“Based on television, … those children look very hungry,” Trump said. “But we’re giving a lot of money and a lot of food, and other nations are now stepping up.” Even as Trump again dismissed the idea of recognizing Palestine as a state, he seemed unbothered by European allies doing so (Read more at Politico).
US said French President Emmanuel Macron's decision to recognise a Palestinian state 'undercuts' American diplomacy. The US State Department labelled the three-day event "unproductive and ill-timed", as well as a "publicity stunt" that would make finding peace harder. The diplomatic push is a "reward for terrorism", the statement said (Read more at Middle East Eye).
“When you get it down to a certain number, you’re going to be able to make a deal with Hamas because once they give them up, then they feel that that’s going to be the end of them,” Trump said, referring to hostage negotiations. “They [Hamas] don’t want to give [the hostages] back, and so Israel is going to have to make a decision.” (Read more at New York Post)
An internal US government analysis released Friday (July 25) found no evidence that the Palestinian militant group Hamas systematically stole US-funded humanitarian aid in Gaza, challenging claims from both Israel and the United States that have been used to justify a controversial new private armed aid effort (Read more at CNA).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump appeared to abandon Gaza ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, both saying it had become clear that the Palestinian militants did not want a deal. Trump said he believed Hamas leaders would now be "hunted down", telling reporters: "Hamas really didn't want to make a deal. I think they want to die. And it's very bad. And it got to be to a point where you're going to have to finish the job." (Read more at SBS)
A former US Army Special Forces officer revealed that he resigned from his role at the Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) after witnessing the shelling of aid-seeking civilians in the besieged enclave. Lieutenant-Colonel Anthony Aguilar said he had never seen such "brutality and use of indiscriminate and unnecessary force against a civilian population, an unarmed, starving population" (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Israel was running low on Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) interceptors as Iranian ballistic missiles slammed into Israeli cities in June. But Saudi Arabia was well placed to help Israel, and US officials have been keen to emphasise that Iran is a threat to them as well as Israel (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The US is cutting short Gaza ceasefire talks and bringing its negotiators home from Qatar after Hamas' latest response showed a "lack of desire" for a truce, US envoy Steve Witkoff said Thursday. Hamas said in a statement that it was surprised by Witkoff’s “negative remarks” and that it has shown responsibility and flexibility in negotiations (Read more at France 24).
The United States on Thursday announced the approval of a $4.67 billion sale of the NASAMS air defense system and related support to Egypt. “The proposed sale will improve Egypt’s capability to meet current and future threats by improving its ability to detect various air threats,” the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a statement. The State Department approved the possible sale of the system to Egypt (Read more at Defense Post).
U.S. citizen Hosam Saraya died last week in the predominantly Druze region of Sweida. "What I can say is we have had direct discussions with the Syrian government on this issue, and have called for an immediate investigation into the matter," Pigott told reporters during a press briefing (Read more at AOL).
The U.S. Treasury Department in March revoked key licenses that allowed some companies to export Venezuelan oil and fuel to the U.S. after President Donald Trump criticized the OPEC nation's record on migration and democracy. Gulf Coast imports of oil from the Middle East, mainly Iraqi Qaiyarah, Kuwait's Eocene and Saudi Arabia's medium sour Arab Light, also ramped up sharply this month to 212,000 bpd, the highest since January (Read more at Yahoo Finance).
Syria, the United States, and France issued a joint statement on Friday, stating that they had agreed to expedite efforts to ensure the success of Syria's transition, unity, and territorial integrity. They also agreed to support efforts to hold those responsible for violence accountable. They committed to cooperating on the “shared fight against terrorism in all forms” and to strengthening the capacity of the Syrian government to address security challenges (Read more at Yahoo).
Early this morning in al-Bab, Aleppo Governate, Syria, CENTCOM Forces conducted a raid resulting in the death of senior ISIS Leader, Dhiya’ Zawba Muslih al-Hardani, and his two adult ISIS-affiliated sons, Abdallah Dhiya al-Hardani and Abd al-Rahman Dhiya Zawba al-Hardani (Read more at Centcom).
He called the move reckless and damaging to peace efforts, echoing earlier criticism from Washington. Macron is okay, Trump said, but added "here's the good news, what he says doesn't matter." The French president's statement "doesn't carry any weight," he said (Read more at MSN).
"U.S. destroyer 'Fitzgerald' attempted to approach waters under Iran's monitoring, in a provocative move", Iranian state TV said, adding that the destroyer moved out of the area upon continued warning. Asked about the incident, a U.S. defense official told Reuters: "This interaction had no impact to USS Fitzgerald's mission and any reports claiming otherwise are falsehoods and attempts by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to spread misinformation." (Read more at Straits Times)
US Special Envoy Tom Barrack has proposed a plan to Lebanon’s top officials that would see the full disarmament of Hezbollah within four months. In return, Israel would halt its strikes and withdraw its forces from positions it still occupies in southern Lebanon. In his address, Qassem reiterated Hezbollah’s readiness to discuss all matters, including its weapons, but only within the context of a Lebanese national dialogue, and not under American pressure or threats (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Last month, a Quinnipiac poll found that 64 percent of Republicans sympathised more with Israel than with the Palestinians. That sounds like a lot - until you consider that just one year earlier, that number was 78 percent in the same poll. Sympathy for Palestinians did not increase: only 7 percent said they sympathised with Palestinians. So the drop was solely due to a declining view of Israel (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The same day Witkoff pulled out of talks, the State Department was grilled by reporters over what aid experts say is an impending famine. A Financial Times reporter asked Pigott: "We all acknowledge obviously that Israel controls Gaza's borders completely and it is limiting food to the population because Hamas has not agreed to its terms... to be clear, is the US government okay with Israel allowing children and adult civilians to starve so long as Hamas and the UN refuse to play by Israel's rules?" (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The Iranian diplomat said talks could resume as long as Tehran's rights under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty are recognized, Washington builds trust with Tehran, and guarantees that negotiations will not lead to renewed military action against Iran (Read more at Yahoo News).
“There’s nothing further beyond to say other than we will not be in attendance at that conference,” deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott said at a news conference when asked about US participation. The conference is being co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia at the UN headquarters in New York. It is seeking to chart a roadmap for the recognition of a Palestinian state (Source: Anadolu Ajansı).
It comes as the university negotiates with the Trump administration over frozen research funds (Read more at NPR).
A U.S. envoy has urged Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to recalibrate his policies and embrace a more inclusive approach after a new round of sectarian bloodshed last week, or risk losing international support and fragmenting the country. U.S. envoy to Syria Thomas Barrack said he had advised Sharaa in private discussions to revisit elements of the pre-war army structure, scale back Islamist indoctrination and seek regional security assistance (Read more at Global Banking and Finance Review).
Among those targeted was Muhammad Al-Sunaydar, who the Treasury said manages a network of petroleum companies and was one of the most prominent petroleum importers in Yemen (Read more at Arabnews).
The vehicles will be used by the Israeli military’s Ground Forces to replenish equipment after nearly two years of war with Gaza and to prepare for future conflicts (Read more at Defense Post).
SDF leader Mazloum Abdi signed an agreement in March with Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa, outlining the full merger of the SDF and its agencies into the Damascus government. However, progress has stalled as the SDF and other Kurdish groups have demanded autonomy and resisted merging under the Syrian defence ministry, insisting on retaining a separate military command and organisational structure within the Syrian army (Read more at Middle East Eye).
US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has come under fire for defending her decision to support a bill which will see more military aid go to Israel's Iron Dome air defence system. Ocasio-Cortez claimed that Green's amendment did "nothing to cut off offensive aid to Israel nor end the flow of US munitions being used in Gaza". (Read more at Middle East Eye)
He said it n response to a reporter’s question about Lebanese demands that the U.S. guarantees a halt to Israeli strikes on Lebanese territory. The U.S. last month proposed a roadmap to Lebanon’s top officials to fully disarm Hezbollah within four months, in exchange for a halt to Israeli strikes and a withdrawal of Israeli troops still occupying positions in southern Lebanon (Read more at Middle East Online).
"Bibi acted like a madman. He bombs everything all the time," one White House official said. "This could undermine what Trump is trying to do. Another U.S. official said there's growing skepticism inside the Trump administration about Netanyahu — a sense that his trigger finger is too itchy and he's too disruptive. "Netanyahu is sometimes like a child who just won't behave." (Read more at Axios)
Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi met on Saturday with US ambassador to Turkiye and Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack and his Syrian counterpart Asaad Al-Shaibani to discuss recent developments in Syria. The talks also addressed the importance of enforcing the ceasefire to safeguard Syria’s unity, protect civilians and uphold the rule of law, amid concerns over instability and violence in the region (Read more at Arabnews).
The UAE’s bid to buy hundreds of thousands of advanced AI chips from Nvidia is being held up by US officials concerned that China could gain access to advanced American technology. Bloomberg reported earlier this month that neither Saudi Arabia nor the UAE have been approved to receive the chips by the Commerce Department (Read more at Middle East Eye).
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called on Saturday for the perpetrators of an attack on a Palestinian church in the occupied West Bank blamed on Israeli settlers to be prosecuted, calling it an "act of terror". Huckabee said he had visited the Christian town of Taybeh, where clerics said Israeli settlers had started a fire near a cemetery and a 5th-century church on July 8 (Read more at Reuters).
US Sen. Chris Van Hollen slammed Israel on Friday for reportedly seeking American assistance in facilitating third-country resettlement deals to move Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip. "A truly outrageous and sickening request from the Netanyahu government," Van Hollen wrote on X (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
The move marks a swift turnaround as U.S. companies enter a country previously under one of the world's tightest sanctions regimes that U.S. President Donald Trump lifted at the end of June. The companies plan to help explore and extract oil and gas and produce power to help get the economy running as the government seeks to put Syria back on the map. The plan comes after a dash by other companies, many from Gulf Arab states, to sign deals to bolster Syria's power generation and ports infrastructure (Read more at Japan Times).
Another 10 hostages will be released from Gaza shortly, US President Donald Trump said. Trump made the comment during a dinner with lawmakers at the White House, lauding the efforts of his special envoy Steve Witkoff (Read more at Dawn).
A State Department spokesperson declined to comment on private diplomatic discussions but said the United States supported the territorial unity of Syria. "The Syrian state has an obligation to protect all Syrians, including minority groups," the spokesperson said, urging the Syrian government to hold perpetrators of violence accountable. Syria's government misread how Israel would respond to its troops deploying to the country's south this week, encouraged by U.S. messaging that Syria should be governed as a centralized state (Read more at Yahoo News).
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday that the kingdom supported Syria’s military asserting control in the southern Syrian province of Sweida (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Hardline America Firster and staunch Trump supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene voted alongside progressive Democrat Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar to strip Israel of $500m in US funding, hours after it bombed the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza. The House of Representatives, however, rejected in a 422-6 vote on Thursday, to cut funding for the Israeli Cooperative Program - an agreement through which the US provides Israel with $500m to boost its missile programmes (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has bowed to pressure from US President Donald Trump and issued an official English-language statement on Friday expressing “deep regret” over the Israeli bombing of the Holy Family Church in Gaza a day earlier. The statement followed a phone call between Trump and Netanyahu on Thursday evening, during which Trump conveyed his “dissatisfaction” with the attack and urged Netanyahu to clarify that it was an Israeli error (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
The U.S. strikes targeted three enrichment sites in Iran: Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan. U.S. officials believe the attack on Fordo, which has long been viewed as a critical component of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, was successful in setting back Iranian enrichment capabilities at that site by as much as two years. U.S. officials knew before the airstrikes that Iran had structures and enriched uranium at Natanz and Isfahan that were likely to be beyond the reach of even America’s 30,000-pound GBU-57 “bunker buster” bombs (Read more at NBC News).
Israel told the Americans that it would cease the attacks on Tuesday evening. While Sharaa has been buoyed by rapidly improving ties with US President Donald Trump’s administration, the violence has highlighted lingering sectarian tensions and distrust among minority groups towards his government — distrust that was deepened by mass killings of Alawites in March (Read more at Dawn).
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the foreign ministers of France, Germany and the UK agreed in a phone call Monday to set the end of August as the de facto deadline for reaching a nuclear deal with Iran. If no deal is reached by that deadline, the three European powers plan to trigger the "snapback" mechanism that automatically reimposes all UN Security Council sanctions that were lifted under the 2015 Iran accord (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
The deals span sectors such as aviation, technology, industry, and investment. Among the agreements, Cisco Systems will provide digital solutions for Bahrain's government information and telecommunications infrastructure. Separately, plans were announced to establish an 800-kilometre (497-mile) multi-fiber submarine cable linking Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq to global networks, according to BNA (Read more at Business Standard).
The GHF, which is supported by Israel, said 19 people were trampled and one was fatally stabbed during the crush at one of its centres in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. “We have credible reason to believe that elements within the crowd – armed and affiliated with Hamas – deliberately fomented the unrest,” GHF said in a statement (Read more at StraitsTimes).
"When the U.S. use negotiations as a tool to deceive Iran and cover up a sudden military attack by the Zionist regime (Israel), talks cannot be conducted as before. Preconditions must be set and no new negotiations can take place until they are fully met," the statement said. The statement did not define the preconditions, but Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has previously said there should be guarantees there will be no further attacks against Tehran (Read more at Investing).
Huckabee told reporters in Tel Aviv that his unusual decision to be present for the trial was "a matter of representing what the president [Trump] has said repeatedly". "The president has made his position very clear. He has not intervened in the proceedings or in the outcome," Huckabee said. "He recognises that has to go its own way. But it’s a personal thing for him. He considers the prime minister a friend." (Read more at Euronews)
Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, said on Tuesday that he asked Israel to “aggressively investigate” the killing of the Florida-born Musallet, who was visiting family when he was attacked in the Palestinian town of Sinjil. “There must be accountability for this criminal and terrorist act,” Huckabee wrote in a social media post. “Saif was just 20 yrs old.” (Read more at Aljazeera)
Saudi Arabia’s index dropped 0.4%, extending the previous session’s losses, with the Saudi Arabian Mining Company retreating 1.1%. ACWA Power Co gained 0.6% after signing $8.3 billion in clean energy deals, helping limit the decline (Read more at Business Recorder).
TEHRAN: Iran said Monday it had “no specific date” for a meeting with the United States on Tehran’s nuclear program, following a war with Israel that had derailed negotiations. “We have been serious in diplomacy and the negotiation process, we entered with good faith, but as everyone witnessed, before the sixth round the Zionist regime, in coordination with the United States, committed military aggression against Iran,” said Baqaei (Read more at Arabnews).
Kamel Musallet, the father of a 20-year-old American citizen slain by Israeli settlers on Friday, told Arab News that US officials should treat his son’s killing “the same way they’d treat the murder of any American in any country.” He added: “My whole family is American. Who is speaking up in America for our rights, our lives? Where is the outcry from America for an American? We need justice now.” (Read more at Arabnews)
The indirect negotiations in the Qatari capital, Doha, appeared deadlocked at the weekend after both sides blamed the other for blocking a deal for a 60-day ceasefire and the release of hostages. Hamas rejected Israeli proposals to keep troops in over 40 percent of Gaza and plans to move Palestinians into an enclave on the border with Egypt. In response, a senior Israeli political official accused Hamas of inflexibility and trying to deliberately scupper the talks by “clinging to positions that prevent the mediators from advancing an agreement.” Trump, who met Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington last week, is keen to secure a truce in the 21-month war (Read more at Arabnews).
Frustration among Palestinians grew toward the United States on Sunday as mourners packed the roads to a cemetery in the Israeli-occupied West Bank town of Al-Mazr’a Ash-Sharqiya for the burial of two men, one of them a Palestinian American, killed by settlers. Palestinian health authorities and witnesses said Sayfollah Musallet, 21, was beaten to death, and Hussein Al-Shalabi, 23, was shot in the chest by settlers during a confrontation on Friday night (Read more at Arabnews).
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a speech to Tehran-based foreign diplomats that Iran has always been ready and will be ready in the future for talks about its nuclear program, but, “assurance should be provided that in case of a resumption of talks, the trend will not lead to war.” (Read more at Arabnews)
Dozens of workers at every level of the arts and entertainment world, from actors and dancers to carpenters, set dressers, animators, composers and screenwriters have told Middle East Eye that they have been punished for speaking out on Israel's war on Gaza (Read more at Middle East Eye).
An international press analysed satellite imagery from Planet Labs PBC showing the dome intact on the morning of June 23, the day of the strike, and then missing in images taken two days later. Scorch marks and minor damage are visible nearby, but the rest of the base appears largely untouched (Read more at Express Tribune).
“I observed the reality that Syria is moving at light speed to seize the historic opportunity presented by @POTUS’ lifting of sanctions: Investment from Turkiye and the Gulf, diplomatic outreach to neighboring countries and a clear vision for the future. I can assure that Syria’s leaders only want coexistence and mutual prosperity with Lebanon, and the US is committed to supporting that relationship between two equal and sovereign neighbors enjoying peace and prosperity,” he added. The clarification comes after reports in Lebanese media, including from MTV Lebanon, cited Barrack as warning that Lebanon risked “going back to Bilad Al-Sham” if it failed to act quickly on regional realignment (Read more at Arabnews).
The top UN expert on Palestinian rights said on July 11 that the US decision to place her under sanctions could have a "chilling effect" on people who engage with her and restrict her movements, but that she planned to continue her work (Read more at Straits Times).
While Trump's attacks may have taken out the centrifuges, some enriched uranium casks may still be accessible to Iranian engineers. Any attempt, however, to access the site in that manner will be detected by Israel and Iran will be attacked again, the official warned (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) in June wrote a 14-page confidential internal assessment criticising a request for funding submitted by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF). GHF was seeking $30m of its $100m operating costs from the State Department. According to the assessment, which was obtained by CNN, at least nine elements normally required to obtain government funding were not included in the application, such as insufficient planning information ensuring Palestinians would actually receive aid (Read more at Middle East Eye).
He was accused of harassing and intimidating pro-Palestinian students and staff members and left before any determination was made public. He has left the institution following a "mutual agreement" and will not return to teaching at the Ivy League school (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Settlers attacked and killed Sayfollah Musallet in the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, on Friday. Musallet, also known as Saif al-Din Musalat, had travelled from his home in Florida to visit family in Palestine. “We are aware of reports of the death of a US citizen in the West Bank,” Reuters reported a State Department spokesperson as saying. The official declined to comment further “out of respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones” of the reported victim (Read more at Aljazeera).
In a rare federal trial Wednesday in which university groups are challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to deport pro-Palestinian activists, the Department of Homeland Security shared how it got the names of some of the students who were targeted for deportation. During day three of the proceedings in Boston, Peter Hatch, a senior DHS investigations official, said most of the names of student protesters who were flagged to the agency for analysis came from Canary Mission. The anonymous group has published a detailed database of students, professors and others who it says have shared anti-Israel and antisemitic viewpoints (Read more at NBC News).
A senior legal adviser to the US State Department has issued a dramatic threat to the International Criminal Court's oversight body, warning that "all options are on the table" if the court does not drop investigations and arrest warrants against the US and Israel. Reed Rubinstein made the threat on Tuesday during a meeting of the Assembly of State Parties (ASP), the ICC's oversight body, in New York (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat for an interview on Tuesday with the Nelk Boys, a team of pro-Trump YouTubers and podcasters known for their pranks and popularity among young men. It's a sign Netanyahu recognizes the influence of the MAGA media universe and wants to build support for Israel and the prime minister's own policies within a key segment of Trump's base (Read more at MSN).
The unscheduled talks on Tuesday evening lasted just over an hour, with no media access. Ahead of the talks on Tuesday, Trump said he would be speaking with Netanyahu “almost exclusively” about Gaza. “We gotta get that solved. Gaza is – it’s a tragedy, and he wants to get it solved, and I want to get it solved, and I think the other side wants to,” he said (Read more at Aljazeera).
The United States imposed sanctions on 22 companies in Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey on Wednesday for their roles in helping sell Iranian oil, the Treasury Department said. “The Iranian regime relies heavily on its shadow banking system to fund its destabilizing nuclear and ballistic missile weapons programs, rather than for the benefit of the Iranian people,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent (Read more at Boereport).
A top U.S. State Department official waived nine mandatory counterterrorism and anti-fraud safeguards to rush a $30 million award last month to a Gaza aid group backed by the Trump administration and Israel (Source: Allsides).
The massive infrastructure programme includes the construction of airbase runways, helicopter hangars, ammunition storage, command centres, and a new headquarters for Israel’s elite naval commando unit, Shayetet 13. The project is being financed through military assistance provided under the terms of the $3.8 billion annual aid package agreed in 2016 by former US President Barack Obama (Read more at Middle East Monitor).
The current projects total more than $250m, with future ones expected to exceed $1bn. The US Army Corps of Engineers is using contractors to build ammunition depots and facilities for refuelling aircraft and helicopters, along with concrete structures for Israeli military bases. One project for hangers, maintenance rooms and storage facilities for new Boeing KC-46 tankers that Israel is expected to receive in the coming years is projected to cost over $100m. Another project to house CH-53K helicopters is projected to cost up to $250m (Read more at Middle East Eye).
But Netanyahu was more cagey on peace with the Palestinians and ruled out a full Palestinian state, saying that Israel will 'always' keep security control over the Gaza Strip (Read more at France 24).
Benjamin Netanyahu told Donald Trump that he would nominate him for the Nobel peace prize on Monday, as the two leaders met for the first time since the US launched strikes on Iran’s nuclear program as part of a short-lived war between Israel and Iran. Netanyahu presented Trump with a letter that he said he had sent to a committee for the Nobel peace prize commending Trump’s efforts to end conflicts in the Middle East (Read more at Guardian).
Israel is preparing for the possibility of further military action if Iran tries to revive its nuclear program, and Israeli officials think President Trump could green light renewed Israeli attacks. Netanyahu's top adviser, Ron Dermer, told officials in closed briefings that he came away from a recent visit to Washington with the impression that the Trump administration would back new Israeli strikes on Iran under certain circumstances, the sources say (Read more at Axios).
The United States will revoke its designation of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO) as Washington softens its approach to post-war Syria following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government last year. The decision, which takes effect on Tuesday, comes as part of US President Donald Trump’s broader strategy to re-engage with Syria and support its reconstruction after more than a decade of devastating conflict (Read more at Aljazeera).
A pro-Palestinian Georgetown University student from India, detained by President Donald Trump’s administration but then released on a judge’s order, can remain free while fighting deportation efforts, a US appeals court ruled on Tuesday. A three-judge panel of the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 against the administration’s request that Badar Khan Suri be returned to immigration detention. The 4th Circuit said it found no grounds to overturn the decision by US District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles to order Suri’s release (Read more at Arabnews).
Trump says Qatari and Egyptian mediators will deliver the final ceasefire proposal to Hamas soon and says a deal is likely to go into effect as early as next week. “My representatives had a long and productive meeting with the Israelis today on Gaza. Israel has agreed to the necessary conditions to finalise the 60-day ceasefire, during which time we will work with all parties to end the war,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social (Read more at Euronews).
In his statement made Tuesday at the Senate hearing, Buchan said the U.S. supports Morocco’s serious, credible, and realistic Autonomy Proposal as the ONLY basis for a just and lasting solution to the dispute. “If confirmed, I will facilitate progress toward this goal”, said the U.S. nominee ambassador, citing U.S. call urging the parties to engage in discussions without delay, using Morocco’s Autonomy Proposal as the only framework, to negotiate a mutually acceptable solution (Read more at North Africa Post).
“Today, Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families,” the NGOs said in a joint statement on Tuesday. The signatories include Oxfam, Save the Children, Amnesty, Doctors Without Borders and Action Aid (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Barrack said full disarmament should be completed by November or by the end of the year at the latest. The proposal also refers to establishing a mechanism overseen by the United Nations to secure the release of Hezbollah-linked prisoners by Israel (Read more at Arabnews).
An Iran-linked cyberattack group that hacked President Trump's 2024 campaign is threatening to release another trove of emails it has stolen from his associates, including White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Roger Stone (Read more at Axios).
The trip will be Netanyahu’s third visit to the White House since Trump returned to office in January, and it comes after the United States inserted itself into Israel’s war against Iran by attacking Iranian nuclear sites. After brokering a ceasefire between the two countries, Trump has signaled that he’s turning his attention to bringing a close to the fighting between Israel and Hamas (Read more at AP).
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the move was designed to “promote and support the country’s path to stability and peace.” The executive order is meant to “end the country’s isolation from the international financial system, setting the stage for global commerce and galvanizing investments from its neighbors in the region, as well as from the United States,” Treasury’s acting undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, Brad Smith said (Read more at AP).
Iran criticized on Monday U.S. President Donald Trump's shifting stance on whether to lift economic sanctions against Tehran as "games" that were not aimed at solving the problems between the two countries. "These [statements by Trump] should be viewed more in the context of psychological and media games than as a serious expression in favor of dialogue or problem-solving," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told a press conference (Read more at Iran Oil and Gas).
“Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back,” Trump posted Sunday on Truth Social platform. A senior security official, however, warned that expanding the fighting to new areas in Gaza may endanger the 20 remaining living hostages (Read more at New York Post).
“It is INSANITY doing what the out-of-control prosecutors are doing to Bibi Netanyahu,” Trump said in a Truth Social post, adding that the judicial process was going to interfere with Netanyahu’s ability to conduct talks with Hamas, and Iran. “The United States of America spends Billions of Dollar a year, far more than on any other Nation, protecting and supporting Israel. We are not going to stand for this,” Trump said (Read more at Dawn).
Fox News host Maria Bartiromo asked Mr Trump on Sunday if he thought the attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities made it more likely that other countries would join the Abraham Accords. “Yes,” he replied. “We have some really great countries in there right now, and I think we're going to start loading them up, because Iran was the primary problem.” (Read more at The National)
There were serious questions about whether the Iranian officials were being truthful, and described the intercepts as unreliable indicators. "The notion that unnamed Iranian officials know what happened under hundreds of feet of rubble is nonsense. Their nuclear weapons program is over," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was quoted as saying by the Post (Read more at Global Banking and Finance).
The president also suggested that reporters should be subpoenaed for their sources, saying, "they could find out if they wanted. They could find out easily." "You have to do that. I suspect we'll be doing things like that," he added (Read more at Axios).
A MAGA movement facing a historic rift over President Trump's Iran strikes is quickly stitching itself back together by turning its rage toward familiar enemies at home. Trump's decision to strike three Iranian nuclear facilities last week — paired with fleeting talk of "regime change" — ignited some of the fiercest infighting within the "America First" base since the movement's inception a decade ago (Read more at Axios).
“Who in the Fake News Media is the SleazeBag saying that ‘President Trump wants to give Iran $30 Billion to build non-military Nuclear facilities.’ Never heard of this ridiculous idea,” the president wrote late Friday on Truth Social (Read more at The Hill).
Democratic effort fails in mostly partisan vote, hours after US president says he would consider more bombing. The resolution, “to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran”, was voted down 53-47 (Read more at Guardian).
"The complexity and tenacity of Iranians is famously known in our magnificent carpets, woven through countless hours of hard work and patience. But as a people, our basic premise is very simple and straightforward: we know our worth, value our independence, and never allow anyone else to decide our destiny," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X (Read more at Mehrnews).
“We think within the next week we’re going to get a ceasefire,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Friday. Ending the war has been one of Trump’s top priorities. “I think it’s close,” he said (Read more at NewsNation).
Aqua 1 Foundation said in a statement on Thursday its purchase of the tokens, known as $WLFI, sought to speed up the creation of a "blockchain-powered financial ecosystem" with stablecoins and tokenised traditional assets at its heart. The fund's investment and compliance teams would help World Liberty expand in South America, Europe and Asia (Read more at Yahoo Finance).
From the White House to the Pentagon to the Netherlands, the administration's messaging campaign on the Iranian operation has carried with it an all-out offensive against the media, singling out reporters by name online and in briefings (Read more at Axios).
US President Donald Trump said last week that Pakistan knew Iran better than most other countries. Pakistan condemned Israeli and US strikes on Iran even as it said earlier this month it was nominating Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in bringing a four-day India-Pakistan conflict to an end last month (Read more at Middle East Eye).
“In the recent negotiations, they tried to lure us into giving up the rights of our nation. When some certain events occurred, they imposed war and unleashed the criminal Zionist (Israeli) regime to carry out attacks,” he said. Araghchi added that the US betrayed diplomacy during talks, an experience that will shape Iran’s future decisions on negotiations. “Nevertheless, diplomacy continues, and I am in contact with several foreign ministers,” he said (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
“We call on other countries to also support the GHF, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, and its critical work,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said. At least 549 Palestinians have been killed while waiting for food aid distributed at GHF sites, the Gaza Government Media Office said on Thursday. The GHF, which is officially a private group, has denied that deadly incidents have occurred in the immediate vicinity of its aid points. The GHF’s interim executive director, John Acree, welcomed the US contribution and said it was “time for unity and collaboration” (Read more at Aljazeera)
The White House said US intelligence had been monitoring Iran’s nuclear sites for weeks before launching secret airstrikes last weekend, and insisted there was no sign Iran moved enriched uranium beforehand, calling the mission a historic success (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
The briefing appears to have done little to alleviate the growing tension around the Trump administration largely keeping Congress in the dark about its actions and not seeking congressional authorization. "Most of what I heard [in the briefing] is in the public domain already," former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told Axios. "I didn't find it to be that constructive." (Read more at Axios)
Meanwhile, most viewed the U.S. attacks as a success — and are likely to back similar military action as a result. Republicans overwhelmingly approved of bombing Iran; sizable majorities of Democrats and independents did not. But once they were told the bombings only targeted Iran's uranium enrichment for its nuclear program, support increased in each group (Read more at Axios).
Trump reacted sternly to Khamanei’s first remarks after a 12-day conflict with Israel that ended when the United States launched bombing raids last weekend against Iranian nuclear sites. Khamanei said Iran “slapped America in the face” by launching an attack against a major US base in Qatar following the US bombing raids. Khamanei also said Iran would never surrender. Trump said he had spared Khamanei’s life. US officials said on June 15 that Trump had vetoed an Israeli plan to kill the supreme leader (Read more at Arabnews).
Oxycodone is an opioid meant to treat severe and long-term pain, often prescribed to cancer patients. The drug is highly addictive and can have life-threatening effects, including breathing complications and hallucinations. The Gaza government media office on Friday condemned the discovery of oxycodone pills reportedly discovered in flour bags distributed by “American-Israeli” aid centres. “We have so far documented four testimonies from citizens who found these pills inside the flour bags,” it said in a statement, warning of the “possibility that some of these narcotic substances were deliberately ground or dissolved in the flour itself” (Read more at Middle East Eye).
A fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran appeared to hold on Tuesday, with Israel’s military lifting emergency measures and Iran’s president declaring “the end of a 12‑day war that was imposed on the Iranian people” in a televised address. “Both Israel and Iran wanted to stop the War, equally!” Mr. Trump posted on social media as he flew to a NATO summit in the Netherlands. “It was my great honor to Destroy All Nuclear facilities & capability, and then, STOP THE WAR!” (Read more at Amu TV).
Billionaire businessman Elon Musk and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun spoke by phone to discuss making elements of Musk’s sprawling business empire available in Lebanon, a statement from Aoun’s office said on Thursday. The statement said Musk called Aoun and “expressed his interest in Lebanon and its telecommunications and Internet sectors.” Aoun invited Musk to visit Lebanon and said he was open to having Musk’s companies present in the country, which ranks among the countries with the lowest Internet speeds (Read more at Arabnews).
Khamenei said in his video message that the U.S. entered the war because it felt it had to save Israel from being destroyed. "It entered the war to save it, but it did not achieve anything from this war. They attacked our nuclear facilities, but they were unable to do anything important," he said. Khamenei claimed President Trump "exaggerated" the results of the U.S. strikes on Iran. "They could not do anything, they could not achieve their goal, and they are exaggerating to cover up the truth," he said (Read more at Axios).
"We have not given up on the F-35s. We are discussing our intention to return to the programme with our counterparts," he was cited as saying by his office on Thursday. "We discussed the issue in our meeting with Mr. Trump, talks at a technical level have started. God willing, we will make progress." (Read more at AOL)
Eleven Iranian nationals with either criminal records or suspected terrorist ties who had been living in the United States illegally were arrested over the weekend while American war planes were bombing nuclear facilities in their homeland, federal officials announced. In addition, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested a U.S. citizen who is alleged to have harbored one of the Iranian nationals and threatened to “shoot ICE officers in the head,” the Department of Homeland Security said (Read more at NBC News).
Lieutenant General Alexus Grynkewich of the U.S. Air Force, who currently serves as the Director for Operations of the Joint Staff, stated that the Houthis are likely to remain a “persistent problem” and the United States will probably face issues with them again in the future (Read more at Marine Insight).
Senior White House official said Trump's comments do not reflect a new policy. Trump's comments signal bearish outlook for oil prices. No near-term impact on China's Iranian, US oil purchases expected. Saudi Arabia may be upset by China's Iranian oil purchases (Read more at Reuters).
Don Holstead, the assistant director for counter terrorism, issued guidance over the weekend reassigning agents who work on counterterrorism, counterintelligence and cyber issues but had been sidetracked by immigration duties. The FBI said it does not confirm or deny operational changes (Read more at NBC News).
President Donald Trump doubled down on his assertion that U.S. bomb strikes destroyed Iran’s nuclear program. He criticized reporting on an initial U.S. intelligence report that suggested the bombings likely set Iran’s nuclear program back by a few months, not years (Read more at CNBC).
The Pentagon has launched a criminal investigation into the leak of a classified Defense Intelligence Agency report assessing that damage to Iranian nuclear facilities from U.S. airstrikes didn’t significantly set back Tehran’s nuclear program. Rubio also said that Iran is now "much further away from a nuclear weapon" after the U.S. dropped 14 bombs weighing 30,000 pounds each on three of Iran's main nuclear sites (Read more at Politico).
Trump said his decision to join Israel's attacks by targeting Iranian nuclear sites with huge bunker-busting bombs had ended the war, calling it "a victory for everybody". "We're going to talk to them next week, with Iran. We may sign an agreement. I don't know. To me, I don't think it's that necessary," Trump said (Read more at Reuters).
"We are already talking to each other, not just directly but also through interlocutors. I think that the conversations are promising. We are hopeful that we can have a long-term peace agreement that resurrects Iran," Witkoff said (Read more at Reuters).
"At the tactical level, I think they've been degraded," Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, deputy commander of US Central Command, said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. "I think the degree to which that degradation has taken place, particularly in the last 12 days, is best discussed in a classified forum," he added. But he said that Iran possesses "considerable tactical capability," one element of which was visible in the missile attack on the US military base of Al Udeid on Monday (Read more at Business Insider).
House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday threw her weight behind a rapidly accelerating effort by Democratic lawmakers to limit Trump's power to unilaterally strike Iran. Democrats are infuriated that the Trump administration postponed briefings on the Middle East that were planned for Tuesday, and that rage is helping to fuel what was initially a fringe effort. "Yesterday, the Administration decided to withhold intelligence ... in a slap in the face to the Congress," Pelosi said in a statement. "That is why I am supporting War Powers Resolutions which reassert the Article One powers of the Congress and ensure the Administration does not keep the American people and their Representatives in the dark." (Read more at Axios)
Trump wrote that he was "shocked to hear" that even after the war with Iran, the State of Israel "is continuing its ridiculous Witch Hunt" against Netanyahu. It isn't clear what prompted Trump's post. The president has rarely spoken publicly about Netanyahu's trial in the past and only yesterday he was visibly frustrated with the Israeli prime minister over the ceasefire with Iran (Read more at Axios).
"I don't wanna use an example of Hiroshima or Nagasaki but that was essentially the same thing," Trump said. "That ended that war. If we didn't take that out they would be fighting right now." "Two Iranians went down to see it and they said this place is gone," he said, presumably referring to one of Iran's nuclear research sites (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Israelis responded calmly on Tuesday to U.S. President Donald Trump's criticisms and accusations their country had violated a truce he brokered with Iran, expressing gratitude for his mediation and relief at the conclusion of the 12-day war (Read more at Global Banking and Finance).
The State Department is sharing information with over 27,000 people about leaving the region and safety and security. The US started some limited assisted-departure flights for US citizens, lawful permanent residents and their immediate family members (Read more at Arabnews).
“These strikes – in accordance with the inherent right to collective self-defence, consistent with the UN Charter – aimed to mitigate the threat posed by Iran to Israel, the region and to, more broadly, international peace and security,” acting US envoy to the UN Dorothy Shea told the United Nations Security Council (Read more at Straits Times).
Findings by Defense Intelligence Agency suggest Trump’s declaration that sites were ‘obliterated’ may be overstated. It concluded key components of the nuclear program, including centrifuges, were capable of being restarted within months. The report also found that much of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium that could be put to use for a possible nuclear weapon was moved before the strikes and may have been moved to other secret nuclear sites maintained by Iran (Read more at Guardian).
“I think the ceasefire is unlimited. It’s going to go forever," Trump said. Asked whether the war was completely over, Trump said: “Yes. I don’t believe they will ever be shooting at each other again.” (Read more at NBC News)
The phone call came after US President Donald Trump told Qatar's emir that Israel had agreed to the ceasefire and asked for Doha's help persuading Tehran to also agree to the ceasefire deal, the official said (Read more at Daily Star).
Johnson has already rejected calls to stage a vote on a bipartisan war powers resolution in the wake of Trump’s decision to strike three Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend, arguing that Congress’s input is unnecessary. On Tuesday, he took that opposition a long step forward, saying the War Powers Act — a 1973 law designed to limit a president’s authority to wage unilateral war — defies the Founder’s designs for the commander in chief (Read more at The Hill).
The poll also finds that Americans oppose U.S. military involvement in the Middle East unless the U.S. is directly threatened and that most Americans do not feel that U.S. airstrikes against Iran make America safer. Attitudes toward President Donald Trump’s handling of Iran are divided along partisanship, but overall, half of Americans do not approve of Trump’s handling of Iran (Read more at Ipsos).
Trump addressed the U.S. Department of Energy in a post on his Truth Social platform encouraging it to "drill, baby, drill" and saying, "I mean now," despite no major oil disruptions after the bombings. In another post on the platform, Trump said in all caps: "Everyone, keep oil prices down, I'm watching! You're playing into the hands of the enemy, don't do it." U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright responded, "We're on it!" to the drilling message, in a post on X (Read more at MSN).
The move suggests that the US believed Saudi Arabia would not be targeted by Iranian strikes and points to coordination with Iran to limit the fallout of the attack. The New York Times earlier reported that Iran provided advanced notice to Qatari officials to minimise casualties (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Loud explosions were also heard, although so far no injuries have been reported. Qatar’s Defence Ministry says its air defence systems successfully intercepted missiles targeting Al Udeid Air Base (Read more at Aljazeera).
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has reiterated that Trump needs to consult Congress before taking any military action against Iran. “I’ve seen press reports that Iranian missiles are targeting US military bases in the Middle East, putting the lives of thousands of American servicemembers at immediate risk,” Schumer said on X (Read more at Aljazeera).
The joint attacks against Iran aim to sow chaos and instability in order to secure regional domination. Clearly, the US and Israel are not after Iran’s nuclear programme. They are after Iran as a regional power, and that is why regime change has already been floated in public (Read more at Aljazeera).
A group of 12 House Democratic military veterans have thrown their weight behind efforts to constrain Donald Trump’s military authority, announcing they will support a War Powers Act resolution in response to the US president’s go ahead for airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. The veterans – some of whom served in Iraq and Afghanistan – were strongly critical of Trump’s decision to launch what they called “preventive air strikes” without US congressional approval, drawing explicit parallels to the run-up to some of America’s longest recent wars (Read more at Guardian).
He wants to celebrate the joint U.S-Israeli bombing of Iran's nuclear program. Despite past tensions in their relationship, the two leaders are closer than ever and see the 12-day war against Iran as a monumental achievement — both for their countries and their personal legacies (Read more at Axios).
Bannon, the longtime Trump ally and leading figure in the MAGA movement, praised Trump for the strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities during an episode of his podcast “Bannon’s War Room.” But he questioned the “regime change narrative,” criticized the Pentagon for its messaging in the hours after the strike and urged Israel to “finish what you started” without U.S. involvement (Read more at Politico).
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to host US-Iran talks and maintain his good relationship with Donald Trump. Turkey has stopped short of condemning the US strikes on Iran, despite many of the Islamic Republic's major allies, as well as several regional states, criticising the escalation and viewing it as a risky gambit (Read more at Middle East Eye).
"This cannot continue. There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days," Trump warned. It's an intervention fraught with risks and uncertainty — one that Trump and many of his predecessors had sought to avoid, including through diplomacy with Iran. The attack, which came on the ninth night of the unprecedented war between Israel and Iran, could provoke retaliation from Tehran against U.S. troops and military installations across the region (Read more at Axios).
President Trump's MAGA movement appeared to largely coalesce late Saturday in supporting his decision to strike Iranian nuclear sites, despite its bitter infighting recently over the prospect of the U.S. intervening in the Israel-Iran war. Skepticism of foreign entanglements is a foundational pillar of Trump's "America First" credo — but so is support for the president (Read more at Axios).
The objections center on the argument that Trump needed congressional authorization for such a provocative use of military force. "We need to immediately return to DC and vote on [Rep. Thomas Massie's] and my War Powers Resolution to prevent America from being dragged into another endless Middle East war," said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). Massie (R-Ky.), a libertarian who often breaks with Trump, said in a post on X reacting to the strikes: "This is not Constitutional." (Read more at Axios).
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters the U.S. war against Iran is "not open-ended" and is "not about regime change," stressing that Saturday's U.S. military strikes were strictly targeted at Iran's nuclear program. Vice President Vance flatly denied that the U.S. is at war with Iran, telling NBC's "Meet the Press" instead: "We're at war with Iran's nuclear program." (Read more at Axios)
A surprise U.S. military attack on Iranian nuclear facilities involved more than 125 aircraft and 75 precision-guided weapons. The operation, dubbed Midnight Hammer, produced the longest B-2 Spirit mission since 2001 and the first real-world use of 30,000 pound bunker-busting bombs (Read more at Axios).
Israel: ‘Change History’, UK: ‘Stability is Priority’, EU: ‘Step Back’, UN: ‘Dangerous Escalation’, Iraq: ‘Grave Threat’, Saudi Arabia: ‘Exercise Restraint’, Hamas: ‘Brutal Aggression’, Democrats: ‘Unilateral Military Action’ (Read more at Defense Post).
President Trump said Friday that it will be "very hard" to pause Israel's war against Iran in order to allow for direct negotiations with the U.S., noting that Israel is "doing well" in its efforts to take out Iran's nuclear program. "I think it's very hard to make that request right now. If somebody is winning, it's a little bit harder to do than if somebody is losing," Trump said (Read more at Axios).
Pakistani army chief Munir’s US trip suggests warming ties after past diplomatic friction. But challenges remain. For Pakistan, analysts said, that comment underscored how the reset in ties with the US that Islamabad desperately seeks will be tested by two key challenges. Iran and the current crisis with Israel will force Pakistan into a diplomatic balancing act. But the Pakistani military conceded that the two leaders also held “detailed discussions” on the escalating tensions between Iran and Israel with both Munir and Trump – according to Islamabad – emphasising the need for a peaceful resolution (Read more at Aljazeera).
The comments come after Trump earlier this week cast doubt on Tulsi Gabbard’s March 25 report to Congress, in which she reiterated the US intelligence community’s assessment. On Tuesday, Trump told reporters, “I don’t care” that the intelligence community’s finding contradicted his own claims, saying Iran was in the late stages of developing a nuclear weapon (Read more at Aljazeera).
The foreign ministers of Germany, France and the U.K. — with Kaja Kallas, the former Estonian leader in question — are expected to join emergency talks in Geneva with representatives of Iran on Friday anyway. On Thursday Trump and his team gave European officials reasons to hope that their efforts may not be futile. The White House announced Trump will decide within the next two weeks whether to order U.S. military action as he believes “there’s a substantial chance of negotiations.” That longer timeframe for Trump to make his decision appears to open the door to a renewed diplomatic push, giving Friday’s talks in Switzerland potentially much more weight (Read more at Politico).
The unanimous ruling clears the legal pathway for victims to seek damages in the U.S. for attacks abroad connected to two political entities representing Palestinians. A 2019 law intended to facilitate lawsuits against the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization does not violate the Constitution, the Supreme Court found in their decision (Read more at Axios).
On a sweltering summer evening in New York City on Wednesday, hundreds of protesters assembled on the steps of the New York Public Library in Manhattan to convey what they said was a clear message to the city and country's elected officials: "No War on Iran". Protesters held up Palestinian flags, as well as signs urging for the bombardment to end. Several people waved placards that read: "Money for people's needs. Not War with Iran" (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a combat veteran who led troops in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan, accused President Donald Trump of displaying “a lack of seriousness” in dealing with the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran (Read more at Politico).
Trump met with his top national security team in the Situation Room on Thursday — the third such meeting in three days. He's seriously considering joining the war, but wants to ensure three things are true (Read more at Axios).
Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) said Thursday he contacted the Capitol Police after being "run off the road" by a man displaying a Palestinian flag while he was driving in his congressional district. Miller said, the man initially "decided to lay on his horn," but then ran him off the road "when he couldn't get my attention." The man also yelled "death to Israel," he said. Miller, who is Jewish and pro-Israel, has been open about his fears of antisemitic violence since the onset of the war in Gaza, telling Axios in 2023 that he carries a weapon for self-protection (Read more at Axios).
60% of 1,512 polled Americans think the U.S. military should not get involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran, according to an Economist/YouGov poll released this week. Only 16% support U.S. military action, and 24% are unsure (Read more at Axios).
The base at Diego Garcia puts US bomber aircraft within 5,300km of Iran but requires UK authorisation for use. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer chaired an emergency Cobra meeting on Wednesday afternoon to discuss Britain's response if the US enters the conflict between Israel and Iran. Much of the discussion hinged on Diego Garcia, a shadowy UK-US military base deep in the Indian Ocean (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The report suggests Trump's military campaign has killed almost as many civilians in 52 days as in the previous 23 years of US military action against Yemen. Between the first recorded US strike in Yemen in 2002 until the beginning of Trump’s Operation Rough Rider campaign in March 2025, Airwars tracked at least 258 civilians allegedly killed by US actions (Read more at Middle East Eye).
“Through this action, the United States has dealt a serious blow to international peace and security,” he said, vowing that Iran would defend itself “by all means necessary against... US military aggression.” “I’m going to Moscow this afternoon” to hold “serious consultations with the Russian president tomorrow,” he added (Read more at Arabnews).
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee announced Wednesday that the United States is organizing evacuations of American citizens out of Israel, as the specter of the U.S. potentially striking against Iran looms (Read more at Politico).
Trump's doubts Wednesday about the certainty of success are one reason he was still questioning whether to move forward with a strike. If Trump enters the war it almost certainly would be to destroy the Fordow uranium enrichment site, which is built into a mountain south of Tehran. It's at the top of Israel's target list. But Israel lacks the 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs needed to destroy it from the air, along with the B-2 bomber aircraft to carry them. The U.S has both within flying range of Iran. "We are the only ones who have the capability to do it, but that doesn't mean I am going to do it," Trump said Wednesday when asked whether he considers it essential to destroy Fordow. "I have been asked about it by everybody but I haven't made a decision." (Read more at Axios).
The conversation soured when Cruz claimed "we are carrying out military strikes today." Pressed by Carlson on whether it's the U.S. or Israel leading the strikes, Cruz said the U.S. was "supporting" Israel. "This is high stakes," Carlson responded. "You're a senator. If you're saying the United States government is at war with Iran right now, people are listening (Read more at Axios).
Democrats are demanding more information from the White House as President Trump considers joining the Israeli offensive against Iran. Democrats say that lawmakers aren't being given enough information about a potential U.S. military action (Read more at Axios).
President Trump said Wednesday that Iran still wants to negotiate with the U.S. and even proposed sending a delegation to the White House, but that it was getting "very late" for talks and he might soon authorize strikes on Iran's nuclear program (Read more at Axios).
Senators Sanders, Tim Kaine and Elizabeth Warren have introduced "No War Against Iran Act" to prevent Trump from using federal funds for any "illegal wars” in or against Iran without approval from Congress (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Donald Trump loyalists are shaping a narrative of how the U.S. leader outfoxed Iran and lulled the mullahs into thinking he would restrain Benjamin Netanyahu. More likely the Israeli PM outthought them all (Read more at Politico).
The State Department sent a diplomatic note to several regional allies in the Middle East, including Qatar, informing them of the looming Israeli strikes on Iran. Tensions between Turkey and Israel have escalated as Ankara and Damascus have begun talks to establish several military bases in Syria to help train the country's fractured military (Read more at Middle East Eye).
British officials persuaded Trump administration not to sanction UK nationals involved in Israel case, including Amal Clooney, but fear more sanctions are still to come. The US has already imposed sanctions on the court's British chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, and four of its judges, but sanctioning the court itself could deal a fatal blow to its ability to function (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Over the weekend, Israel had an operational window to assassinate Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, but President Trump made it clear that he is against such a move, U.S. officials said. The White House officials say Trump is still trying to prevent further escalation of the war and resume talks with Iran on a nuclear deal (Read more at Axios).
A group of pro-Israel members of Congress is urging President Trump to ensure "zero enrichment, zero pathway to a nuclear weapon" in negotiations with Iran. The lawmakers — including a Republican, Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) — said Israel's strikes against Iranian nuclear sites and other military targets have created a "renewed sense of urgency" on the issue. The letter is led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), a staunchly pro-Israel centrist Democrat, and signed by seven other House Democrats, in addition to Bacon (Read more at Axios).
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said, " that the U.S. response will be "triggered" by Iran's actions — and if they target Americans or the U.S. presence in the region, Iran "should be prepared for all of America's might to descend upon them." (Read more at Axios)
President Donald Trump said the United States could become involved in the Iran-Israel conflict, and that he would be “open” to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin being a mediator. The Republican president also said talks over Iran’s nuclear program were continuing and that Tehran would “like to make a deal,” perhaps more quickly now that the Islamic Republic is trading massive strikes with Israel (Read more at Defense Post).
The modification is secret, but two US officials confirmed that Israel did not use mid-air refuelling during its Friday attack on Iran or land their warplanes for refuelling at any nearby countries. The F-35 is the only long-range stealth fighter in the world, and its features make it difficult for radar or infrared sensors to track it. The scale of Israel’s Friday attack and the surprise nature of it mean the improvement is a sea change for the F-35, the US officials said (Read more at Middle East Eye).
President Trump said after a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday that the war between Israel and Iran needs to end. Why it matters: Trump's call for ending the war comes less than 48 hours after Israel launched its attacks against Iran and shows the amount of concern at the White House from the escalating fighting (Read more at Axios).
Israel has asked the Trump administration over the past 48 hours to join the war with Iran in order to eliminate its nuclear program, according to two Israeli officials. The big picture: Israel lacks the bunker buster bombs and large bomber aircraft needed to destroy Iran's Fordow uranium enrichment site, which is built into a mountain and deep underground. The U.S. has both within flying distance of Iran (Read more at Axios).
Shortly after that, Oman also confirmed the talks “will not now take place”. Tehran branded dialogue over its nuclear programme with the US as “meaningless” after Israel launched its biggest-ever military strike against Iran, which Tehran accuses Washington, DC, of supporting (Read more at Aljazeera).
In a diplomatic note sent out Thursday afternoon, the State Department confirmed that the Israeli attack was set to take place late on Thursday. Qatar was among the countries which received the heads up. "We don't comment on private diplomatic conversations," a State Department spokesperson said when asked about the notifications sent to allies (Read more AOL).
The US State Department specifically named Iran, Iraq, Jordan, and Israel in its alerts, urging Americans in certain areas to shelter in place and in some cases leave immediately (Read more at MSN).
Accusing US President Donald Trump of having “authorised” the major Israeli attack on Iran on Friday, Iraqi group Kataeb Hezbollah said in a statement that “the American forces in Iraq have enabled this aggression by opening the Iraqi airspace to Zionist aircraft.” To stop Iraq from becoming “a battlefield,” Kataeb Hezbollah said that the government in Baghdad “must urgently remove these hostile foreign forces from the country in order to avoid additional wars in the region.” (Read more at Defense Post)
Minutes before heading to the Situation Room for a strategy session on Iran, President Trump told Axios he believes Israel's massive strike likely improved the chances of a U.S.-Iran nuclear agreement. Iranian officials have said explicitly that they blame the U.S. for the attack, along with Israel. The U.S. is preparing to defend against a potential Iranian retaliation on U.S. targets (Read more at Axios).
The Trump administration wants to use the war Israel started to get the Iranians back to the nuclear talks when they are in a weaker position. "I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to just do it. But no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn't get it done," Trump wrote on Truth Social (Read more at Axios).
“GHF, I think it’s fair to say, has been, from a principled humanitarian standpoint, a failure,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). “They are not doing what a humanitarian operation should do, which is providing aid to people where they are, in a safe and secure manner.” The UN and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, citing concerns that it prioritises Israeli military objectives over humanitarian needs (Read more at Aljazeera).
"I think it's been excellent. We gave them a chance and they didn't take it. They got hit hard, very hard. They got hit about as hard as you're going to get hit. And there's more to come. A lot more," Trump was quoted as saying by an ABC reporter (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Iran launched a major counterattack against Israel on Friday, firing around 100 missiles in two barrages, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The retaliatory attack began 18 hours after Israel launched a war against Iran, attacking its nuclear facilities and missile sites and killing top military leaders and nuclear scientists. The U.S. is helping to intercept incoming ballistic missiles, according to an Israeli official and a senior U.S. official (Read more at Axios).
The US sent around 300 Hellfire missiles to Israel. The transfer of such a large quantity of Hellfires suggests that the Trump administration was well-informed of Israel’s plans to attack the Islamic Republic of Iran (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that U.S. commitment to Israel's defense must be "ironclad" after the country's attack on Iran. Schumer's statement was not critical of the Israeli offensive, while other top Senate Democrats have already panned the attack as "reckless." (Read more at Axios)
Rev. Johnnie Moore, a White House adviser during President Donald Trump's first term, and Rabbi Abraham Cooper, from the Jewish human rights organization Simon Wiesenthal Center, have promoted interfaith dialogue in Arab states for years (Read more at MSN).
In the podcast interview, Trump said the Iranians seem to be using delaying tactics. “I’m less confident now than I would have been a couple of months ago. Something happened to them, but I am much less confident of a deal being made,” he said (Read more at Middle East Monitor).
The two men arrived on a flight from Jordan around 1pm Wednesday and were denied entry with "no cause given" despite holding valid visas. Both were scheduled to speak at the Kehilla Community Synagogue to help fundraise for children's programming in the West Bank (Read more at Axios).
The U.S. would almost certainly help Israel defend itself from Iranian retaliation, as it has during past Iranian attacks. While Israel could cause significant damage to Iran's nuclear program, an Israeli operation would be more limited than one involving U.S. participation (Read more at Axios).
MAGA erupted with warnings that the movement could fracture if President Trump green-lights — or fails to stop — Israeli strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. Non-interventionism is one of the core pillars of the "America First" movement — arguably as important to the MAGA base as immigration and trade (Read more at Axios).
White House envoy Steve Witkoff privately warned top Senate Republicans last week that Iran could unleash a mass casualty response if Israel bombs their nuclear facilities (Read more at Axios).
US envoy Massad Boulos is set to make his first official visit to Libya next week amid rising tensions in the capital city of Tripoli and neighbouring Sudan. Egyptian officials complained, saying they wanted him to visit Cairo first. Boulos met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and the head of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service, Hassan Rashad, in May. Egypt is one of the main external powers in Libya. Ties between Egypt and the US have become strained over Washington’s reassessment of military aid to Cairo and Trump’s call earlier this year for a forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza. In Libya, Boulos is expected to visit Tripoli first, home to the United Nations-recognised government, and then travel to Benghazi in eastern Libya, which is controlled by a parallel government backed by General Khalifa Haftar and his sons (Read more at Middle East Eye).
“We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region. Israel advised us that they believe this action was necessary for its self-defense.” (Read more at New York Post)
The Senate voted 56-39 against considering legislation that would have blocked the $1.9 billion sale of armed drones and associated equipment to Qatar. The vote was largely along party lines, with Trump’s fellow Republicans opposing the effort to stop the sale and most Democrats backing it (Read more at Arab Weekly).
The US is lobbying foreign governments not to attend a UN conference next week sponsored by France and Saudi Arabia on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The cable, sent to countries on Tuesday, warns them against taking "anti-Israel actions" and says attending the conference would be viewed by Washington as acting against US foreign policy interests (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The U.S. military is set to allow families of service members in Bahrain to temporarily depart the country because of heightened tensions in the region, a U.S. official told Reuters on Wednesday. The official was speaking on condition of anonymity (Read more at Yahoo news).
The diplomatic demarche, sent on Tuesday, says countries that take "anti-Israel actions" following the conference will be viewed as acting in opposition to U.S. foreign policy interests and could face diplomatic consequences from Washington (Read more at Bundle).
"It will be one of the highest honors of my life to address the Israeli Knesset at this fateful moment. Our ties run deeper than military partnerships and trade agreements,” Johnson said in a statement (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh said on Wednesday that Iran would target US military bases in the region if the US attacked it first. “Some officials on the other side threaten conflict if negotiations don’t come to fruition. If a conflict is imposed on us … all US bases are within our reach and we will boldly target them in host countries,” Nasirzadeh told reporters, the Reuters news agency reported (Read more at Aljazeera).
The United States and Israel are seeking to turn nuclear talks into a "strategic trap" for Iran, they said. "The US is not serious in negotiations at all. It has set the goal of talks as imposing its demands and has adopted offensive positions that are diametrically opposed to Iranians' inalienable rights," the statement from parliamentarians said (Read more at Daily Star).
Netanyahu is interested in negotiating an updated security deal and working up towards a full peace agreement, according to a senior Israeli official. These would be the first such talks between Israel and Syria since 2011, and would be particularly remarkable given recent history. The Netanyahu government was highly concerned about the new Turkey-backed Syrian government, and lobbied the Trump administration to move cautiously in engaging with it (Read more at Axios).
“The State Department regularly reviews American personnel abroad and this decision was made as a result of a recent review,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told Reuters when asked about reports of the partial evacuations, without giving further details. A White House official said U.S. President Donald Trump was aware of the move. The partial evacuations come at a moment of heightened tensions in a region already aflame after 18 months of war in Gaza that has raised fears of a wider conflagration pitting the U.S. and Israel against Iran and its allies (Read more at CNBC).
Israelis are more than twice as likely (69%) as the average (34%) among citizens of 24 countries, which the Pew Research Center polled, to have at least some faith in U.S. President Donald Trump’s foreign policies. The only one of the 24 countries that had a higher degree of confidence in the president’s global approach was Nigeria (79%), followed, after Israel, by Kenya (64%), Hungary (53%) and India (52%). (Read more at JNS)
The US State Department declined to comment Tuesday on remarks by US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee that the US is no longer pursuing the goal of an independent Palestinian state. "I'm not going to characterize the ambassador's remarks. I'm not going to explain them or really comment on them at all. I think he certainly speaks for himself," spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters. Asked whether Huckabee was speaking on his own or if his remarks represented a change in the Trump administration’s policy, Bruce suggested that the reporter ask the White House (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned sanctions imposed by the UK, Canada, Norway, New Zealand, and Australia on two right-wing members of the Israeli Cabinet. "These sanctions do not advance US-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire, bring all hostages home, and end the war,” Rubio said on X (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı)
