Middle East crisis live: Iran says Trump’s threats to ‘blow up’ Oman ‘dangerous and bullying’
Iran says Trump’s threats against Oman ‘dangerous’ and ‘bullying’
We have a statement from the Iranian foreign ministry in which the spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, described Donald Trump’s threats against Oman as “dangerous” and “bullying”.
He was quoted as saying:
Threats to “destroy” a United Nations member state that has always played a constructive, effective, and responsible role in regional peace and security and has used its noble efforts in the service of regional peace and stability as a mediator in diplomatic processes for many years are not only a violation of the fundamental principle of prohibiting the threat of the use of force, but also another dangerous sign of the normalisation of lawlessness and bullying in international relations.
As a reminder, the US president said yesterday that he would “blow up” Oman if it entered an agreement with Iran to manage shipping in the strait of Hormuz.
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Key events
Associated Press reported that Israeli fighter jets struck a southern suburb of Beirut but it was not clear what the target was.
According to AFP, citing a Lebanese military source, the Israeli strike hit an apartment south of the capital.
IDF says its carried out strike in Beirut
The IDF said it carried out a strike in the Lebanese capital Beirut, which had been largely spared of attacks since a fragile ceasefire took effect on 17 April.
In a post on X, it said: “The IDF has just carried out a targeted strike in Beirut; further details to follow.”
The most recent Israeli strike on Beirut was on 6 May, when the IDF carried out an airstrike in the southern suburbs known as the Dahiyeh.
We will bring you more as we get it.
US accuses Iran of ceasefire violation after missile intercepted by Kuwaiti forces
The US Central Command said an Iranian missile was intercepted by Kuwaiti forces, as it accused Tehran of an “egregious ceasefire violation”.
In a statement posted on social media, it said:
Iran launched a ballistic missile toward Kuwait that was successfully intercepted by Kuwaiti forces. This egregious ceasefire violation by the Iranian regime occurred hours after Iranian forces launched five one-way attack drones that posed a clear threat in and near the strait of Hormuz. All drones were successfully intercepted by US forces which also prevented a sixth drone launch from an Iranian ground control site in Bandar Abbas.
US Central Command and regional partners remain vigilant and measured as we continue to defend our forces and interests from unjustified Iranian aggression.
UAE condemns Iran for strikes on Kuwait
The UAE has condemned “in the strongest terms” what it described as Iranian drone and missile attacks on Kuwait.
Earlier, the Kuwaiti armed forces said its air defences were intercepting “hostile missile and drone attacks” this morning, but did not say how many and where they were launched from.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it targeted an unnamed American military base in retaliation against US strikes on the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas near the strait of Hormuz, according to the Iranian state broadcaster Irib.
In a statement, the UAE’s foreign ministry said the attacks constituted “a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of Kuwait and a threat to its security and stability”.
The IDF claimed to have struck more than 135 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon over the past 24 hours, including in the city of Tyre and other southern areas and the eastern Bekaa valley.
Among the targets, the IDF said it struck a Hezbollah training camp and rocket launch sites.
Local media in Lebanon have reported massive explosions and widespread damage in Tyre, as the Israeli military continues to expand its operations deeper into the country through a relentless campaign of displacement orders and airstrikes.
Hezbollah has claimed dozens of drone and rocket attacks that it said targeted Israeli troops in southern Lebanon and northern Israel.
The group said it launched several attacks on Israeli soldiers and tanks that crossed the Litani river into the town of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah near Nabatieh, as close-range fighting continues.
It points to an expansion of Israel’s military operations beyond the boundary of its self-declared military security zone in southern Lebanon. Earlier this week, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced he had instructed the IDF to expand its operations in Lebanon with “large forces on the ground” and take control of new areas north of the Israeli-occupied buffer zone.
Emma Graham-Harrison
Israel’s defence minister has said he is committed to the ethnic cleansing of Gaza through large-scale migration of Palestinians as part of Israel’s long-term plans for the territory.
Israel Katz said the government would implement a plan for large numbers of Palestinians to leave Gaza “at the right time and in the right manner”, in a statement on Wednesday marking the targeted killing of Mohammed Odeh, Hamas’s most recent military commander.
Pushing for mass departures violates Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan for Gaza, which Israel signed last year. The second point of the plan states: “Gaza will be redeveloped for the benefit of the people of Gaza, who have suffered more than enough.”
Israel’s government has promoted the prospect of Gaza without Palestinians since Trump suggested early last year that hundreds of thousands of people should leave to “clean out” the strip for reconstruction.
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Here are some of the latest images from southern Lebanon, where the Israeli military said it has launched new strikes against Hezbollah targets in the coastal city of Tyre:
Here is a video of Donald Trump making those remarks about attacking Oman during a cabinet meeting at the White House:
Iran says Trump’s threats against Oman ‘dangerous’ and ‘bullying’
We have a statement from the Iranian foreign ministry in which the spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, described Donald Trump’s threats against Oman as “dangerous” and “bullying”.
He was quoted as saying:
Threats to “destroy” a United Nations member state that has always played a constructive, effective, and responsible role in regional peace and security and has used its noble efforts in the service of regional peace and stability as a mediator in diplomatic processes for many years are not only a violation of the fundamental principle of prohibiting the threat of the use of force, but also another dangerous sign of the normalisation of lawlessness and bullying in international relations.
As a reminder, the US president said yesterday that he would “blow up” Oman if it entered an agreement with Iran to manage shipping in the strait of Hormuz.
Read more here:
Dozen people killed in Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon
At least a dozen people have been killed in Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon today, according to local media, as the Israeli military continues to push further into Lebanese territory.
Among those killed was a solider in the Lebanese armed forces. In a post on social media, the army said the soldier was “targeted by a hostile Israeli airstrike” while travelling between the villages of Zefta and Deir ez-Zahrani in the Nabatieh area.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported at least six people, including children, were killed in an Israeli drone attack on the Adloun Highway in the Nabi Sari area of southern Lebanon. The victims – reported to be members of the same family – were killed “as they were trying to flee from the threatened villages to a safe place at dawn”, according to the news agency. More deaths were reported in the southern Lebanese cities of Tyre and Sidon where the Israeli military said it is targeting Hezbollah infrastructure.
Lebanese and Israeli military officials are set to hold their first security talks tomorrow in Washington, with talks at a political level scheduled on 2 and 3 June. The talks have extended a nominal ceasefire that went into effect on 17 April, although the attacks have since intensified.
Iran official condemns ‘US officials’ threats’ against Oman
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, has condemned the US after Donald Trump threatened to attack Oman if it sides with Tehran over reopening the strait of Hormuz.
In remarks during a cabinet meeting in the White House yesterday, the US president said he would “blow up” ally Oman if it did not “behave just like everybody else” in the ongoing dispute over the key waterway.
In a statement this morning, Baghaei expressed solidarity with Oman, a key mediator in the Iran conflict, after “US officials’ threats”, without specifically naming Trump.
He also condemned US attacks on Bander Abbas, the Iranian port city near the strait of Hormuz.
The Israeli military said a soldier was killed in a Hezbollah drone attack in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon.
In a statement online, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said two other soldiers were injured in the same incident yesterday.
According to AFP news agency, 24 Israeli soldiers have been killed since renewed fighting with Hezbollah began on 2 March.
Deepa Parent
After 88 days of near-total internet blackout in Iran, long-delayed messages, images and poems flooded phones and social media feeds at about 5pm on Tuesday, when still-limited connectivity flickered back to life.
The first reactions, however, were not celebratory. Many new posts were threaded with scepticism, anxiety and anger.
Ellie*, 42, an artist from Tehran, was able to connect for the first time since 28 February. “I lit a cigarette, played SoundCloud and listened to our favourite music,” she said. “Ali [her husband] and I held back tears, then cried and convinced ourselves that this was a small taste of a much greater freedom after the fall of this regime … and we truly believe it.”
The part-restoration hit global headlines, with many regime supporters applauding the government.
Maryam*, a photographer in Tehran, said it was “nauseating to watch the celebrations and applause”.
“What an absolute joke,” she said. “It’s been truly absurd watching western media celebrate partial restoration as if it’s an achievement to applaud the regime for. The internet is our basic right.”
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Opening summary
The US has targeted a military facility in Iran and downed four attack drones, US officials said, which prompted an apparent Iranian retaliatory attack on an American airbase in Kuwait, in fresh signs that any peace agreement remains elusive.
US Central Command forces shot down four Iranian one-way attack drones that posed a threat around the Hormuz strait, according to the officials, and struck a ground control station in the port city of Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a fifth drone. Iranian state broadcaster Irib reported later on Thursday the Revolutionary Guards had targeted an American base in Kuwait “that served as the source of the attack”.
Kuwait’s army confirmed its air defences were intercepting missile and drone threats just before 6am in Kuwait City.
Earlier, Donald Trump dismissed a report that Iran and Oman would manage shipping through the strait of Hormuz as part of a deal to end the war.
Oil prices jumped on Thursday – erasing much of Wednesday’s decline – amid the latest test of the ceasefire, with Trump warning he may have to “finish the job” and Tehran saying its forces are still “lying in wait with full magazines”. Brent North Sea crude – the main international benchmark – rose by 1.8% in Thursday morning trade to $95.95 a barrel.
But mixed signals underscored the fragile state of talks. Iran said a return to war was unlikely, while Trump told a televised White House cabinet meeting that Tehran “very much” wanted a deal but had not yet offered enough.
“So far they haven’t gotten there. We’re not satisfied with it, but we will be,” the US president said. “Either that or we’ll have to just finish the job.”
Here are the other main developments:
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The Israeli military declared a new swathe of southern Lebanon a combat zone and said residents in the area should move north, warning it would act “with great force” against the Iran-backed Hezbollah in the zone. The statement on Wednesday appeared to signal a further escalation after more than 120 strikes hit Lebanon’s south and east on Tuesday, despite a ceasefire.
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The major Lebanese city of Tyre has come under constant Israeli bombardment, according to local media. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it is hitting Hezbollah targets in the ancient coastal city in southern Lebanon, a day after issuing a warning forcing thousands of people to leave Tyre and surrounding areas. Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported two people were killed in Tyre in an Israeli drone strike on Thursday morning.
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Trump appeared to direct a warning at Oman – a US ally and mediator in the Iran conflict – when asked about a possible short-term arrangement allowing Iran and Oman to control the strait of Hormuz. “No, the strait is going to be open to everybody,” he said. “It’s international waters and Oman will behave just like everybody else or we’ll have to blow them up. They understand that, they’ll be fine.”
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Trump’s “rhetoric” would not force Iran to back away from its demands to enrich uranium, wield authority over the strait and see sanctions against it lifted, said Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament’s national security committee. “It is obvious Trump, seeking a way out of this strategic deadlock, alternates between issuing threats and appealing for an agreement,” Azizi said on X.
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Hamas has confirmed that Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City killed the new leader of Hamas’ military wing. The group said on Wednesday that Mohammed Odeh was killed the previous day, along with his wife and two of his children.
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More Israeli strikes in the city on Wednesday evening killed at least seven people, including two children and a woman. More than 20 people were wounded, including several children, according to Shifa hospital.
