Blog
Middle East crisis live: Trump warns ‘clock is ticking’ for Iran to reach peace deal | US-Israel war on Iran
Trump warns ‘clock is ticking for Iran’ to reach peace deal
We are restarting our coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran and Israel’s war on Lebanon. Donald Trump has issued an extreme warning to Iran to quickly agree to a peace deal with the US or face devastation.
As Washington struggles to break an impasse on ending the war, the US president said on his Truth Social platform on Sunday: “For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!”
Trump is expected to meet top national security advisers on Tuesday to discuss options for military action on Iran, according to a report in the US outlet Axios.
It came as a drone strike in the United Arab Emirates caused a fire at a nuclear power plant – which the country called a “dangerous escalation” and blamed on Iran or its proxies – and Saudi Arabia reported intercepting three drones.
Tehran has demanded a lasting ceasefire in Lebanon before any broader peace deal with Washington.
Israel’s airstrikes killed seven people in Lebanon on Sunday, including an Islamic Jihad commander, Lebanese authorities and state media said, despite the fragile ceasefire as Hezbollah called US-brokered talks between the two countries a “dead end”.
In other key developments:
Iranian media said the US had failed to make any concrete concessions in its latest response to Iran’s proposed agenda for negotiations to end the war. The Fars news agency said on Sunday that Washington had presented a five-point list that included a demand for Iran to keep only one nuclear site in operation and transfer its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to the US.
Islamic Jihad commander Wael Abdel Halim and his 17-year-old daughter were killed in an Israeli missile strike on an apartment in eastern Lebanon on Sunday, Lebanese state media said. Israeli strikes on towns in southern Lebanon earlier killed five people, including two children, and left at least 15 people injured, the Lebanese health ministry said, despite Israel and Lebanon agreeing to extend their ceasefire by 45 days.
Hezbollah had fired about 200 projectiles at Israel and its troops over the weekend, an Israeli military official said on Sunday.
Israel’s cabinet approved a plan to build a defence compound on the site of the recently demolished premises of the UN Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa) in East Jerusalem. Israel seized the site last year in an act the agency condemned as a violation of international law.
Key events
Earlier on Monday, Donald Trump took to Truth Social to attack the US media over their coverage of his war on Iran.
He claimed that even if Iran completely surrendered, the “fake news media” would report that Tehran had won a victory over the US.
If Iran surrenders, admits their Navy is gone and resting at the bottom of the sea, and their Air Force is no longer with us, and if their entire Military walks out of Tehran, weapons dropped and hands held high, each shouting ‘I surrender, I surrender’ while wildly waving the representative White Flag, and if their entire remaining Leadership signs all necessary ‘Documents of Surrender,’ and admit their defeat to the great power and force of the magnificent USA, The Failing New York Times, The China Street Journal (WSJ!), Corrupt and now Irrelevant CNN, and all other members of the Fake News Media, will headline that Iran had a Masterful and Brilliant Victory over The United States of America, it wasn’t even close. The Dumacrats and Media have totally lost their way. They have gone absolutely CRAZY!!!
Irish president ‘very worried’ after sister reportedly seized by Israel from Gaza flotilla
Rory Carroll
Ireland correspondent
Ireland’s president Catherine Connolly has expressed concern for her sister, Margaret, who was reportedly seized by Israeli forces from a Gaza flotilla.
Organisers of the Global Sumud Flotilla said on Monday that Margaret was on one of dozens of vessels intercepted around 70 miles off Cyprus, and that it had lost contact with those aboard.
In a prerecorded video that was released later on Monday Connolly, a medical doctor from Galway, said:
If you are watching this video, it means I have been kidnapped from my boat in the flotilla by the Israeli occupying forces, and I’m now being held illegally in an Israeli prison.
The Irish president said she was proud of her sister but worried. “It seems like this happened in international waters,” she told TG4, an Irish language station. “It’s quite upsetting, and I’m very worried about her, and I’m also very concerned about her colleagues on board.”
The president was speaking in London after meeting King Charles, who accepted an invitation to visit Ireland next year.
The day so far
The US has put forward a temporary waiver of sanctions on Iran’s oil to agree to a peace deal and reopen the strait of Hormuz, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency has reported. The offer has yet to be confirmed and would not be in place until a final agreement is reached between the two countries, it said, citing a source close to the negotiations.
Donald Trump has issued an extreme warning to Iran to quickly agree to a peace deal with the US or face devastation. As Washington struggles to break an impasse on ending the war, the US president said on his Truth Social platform on Sunday: “For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Monday their forces had struck groups linked to the United States and Israel in the western Iranian province of Kurdistan, near the border with Iraq. In a statement carried by the ISNA news agency, the Guards said groups from “northern Iraq and acting on behalf of the US and the Zionist regime were attempting to smuggle a large shipment of American weapons and ammunition” into Iran.
Israeli strikes have killed more than 3,000 people in Lebanon since the start of the war between Hezbollah and Israel on 2 March, the health ministry said on Monday, after an 17 April ceasefire failed to stop the fighting. “The total cumulative toll of the aggression from 2 March to 18 May is now as follows: 3,020 martyrs and 9,273 wounded,” the ministry said, with 211 people aged 18 and under and 116 healthcare workers among the dead.
Iran’s top security body has announced the formation of a new body to manage the strait of Hormuz, which Tehran has effectively closed to countries it deems hostile to it – and wants to charge ships to traverse. On its official X account, the Supreme national security council shared a post for the Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) saying it would provide “real‑time updates on the Hormuz Strait operations and latest developments”.
Lebanese president Joseph Aoun said Monday that he would do the “impossible” in order to stop the war with Israel, after a ceasefire and direct talks between the countries failed to end the fighting. “The framework that Lebanon has set for the negotiations consists of an Israeli withdrawal, a ceasefire, the deployment of the army along the border, the return of the displaced, and economic aid,” Aoun said in a statement.
Gaza’s health ministry said in its latest update that at least six people were killed and 40 others injured in Israeli attacks across the territory over the past day. The health ministry says 877 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since the ceasefire in October 2025.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has posted to his Telegram account saying that he has held a phone conversation with his Saudi Arabian counterpart, Faisal bin Farhan al Saud, in which they discussed the latest “regional developments” and issues “related to the current diplomatic process” (between Tehran and Washington).
Iraq’s foreign ministry said Monday that the country’s air defence systems had not detected any drones launched from its territory toward Saudi Arabia. Late Sunday, Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted and destroyed three drones that entered from Iraqi airspace, adding that it “reserves the right to respond at the appropriate time and place.”
Oman’s foreign ministry has condemned the drone strike that caused a fire at the perimeter of UAE’s Barakah nuclear power plant on Sunday. In a statement shared to X, the ministry expressed its solidarity with the UAE but stressed that it rejected all “hostile and escalatory acts” as it urged for dialogue to address regional issues and called for international law to be respected by all parties.
One of Indian billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani’s companies will pay the US Treasury $275 million to settle a probe into whether it violated US sanctions against Iran, the Treasury said in a statement on Monday. The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said the agreement had been reached with Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL), part of the billionaire’s sprawling conglomerate of companies.
Ryanair said it has “almost zero concerns” about its jet fuel supplies this summer amid fears over widespread cancellations linked to the Iran war but warned that holidaymakers booking their flights later this year could face higher fares. The budget airline’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, said Europe had now found plenty of alternative sources of jet fuel, but persistent consumer uncertainty had led to lower summer bookings than usual, keeping fares down.
Aisha Down
Could undersea cables – the sinews of the global internet – become the next frontier in the US-Israel war against Iran?
Last week, two Iranian state-linked media channels, Tasnim and Fars, suggested Iran could leverage its power over the strait of Hormuz, the 25-mile (40km) stretch between Iran and Oman, by charging US tech companies to use the internet cables that traverse the strait. Tasnim implied this could be a lucrative proposition, netting Iran hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
At least seven cables lie beneath the waters of the strait, many of them vital to the massive AI buildout under way in Gulf countries. But what exactly is Iran proposing, and is it a realistic course of action?
Israeli strikes have killed more than 3,000 people in Lebanon, health ministry says
Israeli strikes have killed more than 3,000 people in Lebanon since the start of the war between Hezbollah and Israel on 2 March, the health ministry said on Monday, after an 17 April ceasefire failed to stop the fighting.
“The total cumulative toll of the aggression from 2 March to 18 May is now as follows: 3,020 martyrs and 9,273 wounded,” the ministry said, with 211 people aged 18 and under and 116 healthcare workers among the dead.
One of Indian billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani’s companies will pay the US Treasury $275 million to settle a probe into whether it violated US sanctions against Iran, the Treasury said in a statement on Monday.
The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said the agreement had been reached with Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL), part of the billionaire’s sprawling conglomerate of companies.
“AEL agreed to settle its potential civil liability for 32 apparent violations of OFAC’s Iran sanctions,” the Treasury said, pointing to AEL purchases of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) shipments between November 2023 and June 2025.
Iraq’s foreign ministry said Monday that the country’s air defence systems had not detected any drones launched from its territory toward Saudi Arabia.
Late Sunday, Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted and destroyed three drones that entered from Iraqi airspace, adding that it “reserves the right to respond at the appropriate time and place.”
But, the Iraqi foreign ministry said authorities had opened an investigation “to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident”.
It added that the country’s air defence and surveillance systems had not detected any launches.
Ryanair said it has “almost zero concerns” about its jet fuel supplies this summer amid fears over widespread cancellations linked to the Iran war but warned that holidaymakers booking their flights later this year could face higher fares.
The budget airline’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, said Europe had now found plenty of alternative sources of jet fuel, but persistent consumer uncertainty had led to lower summer bookings than usual, keeping fares down.
He said: “There was a real concern in Europe two months ago. We now have almost zero concerns over fuel supplies in Europe. The challenge remains price.”
The travel industry has been hit by worries about jet fuel supply this summer, as shipping through the strait of Hormuz remains restricted. Ryanair said Europe is well stocked with fuel thanks to shipments from west Africa, Norway and the Americas.
While Ryanair has hedged 80% of its jet fuel requirements to April 2027 at about $67 a barrel, it said the carrier’s unit costs could rise by about 5% if fuel prices remained higher, it said. You can read the full story by my colleagues Lauren Almeida and Gwyn Topham here:
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has posted to his Telegram account saying that he has held a phone conversation with his Saudi Arabian counterpart, Faisal bin Farhan al Saud, in which they discussed the latest “regional developments” and issues “related to the current diplomatic process” (between Tehran and Washington).
Here are some of the latest images being sent to us over the newswires from Gaza, Lebanon and Iran:
US offers waiver of sanctions on Iranian oil in order to reach peace deal – report
The US has put forward a temporary waiver of sanctions on Iran’s oil to agree to a peace deal and reopen the strait of Hormuz, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency has reported.
The offer has yet to be confirmed and would not be in place until a final agreement is reached between the two countries, it said, citing a source close to the negotiations.
In March, the Trump administration waived sanctions on Iranian oil purchases at sea for 30 days to ease surging oil prices driven by the effective closure of the strait of Hormuz by Iran in retaliation for being attacked by the US and Israel in late February.
It was a stunning reversal of longstanding American policy and reflected the White House’s concern that soaring oil prices would hurt US businesses and consumers ahead of the November midterm elections. The US hoped the move would quickly bring about lots of oil to global markets.
The US-Israeli war with Iran, the subsequent damage to Iran and its Gulf neighbours’ oil infrastructure and the effective closure of the strait have caused the largest oil supply crisis in history, according to the International Energy Agency. Global oil stockpiles are plummeting and analysts are now warning that inventories may not recover until late next year.
Iran Guards say struck groups linked to US, Israel in Kurdish area near Iraq
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Monday their forces had struck groups linked to the United States and Israel in the western Iranian province of Kurdistan, near the border with Iraq.
In a statement carried by the ISNA news agency, the Guards said groups from “northern Iraq and acting on behalf of the US and the Zionist regime were attempting to smuggle a large shipment of American weapons and ammunition” into Iran.
They said the groups were hit in the Iranian city of Baneh in the Kurdistan region.
Lebanese president Joseph Aoun said Monday that he would do the “impossible” in order to stop the war with Israel, after a ceasefire and direct talks between the countries failed to end the fighting.
“The framework that Lebanon has set for the negotiations consists of an Israeli withdrawal, a ceasefire, the deployment of the army along the border, the return of the displaced, and economic aid,” Aoun said in a statement.
“My duty, based on my position and my responsibility, is to do the impossible, and to choose what is least costly, in order to stop the war against Lebanon and its people,” he said.
The Israeli military has ordered residents of three towns and villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate immediately by a “distance of no less than 1000 meters to open areas” in advance of attacks against the locations.
The affected towns and villages are: Harouf, Burj Al-Shamali and Dibal, according to a social media post by the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, who claimed the attacks are being launched due to Hezbollah, the Iranian backed Lebanese militant group, violating the US-mediated ceasefire agreement Israel signed with the Lebanese state in mid April.
International law experts say Israel’s warnings are inconsistent and often overly broad and open-ended. Sometimes there is no warning at all before the airstrikes. More than one million people have already been displaced by the renewed Israeli war on Lebanon which started when Hezbollah launched missiles at Israel on 2 March after the US-Israeli bombing of Iran in late February.
In its latest update, the Lebanese health ministry said since 2 March Israeli attacks have killed at least 2,988 people, including many women and children.
