Iran war: Trump claims US has held talks with Iran

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for an immediate end to hostilities in the Middle East, describing a "critical" situation for energy supply chains globally.

"We all feel the knock on effects on gas and oil prices on our businesses and our societies," von der Leyen said during a trip to Australia.

"It is of utmost importance that we come to a solution that is negotiated, and this puts an end to the hostilities that we see in the Middle East," she added.

 

Ukraine's ambassador to the United Nations is warning that Russia is now helping Iran strike US military targets across the Middle East.

Speaking at the UN Security Council, Andriy Melnyk said Moscow is supplying Tehran with intelligence support, including satellite imagery, to guide Iranian attacks.

He added there is "sufficient evidence" that Russia, which now manufactures an upgraded version of Iran's Shahed attack drone, is sending those drones back to Iran.

Melnyk urged Washington and its allies to take the threat seriously, saying Russian supplies would allow Iran to continue launching strikes across the region.

He argued that giving Ukraine the capability to hit drone-production sites inside Russia, and boosting Ukraine's long-range missile output, would strengthen international efforts to restore stability in the Middle East.

Israeli airstrikes hit Beirut's southern suburbs late Monday and into early Tuesday, the first such attacks on the Hezbollah stronghold in several days.

The Israeli military says its forces also captured two Hezbollah members in southern Lebanon.

Earlier, an Israeli strike targeted the upscale, mostly Christian area of Hazmieh, outside Beirut. Israel says it was aiming at a member of Iran's Revolutionary Guards foreign operations arm.

AFPTV live images showed smoke rising over Beirut's southern districts, while Lebanon's National News Agency reported multiple strikes and low-flying Israeli warplanes over the capital.

The Israeli military later confirmed it was "striking Hezbollah infrastructure in Beirut" and said it had urged residents of the southern suburbs to evacuate beforehand.

Lebanon was drawn into the broader Middle East conflict on March 2, when Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel after the killing of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in an Israeli-US attack. Israel has since carried out strikes across Lebanon.

With many of Iran's top leaders killed in the US-Israeli bombing, some senior US officials are now eyeing Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad ⁠Bagher Ghalibaf as a potential partner and even a future leader, according to Politico.

The 64-year-old was described as a "hot option" by one of the White House officials cited by Politico. At the same time, the official warned that no decision has been made.

"He's one of the highest… But we got to test them, and we can't rush into it," the source told Politico.

Ghalibaf is a former mayor of Tehran who served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. He is also a qualified military pilot and a former head of the IRGC Aerospace Force.

Following Donald Trump's comments about diplomatic contacts between Washington and Tehran, Ghalibaf official X account dismissed the narrative as fake news.

"No negotiations have been held with the US," the Iranian politician posted on Monday, describing Trump's statements as an attempt to "manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the US and Israel are trapped."

An group of pro-Iranian militants has fired seven rockets across the Iraqi border and into Syria, allegedly targeting a base recently used by US forces.

This is the first cross-border attack targeting US soldiers in Syria since the US and Israel launched their bombing of Iran in late February, according to sources cited by the Reuters news agency.

A truck with a rocket launcher platform mounted on its roof was apparently discovered near Mosul.

"An Iraqi faction fired seven Arash-4 rockets, an improved version of the [Soviet-developed] Grad rocket, towards a base" in northeastern Syria, an Iraqi official told the AFP news agency.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack targeted the Rmeilan base that had been used by US forces against the "Islamic State" group, but clarified that US troops had recently withdrawn. It did not comment on any damage or casualties.

The Syrian military said they contacted the Iraqi side overt the incident and that "the Iraqi army has begun a search operation to locate the perpetrators."

China has ramped up military spending over the past decade, with its 2026 defense budget nearly 7% higher than last year.

Precise figures are not public, but analysts believe Beijing is investing in new warships, advanced fighter jets and additional nuclear weapons.

Experts say the People's Liberation Army remains focused on reunifying with Taiwan, the self‑ruled island China regards as a breakaway province.

And the PLA is taking lessons from Russia's war in Ukraine and from the recent US‑Israel attack on Iran.

As Israel continues its invasion of Lebanon, French President Emmanuel Macron warned that "certain people want to have us believe that security can only be achieved by invading a scary neighbor."

The comments are seen as a message to Israel, where senior government members urge annexing parts of Lebanese territory.

"No occupation, no form of colonization — not here, not in the West Bank, nor anywhere else — is able to ensure the security of anybody," Macron said as he opened an exhibition at the Institute of the Arab World in Paris.

The event, dedicated to the ancient Lebanese city of Byblos, was also attended by Lebanon's Culture Minister Ghassan Salame.

Byblos was first settled nearly 8,000 years ago and believed to be the oldest port in the world.

Israeli strikes have destroyed the Qasmiyeh bridge in southern Lebanon, a key route linking the region to the rest of the country.

Israel says Hezbollah used the bridges for weapons transport as it expands ground operations.

The fighting has displaced around one million people, many determined to return despite the damage and military escalation.

Lufthansa will not be flying into airports including Tehran, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Erbil and others until at least October 24, the German flag carrier said in a statement.

Flights to Dubai and Tel Aviv are also suspended. For those cities, however, the company hopes to resume service after May 31.

Lufthansa cited security risks and operational costs as reasons for its decision.

The restrictions will also apply to several Lufthansa subsidiaries, including Austrian Airlines and Swiss International Airlines.

Eurowings, a low-cost airline owned by Lufthansa, currently has a different set of restrictions in place, including a halt on flights to Tel Aviv in Israel, Beirut in Lebanon and Erbil in Iraq until the end of April.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he spoke with US President Donald Trump, following Trump's comments about the US reaching "major points of agreement" with Tehran.

According to Netanyahu, Trump believes that war achievements can be leveraged into a deal with Iran.

The Israeli leader also said any deal would preserve "our vital interests."

In a video statement released by his office, Netanyahu also said Israel was continuing attacks on Iran and Lebanon.

"We are dismantling the missile and nuclear programs, and continue to deal severe blows to Hezbollah," Netanyahu said.

After two men were charged with spying on London's Jewish community last week, the UK Foreign Office summoned Iran's ambassador Seyed Ali Mousavi and pledged to "take all measures necessary to protect the British people."

"The summons follows the recent charging of two individuals, one Iranian national and one British-Iranian dual national, under the National Security Act, on suspicion of providing assistance to a foreign intelligence service," a Foreign Office spokesperson said, decrying "Iran's reckless and destabilising actions at home and abroad."

Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer told lawmakers that Iran war was "not our war, and we are not getting dragged into this war" despite London allowing the US to use British bases in the attacks on Iran's missile sites.

Starmer also warned that the fighting "could go on for some time" and the UK would plan for this possibility while also putting energy into "swift de-escalation."

Asian markets nosedived early on Monday, but an apparent change in tone from US President Donald Trump regarding the Iran war prompted a rally on European markets and a positive start to trading in the US.

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With Israeli forces invading southern Lebanon, Israel's hardline Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich reportedly urged taking parts of Lebanon's territory.

According to the Reuters news agency, Smotrich told an Israeli radio program the new Israeli border should be at the Litani River, dozens of kilometers into Lebanon.

The fighting in Lebanon "needs to end with a different reality entirely," he was quoted as saying.

"I say here definitively... in every room and in every discussion, too: the new Israeli border must be the Litani," Smotrich said.

During Israel's incursion into Lebanon in 2006, the Israeli army sought to push Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah north of the river and create a buffer zone, but was forced to abandon this goal.

The latest fighting has killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon, with more than a million people displaced.

Smotrich also called for Israel to annex more than half of the territory of the Gaza Strip.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine’s military intelligence has "irrefutable" evidence that Russia continues to provide intelligence to Iran.

In a post on X, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian officials believe Russia is sharing information with Tehran that was gathered through its signals and electronic intelligence systems, as well as data obtained from "partners in the Middle East."

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Russia had shared satellite imagery and improved drone technology with Iran to help Tehran locate and target US forces — claims the Kremlin dismissed as "fake news" in a statement last Thursday.

US President Donald Trump says he will continue the talks he claims to have held with Iran negotiators by phone.

"Because it's very hard to find a country," he said. "It's very hard for them to get out, I guess."

Trump said the US has already held discussions with a "top person" in Iran, claiming the two sides reached "major points of agreement."

But the contact he described as "the most respected and the leader" was, according to Trump, "not the supreme leader" Motjaba Khamenei.

Trump declined to identify the Iranian negotiators, saying he did not "want to get them killed."

Iranian officials have denied any negotiations are underway. Mehr news agency, citing the foreign ministry, called Trump's statements an attempt "to reduce energy prices."

Trump said that among the US's conditions were that Iran abandon its nuclear ambitions and surrender its stockpile of enriched uranium.

Trump has previously said he does not consider Khamenei the true leader of Iran. Speaking to reporters as he boarded his plane in Florida, he suggested the US should play a role in shaping Iran's future leadership — drawing a parallel to Venezuela, where a US‑backed successor took over after longtime leader Nicolas Maduro was ousted.

"Look at Venezuela, how well that's working out. Maybe we find somebody like that in Iran," Trump said.