Trump says he will not unfreeze Iran's assets ahead before deal is done
President Donald Trump said he will not unfreeze Iranian assets or lift any sanctions before a peace deal is reached.
In a recent interview with NBC News’ "Meet the Press", Trump said he would consider those steps after an agreement is reached. "Comes after," he said. "Yeah. If they behave, if they do a good job, we start talking. Yeah."
Trump also said that he was not demanding that Lebanon be a part of a short-term deal with Tehran.
Israeli strikes come days after Trump warned Netanyahu against attacks on Beirut's southern suburbs
Israeli strikes hit two buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs, reports Lebanese state media. "The raid on Beirut's southern suburbs targeted two apartments in two buildings," Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said.
Witnesses say several blasts were heard and a multi-story building was hit in the Hezbollah stronghold areas known as Dahiyeh.
The strikes in Beirut's southern suburbs were the first since an April 16 ceasefire was brokered by the US.
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump confronted Netanyahu over Israeli threats to resume air strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, according to Axios. Trump told Netanyahu not to target Beirut after Tehran had warned that Israeli strikes in Lebanon were undermining talks to end the Iran war, which began with joint US-Israeli attacks, the US website reported.
- Israel military strikes Beirut's southern suburbs, PM's office says
- More sanctions could be imposed on Israeli settlers in 'coming days', French FM says
- Israeli military says it intercepted two projectiles that crossed from Lebanon
Israel military strikes Beirut's southern suburbs, PM's office says
The Israeli military has struck on Sunday "terrorist" headquarters in the Lebanese capital Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold known as Dahiyeh, in response to the group's fire toward Israeli territory, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement.
"In accordance with the directives of Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defence Minister Katz, the Israel Defence Forces have just struck a militant command centre in Beirut's Dahiyeh district, in response to Hezbollah's fire towards Israeli territory," Netanyahu's office said.
Plane carrying Iran football team lands in Mexico, reports say
A plane carrying Iran's World Cup football squad landed early Sunday in the Mexican border city of Tijuana, AFP journalists witnessed, after the US kicked off a bitter diplomatic row over visas.
An AFP photographer saw the plane, which departed Turkey with a stop in Spain, land around 5am (1200 GMT) local time in Tijuana, where the Iranian team will be based during the tournament co-hosted by Mexico, the United States and Canada.
Israel kills five in strike on Hamas-led police station in Gaza
An Israeli airstrike on a Hamas-led police station in the Gaza Strip killed five Palestinians and wounded at least 16 others on Sunday, health officials said.
Medics did not say how many of the casualties were police.
The strike hit a police post adjacent to a large tent encampment of displaced families in Khan Younis in the south of the enclave. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the incident.
Israel has stepped up attacks against police headquarters and personnel in the past several months, killing dozens of them, according to Hamas security officials.
More sanctions could be imposed on Israeli settlers in 'coming days', French FM says
Israeli settlers could face further sanctions in coming days in protest at the escalation of illegal settlements in the West Bank and a surge in violence by settlers against Palestinians, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said.
The European Union imposed sanctions on Israeli settlers and organisations that support them late last month.
Speaking to Public Senat television and RTL radio, Barrot did not name the European countries he said could impose further measures.
But in a reference to the previous EU sanctions, he said: "We could go further, and in the coming days, further sanctions could be imposed."
Israeli military tells residents of Lebanon's Tyre to leave homes
The Israeli military asked the residents of the southern Lebanese city of Tyre and its surrounding areas to leave their homes on Sunday ahead of possible strikes.
Pakistan’s interior minister in Tehran
In a fresh bid to restart negotiations between Iran and the US, Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi is in Tehran to deliver a message to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei from Pakistan's army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, according to Iranian state-run IRNA news agency.
Khamenei has not been seen in public since he was named the Islamic Republic’s ruler after his father was killed on the first day of the war on Feb. 28 when the US and Israel lauched a bombardment campaign against Iran.
Naqvi met with Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni late Saturday, and held talks Sunday morning with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, according to official Iranian media.
There were no details on the contents of the message. Pakistani authorities have said Islamabad, with support from regional countries including Qatar, Turkey and Egypt, has been working to help bridge differences between the United States and Iran and encourage efforts aimed at reducing tensions and ensuring the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Dubai luxury hotels court local residents as tourism slumps
Once reserved for wealthy travellers, Dubai's top-notch hotels have become almost exclusively reliant on residents, drawn in by dizzying staycation offers as war drives tourists away.
On the Palm, an artificial island that has become synonymous with Dubai opulence, five-star hotels are busy on weekends and holidays once more, despite having been largely deserted by international travellers.
Israeli troops kill baby, injure parents in West Bank
Israeli troops shot at a car in the occupied West Bank, killing a 7-month-old Palestinian baby and wounding his parents, the Palestinian health ministry said, with the bullet striking the boy in the face.
The Israeli military said that soldiers shot at a vehicle perceived to be accelerating toward them near Hebron. It said an initial inquiry found that the three Palestinians wounded were uninvolved civilians.
Simultaneous shootings in Israel and West Bank leave one dead, six wounded
The Israeli-occupied West Bank and nearby Israeli towns have witnessed several simultaneous shooting incidents, leaving at least one man dead and four others wounded, according to Israel’s rescue services, Magen David Adom.
Israel’s police said they had killed at least one attacker and are carrying out searches for additional assailants. Residents in the area were instructed to stay at home.
Magen David Adom said it received the first reports of a shooting at a gas station near the town of Kokhav Yair, located on the Israeli side of the boundary with the West Bank, at around 10:30 am. Several other shooting reports were received soon afterward, including one inside the West Bank.
People in Lebanon 'struggling to see evidence of ceasefire' as Israeli strikes continue
Following continued Israeli strikes, including one that killed several members of the country's armed forces on Saturday, people in Lebanon are "struggling to see evidence of a ceasefire" with Israel, despite both countries agreeing to down weapons said FRANCE 24's Antonia Kerrigan reporting from Lebanon.
Greece arrests Palestinian suspected of Hamas links: police
Greece has arrested a Palestinian man suspected of links to the Islamist movement Hamas for "planning terrorist acts", police said late Saturday.
37-year-old was arrested Saturday on the island of Crete where he was working in a hotel, media reports said.
"According to the information available so far, he was linked to individuals recently arrested in Cyprus for terrorism-related offences," the police said in a statement, adding that he had allegedly "received training" by Hamas.
Greek media reported that the man may have been targeting an Israeli cruise ship expected to arrive in Crete on Tuesday.
State TV ERT said man had rented a flat in central Athens where police found laboratory equipment and chemicals that could be used to make a bomb.
Investigations are ongoing, the police said.
Israeli military says it intercepted two projectiles that crossed from Lebanon
The Israeli military said it intercepted two projectiles that crossed into Israeli territory from Lebanon on Sunday.
"Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in the areas of Yiftah and Ramot Naftali, two projectiles that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory were intercepted," the military reported.
Israel and Lebanon agreed to a new US-brokered ceasefire on Wednesday. However, Hezbollah has rejected the agreement.
Iran World Cup team expected in Mexico as US visa row rages
Iran's World Cup squad is expected to arrive in Mexico early Sunday under the shadow of a bitter diplomatic row between Tehran and Washington, after the United States refused to issue visas for some team support staff.
The Iran team departed Turkey, where they had been training, on Saturday bound for Mexico, Iranian television announced.
They are expected to arrive early Sunday in Tijuana, a border city in northwest Mexico where they will be based for the tournament's duration.
On the eve of their departure for Mexico Iranian officials said that 15 administrative and management staff had been denied visas.
Adding to the tensions, Iran's ambassador to Mexico said Saturday the squad had been notified that under their visa conditions, the team must enter and leave US soil on the same day as their matches.
Iran are due to play their three group games on US soil, making the first World Cup to see a host nation receive the team of a country it is at war with.
As OPEC+ meets, Iran war hobbles power to shape oil market
OPEC+ ministers meet Sunday to weigh higher production quotas in a bid to cap oil prices that have surged since the Iran war effectively choked off Gulf crude shipments.
But even if the 21 member states vow to ramp up output by thousands of barrels per day, analysts say geopolitical realities mean they probably won't move the needle on prices.
With the crucial Strait of Hormuz shut since US and Israeli attacks on Iran in late February, oil prices have nearly doubled, igniting inflation pressures worldwide.
And with key Gulf producers still shut out of the global market, pledges to raise output in a bid to ease spiralling prices are unlikely to sway traders.
US says it destroyed two Iran drones targeting Hormuz shipping
The US military said late Saturday it shot down two Iranian attack drones threatening Strait of Hormuz shipping traffic, the latest clash between the warring forces as tensions escalate anew in the Middle East.
"Earlier today, US forces in the Middle East shot down two Iranian one-way attack drones that threatened international maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz," US Central Command said on its X account.
"American forces remain postured and ready to continue defending against Iranian aggression."
Welcome to the FRANCE 24 liveblog covering events in the Middle East. Click here to catch up on what happened yesterday.
Yesterday's key developments
- Iran fired seven ballistic missiles toward Kuwait and Bahrain hours after US forces shot down four Iranian one-way attack drones that were launched toward the Strait of Hormuz , the US military said.
- Several Lebanese soldiers, including an officer, were killed in an Israeli strike targeting their military vehicle on the Khardali-Nabatieh road in south Lebanon, the Lebanese army said. The Israeli army announced the deaths of two soldiers who had been fighting in southern Lebanon .
- The UN food agency said millions of people are being pushed into acute hunger by the Iran war , as it warned would happen if the conflict escalated and oil prices remained high.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
