politics

Ships report attacks as Iran shuts Hormuz

Trump convenes White House Situation Room meeting

Donald Trump convened a White House Situation Room meeting on Saturday morning to discuss the renewed crisis around the strait of Hormuz and negotiations with Iran, according to reporting from Axios.

A senior US official told Axios that unless there is a breakthrough in peace talks, it appears that the war could reopen within days. There is still no firm date for negotiations to resume this weekend, despite Trump’s hopes to end the conflict before the ceasefire expires on Tuesday.

The official told Axios that JD Vance, Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth and Scott Bessent, among other senior government officials, were present at today’s meeting.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards says they will blockade strait of Hormuz again as of today

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) will blockade the strait of Hormuz again as of today, the IRGC warned in a statement published by semi-official news agency Tasnim News.

“Approaching the strait of Hormuz will be considered cooperation with the enemy, and any offending vessel will be targeted,” the IRGC statement read. The statement cited the US blockade as a ceasefire violation.

Iran is not yet ready to hold a new round of face-to-face talks with US officials, a senior Iranian official said Saturday, citing Washington’s refusal to abandon “maximalist” demands on key issues.

In an interview with the Associated Press on the margins of a diplomacy forum in Turkey, Iranian deputy foreign minister Saeed Khatibzadeh also said his country will not hand over its enriched uranium to the US, rejecting claims made by Donald Trump.

“I can tell you that no enriched material is going to be shipped to the United States,” Khatibzadeh said. “This is a non-starter and I can assure you that while we are ready to address any concerns that we do have, we’re not going to accept things that are non-starters.”

Khatibzadeh said there have been many exchanges of messages between the sides but accused the US of holding firm on demands Iran deems to be excessive.

“We are still not there yet to move on to an actual meeting because there are issues that the Americans have not yet abandoned, their maximalist position,” Khatibzadeh said. Iran was seeking the finalization of a “framework agreement” before moving to an in-person meeting, he added.

Pope Leo says ‘not in my interest at all’ to debate Trump on Iran war

Pope Leo XIV said Saturday that it is “not in my interest at all” to debate Donald Trump about the Iran war, but that he would continue preaching the Gospel message of peace.

Leo spoke to reporters aboard the papal plane flying from Cameroon to Angola as part of his 11-day tour of Africa.

He addressed the spiraling back-and-forth saga of Trump’s critiques of his peace message, which have dominated news headlines this week. But the American pope also sought to set the record straight, insisting that his preaching isn’t directed at Trump, but reflects the broader Gospel message of peace.

“There’s been a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects, but because of the political situation created when, on the first day of the trip, the president of the United States made some comments about myself,” he said. “Much of what has been written since then has been more commentary on commentary, trying to interpret what has been said.”

Unicef pauses operations in north Gaza Strip after contractors killed

The Israeli military killed two Unicef-contracted truck drivers at a water point in the northern Gaza strip, forcing the UN agency to suspend its operations in the area, Unicef said.

Two other people were also injured in the attack that occurred at the Mansoura water-filling point in Gaza City, Unicef said in a statement.

Unicef said the point is being used multiple times a day to provide hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza City with clean water from the Mekorot water supply line.

The agency said it suspended onsite activities until security conditions in the area are restored.

India said it had called in the Iranian envoy to New Delhi and flagged its “deep concern” over the attack on two Indian-flagged ships attempting to cross the strait of Hormuz on Saturday.

One of the vessels attacked was identified as the Sanmar Herald, an Indian government source told Reuters. The crew on board and the vessel were safe, the source said.

India’s top foreign ministry official asked the Iranian ambassador to convey India’s view to Iranian authorities and resume at the earliest the process of facilitating India-bound ships across the strait, a statement from the ministry said. The ambassador said he would convey these views to Iranian authorities, the statement said.

The US military is preparing in the coming days to board Iran-linked oil tankers and seize commercial ships in international waters, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing US officials.

The Iranian military has continued to tighten its grip on the strait of Hormuz, attacking several commercial vessels on Saturday as it declared the waterway was being “strictly controlled” by Iran. Shipping companies are left scrambling a day after Iran’s foreign minister said the strait was fully open to commercial traffic, an announcement that was welcomed by Trump.

Two Indian-flagged vessels carrying crude oil were attacked on Saturday while attempting to cross the strait of Hormuz, India’s ministry of external affairs said in a statement.

Tehran’s ambassador to New Delhi, Mohammad Fathali, was called in for a meeting with India’s foreign secretary, Vikram Misri, during which Misri conveyed India’s deep concern at the shooting incident involving two Indian-flagged ships. Misri urged the ambassador to convey India’s views to the authorities in Iran and resume at the earliest the process of facilitating India-bound ships across the strait.

On the night of 27 February, the day before the US and Israel would carry out strikes on Iran, an unusual influx of about 150 accounts on the online betting market Polymarket placed bets that the US would strike Iran the next day. Analysis found the bets totalled $855,000, with 16 accounts pocketing more than $100,000 each.

Guardian reporter Lauren Aratani looked at the suspiciously well-timed financial bets on the Iran war and the serious ethical and legal concerns they raise.

Aratani explores how prediction markets may be enabling people to profit from inside knowledge of geopolitical events, potentially even before they happen.

Hezbollah denies involvement in deadly attack on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon

Hezbollah has denied it was involved in the deadly attack against UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, which killed a French soldier.

A UN peacekeeper was killed and three others were injured after a patrol came under attack from “non-state actors”, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) said.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, identified the slain peacekeeper as Florian Montorio, a French national, and suggested in a statement that Hezbollah was responsible.

The Hezbollah-owned al-Manar TV reported: “Hezbollah denied any involvement in the incident with Unifil forces in the south and called for caution in assigning blame and judgment.”

Al-Manar reported a further statement from the Iran-backed group, in which it said it was “surprised by the positions that have been quick to level baseless accusations, while these parties remain silent and make no sound when the Israeli enemy attacks Unifil forces”.

Trump: ‘Iran cannot blackmail US with strait of Hormuz’

Donald Trump has warned Iran not to “blackmail” the US with its flip-flopping on the status of the strait of Hormuz, after Tehran reversed its decision to reopen the waterway to shipping.

But the US president again struck a positive tone that a deal with Iran could be possible.

“They [Iran] got a little cute, as they have been doing for 47 years,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

“We’re talking to them. They wanted to close up the strait again – you know, as they’ve been doing for years – and they can’t blackmail us.”

He added: “It’s going actually along very well, and we’ll see, but we’ll have some information by the end of the day.”

Iran ‘considering new proposals put forward by US’

Iran’s supreme national security council, the country’s highest decision-making body under the supreme leader, said it is reviewing “new proposals” put forward by the US, according to Iranian media.

In a statement carried by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, the Iran security council said the Pakistani army chief, Asim Munir, who has just concluded a three-day trip to Iran, relayed new proposals put forward by the US, which Tehran “is considering and has not yet responded to”.

It added that it will resume control over the strait of Hormuz “until the end of the war is definitively concluded”, warning that as long as the US naval blockade of Iranian ports continues, Tehran will “regard it as a breach of the ceasefire and will prevent the conditional and limited reopening of the strait of Hormuz”.

UKMTO reports further attack and suspicious activity near strait of Hormuz

The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) has issued two further alerts relating to attacks and suspicious activity near the strait of Hormuz.

UKMTO said it received a report of a container ship “being hit by an unknown projectile” about 25 nautical miles north-east of Oman. It said some of the containers were damaged but no fire or environmental impact were reported.

In a separate alert, UKMTO said it received a report of suspicious activity about three nautical miles east of Oman, after a captain of a cruise ship spotted “a splash in close proximity of the vessel”.

Earlier today, UKMTO said it received a report that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ships had fired at a tanker near the strait.The ship’s captain reported that the crew was safe, UKMTO added.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump is asking if anybody has “looked at how badly the country of Spain is doing”.

While Spain has been especially critical of the US – with Trump responding in kind – over its decision to go to war with Iran, it is not clear what has brought on the US president’s latest verbal attack against the country.

The Spanish government is hosting a “Global Progressive Mobilisation” summit of left-wing leaders from across Europe and Latin America in Barcelona this weekend. While Trump was not specifically mentioned in public remarks, the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said: “We all see the attacks against the multilateral system, the repeated attempts to undermine international law and the dangerous normalisation of the use of force.” This is being widely interpreted as a swipe at Trump, particularly when Sánchez has not held back in previous comments about the US president.

In a post on his Truth Social network, Trump said:

Has anybody looked at how badly the country of Spain is doing. Their financial numbers, despite contributing almost nothing to NATO and their military defense, are absolutely horrendous. Sad to watch!!!”

The Guardian

politics

US-Iran talks end in Doha, focus on Hormuz

Iran and the United States concluded a round of indirect talks on Wednesday with no sign they had made headway toward a lasting peace, focusing instead on ‌issues that they said had been resolved when an interim agreement was announced two weeks ago.

Sources familiar with the discussions said negotiators for the two countries spent two days in Doha discussing maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and unfreezing Iran’s funds, two critical issues under the initial agreement.

The next meeting will take place after funeral processions for Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is due to be buried on July 9, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said.

The Doha discussions produced “positive progress” on issues related to the memorandum that halted the war in June and were “building on the outcomes” of ⁠a summit in Switzerland, the ministry spokesperson said in a post on X.

In Washington, U.S. President Donald Trump said the two sides were making progress on possible limits to Iran’s nuclear program — the main reason he launched the war along with Israel in February. “The denuclearization of Iran is moving along well,” he told reporters. “They’ve had very good meetings, and we’ll see.”

But the sources said the nuclear program did not come up in the talks, which were technical in nature.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance said that matter would be addressed later. “Obviously, we’re worried about the nuclear issue, we’re going to start talking about that,” he told reporters.

American and Iranian negotiators held separate meetings with Qatari and Pakistani mediators, Qatar’s foreign ministry said.

Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and top U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, dispatched to the region for what the White House had billed as “high-level” talks, did not attend the sessions, according to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The leader of Iran’s delegation, Deputy ‌Foreign Minister ⁠Kazem Gharibabadi, said the talks concluded. Neither side said whether they had managed to bridge any of their differences.

WHO CONTROLS THE STRAIT?

The initial deal calls for Iran and the United States to allow shipping to resume through the Strait of Hormuz, which handled one-fifth of global oil and liquid natural gas trade before the war. Though traffic has partially resumed, the status of the strategic waterway remains unclear and the two countries exchanged strikes last weekend following an Iranian attack on a cargo ship.

Iran is determined to win international ⁠recognition of its control over the strait even if it has to do so by force, two senior Iranian sources said, and has repeatedly said it will assess tolls on shipping starting in mid-August, after a toll-free period specified by the initial agreement expires.

Trump’s comments on Wednesday played down the possibility of a return to all-out war with Iran. “I think they’ve ⁠come a long way,” he said.

Oil prices fell to their lowest level in four months following Trump’s remarks, and analysts cut their price forecasts for the first time since the war began.

Iran’s state media said on Wednesday that a foreign container ship had run aground in shallow waters outside the shipping route designated by ⁠Iranian authorities.

“Hormuz continues to reopen but it’s patchy, unpredictable, and not fully transparent,” said Vandana Hari, founder of oil market analysis provider Vanda Insights.

Several European countries have offered to help clear mines from the Strait, but Germany’s defense minister Boris Pistorius said he did not expect his country to participate, citing Iran’s unwillingness to cooperate with other countries.

politics

Trump says Iran talks begin as Tehran denies meeting

Mixed signals over US-Iran diplomacy kept the Middle East on edge after President Donald Trump announced talks in Qatar would begin on Tuesday, only for Tehran to deny any negotiations were planned. The uncertainty came as commercial shipping slowly resumed through the Strait of Hormuz, though traffic remained below normal levels. Meanwhile, Iran confirmed the death of a senior IRGC Navy official in a vehicle accident as efforts continued to preserve the fragile US-Iran ceasefire agreement. Follow our live updates:

06:33 AM, 30 June 2026

Trump says Iran meeting to take place in Qatar

US President Donald Trump said Iran has requested a meeting that will be held Tuesday in Qatar, despite Tehran denying any direct negotiations were planned with Washington on the deal aimed at ending the Middle East war.

The announcement came after Iran held its first talks with Oman on managing the Strait of Hormuz since the US-Iran deal was signed, and as Washington and Tehran agreed to halt their attacks, which had strained the agreement.

“IRAN HAS REQUESTED A MEETING. IT WILL TAKE PLACE TOMORROW IN DOHA!” Trump posted Monday on his Truth Social platform, without specifying the participants.

05:26 AM, 30 June 2026

IRGC Navy spokesperson Mohammad Akbarzadeh dies in reported ‘car rollover’

Mohammad Akbarzadeh, political deputy (and spokesperson) of the IRGC Navy, died in reported vehicle rollover accident in Iran’s Kerman province.

Iranian state-affiliated media, including Fars News Agency (IRGC-linked), reported that Akbarzadeh, political deputy (and spokesperson) of the IRGC Navy, died after his vehicle overturned on a road in Kerman province (southeastern Iran, on the route from Yazd).

Emergency responders transported him to a medical center, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Authorities have launched an investigation into the cause and circumstances.

This is corroborated by multiple outlets carrying the Iranian reporting, including Iran International, RIA Novosti/Sputnik affiliates, and social media summaries from observers.

03:45 AM, 30 June 2026

Lebanon state media says Israeli strike hits south

Lebanese state media on Monday said an Israeli strike hit the country’s south, despite a framework accord signed by the two countries last week aimed at securing a peace deal.

“Israeli warplanes carried out an airstrike targeting the area between the southern Lebanese towns of Qantara and Deir Seryan,” the state-run National News Agency said.

03:07 AM, 30 June 2026

Iran says ‘expert delegation’ heading to Qatar this week

Iran said a delegation of experts would travel to Doha this week for discussions on the implementation of the memorandum of understanding signed with the United States earlier this month.

“An expert delegation from the Islamic Republic of Iran will travel to Doha later this week” to discuss the implementation of clauses of the memorandum, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said.

“We have not yet entered the stage of negotiating a final agreement,” he said, noting that “over the coming days, we will not have any negotiation meetings with the US side at any level”.

01:14 AM, 30 June 2026

Conflicting US-Iran signals keep Mideast on edge

Mixed signals over planned US-Iran negotiations injected fresh uncertainty into Middle East diplomacy, as Tehran denied that any talks were scheduled despite President Donald Trump’s announcement that American and Iranian officials would meet in Qatar this week.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said no negotiations with the US were planned “at any level” in the coming days, contradicting Trump’s statement that talks would begin Tuesday. The conflicting messages have raised questions about the status of diplomatic efforts following weeks of heightened tensions in the region.

The uncertainty comes as negotiators seek to build on a fragile US-Iran memorandum of understanding intended to reduce hostilities and pave the way for a broader agreement addressing Iran’s nuclear program, regional security and sanctions relief.

01:02 AM, 30 June 2026

Shipping through Hormuz inches higher: tracking data

More than two dozen commercial vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz over the past 24 hours, according to MarineTraffic data, as global shipping companies cautiously resumed operations ahead of expected US-Iran peace talks that President Donald Trump said are scheduled to begin Tuesday.

The vessel count remains well below pre-conflict levels, underscoring continued concerns over security in one of the world’s most strategically important maritime chokepoints.

MarineTraffic data showed that 25 commercial ships passed through the strait during the latest 24-hour period. The outbound traffic from the Persian Gulf included six oil tankers and eight cargo vessels, while five tankers and six cargo ships entered the Gulf.

12:53 AM, 30 June 2026

Iran says implementation of MoU underway, final talks not yet started

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei has briefed reporters on developments related to the implementation of a memorandum of understanding (MoU), outlining progress on key provisions, according to official remarks.

He said the United States has issued the necessary authorisations under Article 10 of the MoU, related to oil sales, and that Iran is monitoring the implementation process.

Baghaei added that steps are also underway regarding the release of Iran’s frozen assets.

However, he clarified that negotiations on a final agreement have not yet begun.

He further said any visit by US representatives to Qatar is unrelated to the Iranian delegation’s trip, which is focused solely on follow-up implementation issues, including Article 11 of the MoU.

12:39 AM, 30 June 2026

Israel says Trump linked Iran and Lebanon conflicts during talks

US President Donald Trump pushed to link the wars in Lebanon and Iran during ceasefire discussions, despite Israel’s preference to treat them as separate conflicts, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said, according to a CNN report.

Katz said he regretted the linkage but noted it “served an American interest,” adding that Washington wanted to advance negotiations with Iran and saw the Lebanon front as an obstacle.

He also said Israel had no territorial ambitions in Lebanon but remains in place with US backing until Hezbollah is fully disarmed.

According to Katz, Israel has destroyed large parts of border villages and said displaced residents from southern Lebanon will not be allowed to return.

He also reiterated that Israel would strike Beirut’s Dahiyeh district if Hezbollah attacks northern Israel and said it is prepared to resume operations against Iran if diplomacy fails or if Iran attacks Israel.

12:19 AM, 30 June 2026

UAE allows citizens to travel to Lebanon

The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that Emirati citizens will be allowed to travel to Lebanon from Monday, June 29, 2026.

The ministry said registration through the Tawajudi service is mandatory before travel, adding that citizens will not be allowed to leave UAE ports of departure before completing the registration process to avoid travel procedures being suspended or legal accountability.

In a statement posted on Instagram, the ministry said UAE citizens must also notify the relevant authorities of their return through Tawajudi.

It urged citizens to contact the ministry in emergencies on +97180024.

The decision follows an earlier travel ban announced on April 30, 2026, when the ministry barred UAE citizens from travelling to Iran, Lebanon and Iraq due to regional developments and called on citizens already in those countries to leave and return to the UAE as soon as possible.

world

Qatar vessel incident: One killed, one injured

The Ministry of Interior of Qatar has confirmed that maritime search operations were carried out after a vessel carrying two individuals failed to return at its scheduled time, prompting an immediate response from the General Directorate of Coasts and Borders Security.

According to an official statement, routine monitoring and verification procedures first flagged the delay, following which maritime patrols launched a search operation on the evening of Saturday, June 27, 2026

The Maritime Search and Rescue Team located the vessel in the early hours of Sunday, June 28, the ministry said.

One killed, one injured in incident

The ministry confirmed that a Qatari citizen was killed after sustaining injuries from shrapnel linked to military activity in the area.

An Arab resident on board was also injured and has been hospitalised in stable condition.

Condolences and ongoing investigation

The Ministry of Interior extended its condolences to the family of the deceased, praying for mercy upon him, and wished a swift recovery for the injured individual.

It added that investigations are ongoing in accordance with established legal procedures.