War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Iranian lawmaker Ebrahim Rezaei, a spokesperson for the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, has said that diplomats representing Tehran in mediated talks with the US “must negotiate from a position of victorious power”.

“The definitive victor of the war has been and remains the valiant Iranian nation,” Rezaei said in a post on X.

Spokesperson for Iran’s armed forces Abolfazl Shekarchi has warned that Tehran has “identified its targets” in case of an attack from the US and Israel and remains “ready for war,” Press TV reports.

“The response to any new aggression will be different from previous ones,” the spokesperson said, stressing that attacks will “go beyond regional borders and will be much more intense, devastating, and forceful”.

“If war breaks out again and Iran’s exports are blocked, the Islamic Republic of Iran will prevent the export of oil from the region,” the spokesperson further warned.

Israeli air attack on the town of Kfar Sir in the Nabatieh district of southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera reports.

Waves of Israeli attacks were reported across south Lebanon’s Tyre and Nabatieh districts, as well as in Mashgara in the western Bekaa Valley area, on Monday.

Pakistan has expressed support for the four proposals put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping on safeguarding and promoting peace and stability in the Middle East, according to a joint statement released at the conclusion of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to China.

According to the statement shared by the Foreign Office, China appreciated Pakistan’s efforts in facilitating a temporary ceasefire between the United States and Iran, as well as hosting talks in Islamabad.

“Both sides reiterated the importance of early implementation of a five-point initiative for restoring peace and stability in the Gulf and the Middle East region,” the statement added.

The two sides also expressed their readiness to jointly make positive contributions toward the early restoration of peace and stability in the region.

Brent crude futures rise over 2 per cent in Asian trade after the US military carried out strikes in Iran, keeping markets on edge as a deal to end the war and open up the Strait of Hormuz remained elusive, according to Reuters.

Brent futures up$1.98, or 2.1pc, to $98.12 a barrel as of 0405 GMT, after settling 7pc lower in the previous session.

US West Texas Intermediate crude was at$91.79 a barrel, up slightly from Monday’s last traded price but down $4.81, or 5pc, from Friday’s close. There was no settlement on Monday due to the US Memorial Day holiday.

The Japanese government approved $3 billion in spending on Tuesday to help households pay their electricity and gas bills as utility costs rise due to the Middle East war, AFP reports.

Like many Asian economies, Japan relies heavily on imported fuel from the Middle East, and has moved to counter the impact of the Strait of Hormuz blockade on supplies and prices.

The decision to help cover bills for three months from July comes a day after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced a plan to compile a $19bn extra budget to help tackle soaring prices of everyday goods.

“We approved the spending of 513.5bn yen at the cabinet meeting today” to support electricity and gas bills between July and September, Masanao Ozaki, deputy chief cabinet secretary, told reporters.

Qatar has denied that it “offered” Iran $12 billion to finalise an agreement that would end the stalled US-Israeli war, a conflict that sent shockwaves through the region and beyond, Anadolu reports.

“Reports claiming that the State of Qatar ‘offered’ $12 billion to Iran to ensure the conclusion of an agreement are utterly baseless and are being circulated by parties seeking to derail the agreement and undermine diplomatic efforts aimed at de-escalating tensions and promoting stability in the region,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said on US social media platform X.

“Qatar’s diplomatic role, in coordination with regional partners, is well established & publicly documented, & such narratives are nothing more than desperate attempts to tarnish Qatar’s reputation as a trusted international peace facilitator,” he added.

Sri Lanka’s central bank stunned markets by raising its benchmark policy rate by an outsized 100 basis points, as policymakers scrambled to stem inflation and support a currency buckling under soaring energy prices, Reuters reports.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka CBSL) raised the overnight policy rate to 8.75 per cent from 7.75pc, blaming higher inflation and a depreciating rupee due to the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Sri Lanka, fully reliant on imported fuel, has been battered by the Iran war-driven energy shock that has forced a 40pc fuel price hike, rationing, and even public holidays on Wednesdays.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the Strait of Hormuz has to be open, “one way or the other”, when referring to recent US strikes on Iran, Reuters reports.

“The straits have to be open, they’re going to be open one way or the other, so they need to be open,” Rubio told reporters on his plane in India’s Jaipur.

He said the negotiating language of the deal with Iran could “take a few days”.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that a deal with Iran was still possible despite new American strikes that cast doubt on their fragile ceasefire, AFP reports.

“There were some talks going on in Qatar today, so we’ll see if we can make progress. I think it’s a lot of talking back and forth going on about specific language in the initial document, so it’ll take a few days,” Rubio told reporters in Jaipur during an official visit to India.

“The president’s expressed his desire to make it. He’s either going to make a good deal or no deal,” he said.

The price of the main US benchmark for oil fell more than five per cent, despite US forces launching new strikes on Iran, AFP reports.

Around 0030 GMT, the price of West Texas Intermediate was down 5.46pc at $91.33 a barrel.

However, North Sea Brent crude was up 1.6pc at $97.68 a barrel.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, the US president has reiterated that Iran’s enriched uranium should be turned over to the US to be destroyed, or destroyed at an acceptable location.

“The Enriched Uranium (Nuclear Dust!) will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed or, preferably, in conjunction and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran, destroyed in place or, at another acceptable location, with the Atomic Energy Commission, or its equivalent, being witness to this process and event,” he said.

The US military carried ​out strikes on ‌Monday in southern Iran against targets including ​boats attempting ​to lay mines and ⁠missile launch sites, ​in what it ​described as defensive actions, Reuters reports.

US Central Command said in ​a statement the ​strikes were designed “to protect ‌our ⁠troops from threats posed by Iranian forces”.

“US Central Command ​continues to ​defend ⁠our forces while using ​restraint during the ​ongoing ⁠ceasefire,” said Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, ⁠a ​Central Command ​spokesperson.

US Senator Chris Murphy has written a post on X noting that the country’s war on Iran has given Tehran control of the Strait of Hormuz, regardless of whatever agreement is reached.

“What a masterclass in incomptence by Trump and his team,” he writes.

Iranian parliamentarian Mahmoud Nabavian says in a post on X, “Relinquishing management and sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz in an agreement with the enemy, for any reason, would be a pure loss and would lead to the defeat of the Iranian nation.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he ordered the military to intensify its offensive in Lebanon in an effort to “crush” Hezbollah, accusing the group of targeting Israeli forces with drone attacks, according to AFP.

“I have ordered an even greater acceleration of our operations,” Netanyahu says in a video statement posted on his Telegram channel.

“It is true that they are attacking us with drones, including fibre-optic drones, but we have teams working on countermeasures and we will solve this issue… We will intensify our blows, increase our firepower, and we will crush them.”

National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq has congratulated his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, on his re-election as the speaker of Iran’s parliament.

In a statement, he said Ghalibaf’s re-election is a “profound testament to the trust, confidence, and unwavering support reposed in his visionary leadership by the esteemed Members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran”.

Recalling Ghalibaf’s visit to Pakistan last year, Sadiq remarked that the visit significantly contributed towards strengthening parliamentary diplomacy, people-to-people linkages and government-to-government engagements between Islamabad and Tehran.

Sadiq also expressed confidence that under his counterpart, parliamentary cooperation and institutional exchanges between Pakistan and Iran would witness further expansion and consolidation.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has issued an order to reopen international internet access, Reuters reports citing Iranian state media reports, which cited the head of public relations at Iran’s communications ministry.

Most Iranians have been unable to access the World Wide Web for 87 days, according to the internet observatory NetBlocks, with only a few citizens having access to expensive and advanced VPNs that circumvent the restrictions.

US President Donald Trump says the country lost “13 wonderful” troops killed in combat operations in Iran, reiterating his claim that Tehran will never have a nuclear weapon.

The president is addressing a Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.

“The focus of the delegation’s visit to Doha is on issues relating to the Strait of Hormuz and highly enriched uranium,” Al Jazeera reports citing a regional diplomat.

“The governor of the Central Bank is part of the delegation to discuss the issue of frozen funds, which is addressed in the [memorandum of understanding] as part of an eventual final deal,” the source adds.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health says that a total of 3,185 people have been killed by Israel since it entered a state of open war with Hezbollah on March 2, Al Jazeera reports.

A further 9,633 people have been wounded over that same period, it adds.