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U.S. President Donald Trump. File
| Photo Credit:
Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday (June 1, 2026) he had persuaded Israel and Hezbollah to de-escalate, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreeing not to send troops to southern Beirut and the Lebanese militant group promising to stop attacks.
Key Insights & Highlights
“There will be no Troops going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way have already been turned back,” Mr. Trump said on his Truth Social network after a “very productive” call with Mr. Netanyahu.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Tasnim news agency said on Monday (June 1, 2026) that Tehran’s negotiating team is stopping exchanges of messages with the United States through mediators due to attacks on Lebanon, as diplomatic efforts to end the three-month-old Iran war continue.
Editorial | From bad to worse: On Donald Trump and the war on Iran
The agency said Iran and the Resistance Front, which includes its Shiite allies in Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq, have set an agenda to completely block the Strait of Hormuz and activate other fronts, including the Bab El Mandeb Strait, in order to “punish” Israel and its supporters.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency said on Monday (June 1, 2026) that Iran’s negotiating team is stopping exchanging messages with the United States through mediators over attacks on Lebanon.
Iran halts U.S. message exchanges, threatens to block Hormuz as tensions rise amid ongoing conflict with Israel and allies.
Lebanon’s U.S. Embassy said that Hezbollah had accepted a U.S. proposal for a “mutual cessation of attacks”, after Israel threatened more strikes on south Beirut on the eve of a fourth round of Israel-Lebanon negotiations.
Key Insights & Highlights
“The Lebanese authorities received confirmation of Hezbollah’s acceptance of the U.S. proposal providing for a mutual cessation of attacks,” said an Embassy statement published by Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s office.
Lebanon’s U.S. Embassy confirms Hezbollah’s acceptance of a U.S. proposal for mutual cessation of attacks amid ongoing negotiations.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he had persuaded Israel and Hezbollah to de-escalate, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreeing not to send troops to southern Beirut and the Lebanese militant group promising to stop attacks.
Key Insights & Highlights
“There will be no Troops going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back,” Mr. Trump said on his Truth Social network after a “very productive” call with Mr. Netanyahu.
Key Insights & Highlights
“Likewise, through highly placed Representatives, I had a very good call with Hezbollah, and they agreed that all shooting will stop — That Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel.”
Ministers from Germany and Norway had to call off a trip to Beirut on Monday (June 1, 2026) as Israel continued its assault on the city, the pair’s press services said.
German Minister for international development Reem Alabali Radovan and Norwegian counterpart Asmund Aukrust had to abort and head back to Berlin “for military reasons” as they approached Beirut airport owing to a “rapidly worsening situation,” a spokesperson for Alabali Radovan told AFP.
The ministers had hoped to make the visit to show solidarity with the Lebanese people, but their German military aircraft finally had to land in Cyprus ahead of a return to Berlin, Norwegian daily VG reported.
Iran’s state TV said on Monday (June 1, 2026) that the probability of the ceasefire between Iran and the United States ending is high if Israeli attacks on Lebanon do not stop.
State TV did not give further details.
Kuwait’s air defences intercepted missile and drone attacks on Monday (June 1, 2026), its military said, while Washington said it had downed two Iranian missiles targeting US forces in the country.
Key Insights & Highlights
“The General Staff of the Army wishes to advise that any sounds of explosions heard are the result of air defence systems intercepting these hostile attacks,” the Kuwaiti army said in a post on X.
The country’s Foreign Ministry later said in a statement that it was “holding Iran fully responsible for these heinous attacks”.
Any temporary understanding between the U.S. and Iran must be followed by deeper talks about Tehran’s nuclear stockpile and other critical issues, a top European Union official said on Monday (June 1, 2026) while offering the 27-member bloc’s contribution to a sustainable and peaceful resolution in West Asia.
Kaja Kallas, European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, also said that Pakistan has been the main mediator between the U.S. and Iran, and Islamabad’s diplomatic efforts have helped prevent a return to full-blown war.
Speaking at a joint press briefing after her talks with Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar here, Kallas said her visit came at an important moment amid global and regional changes, noting that both sides had reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening cooperation.
The ceasefire already in place between Iran and the United States is unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon, Iran’s top diplomat said on Monday (June 1, 2026) after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered attacks on the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut.
Key Insights & Highlights
“Violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts. The U.S. and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any violation,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi wrote on X.
The European Union on Monday (June 1, 2026) urged Israel to halt its military operation in Lebanon, after Israel seized the strategic Beaufort Castle and said it would resume strikes on southern Beirut.
Key Insights & Highlights
“We call on Israel to stop its military escalation in Lebanon and to respect Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” EU spokesman Anouar El Anouni said.
Israel said on Monday (June 1, 2026) it would once again target Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold mostly spared heavy attacks since April, as it stages its deepest incursion into Lebanon in two decades.
The U.N. Security Council is expected to hold an emergency meeting later on Monday (June 1, 2026) on Israel’s expansion of its operations in Lebanon, and the European Union called on Israel to “stop its military escalation”.
Iran, in stalled negotiations on an end to its wider war with the United States, said a Lebanon ceasefire remains a key condition for any deal.
U.S. forces intercepted two Iranian ballistic missiles targeting American forces based in Kuwait late on Sunday (May 31, 2026), the U.S. military said on Monday, adding that no American personnel were harmed.
Hezbollah said its fighters were still battling Israeli troops near south Lebanon’s Beaufort castle on Monday (June 1, 2026), a day after Israel said it seized the strategic fortress and troops raised the Israeli flag there.
In a statement issued by Hezbollah’s operations room, the group said its fighters were in a “battle of attrition against forces of the Israeli enemy army who are present in the area”.
U.S. armed forces have guided around 70 commercial ships over the past three weeks through the Strait of Hormuz, which remains a risky waterway since the U.S. war with Iran began over three months ago, according to a media report.
U.S. Central Command has guided around 70 commercial ships through the strait, travelling into and out of the Persian Gulf, in the last three weeks, the New York Times reported quoting U.S. officials.
They said that most of the vessels had turned off their transponders to avoid detection when going through the narrow waterway.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday (June 1, 2026) promised Japan to enable the passage of its ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been mostly closed since the start of the West Asia war in February.
Key Insights & Highlights
“We will try to provide a smooth and easy passage for Japanese ships,” Mr. Pezeshkian told Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi during a phone conversation, according to the presidency.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron said today he had encouraged his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump to pursue his “determined efforts” to reach a ceasefire deal with Iran to end the West Asia war.
In a phone call on Sunday night, “I welcomed the determined efforts he is making to swiftly reach an agreement between the United States and Iran, which represents a unique opportunity to build a new security framework that brings together all the parties concerned, in order to allow for lasting stabilisation of the region,” Mr. Macron said on X.
Israel’s government ordered strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut today, a day after its ground forces reached their deepest point in Lebanon in 26 years and as Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel, including the outskirts of the coastal city of Haifa.
A joint statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said that following what they called repeated violations of the ceasefire by Hezbollah and the “attacks against our cities and citizens,” they have ordered the Israeli military to attack targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs known in Arabic as Dahiyeh.
Key Insights & Highlights
Hezbollah agreed to halt attacks on Israel when the ceasefire was signed in mid-April, but resumed following Israeli strikes in Lebanon that Israel characterised as self-defence.
Israel strikes Beirut’s southern suburbs in response to Hezbollah rocket attacks, escalating tensions amid a fragile ceasefire.
Kuwait’s air defences intercepted missile and drone attacks, the military said today, with the country later blaming Iran.
Key Insights & Highlights
“The General Staff of the Army wishes to advise that any sounds of explosions heard are the result of air defence systems intercepting these hostile attacks,” the army said in a post on X.
The foreign ministry later said in a statement that it was “holding Iran fully responsible for these heinous attacks”.
KUNA, the state news agency, reported that air raid sirens sounded across the Gulf nation, which is a U.S. ally. The attacks come despite a ceasefire in place between the United States and Iran.
A delay in the diplomatic process to end the U.S.-Iran war can be explained by a lack of trust, Washington’s contradictory positions and Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said today.
Key Insights & Highlights
“Negotiations have started amid severe suspicion and mistrust, and the exchange of messages is taking place in this atmosphere,” Baghaei said.
Key Insights & Highlights
“The other party is constantly changing its views and putting forward new or contradictory demands (…) it is natural that this situation will prolong negotiations,” he said, adding that Tehran viewed Israeli actions in the region, including in Lebanon, as inseparable from the U.S.
Iran’s foreign ministry said today that the United States had continued to violate the ceasefire, after U.S. strikes on a southern port triggered a brief military flare-up.
Key Insights & Highlights
“The United States is also violating the ceasefire including this morning,” said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei in a weekly press briefing, vowing that Iran will “take whatever measures we deem necessary to defend Iran’s national security”.
The Israeli army announced that one of its soldiers had been killed today in fighting in southern Lebanon, bringing to 26 the number of Israeli military deaths since early March.
Staff Sergeant Adam Tzarfati, 20, “fell in combat in southern Lebanon”, the army said in a brief statement.
An Israeli military source told AFP that the soldier was killed in a Hezbollah drone attack.
The United States and Iran said today they had again traded strikes, straining an already fragile ceasefire as negotiations between the two sides have stalled.
Weeks of complicated talks marked by sharp rhetoric and occasional flare-ups of violence have not managed to reach a deal to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which is essential to oil supplies.
Washington and Tehran have sharp differences on questions like Iranian nuclear efforts and the fighting in Lebanon, which Iran has demanded must stop as part of a broader agreement.
The latest exchange of fire coincided with Israel expanding its offensive in Lebanon, with Prime Minister Netanyahu vowing to push deeper into the country.
The UN Security Council is set to hold an emergency meeting today on the fighting in Lebanon after Israel’s military took over the medieval castle of Beaufort in Lebanese territory, diplomatic sources told AFP.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to push deeper into Lebanon and called Sunday’s operation a “dramatic shift” in the campaign against Hezbollah.
A truce to halt the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah began on April 17, but has never been observed. Both sides accuse each other daily of violating the ceasefire and justify their attacks by the other’s alleged breaches.
The U.S. military said today it was targeting Iranian radar and drone control sites in Iran after Tehran shot down an American MQ-1 Predator drone this weekend.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, in a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency, said that U.S. forces had targeted a telecommunications tower on an island.
The Guard said it responded with an attack without saying where.
Trump claims Iran is eager to negotiate a beneficial deal with the U.S. amid ongoing military tensions and conflict.
Kuwait said its air defences have opened fire early morning to intercept incoming drone and missile fire.
No one immediately claimed the Kuwait attack, though it was likely launched by Iran or Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq.
Both launched numerous attacks on Kuwait during the war.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said today they had targeted a base used by the United States military to strike Iranian territory.
The base’s location was not specified in the Guards’ statement, broadcast by IRIB and other state media.
The attack came after the U.S. said it has struck Iranian radar and drone control sites over the weekend. “U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) conducted self-defense strikes on Iranian radar and command and control sites for drones in Goruk, Iran and Qeshm Island this weekend,” the CENTCOM said in a post on X. The strikes were in response to the shootdown of a US MQ-1 drone, it added.
U.S. conducts self-defense strikes on Iranian drone sites after Iran downed a U.S. MQ-1 drone over international waters.
Kuwait’s air defences were intercepting missile and drone attacks today as sirens sounded across the country, the state news agency KUNA reported, without providing further details.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has spoken with both Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the diplomatic negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, a U.S. official said on Sunday (May 31, 2026).
The U.S. has proposed that as a first step Hezbollah will stop all attacks on Israel and in return Israel would refrain from escalation in Beirut, the official said.
The U.S. official added that Aoun tried to advance this proposal, but Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri placed the burden on Israel to stop “shooting first.”
Oil prices rose more than 2% in early trading on Monday (June 1, 2026) after Israel ordered troops to move further into Lebanon in the battle with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, despite a ceasefire announced more than six weeks ago.
U.S. crude futures rose $2.37 or 2.71% to $89.73 a barrel as of 0028 GMT.
Brent futures rose $2.16 or 2.37% to $93.28 a barrel.
The stepped-up fighting, coming just after the U.S. hosted Israeli-Lebanon peace talks in Washington on Friday, dimmed expectations that the U.S. and Iran could soon announce an extension to their ceasefire agreement, which had driven Brent and WTI to settle up 1.8% and 1.7%, respectively, on Friday (May 29, 2026).
The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Monday (June 1, 2026) over Israel’s expansion of its offensive in Lebanon, following the capture of the medieval castle of Beaufort, diplomatic sources told AFP.
The meeting was requested by France and will take place immediately after an emergency meeting over the crash of a Russian drone into a Romanian apartment building, which is scheduled for 1900 GMT, the sources said.
An Israeli dawn strike on southern Lebanon on Sunday (May 31, 2026) killed eight people, including three women, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said, as Israel intensifies its attacks and ground operations in the country, saying they are against Hezbollah.
Key Insights & Highlights
“The massacre committed by the Israeli enemy in a raid on the town of Deir Zahrani, Nabatieh district, at dawn on Sunday… resulted in eight martyrs, including three women, and 19 wounded, including five children and six women,” the Ministry said in a statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered troops to move further into Lebanon in the battle against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, he said on Sunday (May 31, 2026), despite a ceasefire announced more than six weeks ago. The fighting in Lebanon has been the broadest spillover of the Iran war, displacing more than 1.2 million Lebanese through Israeli strikes and evacuation orders since March 2, when Hezbollah began firing rockets and drones into Israel to back its ally Iran.
In the latest advance, Israeli troops seized the 900-year-old Beaufort Castle and a strategic ridge in southern Lebanon, the military said, a day after one of the heaviest days of Hezbollah fire toward northern Israel since the April ceasefire, prompting school closures and restrictions.
Key Insights & Highlights
“I instructed the (military) to expand its ground manoeuvre in Lebanon,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a statement.
Iran’s chief negotiator warned on Sunday (May 31, 2026) the United States was not to be trusted, saying Tehran would not agree to any deal with Washington unless it fully secured Iranian rights.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf’s remarks came as reports emerged that US President Donald Trump had sent a tougher peace proposal back to Iran, and underlined the rift that the parties still need to close.
The New York Times and Axios reported that Mr. Trump had sent back a “tougher” new framework to be considered by Iran, though details remain unclear.
Mr. Trump has said his priorities include stopping Iran from developing any nuclear weapon and reopening the Hormuz shipping lane, which Iran has blockaded since the war began.
Key Insights & Highlights
“The one guarantee that I have to have is that there will be no nuclear weapons. They’ve agreed to that, and it was very interesting,” he told his daughter-in-law Lara Trump in an interview on her Fox News show.
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