Israeli forces intercept the remaining activist flotilla vessels headed for Gaza
Israeli forces on Tuesday intercepted all remaining vessels from an activist flotilla attempting to challenge Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza, the latest effort to highlight the grim conditions for nearly 2 million Palestinians with severe shortages of housing, food and medicine.
A live feed on the Global Sumud Flotilla website showed armed Israeli soldiers boarding the vessels as activists in life vests put their hands up. Soldiers then destroyed cameras mounted on the vessels.
Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called for an urgent review of Israel’s use of force after Italian activists said soldiers fired rubber bullets at vessels. Flotilla organizers claimed Israeli soldiers fired on five boats during the interdictions, with some damage.
US Senate advances measure curbing Trump's Iran war powers
The US Senate advanced a war powers resolution on Tuesday that would end the Iran war
unless President Donald Trump obtains Congress' authorization, a rare rebuke of the Republican leader although the measure remains several steps from going into effect.
Hezbollah reports clashes with Israeli troops in southern Lebanon
Hezbollah reported clashes with Israeli troops in southern Lebanon despite an ongoing ceasefire. Israel has continued to target the Shiite group with air strikes even after the initial truce was extended and continues to occupy swathes of the country's south.
The group said its fighters "clashed ... with a force of the Israeli enemy army that tried to advance towards the vicinity of the town square of Haddatha," adding that "the clashes are still ongoing".
Lebanon says Israeli strike on south kills 10 people
An Israeli strike on south Lebanon Tuesday killed at least 10 people including three women and three children, the health ministry said, despite a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
"An Israeli airstrike on the town of Deir Qanun al-Nahr in the Tyre district resulted in an initial toll of 10 martyrs, including three children and three women, in addition to three wounded, including a child", the ministry said in a statement, calling it a "massacre".
US resident held in Iran's Evin prison has been released and returned home, HRANA rights group reports
An Iranian citizen who holds permanent residency in the United States has been released from prison in Iran and has returned to the US, a rights group said.
"Shahab Dalili, an Iranian citizen and US permanent resident who had been imprisoned in Evin Prison, was released after serving 10 years in prison. Following his release, he returned to the United States," the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said in a statement.
It said the man, who was sentenced for allegedly "cooperating with a hostile government", travelled from Iran to the Armenian capital Yerevan before returning to Washington "where he is now safe and reunited with his family", without specifying the date of his return.
Iran talks making 'good progress', US VP Vance says
US Vice President JD Vance said that Iran talks are making good progress but Washington was "locked and loaded" to restart military operations if there is no deal.
Vance's comments came hours after President Donald Trump claimed he had come within an hour of ordering fresh strikes and gave Tehran "two or three days" to reach an agreement.
"A lot of good progress is being made, but we're just going to keep on working at it, and eventually we'll either hit a deal or we won't," Vance told a briefing at the White House.
Vance – an Iran war-skeptic who led a US delegation to Pakistan in April for talks that failed to produce a deal – said Iran had to accept that it could not have a nuclear weapon.
"We're in a pretty good spot here – but there's an option B, and the option B is that we could restart the military campaign," said the US vice president.
US seized Iran-linked oil tanker in the Indian ocean, WSJ reports
The US seized an Iran-linked oil tanker in the Indian Ocean overnight, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing three US officials.
The tanker, known as the Skywave, was sanctioned by the US in March for its role in transporting Iranian oil and was likely loaded with more than a million barrels of crude at Iran's Kharg Island in February, the report said.
Israeli forces opened fire on Gaza aid flotilla, video shows
Israeli forces opened fire on at least two vessels in an aid flotilla sailing towards Gaza on Tuesday, according to video footage and flotilla organisers. Israel said no live ammunition was used and there were no casualties.
Video from the flotilla's livestream showed soldiers firing shots at two of the boats. The type of ammunition fired was not clear.
"At no point was live ammunition fired," the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement.
"Following multiple warnings, non-lethal means were employed toward the vessel – not toward protesters – as a warning. No protesters were injured during this event," it added, only referring to action against one vessel.
The Global Sumud Flotilla said on its website that 48 vessels had been intercepted, with some 400 people detained and two boats still sailing in the eastern Mediterranean.
US again avoids taking responsibility for deadly attack on Iranian school
A top commander of US forces in the Middle East avoided taking responsibility for an attack on a school in Iran that left 155 people dead on the first day of the war, insisting a "complex" probe continues.
Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), alleged to a congressional oversight panel that "the school itself is located on an active IRGC cruise missile base", making the investigation "more complex than the average strike". IRGC stands for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The attack killed 73 boys, 47 girls, 26 teachers, seven parents, a school bus driver, and another adult in the southern city of Minab on February 28, according to Iranian state media. The United States has repeated avoided assuming responsibility for the tragedy.
The New York Times has previously reported that the school was hit by a US Tomahawk cruise missile, a weapon which Iran does not possess. CNN has also reported that the US was responsible for the attack.
Replay: Trump addresses Iran war and FRANCE 24's analysis
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday spoke to reporters on the construction site of the planned White House ballroom, repeating his earlier claims that he pulled back from an apparently imminent attack on Iran.
Watch his full remarks by clicking on the player below.
Trump says US may need to hit Iran again
US President Donald Trump said that the United States may need to hit Iran again, and claimed he was only an hour away from deciding on a strike before he postponed the attack.
"I was an hour away from making the decision to go today," Trump told reporters at the White House.
Trump claimed that Iran's leaders were begging to make a deal, but said a new US attack would happen in the coming days if a deal is not reached.
"Well, I mean, I'm saying two or three days, maybe Friday, Saturday, Sunday, something, maybe early next week, a limited period of time, because we can't let them have a new nuclear weapon," he said.
Trump alleges that Xi promised China will not send weapons to Iran
US President Donald Trump alleged that Chinese President Xi Jinping promised during their bilateral meeting last week that Beijing will not send weapons or military equipment to Iran.
Iran still has a little capacity to retaliate, Trump says
UAE says drones targeting nuclear plant came from Iraq
The United Arab Emirates alleged that the drones that targeted its nuclear plant last week came from Iraq – from where Iranian-backed groups have launched several attacks since the US-Israeli war on Iran and ensuing Middle East conflict began.
"As part of the ongoing investigation into the blatant attack on the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant on May 17, 2026, technical tracking and monitoring confirmed that the three drones ... all originated from Iraqi territory," the Emirati defence ministry said.
‘We must break the cycle of violence’, Israeli-Palestinian author duo says
A Palestinian and Israeli who have both lost family members in the Middle East conflict spoke to Perspective about their message of hope for the world.
Aziz Abu Sarah is a Palestinian whose brother was killed by the Israeli military, and Maoz Inon an Israeli whose parents were killed by Hamas in October, 2023. After their deaths, Aziz reached out to Maoz, and from that moment grew their book “The future of Peace: A Shared Journey Across the Holy Land”, which is also now being launched in French as “La Paix est notre Avenir”.
Watch the full interview by clicking on the player below:
ICC declines to comment on far-right Israeli minister's claim of an arrest warrant against him
Israel's far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich alleged he was told the International Criminal Court prosecutor had sought a confidential arrest warrant against him, adding he would retaliate by waging a "war" on the Palestinian Authority.
He said he had ordered the "evacuation" of the Palestinian Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar in the Israeli-occupied West Bank as part of measures against the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in parts of the West Bank under agreements with Israel.
"The Palestinian Authority has started a war, and it will get a war," Smotrich claimed at a press conference, voicing Israeli government anger at what it sees as Palestinian support for international legal action Israel's devastating military campaign in Gaza.
To that end, Smotrich said, he had ordered the evacuation of Khan al-Ahmar, using his authority as finance minister and as a minister in the defence ministry to harm the PA.
The office of the prosecutor at the ICC declined to comment, citing confidentiality of the process. The ICC has previously said its prosecutor is independent and impartial when selecting situations to investigate.
UN considers response to Israel's plan to build a military compound on relief agency site
The United Nations is considering how to respond to Israel's announcement that it will build a military complex on the former headquarters of the UN relief agency for Palestinians in east Jerusalem, an official said.
Israel at the weekend announced the government's approval for a defense ministry complex at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency ’s compound in Sheikh Jarrah, including a museum and enlistment office.
“The matter is currently under consideration at the level of the legal council, the highest legal authority of the United Nations in New York,” UNRWA Deputy Commissioner General Natalie Boucly told The Associated Press during a visit to Syria.
“These are UN premises and, at a minimum, this is a breach of the 1946 UN Convention on privileges and immunities,” she said.
Israel bulldozed part of the UNRWA compound in January, capping off a decades-long campaign against the agency, which became acute following the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023.
G7 finance chiefs call for Strait of Hormuz to be reopened
The finance ministers of the G7 group of countries reiterated it was imperative to re-open the Strait of Hormuz, and that it was important to tackle global, current account imbalances.
The ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, also said they remained committed to have stable energy markets and called on all countries to avoid arbitrary export restrictions.
Trump says he is holding off on strike on Iran at request of Gulf allies
After issuing thinly veiled threats against Iran over the weekend, US President Trump appeared to strike a different tone on May 18. He described ongoing peace talks with Tehran as “very positive” and even claimed he had paused a planned US military strike.
Israeli forces intercept another boat with activists seeking to challenge the blockage of Gaza
Israeli forces intercepted one of the remaining Gaza flotilla boats, stopping the vessel when it was about 82 nautical miles (around 150 kilometers or 95 miles) from Gaza, according to the flotilla’s website tracker.
A livestream on the website showed Israeli forces in a dinghy pulling up to the boat, called the “Andros,” and activists with their arms in the air.
The screen then went dark with a message saying the boat had been intercepted.
A handful of ships were still within 100 nautical miles of Gaza and sailing toward it as of Tuesday afternoon.
Yesterday's key developments:
- US President Donald Trump claimed that he was holding off on a military strike on Iran planned for Tuesday at the request of Gulf State leaders because “serious negotiations” were under way.
- Iran announced a new body to oversee the Strait of Hormuz , which will manage maritime traffic and provide updates as tolls and restrictions reshape global shipping.
- Lebanon 's health ministry announced that Israeli strikes had killed more than 3,000 people since Israel began targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters, AP and AFP)
