukraine and coordinated their positions ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara, adding that the United States and Germany were strong partners in a strong NATO.