Iran says US strikes ‘harming diplomatic process by violating ceasefire’
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, accused the US of “harming” diplomatic efforts to end the war through repeated ceasefire violations, shifting positions and contradictory messages, while also blaming Israel of the same with its military operations in Lebanon.
The biggest exchange of fire between the US and Iran since a ceasefire was announced on 8 April has cast doubt on efforts to bring an end to the war and Donald Trump’s claims that a deal can be reached.
In a statement carried by Iranian media, Baghaei said:
The diplomatic process does not happen in a vacuum. To advance any negotiation or diplomatic process, you need a minimal space to be able to advance the work of diplomacy.
Unfortunately, the United States is harming this process with contradictory messages, frequent changes in positions and demands, and frequent violations of the ceasefire. The Zionist regime is also harming this process with frequent violations of the ceasefire in Lebanon.
Key events
Lauren Almeida
Asian stocks have fallen sharply after Iran and the US exchanged their biggest round of fire since a ceasefire was agreed in April.
Japan’s Nikkei index dropped 2%, while the tech-heavy South Korean Kospi slumped by about 6% – although it is still up by more than 70% in the year to date.
However, oil prices have actually fallen a bit this morning, with Brent crude – the international benchmark – down 0.2% to $91.28 a barrel.
Jim Reid at Deutsche Bank suggests that while investors are preoccupied with the conflict in the Middle East, “markets are also swinging between 1999-style AI exuberance and 2000-type tech crash fears”.
On the former, Brent briefly fell below $90 for the first time since April 17th yesterday before partially rebounding after Trump vowed retaliation following Iran shooting down a US helicopter. On the latter, the Philly Semiconductor Index fell by as much as -8.62% intra-day before recovering to -1.93% by the close.
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Two crew members missing after fire erupts on tanker off Oman coast, UKMTO says
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it has received a report of a fire on a tanker off the coast of Oman, with one crew member injured and two others missing.
The incident happened this morning 20 nautical miles northeast of the Omani port city of Sohar, according to the agency. It did not say what caused the fire.
The UKMTO said:
Local authorities have reported a tanker has experienced a fire in their engine room and are on the scene assisting with the evacuation of the crew. The vessel is reporting 1 casualty and 2 crew members missing. No environment impact reported.
Authorities continue investigating.
Analysis: Iran weighs future of US talks amid exchange of fire
Patrick Wintour
The future of talks between the US and Iran are under review in the wake of the exchange of fire between Iran and the US overnight, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said.
His remarks suggest discussions are under way at senior level whether to continue the military exchanges.
Iran seemed to regard it as significant that Donald Trump reportedly initially did not want to respond militarily to the downing of the US Apache helicopter since that response was taken as a sign that Trump is eager for a peace deal, and does not want to disturb the diplomatic climate so close to a possible agreement.
Iran claims it hit 70% of its targets in Jordan and Bahrain, including the F35 fighter jet hangars at the airbase and the command and control centre of the US base in Al-Azraq, Jordan.
Iran has given various accounts of why the Apache helicopter was downed, but settled on an accidental collision between the helicopter and an Iranian drone.
A tweet by a senior Iranian parliamentarian praising the attack has caused some consternation within Iran since it suggests the helicopter was downed deliberately.
Ebrahim Rezaei, who is the spokesperson for the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy commission, tweeted in Persian and English sentences that indicate approval of Iran’s military action.
He wrote: “We kiss the hand of the fighter who dealt another slap to the devil by shooting down an American helicopter in the strait of Hormuz (like martyr Nader Mahdavi), we will celebrate him as a hero.”
He later asked how the US took less than two days to conclude that the attack on the helicopter had been carried out by Iran, but after three months of investigation was still unable to say if the US was responsible for an attack on a school in Minab at the start of the war that led to the death of more than 156 people, including 120 schoolchildren.
Overall, the tone of Iranian official remarks in the wake of the overnight exchange of fire was to project a firmness of purpose, but without enthusiasm to escalate.
A US attack on two water reservoirs in the Bemani area of Sirik in southern Iran, located on the shores of the strait of Hormuz, has left 20,000 people without drinking water, according to an Iranian water utility company.
Hormozgan province water and wastewater company, or Abfa Hormozgan, said the reservoirs were “targeted and completely destroyed” this morning by US military fire, according to a statement on its website.
The company’s CEO, Abdolhamid Hamzehpour, said the reservoirs provided drinking water to the city of Kohstak and 10 surrounding villages. There are not enough groundwater resources for immediate replacement in this area, Hamzehpour said in a statement carried by the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency, adding that conditions for residents have become “difficult and critical” as temperatures exceed 45C (113F).
Iran says US strikes ‘harming diplomatic process by violating ceasefire’
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, accused the US of “harming” diplomatic efforts to end the war through repeated ceasefire violations, shifting positions and contradictory messages, while also blaming Israel of the same with its military operations in Lebanon.
The biggest exchange of fire between the US and Iran since a ceasefire was announced on 8 April has cast doubt on efforts to bring an end to the war and Donald Trump’s claims that a deal can be reached.
In a statement carried by Iranian media, Baghaei said:
The diplomatic process does not happen in a vacuum. To advance any negotiation or diplomatic process, you need a minimal space to be able to advance the work of diplomacy.
Unfortunately, the United States is harming this process with contradictory messages, frequent changes in positions and demands, and frequent violations of the ceasefire. The Zionist regime is also harming this process with frequent violations of the ceasefire in Lebanon.
Jennifer Rankin
More than 460 former European leaders and senior officials have called on the EU “to stop turning a blind eye” to Israel’s conduct in Palestine and impose sanctions.
In an op-ed released to European newspapers, the group urge the EU to suspend preferential trade with Israel, prevent exports from the illegally occupied West Bank entering the bloc and impose sanctions on Israeli ministers
The op ed is signed by 18 former senior politicians, including former prime ministers Leo Varadkar of Ireland, Robert Golob of Slovenia and Stefan Löfven of Sweden.
Notably it is also backed by leaders from countries that have hitherto declined to support trade sanctions against Israel, such as the former Italian prime ministers, Romano Prodi and Massimo d’Alema, and German former vice-chancellor Sigmar Gabriel.
In an implicit rebuke to EU leaders – Ursula von der Leyen at the European Commission and foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas – the group calls on the EU to show leadership.
They write:
Alarmingly, today, the EU’s credibility in the eyes of its own citizens and voters – and most of the world – is being undermined by its failure to show moral and political leadership in upholding international law.
The letter highlights that Israel’s onslaught on Gaza has killed at least 73,000 people, including more than 21,500 children, since the “heinous” Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023 that ignited the conflict. More than 900 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed since Donald Trump declared a ceasefire last October and conditions in the strip remain catastrophic, with the UN agency UNRWA and NGOs having warned that vital supplies are impeded by Israel.
Also in the spotlight are state-backed attacks by violent settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank, despite an opinion from the International Court of Justice in July 2024 stating that all settlements were illegal and should be dismantled.
The demands to suspend Israel’s preferential trade and expand sanctions on Israeli government ministers raise pressure days before EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels for talks on the Middle East.
EU officials insist that there is no majority to suspend preferential trade with Israel or take other measures, while saying the proposals remain on the table. In the absence of a majority, the Commission has declined to prepare a proposal to ban trade with occupied territories.
Russia and China, both allies of Iran, have urged restraint after violence broke out anew in the Middle East
“Various relevant parties should maintain calm and exercise restraint, stop intensifying the conflict and escalating the situation, take concrete measures to ease and cool down tensions,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova later weighed in, saying: “We are extremely concerned about the new round of US-Iranian armed confrontation, which began with the unprovoked US-Israeli aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
“We call on both sides to exercise restraint and to immediately cease military attacks.”
Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency reported explosions near Qeshm, an Iranian island in the strait of Hormuz.
The news agency said: “The exact nature of these sounds is still unknown, given the volume of the sound, the source of the explosion may have been a relatively large distance from the city of Qeshm or related to movements in the strait of Hormuz.”
State media, citing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reported US attacks on Qeshm island earlier this morning.
Haroon Siddique
Thirty-two charities in England and Wales have donated at least £28m to Israeli settlements that are illegal under international law, an MP has said.
Labour’s Melanie Ward said that if gift aid were claimed against the donations in the usual way, it would mean taxpayers had subsidised illegal settlements to the tune of £5.6m, a situation she described as deplorable. The foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, announced on Tuesday that the Charity Commission has been tasked with investigating UK charities’ links to settlements.
Ward, formerly the chief executive of Medical Aid for Palestinians, set out the details of their recent activities in a letter to the commission in which she urges the regulator to take action by investigating them and removing them from the charity register.
She writes: “The existence and growth of Israeli settlements in the state of Palestine is globally recognised as one of the major impediments to peace. Any activity which supports the maintenance and the expansion of Israeli settlements – such as that funded by these 32 ‘charities’ – is extremist and not of benefit to the UK public.”
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Meanwhile in Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has issued several warnings this morning urging people in three southern Lebanese towns and villages to flee their homes ahead of strikes.
The forced evacuation orders were issued for Ansariyeh, Ghassaniyah and Houmine el-Faouqa, warning people to stay away from the towns and villages and move north of the Zahrani River.
Earlier, the Israeli military said it had launched several strikes in the city of Tyre and other areas in southern Lebanon over the past day, claiming to target Hezbollah infrastructure.
Cargo ship exchanges fire with gunmen on small boat off Yemen coast, says UKMTO
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it has received a report of a cargo ship exchanging fire with gunmen on a small boat off the coast of Yemen.
The guards on the cargo ship were able to fend them off, according to UKMTO. The incident occurred 88 nautical miles southwest of the Yemeni port town of Balhaf this morning, the agency added.
In its warning, the UKMTO said:
A cargo vessel has reported being approached by one craft with 6 armed persons onboard. There was an exchange of fire between the small craft and the cargo vessels Armed Security Team resulting in the small craft turning away.
Authorities are investigating.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Associated Press reported that the Houthi rebels in Yemen have said they will resume their attacks against Israeli-affiliated ships passing the Red Sea.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has held calls with his counterparts in Turkey and Saudi Arabia, Iranian media is reporting.
According to state media, Araghchi used the call to condemn the overnight attacks on Iran as a “violation of sovereignty and affirmed Iran’s right to respond in legitimate defense”.
