Iran on Tuesday, May 26, denounced US strikes a day earlier as a sign of “bad faith and unreliability” as negotiations continue toward a possible deal to end the war.
The United States military has characterised Monday’s strikes in southern Iran as defensive, saying targets included missile launch sites and boats placing mines, and said the US acted with “restraint” in light of the weekslong ceasefire.
Iran’s foreign ministry called the strikes a ceasefire violation and warned that Washington would bear responsibility for “all consequences”, without details.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will leave no act of aggression unanswered,” it added in a statement.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on Tuesday said it had shot down and deterred drones and a fighter jet that entered its airspace, according to Iran’s official Mizan news agency, which did not specify when the incident occurred.
It wasn’t immediately clear what the developments would mean for negotiations. The strikes came after Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf went to Qatar as part of the talks, which US President Donald Trump said Monday were “proceeding nicely”.
The strikes were the latest flare-up in the fragile ceasefire that began April 7 and has largely held.
Negotiations centre in part on the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway off southern Iran through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil and natural gas passed before the war began with US-Israeli strikes in February. Tehran retaliated by effectively closing the strait, stranding hundreds of ships and shocking the global economy.
US will no longer have safe haven in Gulf: Iran’s supreme leader Khamenei
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei on Tuesday, May 26, said Gulf countries will no longer “be a shield” for the United States military bases and the Western power will no longer have a “safe haven” in the region.
Khamenei made the remarks on his Telegram channel. “The hands of time do not turn back, and the nations and territories of the region will no longer serve as a shield for American bases. America will no longer have a safe haven for evil or for establishing military bases in the region,” he said.
Internet shutdown eased
Iranian authorities eased a month-long internet shutdown that they cast as a wartime necessity, but that has cost the country’s economy an estimated USD 30 million to USD 40 million a day. Internet users reported that access was gradually being restored.
Strait of Hormuz closure squeezing fertiliser supply
Besides disrupting energy markets, the strait’s closure is also squeezing fertiliser supplies worldwide. The full impact might not become clear until harvests that are months away.
UN Food and Agriculture Organization Director-General Qu Dongyu, warned Tuesday at an event in Rome that “the decisions we make now will determine whether this remains a manageable shock or evolves into a deeper global food security crisis in 2026 and 2027 and beyond”.
The strait has become a powerful lever for Tehran in talks, joining the long-running issue of Iran’s nuclear program and its highly enriched uranium. Iran wants the US to lift its military blockade of Iranian ports that began on April 17.
Trump turns 80 next month as more Americans express concerns
A Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll in April found that less than half of US adults think Trump has the mental sharpness or physical health to serve effectively.
“I think concern for the president’s physical health is probably at an all-time high, and I think advanced physical age is the No. 1 concern,” said Dr Jeffrey Kuhlman, who served as a White House physician under Presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton.
Kuhlman said a complete physical would include advanced heart testing, screening for common cancers and a cognitive assessment. The White House has not disclosed what Trump’s checkups will entail.
“President Trump is the sharpest and most accessible President in American history who is working nonstop to solve problems and deliver on his promises, and he remains in excellent health,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement.
Israeli strike on village in eastern Lebanon kills 12
An Israeli airstrike on a village in eastern Lebanon killed 12 people, state media said on Tuesday, as an Israeli official said the military had called up more troops to Lebanon.
The strike hit the village of Mashghara in the Bekaa Valley late Monday, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency.
It came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he had authorised more intensive strikes targeting the Hezbollah militant group across Lebanon. The Israeli military did not comment on this particular strike, but said Monday that it was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in eastern Lebanon.
An Israeli security official said the military had called up an additional battalion to Lebanon. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Rescue workers say that a dozen bodies were pulled out of the rubble following an intense wave of overnight strikes targeting swaths of southern and eastern Lebanon.
Over a million people in Lebanon have been displaced in the war, which was sparked by Hezbollah firing rockets into northern Israel on March 2 in solidarity with Iran.
3,185 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli strikes since the start of the war, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Over 9,600 others have been wounded.
The intensified strikes have brought fear in Lebanon of a renewed full-scale war, leaving the capital exposed to possible strikes again.
World stocks and oil prices are mixed after the US launches strikes in southern Iran
Shares were mixed Tuesday in Europe and Asia after the US military said it carried out what it called “self-defence” strikes in southern Iran, including on missile launch sites and boats placing mines.
The attacks came even as President Donald Trump said on social media that negotiations on ending the war were “proceeding nicely.”
In early European trading, Germany’s DAX lost 0.7 per cent to 25,214.08, while the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.9 per cent to 8,187.07. In Britain, the FTSE 100 gained 0.7 per cent to 10,540.40.
The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.5 per cent.
Oil prices were mixed, with Brent crude rising but still trading below $100 a barrel while US benchmark crude oil fell.
Israeli opposition leader Lapid says Trump’s emerging deal with Iran is `bad for the region’
The deal being discussed between the US and Iran fails to achieve any of Israel’s goals for the war, Israel’s opposition leader Yair Lapid said on Monday, as he accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to influence a better agreement.
Lapid, who is part of an alliance attempting to unseat Netanyahu in elections this year, said details of the emerging deal are “disturbing.”
“The deal is bad for Israel, bad for the region, bad for the citizens of Iran,” Lapid told reporters in Jerusalem.
Israel and the US launched the war on Feb. 28 vowing to destroy Iran’s ballistic missile program, end its support for proxy militant groups across the region and end Iran’s ability to pursue a nuclear bomb. Both Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump also said they hoped to create conditions to topple Iran’s government.
US consumer confidence is dented as gas prices remain high
US consumer confidence declined slightly as gas prices remained at or above a national average of USD 4.50 a gallon in May and inflation remained elevated, a sharp contrast to soaring stock prices that have neared record levels.
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index slipped 0.7 points to 93.1 in May, the first decline after three months of gains.
The index follows a separate gauge of consumer sentiment compiled by the University of Michigan, which fell to a record low this month. Spikes in gas prices as well as higher food costs have worsened inflation, which has outpaced the growth in average paychecks in recent months, reducing most Americans’ purchasing power.
Polls show Americans have soured on Trump’s economic policies, which could harm Republicans in this year’s elections.
(With inputs from agencies)
