The US and Israel on Feb 28 launched what they described as a “pre-emptive” joint strike against Iranian targets, with Trump announcing start of “major combat operations”
Pakistan hosted the first round of face-to-face talks between the US and Iran in 47 years in April; the talks ended without a breakthrough, but also without a breakdown
The Lebanese government has established approximately 600 shelters across the country, including facilities in schools, government buildings, and other public sites. However, officials say these shelters have reached maximum capacity, according to Al Jazeera.
Large numbers of displaced people have taken refuge in public parks and makeshift tent settlements. In the capital, Beirut, hundreds of displaced residents have formed small communities across various neighbourhoods, struggling to meet their basic needs as the crisis deepens.
People set up tents at the Beirut waterfront, in Beirut, Lebanon, May 21, 2026. —Reuters
Three people have been killed and over a dozen injured by Israeli air strikes, as attacks escalate in southern Lebanon, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reports.
Two of them were identified as a father and son: Zuhair Ahmad Hashim and his son Ali, who were killed in an air strike by Israeli forces in the early hours of Saturday morning at their home in the Al-Marj neighbourhood of Ansar, north of Tyre. Seven other family members were also injured, Lebanon’s NNA said.
The Israeli military has issued another forced displacement order to residents of Jdeidet Ansar, Zrariyeh, Mazraat Kauthariyet el-Rez and Mashgharah, towns located in southern Lebanon between Sidon and Tyre, and in the Bekaa Valley, Al Jazeera reports.
The warning called on civilians to leave immediately and move north of the Zahrani River, just south of Sidon, as Israeli forces are escalating their attacks beyond their so-called security buffer zone.
An Iranian ballistic missile strike on a Kuwaiti air base “within the past 24 hours caused minor injuries to several Americans and seriously damaged two MQ-9 Reaper strike drones”, Bloombergreports, citing unnamed sources.
“Kuwaiti air defences intercepted the Fateh-110 missile, but falling debris struck the Ali Al Salem air base,” the report said, citing a person with direct knowledge of the attack, who requested anonymity.
The report comes after Iran on Thursday said it targeted a US airbase in retaliation for US strikes on an Iranian drone operation. While Iran had not provided details on the location of the base, Kuwait had condemned a drone-and-missile attack that it said Iran carried out.
Israel has issued a new forced displacement order for residents of Mayfadoun, Choukine, and Zebdine in the Nabatieh district of southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera reports.
In a post on X, the Israeli military warned all residents to “evacuate your homes immediately and move north of the Zahrani River”, which is located some 40km from Lebanon’s border with Israel.
The Israeli military has claimed it intercepted a “launch” that crossed into northern Israel from Lebanon, without providing further details on the object, according to Al Jazeera.
The military also did not say whether any damage or casualties resulted from the attack, which followed after air raid sirens were activated across several areas in Israel’s north earlier.
In a separate statement, the military said its forces had destroyed a Hezbollah launcher overnight after rockets were fired towards the north of the country.
The leader of Italy’s lower house of Parliament, Lorenzo Fontana, has appreciated Pakistan’s constructive role in promoting peace, dialogue, and diplomatic engagement during the ongoing tensions in the Gulf region, the National Assembly’s official account posted on X.
“In his letter to Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, the president of the Chamber of Deputies acknowledged Pakistan’s efforts for de-escalation, regional stability, and peaceful solutions in these challenging times,” it said.
“This recognition from the Italian Parliament reflects the international community’s respect for Pakistan’s principled commitment to peace and diplomacy and is a proud moment for the entire nation,” it added.
Australia has extended a measure that releases petrol and diesel from domestic reserves, Energy Minister Chris Bowen said, as the country continues to grapple with the impact of the Iran war on energy supplies, Reuters reports.
The measure — a 20 per cent temporary reduction to fuel companies’ minimum stockholding obligations, freeing up to 762 million litres of petrol and diesel — has been extended until September.
It was first introduced in March to help counter fuel shortages, particularly in regional areas, and was due to expire in July.
“I’ve reached a judgement that it’s best to provide that ongoing flexibility,” Bowen said in televised remarks.
The US is ready to restart attacks on Iran if a deal cannot be reached, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, as negotiators from Washington and Tehran worked to bridge major differences blocking an agreement, according to Reuters.
“Our ability to recommence if necessary…we are more than capable,” Hegseth said in Singapore.
“Our stockpiles are more than suited for that, both there and around the globe, so we’re in a very good place,” he added.
Hegseth, speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier forum for defence leaders, militaries and diplomats, said the US has not turned its back on the Asia-Pacific region despite being engaged in conflict with Iran.
Israeli forces are blowing up residential homes in the town of Dibbine, located in the Marjayoun district of southern Lebanon, AlJazeera Arabic reports.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that Washington remains committed to its international security priorities, explicitly declaring that “we still have global obligations to ensure that, say, Iran doesn’t get a nuclear weapon”, AlJazeera reports.
Hegseth made the remark during the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore.
US Central Command (Centcom) has said that “US forces remain present and vigilant across the [Middle East] region”, AlJazeera reports.
In a post on social media platform X, the Centcom also shared a photograph of an F-16 fighter jet it said was flying “over the Middle East during a patrol”.
The Israeli military said that it had intercepted several projectiles launched from Lebanon, where it is fighting Hezbollah, but that one had hit near a town in northern Israel, AFP reports.
“Several projectiles launched from Lebanon toward Israeli territory were identified,” the military said in a statement, adding no injuries had been reported.
“The majority of the projectiles were intercepted, and a hit was identified in the area of Kiryat Shmona,” it said.
The United States announced that it is “dismantling a sophisticated Iranian network” used to obtain sensitive military technology, AFP reports.
The network “impersonated and defrauded” dozens of American technology companies out of millions of dollars to “acquire advanced equipment — including spectrum analyzers and security detection devices — for Iran’s defense sector,” State Department Tommy Pigott said in a statement.
The statement did not name the technology companies who were lured into doing business through fake websites that “mimicked real American companies, using intermediaries in Dubai to receive shipments, and then smuggling the technology into Iran in violation of US sanctions”.
The United States has more than sufficient stockpiles of weapons and is “more than capable” of resuming the war with Iran, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said in Singapore, AFP reports.
“Our ability to recommence if necessary is (that) we are more than capable, our stockpiles are more than suited for that, both there and around the globe because of how we balance exquisite and more plentiful munitions,” Hegseth told Asia’s premier defence summit.
US President Donald Trump will only make a peace deal with Iran if it meets all his conditions, a White House official told AFP after the US leader huddled with aides to discuss a possible agreement.
“The Situation Room meeting has concluded and lasted approximately two hours. President Trump will only make a deal that is good for America and satisfies his red lines,” the White House official said on condition of anonymity.
• US president demands Iran never develop nuclear weapons, wants Hormuz opened without tolls • Tehran rejects Trump’s language, demands release of $12bn in frozen assets • Araghchi accuses US of excessive, shifting demands; Baqaei says no N-talks currently taking place • Vance says ‘lot of progress’ made in talks even as both sides trade barbs over truce violations • Washington denies Iran claim of destroying US plane in Bushehr
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump met advisers in the White House Situation Room for about two hours on Friday as he considered a potential agreement with Iran, though Tehran insisted there was still “no final agreement” on ending the Middle East war.
A report from Iran’s Fars news agency also rebutted several key elements of Trump’s characterisation of the deal, citing informed sources as calling his remarks a “mixture of truth and lies”.
US sources had told AFP the deal was just waiting on Trump’s sign-off following weeks of halting negotiations to end a conflict that had engulfed the Middle East and shaken the global economy.
“I will be meeting now, in the Situation Room, to make a final determination,” Trump said in a lengthy social media post before the session, reiterating long-held demands that Iran agree never to have nuclear weapons and must open the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, however, told state media that the Islamic republic “said goodbye to the language of ‘must’ 47 years ago”.
“Regarding the understanding… exchanges of messages are continuing, but no final agreement has been reached yet,” he added.
In his post, Trump said Tehran would remove mines in the Strait of Hormuz and end its blockade of the waterway with “no tolls”, while the US would lift its parallel blockade of Iranian ports, and the two countries would coordinate on removing and destroying Iran’s enriched uranium.
He also said “no money will be exchanged, until further notice”.
Fars, however, cited Iranian sources as saying that Tehran was demanding “the immediate release of $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets”, and that “until this payment is made, Iran will not move to the next phase of negotiations”.
As for the toll-free reopening of Hormuz, they said, “no such clause appears in the text of the agreement”, while the comment on destroying Iran’s nuclear material “is fundamentally baseless”.
Baqaei also told state TV that there were currently “no negotiations” taking place on Iran’s nuclear programme.
Earlier Iran’s parliament speaker, who led its delegation at peace talks with the US in Pakistan last month, said Tehran had gained leverage not “through talks, but through missiles”, and was sceptical of US promises.
“We place no trust in guarantees or words; only actions matter,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X.
‘A lot of progress’
Hopes of an agreement had risen on Thursday after US officials were positive about the direction of diplomacy, with Vance telling reporters “a lot of progress” had been made.
The optimism boosted US and Asian stock markets on Friday, while oil prices receded slightly.
Energy markets have whipsawed this week as investors parse the chances of an agreement that could potentially resume normal shipping through the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
Washington and Tehran have accused each other of violating the truce in and around the strait as recently as this week, with US strikes on the southern Iranian port of Bandar Abbas countered by retaliatory Iranian fire.
Iranian state TV said on Friday that 24 ships had transited the strait in the past 24 hours, in coordination with the Revolutionary Guards and the foreign ministry.
But it warned that “ships from hostile countries face a severe response” from Iran’s military.
‘US aircraft destroyed’
Earlier, Iran’s state TV said on Friday that a US aircraft was destroyed in Iran’s Jam governorate in Bushehr, citing its governor Masoud Tangestani, with no confirmation from the United States.
However, the US military said no American aircraft were shot down near Bushehr, Iran, despite a claim made on Iranian state TV. “No US aircraft were shot down. All US air assets are accounted for,” the US Central Command said in a post on X.
Iran president thanks Pakistan
Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian “thanked Malaysia for its humanitarian stance and Pakistan for its initiative and effective efforts to reach an agreement” to end the US-Israel war on his country.
In a post on X, Pezeshkian said that in his conversations with the prime ministers of Malaysia and Pakistan, he had emphasised “Iran’s commitment to diplomacy”.
“Iran’s policy is to expand cooperation with Muslim and neighbouring countries in all fields,” he added.
US President Donald Trump has finished a meeting during which he said would make a “final determination” on an Iran peace deal, a White House official tells AFP.
The official would not say if Trump had reached a decision on the deal with Tehran during the gathering in the high security White House Situation Room.
Iranian authorities are laying the groundwork for a “grand” funeral for slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, official media reports according to AFP, following a lengthy postponement due to Iran’s war with the United States and Israel.
Though the timing was still uncertain, “a special headquarters has been formed to prepare for the funeral ceremony, and various agencies are currently planning and making arrangements”, state TV reported, citing Mohsen Mahmoudi, head of the Tehran Coordination Council for Islamic Propaganda.
An event paying tribute to Khamenei was organised in April, but a state funeral that was initially announced could not be held because of the war.
State TV, citing Mahmoudi, said “different organisations are working to provide the necessary conditions so that, once officially announced, a ‘grand’ ceremony can be held”, adding “widespread attendance” was expected.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday that Pakistan remained firmly committed to its longstanding position on Palestine and Gaza and that there could be no change in Islamabad’s stance towards Israel without the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
He said this during a press conference at Pakistan’s embassy in Washington after a meeting with Rubio. Dar’s statement was in response to a question about US President Donald Trump urging Muslim countries to join the Abraham Accords as part of a deal with Iran.
In his response to the question, Dar also said he had reiterated Pakistan’s position during his engagements at the United Nations earlier this week.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar at the State Department in Washington, DC, US on May 29, 2026. — Reuters
