War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Russia’s envoy to international organisations in Geneva has said that the Iranian assessment of talks to end the war is likely closer to reality than that of the US, which he suggested has portrayed more progress than exists, AlJazeera reports.

In a social media post on X, Mikhail Ulyanov said: “Iranian assessments are closer to actual state of affairs.”

He added that US messaging at this stage is “less responsible”.

Iran’s mission to the UN has accused Washington’s “excessive demands” of pushing nuclear nonproliferation talks towards collapse, AlJazeera reports.

“The NPT Review Conference failed for the third consecutive time due to obstructionism by the US and its allies,” the mission said in a post on X.

It added that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty — designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and, ultimately, achieve a world free of them — has “no future” without broader disarmament efforts.

The Trump administration was preparing for a fresh round of military strikes against Iran, according to sources with direct knowledge of the planning, even as diplomacy continued, CBS reports.

Some members of the US military and intelligence community canceled their plans for the Memorial Day weekend in anticipation of possible strikes, several sources said. 

Defense and intelligence officials began updating recall rosters for US installations overseas as tranches of troops stationed in the Middle East rotate out of the theater, part of an effort to reduce the American military footprint in the region amid concern about possible Iranian retaliation.

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Twenty-seven countries have moved since the Iran war started to put in place crisis instruments that could quickly access funding from existing World Bank programs, according to an internal document viewed by Reuters.

The World Bank document did not name the countries or the total amount of funds potentially being sought. The World Bank declined to comment.

The document showed that three countries had approved new instruments since the Middle East conflict began on February 28 while the others were still completing the process.

Indian state-owned fuel retailers raised petrol and diesel prices for the third time this month, dealers said, as the companies look to recoup losses caused by elevated crude oil prices amid the Middle East war, Reuters reports.

Petrol in New Delhi will cost 0.87 rupees (just under 1 US cent) more at 99.51 rupees a litre, while diesel prices will be raised 0.91 rupees to 92.49 rupees per litre, dealers said.

India, the world’s third-largest importer and consumer of oil, was one of the last major economies to raise retail fuel prices after the US-Israeli war on Iran triggered a surge in prices globally.

US President Donald briefly mentioned Iran during a speech in New York state, Al Jazeera reports.

“We have stopped them. They’re never going to have a nuclear weapon, and they know that,” Trump said. “It’ll be over with soon.”

He also talked about how the world views his decisions to attack Iran and Venezuela during his speech.

“How did we do in Venezuela? Not bad,” he said. “We’ve taken out so much oil in Venezuela, we paid for the cost of the war [on Iran] about 25 times over.”

France has drafted a UN Security Council resolution on setting up an international mission to restore movement in the Strait of Hormuz and could submit it if conditions are right, the foreign ministry says according to Reuters, as Washington struggles to bring to a vote a text Russia and China may say is biased against Tehran.

A US-Bahraini resolution on the strait has been under discussion for more than two weeks, with a vote repeatedly delayed as China and Russia signal they could veto it.

The US-Bahraini draft resolution demands Iran halt attacks and mining in the strait. China and Russia vetoed a similar US-backed text in April, arguing it was biased against Tehran.

Washington has secured almost 140 countries to co-sponsor its text in the hope of avoiding a veto, two European diplomats said. France, another veto-wielding power, has so far refused to back the US text.

A third Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker is transiting the Strait of Hormuz and heading to China, ship-tracking data shows according to Reuters, as a Qatari negotiating team arrives in Tehran to try to help secure a deal to end the war with Iran.

As shipments through the waterway continue to be erratic, this third transit of a Qatari LNG tanker is taking place nearly two weeks after a first such cargo passed through the strait under a Pakistan-Iran arrangement.

The vessel, Al Sahla, with a capacity of 211,842 cubic metres, left Ras Laffan and is expected to arrive at China’s Tianjin LNG terminal on June 14, according to LSEG shipping data.

Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte has said that Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz “affects us all”, as foreign ministers gather for a summit in Sweden, according to Al Jazeera.

“It is important that countries are coming together around plans to ensure that the Strait can be open for transit,” Reuters reported Rutte telling a news conference.

“Iran’s direct assault on freedom of navigation impacts us all,” the Nato chief added.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei has said that peace negotiations with the United States are not “close”, adding that it is difficult to say whether a deal could be reached within “weeks or months”, Al Jazeera reported.

State media quoted him as saying that the gaps between Tehran and Washington remain “deep and significant”.

“We cannot necessarily say that we have reached a point where an agreement is close,” he said. “The focus of the negotiations is on ending the war. Details related to the nuclear issue are not being discussed at this stage.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Japan’s Toshimitsu Motegi have held a phone conversation, Al Jazeera reports according to Araghchi’s official Telegram account.

A brief statement said the call was held “to discuss bilateral issues and the latest regional and international developments”.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said any demand for Iran to hand over its highly enriched uranium to the United States was a “non-starter”, reports Al Jazeera.

“We will not reach a conclusion if we try to delve into details related to highly enriched uranium in Iran,” he was quoted as saying by the state-run IRNA news agency.

Baghaei also said a Qatari delegation was currently holding talks with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, adding that Pakistan remained the main mediator in the negotiations.

Record-low US consumer confidence in May was even worse than initially reported, according to fresh data released by the University of Michigan, with Americans battered by the economic fallout of the Iran war, reports AFP.

According to final figures, the university’s consumer sentiment index came in at 44.8 points, down from 48.2 points in its preliminary estimate released on May 8.

The reading is the lowest level since data collection began in 1952, according to the survey’s website.

“The cost of living continues to be a first-order concern, with 57 percent of consumers spontaneously mentioning that high prices were eroding their personal finances, up from 50 percent last month,” said Joanne Hsu, director of the survey.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and discussed the opening of the Strait of Hormuz.

He also discussed “working toward greater regional stability”.

Wall Street’s main indexes rose ahead of a long weekend, with the blue-chip Dow hitting a record high for the first time since the Iran war began, as investors tracked progress in talks to end the nearly three-month-old conflict, reports Reuters.

The S&P 500 is on track for an eighth consecutive weekly gain, which would mark its best winning streak since December 2023.

Most megacap and growth stocks traded higher, with Apple up 2 per cent, hitting a market capitalisation of more than $4.5 trillion for the first time.

Semiconductor stocks, a key driver of recent Wall Street gains, were broadly up with the Philadelphia chip index rising 2.4pc. Qualcomm led the pack with a 12% jump.

PC makers Dell Technologies and HP Inc surged over 15pc each after China’s Lenovo Group reported a better-than-expected 27pc jump in quarterly revenue.

An Israeli air strike targeted the town of Ghandouriya in southern Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil district, reports Al Jazeera.

Shelling also hit the town of Yohmor al-Shaqif. Meanwhile, Hezbollah claimed additional attacks against invading Israeli forces.

The Royal International Air Tattoo, one of the world’s largest defence shows, has been cancelled due to military operations linked to the Iran war, it said on Friday, reports Reuters.

RIAT had been scheduled for July 17-19 at RAF Fairford, an active Royal Air Force base used by the US Air Force, in southwest England. The airshow attracts more than 150,000 visitors every year.

“This has not been an easy decision. It follows extensive discussions with the Royal Air Force and the United States Air Force regarding uncertainty over access to RAF Fairford, given the ongoing situation in the Middle East,” RIAT said on its website.

The use of British military bases by US forces for the Iran war became a point of tension between Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Donald Trump.

NATO’s mission to Iraq, which was entirely evacuated to a base in Italy due to the Middle East war, could return to Baghdad in the coming months, its former commander told AFP.

“The general staff is working on various options” to allow the mission to return to Iraq, said French General Christophe Hintzy, who this week handed over command of the mission to Spanish General Ramon Armada.

“Where, when, how? We have no idea. But the determination is in our bones,” he added after the handover ceremony on Tuesday in the presence of his successor, specifying that “several scenarios” were under consideration for this return, which should take place “step by step”.

“But we won’t be going back in the same configuration. It will be a much smaller setup,” he added, saying he could not give any figures.

The NATO mission in Iraq, launched in 2018 at the request of the Iraqi government, is a non-combat mission focused on advising and strengthening Iraq’s military and security capabilities.

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander of the Mohammad Rasul Allah Corps said the country’s armed forces were “more prepared than ever before”, reports Tasnim.

He warned that if “the enemy makes a mistake”, Iran’s armed forces would respond “more forcefully and decisively than before”.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi spoke on call with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud, said the Saudi Ministry of Interior in a post on X.

Iran’s representative to China has praised Beijing for being the only power to present a peace initiative during the war, “with the support of Pakistan”.

The European Union has amended its sanctions framework to target those it says have facilitated Iran in “threatening the freedom of navigation in the Middle East”, Al Jazeera reports.

The restrictions were originally established to address Tehran’s support for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“The EU will now be able to introduce further restrictive measures in response to Iran’s actions undermining the freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” the European Council said, including travel restrictions and asset freezes on individuals.

Israeli air defences have intercepted two “suspicious aerial targets” launched from Lebanon that triggered warning alarms in northern Israel, Al Jazeera reports.

Israel’s military wrote on Telegram that the incoming projectiles were identified in the border area with Lebanon.

The incident is under investigation, it added.

As part of the US blockade against Iran, American forces have redirected 97 commercial vessels and disabled four since the start of the blockade, US Central Command said in a post on X.