Trump says Iran peace negotiations could be reached 'over the weekend'
Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday that Iran is “pretty close” to signing a peace agreement with the US and that “it could happen over the weekend”.
“Anything can happen when you’re dealing with Iran…that’s a very volatile part of the world, probably the most volatile part of the world. The people are volatile. The leadership, you see what’s going on,” he said.
But he went on to say that negotiations were going well and that Tehran and Washington could reach an agreement within days. He maintained that the heart of the negotiations come down to Iran agreeing to never own, develop or buy a nuclear weapon.
Trump said that given the strength of the US military, “we could go another two, three weeks and just wipe everybody out.”
“I’d rather not do that,” he said. “It’s very easy to do. They’re ready to do it, they want to do it but if we can get something down in writing that can accomplish the same thing without killing everybody, I’d like to do that. Most of my people would like to do that. Some people wouldn’t, but most people would.”
Iran claims to have hit US military ship, but US says 'Iran is lying'
Iranian state media reported on Wednesday that Iran has targeted a US military ship approaching Iranian waters in the Gulf of Oman.
Within minutes, US Central Command (Centcom) disputed that claim on X.
“Iran is lying,” the post reads. “US military assets at sea continue to fly, sail, and operate safely and unimpeded.”
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi warned on Wednesday that any attack on Beirut would trigger a “full-scale resumption” of the Middle East war, as Israel pressed its campaign against Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Iran has repeatedly insisted that any deal to end the wider Middle East war – which its ally Hezbollah joined on 2 March – must also halt the fighting in Lebanon.
“The fate of the war between Iran and the Zionists [Israel] and Americans is inseparable from the fate of the battle in Lebanon, and these two fronts have been intertwined since day one,” Iranian news agencies quoted Araghchi as telling Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen TV, reports AFP.
“Any attack on Beirut will have grave consequences and will lead to a full-scale resumption of the war,” he continued, adding Iran’s “armed forces are ready to strike Israel if it attacks Beirut”.
He also insisted that for the war in Lebanon to end, Israeli forces must get out of the country.
“The end of the war in Lebanon also means the end of the occupation. That is, the end of the war must be accompanied by the withdrawal of the Zionist regime’s forces from the areas they have occupied,” he told the pro-Hezbollah Lebanese broadcaster.
His comments came as Israeli and Lebanese diplomats were to hold a second day of direct talks in Washington.
They are part of a fourth round of talks since the fighting in Lebanon erupted when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader.
Hezbollah is sharply opposed to the direct negotiations.
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A meeting between Hamas and Gaza truce mediators in Egypt has been postponed until Sunday, a source close to the movement said, as it demanded Israel halt ongoing attacks in the Palestinian territory.
The meeting had originally been planned for Wednesday in the Mediterranean city of El-Alamein, and was set to include a Hamas delegation headed by chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, along with Palestinian factions such as Islamic Jihad and mediators from Egypt, Turkey and Qatar.
“Hamas and the Palestinian factions are expected to begin consultative meetings in Cairo next Saturday” ahead of meetings between the Palestinian movements and the mediators on Sunday, a source close to the negotiations told AFP.
The source said Hamas had “requested to postpone the talks”, calling them meaningless amid “Israeli intransigence”.
Hamas spokesperson Taher al-Nunu said the movement was in “intense consultations” with the mediators to ensure “real results on the ground”.
“The mediators must compel the occupation to halt the assassinations, bombardment and starvation”, and “expedite the entry of the national committee for the administration of Gaza”, he said, referring to the 15-member board created under the truce deal, which has not yet been allowed to enter the territory it is charged with running.
A transition to the second phase of the ceasefire, which was supposed to involve Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual withdrawal of the Israeli army, has been stalled for months.
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Iran foreign minister: Contact with Washington has not been cut off
Abbas Araqchi, the Iranian foreign minister, said in an interview with the Lebanese broadcaster Al Mayadeen on Wednesday that Tehran’s contacts with Washington have not been cut off, Reuters reports.
However, no progress has been made in negotiations, Araqchi said.
Earlier, Araqchi had posted on X that Iran’s armed forces are conducting self-defense strikes on sites the US is permitted to use to attack civilian shipping and violate the ceasefire.
Araqchi added that any hostile act will be met with an immediate, decisive response from Iran.
Here are some images coming out of Lebanon today:
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Sirens have sounded in northern Israel over a possible hostile aircraft infiltration in the area of Zar’it, which is located near the Lebanese border, the IDF said.
More details to come.
Here is some video from the earlier Iranian strikes that hit Kuwait international airport today, killing one person and wounding several others:
Three Lebanese hospitals hit by Israeli forces in under a week
Three hospitals in southern Lebanon have been attacked by Israel in under a week, wounding more than 150 people and killing nine, according to Lebanon’s ministry of health.
Israel carried out an attack in the immediate vicinity of the public hospital in Tebnine on Wednesday, just days after strikes next to the Hiram and Jabal Amel hospitals in Tyre. The attack next to Jabal Amel on Monday killed four people and injured 127 – most of whom were medical staff.
“It was an ordinary day at the hospital and then suddenly for no reason, they targeted the hospital. It was a catastrophe,” said Wael Mroueh, the director of Jabal Amel. The strike hit the building directly in front of the hospital, levelling it.
More here:
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Rubio: Trump to attend Nato summit meeting in July
Donald Trump has been critical of Nato, particularly after launching the war in Iran. But today, Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, told the House foreign affairs committee that “the president himself will be attending” the Nato meeting of heads of state in Turkey next month.
“I think the next meeting of Nato and Turkey in July is probably the most important meeting in Nato’s history, because there are some things here that need to be cleared up and fixed,” Rubio said on Wednesday.
In April, Trump called the 77-year-old alliance a “paper tiger” and suggested that the US may consider leaving after Nato member countries ignored his call for military assistance to help reopen the strait of Hormuz.
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The day so far
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Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with CNBC that any full-scale return to military action against Iran would be president Donald Trump’s decision, adding that US and Israeli forces are ready. He added that it was not over with Iran but that Tehran was weakened.
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Netanyahu also downplayed a row with US president Donald Trump, saying they both were aligned on the goal of disarming Hezbollah in order to achieve peace between Israel and Lebanon. Trump confirmed in an interview published on Wednesday in the New York Post that he had a tense exchange with Netanyahu two days prior, in which he reportedly berated his close ally with expletives.
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Donald Trump said Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is involved in talks to end the war and that he would “like to meet him”. Khamenei has not been seen in public since the Iran war began, and has only addressed the nation through written statements read out by television anchors. US officials have claimed Khamenei was incapacitated or undergoing treatment for severe injuries sustained in the same bombing that killed his father, Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the war.
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The Lebanese armed forces said a soldier was killed “as a result of being targeted by an Israeli raid” while he was travelling between the towns of Nabatieh and Kfar Tebnit in southern Lebanon. The state-run National News Agency reported at least six people in southern Lebanon were killed by Israeli drone strikes, while Israel said it intercepted a hostile aircraft likely fired by Hezbollah.
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The Kuwaiti defence ministry said it intercepted 13 ballistic missiles and 17 drones launched by Iran today. A drone and missile attack on Kuwait’s international airport killed one person, which Kuwaiti authorities identified as an Indian national. It is the first reported death in a Gulf state since the US and Iran agreed to a ceasefire in April.
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Kuwait said that its territory and airspace were not used to attack “any country”, denying Iranian claims that the United States launched strikes from there. The denial came as Kuwait summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires, with deputy foreign minister Hamad Suleiman Al-Mashaan issuing “Kuwait’s categorical rejection of the use of its territory or airspace in any hostile acts against any country, emphasizing that the false Iranian claims are baseless and do not rely on evidence”, a ministry statement said.
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One person was killed and several people were injured in an Iranian drone attack that targeted Kuwait’s airport, according to authorities and state media. Flights were suspended this morning but some later resumed after the country’s civil aviation authority said it assessed the damage at the airport.
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The Israeli military said it intercepted two projectiles that crossed into Israeli territory from Lebanon on Wednesday, after earlier announcing the interception of a “hostile aircraft” that had also crossed into Israel. “Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in the area of Misgav Am, the Israeli Air Force intercepted two projectiles that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory,” the military said, referring to a community on the northern border.
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Lebanon’s health ministry said two paramedics were killed on Wednesday in an Israeli strike on the country’s south, with at least 130 emergency and health workers now killed since the Israel-Hezbollah war began in March. A ministry statement said that “the Israeli enemy directly targeted an ambulance belonging to the Risala Scouts Association”, which is affiliated with Hezbollah ally the Amal movement, adding that “this resulted in the martyrdom of two paramedics and left a third with highly critical injuries.
Netanyahu downplays Trump row after US president confirms heated phone call
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu downplayed on Wednesday a row with US president Donald Trump, saying they both were aligned on the goal of disarming Hezbollah in order to achieve peace between Israel and Lebanon.
Trump confirmed in an interview published on Wednesday in the New York Post that he had a tense exchange with Netanyahu two days prior, in which he reportedly berated his close ally with expletives.
Netanyahu downplayed the dispute in an interview with US television channel CNBC, saying he and Trump were on the same page when it came to tackling Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Hezbollah “is an Iranian proxy that puts all the citizens of Lebanon at gunpoint and uses Lebanon as a platform to launch terror missiles into our cities, to launch killer drones against our civilians”, Netanyahu said in the interview.
“And so if we want to save Lebanon, if we want to get a Lebanese-Israeli peace, as I do, we have to disarm Hezbollah and we have to demilitarise Lebanon. And I know that this is a goal that the president and I share, and that’s what we have to do.”
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Smoke rises from the area after the Israeli army violated the ceasefire and launched an airstrike on the Arid Debbin area, in the Marjayoun district of southern Lebanon.
Netanyahu says Trump will decide on return to full-scale action against Iran
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said in an interview with CNBC that any full-scale return to military action against Iran would be president Donald Trump’s decision, adding that US and Israeli forces are ready.
He added that it was not over with Iran but that Tehran was weakened.
Kuwait said on Wednesday that its territory and airspace were not used to attack “any country”, denying Iranian claims that the United States launched strikes from there.
The denial came as Kuwait summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires, with deputy foreign minister Hamad Suleiman Al-Mashaan issuing “Kuwait’s categorical rejection of the use of its territory or airspace in any hostile acts against any country, emphasizing that the false Iranian claims are baseless and do not rely on evidence”, a ministry statement said.
Here are some of the latest images from Lebanon, where fighting between Israel and Hezbollah show no signs of relenting:
The Lebanese armed forces said a soldier was killed “as a result of being targeted by an Israeli raid” while he was travelling between the towns of Nabatieh and Kfar Tebnit in southern Lebanon.
The state-run National News Agency reported at least six people in southern Lebanon were killed by Israeli drone strikes, while Israel said it intercepted a hostile aircraft likely fired by Hezbollah.
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A statement from Iran’s foreign ministry blamed Kuwait and Bahrain for the attacks on them, condemning what it called the “colonialist use by the United States of the territory and infrastructure of countries in the region to advance its aggressive plans against Iran”. It said the incident “emphasises the direct and unmistakable responsibility of the leaders of Kuwait and Bahrain for last night’s acts of aggression”.
The military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader threatened more missile and drone strikes should the US renew its attacks on Iran.
“Every shot fired and every attack will be met with a deluge of missiles and drones,” Mohsen Rezaee posted on X, adding that “the aggressor will swiftly be punished”.
Read more:
The Kuwaiti defence ministry said it intercepted 13 ballistic missiles and 17 drones launched by Iran today.
A drone and missile attack on Kuwait’s international airport killed one person, which Kuwaiti authorities identified as an Indian national. It is the first reported death in a Gulf state since the US and Iran agreed to a ceasefire in April.
Here are some images on the newswires, taken from a video posted on social media, appearing to show the damage at the airport after the attack:
The Israeli military said it intercepted two projectiles that crossed into Israeli territory from Lebanon on Wednesday, after earlier announcing the interception of a “hostile aircraft” that had also crossed into Israel.
“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in the area of Misgav Am, the Israeli Air Force intercepted two projectiles that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory,” the military said, referring to a community on the northern border.
Israeli officials have warned the military will strike Beirut’s southern suburbs if Hezbollah launches projectiles targeting Israeli communities in the north, a stance they say has backing from Washington.
Lebanon’s health ministry said two paramedics were killed on Wednesday in an Israeli strike on the country’s south, with at least 130 emergency and health workers now killed since the Israel-Hezbollah war began in March.
A ministry statement said that “the Israeli enemy directly targeted an ambulance belonging to the Risala Scouts Association”, which is affiliated with Hezbollah ally the Amal movement, adding that “this resulted in the martyrdom of two paramedics and left a third with highly critical injuries.”
The ministry circulated pictures of a badly damaged ambulance, with medical masks spilling out of the vehicle and scattered on the road.
Trump: 'If it wasn't for me, there would be no Israel,'
In more comments to the New York Post, Trump scoffed at claims that he was tricked by Netanyahu into joining the war against Iran.
“He tricked me? I’m the one who started it,” he said.
“I started because we can’t let them [Iran] have a nuclear weapon.
“Now that pertains to Israel, because they probably would have been the first one to get hit. There would be no Israel. Tell you what, if there wasn’t me, there would be no Israel right now.”
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Kuwait’s health ministry said 63 people were injured in an Iranian drone strike on the country’s airport this morning. Earlier, Kuwaiti authorities said one person was killed in the attack.
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'We don't need boots on the ground now,' says Trump
Trump said the US “does not need” its forces on the ground in Iran, claiming his war was going well without the need to send troops.
“We don’t need boots on the ground now,” he told the New York Post. “We wiped out much of their [Iran’s] military with just bombing. We didn’t put anybody in the ground.”
Trump says he was 'perturbed' by Netanyahu 'constantly fighting with Lebanon'
Trump seemed to have confirmed reports that he had a heated phone call with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which he apparently swore at him and said he was “fucking crazy”.
When asked by the New York Post whether he spoke to Netanyahu in those terms, Trump said: “I did, I wouldn’t say angry, I was a little bit perturbed at his constantly fighting with Lebanon.
“You know, at some point I said, Bibi, we’ve got to stop this. We’ve got to stop it. But I have a very good relationship [with Netanyahu]. We’ve done well together.”
Trump: Iran has agreed to have no nuclear weapon
Commenting on Iran’s nuclear programme, Trump claimed Tehran has agreed to not obtain a nuclear weapon.
He told the New York Post: “We can’t let them have a nuclear weapon, and they’ve already agreed they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon.”
When pressed further, he said: “Oh, yeah, they’ve agreed to that. I mean, they can change their mind, but that was one of the things they had to agree. They’ve agreed to that. That was the big thing.”
There was no immediate comment from Iran, but the nuclear issue has long remained a major bone of contention in talks between Tehran and Washington.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio told a congressional hearing yesterday that Iran has agreed to negotiate aspects of its nuclear programme that it had refused to discuss even a month ago. You can read more on that here:
Iran supreme leader involved in talks to end the war, says Trump
Donald Trump said Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is involved in talks to end the war and that he would “like to meet him”.
Khamenei has not been seen in public since the Iran war began, and has only addressed the nation through written statements read out by television anchors. US officials have claimed Khamenei was incapacitated or undergoing treatment for severe injuries sustained in the same bombing that killed his father, Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the war.
“He’s involved. Absolutely,” the US president told the New York Post. “Yeah, I think they have a lot of respect for him.”
When asked about Khamenei’s condition, Trump said: “I don’t know, I haven’t had the privilege of meeting him.”
He added: “If you believe the stories he is, you know, missing a lot of different parts.”
Trump was asked whether he would meet with Khamenei, he replied: “Yeah, I’d like to meet him. I’d like to meet everybody … We probably will meet at some point, depending on how it all works out.”
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Opening summary: Trump claims Iran agreed to no nuclear weapon and supreme leader involved in talks
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.
Donald Trump has claimed Iran has agreed it will not have a nuclear weapon and that the country’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is involved in negotiations with the US.
The bold claims were made during an interview on the New York Post’s Pod Force One podcast published this morning, as violence erupted in the Gulf once again after the US and Iran exchanged a series of strikes.
The US president also suggested that he might meet Khamenei “at some point” and that he would “like to meet him”. US officials have long claimed Khamenei sustained serious injuries in the same bombing that killed his father, Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the war.
Trump’s remarks follow comments made by the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, at a congressional hearing yesterday that there were indications Khamenei was taking a bigger part in peace talks despite not being seen publicly since the war began on 28 February. Rubio will appear before the House committee on foreign affairs for another hearing today.
Also today:
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One person was killed and several people were injured in an Iranian drone attack that targeted Kuwait’s airport, according to authorities and state media. Flights were suspended this morning but some later resumed after the country’s civil aviation authority said it assessed the damage at the airport.
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The attack came hours after US forces fired a Hellfire missile to disable a tanker attempting to break through the American blockade of the strait of Hormuz, and later said they repelled Iranian reprisal attacks in the region and attacked sites on Iran’s Qeshm Island.
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Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said it attacked the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain with missiles and drones in response to the strike on Qeshm, a claim the US military’s Central Command (Centcom) denied.
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Centcom said two Iranian missiles fired at Kuwait “fell short or broke apart enroute”, and that three missiles targeting Bahrain were intercepted by US and Bahrain.
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US forces also said they shot down three one-way attack drones “launched by Iran toward civilian mariners that were rightfully transiting regional waters” but gave no further details.
In Lebanon:
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Israel kept up strikes on southern Lebanon, pressing its campaign against Hezbollah a day after Donald Trump asked Benjamin Netanyahu not to attack Beirut to avert further escalation in the three-month-old war. Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire hit south Lebanon on Tuesday, killing at least eight people, Lebanese state media reported. Israel’s military ordered residents of the city of Nabatieh, a major Hezbollah stronghold, to leave ahead of strikes.
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Lebanon’s government has said it would seek a full ceasefire in a new round of talks with Israeli officials in Washington that began on Tuesday, the latest in a series of face-to-face meetings Beirut has attended despite Hezbollah objections.
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Hezbollah said it fired artillery shells at Israeli troops near Beaufort and targeted Israeli military vehicles south of Nabatieh on Tuesday. It has not announced cross-border attacks since Monday.
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