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UK will play full part in reopening Strait of Hormuz, Starmer says
The prime minister says the UK is working with other countries on a plan to protect vessels in the key waterway.
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BBC News understands the yacht had drifted towards the Admiral Grigorovich, a Russian frigate which has been operating in the Channel.
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The EU and the UK have announced they will hold their next summit to discuss the “reset” in relations between London and Brussels on 22 July.
The summit, which will be held in Brussels, has been delayed several times, with talks over a youth mobility scheme allowing under-30s to work, travel or study in each other’s country deadlocked in recent weeks, fuelling speculation the summit would be postponed until the autumn.
António Costa, the president of the European Council, confirmed the date at the G7 meeting in Evian on Tuesday.
“Close EU-UK cooperation is essential for our shared European security, resilience and prosperity,” he said. “We are working closely together to make our upcoming second summit on 22 July a success.”
The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, who could be facing a leadership challenge after this Thursday’s Makerfield byelection, said: “My Labour government is delivering on our promise to reset our relationship and put Britain at the heart of Europe.
“Together we will tackle the cost of living, boost jobs and create opportunities for young people.”
The head of pro-EU campaign group Best for Britain, Naomi Smith, said “whoever is in No 10 in July must recognise the increasing importance” of the bloc, and that even “signalling an intention to pursue membership” would help generate the political will to underpin rejoining.
The summit was originally supposed to take place in May but delays over the youth mobility programme pushed it back to the end of June, then early July.
Up until the last two weeks, senior EU diplomats expressed disappointment that the “momentum is being lost” in the “reset” that Starmer has so often promised since he took office in 2024.
Other key topics on the agenda are a food and farm produce trade agreement that will see red tape and physical checks on exports into the EU removed, with the UK agreeing to align with the bloc’s standards.
The sanitary and phytosanitary agreement is already agreed in part, with the UK recently unveiling some of the checks that would be removed, allowing food producers time to prepare for the implementation of the deal, probably next summer.
Talks are also progressing on an emissions trading system, which will allow the UK to align with the EU’s trading rules involving penalties for those products with high carbon emissions.
However, the UK’s resistance to some of the EU’s demands in a youth experience programme, including a restoration of the pre-Brexit home tuition fees for EU students, is thought to have held up the summit.
EU diplomats have warned there would be no summit without a youth experience programme, one of the few EU red lines in the reset negotiations.
UK News
Trump says Iran ‘will never have a nuclear weapon’ under new deal and warns Israel over Lebanon – Middle East crisis live | Iran
Donald Trump claims the strait of Hormuz will be open by Friday
Speaking at the G7, US president Donald Trump has said the strait of Hormuz will be open by Friday and that the full text of the peace deal will be released in a “formal setting”.
Trump also said he expects the “second stage” of the deal “to go quickly”.
He added that the main outcome from the MOU is that Iran will “never have a nucelar weapon” and that he will go over the deal with the media “in a couple of days”.
He earlier told reporters this morning that he had a “great relationship” with Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, but said he “has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon”.
“Without me there would be no Israel, because no other president was willing to do what I did,” he told reporters.
Key events
China’s top diplomat told his Pakistani counterpart on Tuesday that the next phase of negotiations between the United States and Iran – which Pakistan has helped mediate – will be “more difficult”.
In a phone conversation ahead of the planned signing on Friday of a US-Iran memorandum of understanding to end their war, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi told Pakistan’s Ishaq Dar that “it is foreseeable that, compared with the first stage, the second stage of negotiations will be more difficult”.
Wang added that the United Nations Security Council “should also play a greater role” in supporting these talks, according to a statement from Beijing’s foreign ministry.
“The current consensus is far from the final destination, rather it is a new starting point,” Wang said.
“Achieving lasting peace in the Middle East and Gulf region still requires unremitting efforts from all parties,” Wang said, adding that China was willing to work with Pakistan to promote peace.
US-Iran deal to be signed in Burgenstock, Switzerland on Friday
A US-Iran deal aimed at ending the Middle East war will be signed at Switzerland’s mountainside Burgenstock resort on Friday, the Swiss foreign ministry confirmed to AFP.
The site, located near Lucerne in central Switzerland, is difficult to access and therefore easily secured. It “was proposed by the Pakistani and Qatari mediators, as well as by the US and Iran”, Switzerland’s foreign ministry said.
It had previously been reported that the signing would take place in Geneva.
An Iranian deputy foreign minister on Tuesday said the two-month US naval blockade on Iranian ports had been lifted ahead of the planned formal signing of a deal ending the war.
“The lifting of the blockade was something we had emphasised from the outset. It has now begun, and the blockade has been lifted prior to the formal signing” scheduled for Friday, said Iranian deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi, according to the government’s website.
Lucy Campbell
Yesterday’s bilateral talks between Donald Trump and French president Emmanuel Macron were “a bit tense”, a European Union official has told NBC News.
“Trump is being his usual self, nice sometimes and not so nice sometimes,” the official said, adding that the US president was dismissive of EU support following the Iran framework agreement – saying he didn’t need Europe’s help.
Trump and Macron are due to dine tomorrow at the Palace of Versailles. This was the “‘shiny’ object he needed to come to France”, the EU official said of Trump, but “whether this will keep him happy remains to be seen”.
Iran won’t sign final nuclear deal if Israel doesn’t withdraw from Lebanon, Hezbollah says
Hezbollah, the Iranian backed Lebanese militant group and political party, said it has received assurances from Iran that Tehran will not sign a final nuclear deal with the US unless Israel withdraws from Lebanon, Hezbollah’s media relations office has told the Reuters news agency.
Trump says he’d send Iran deal to Congress for review
Trump said that he would send the deal with Iran to the US Congress for a review. “I like the idea, send it to Congress please,” he said at the start of a meeting with the UAE president Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the sidelines of the G7 summit. “I mean who wouldn’t approve it.”
The absence of the details of the memorandum of understanding with Iran has led to bipartisan scrutiny on Capitol Hill about what the agreement might contain and how favourable the terms are to the US.
Republicans on Capitol Hill say they want Trump to provide more information, with some expressing skepticism that the deal can deter Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon. James Lankford, a Republican senator, said: “If you want a deal to last, it can’t be an executive agreement.” “We’ve got to have a vote of Congress to be able to solidify (it) long term.”
“I think it’s going to go pretty quickly,” Trump told reporters about the next phase of negotiations with Iran, stipulated with a 60-day deadline.
“Iran wants to get it done. They have to get back to business, and the relationship is now normalised, so I think it’s going to go pretty quickly,” Trump told reporters during his meeting with Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the United Arab Emirates, on the sidelines of the G7.
“Could go faster, could take longer too, but it could go fast.“
Donald Trump claims the strait of Hormuz will be open by Friday
Speaking at the G7, US president Donald Trump has said the strait of Hormuz will be open by Friday and that the full text of the peace deal will be released in a “formal setting”.
Trump also said he expects the “second stage” of the deal “to go quickly”.
He added that the main outcome from the MOU is that Iran will “never have a nucelar weapon” and that he will go over the deal with the media “in a couple of days”.
He earlier told reporters this morning that he had a “great relationship” with Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, but said he “has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon”.
“Without me there would be no Israel, because no other president was willing to do what I did,” he told reporters.
Iran state media says Iranian oil tankers resumed shipping after US deal
Iranian state television said that Iranian oil tankers and other vessels had resumed shipping following a deal with Washington, in what appeared to be an easing of a US naval blockade.
“Three Iranian oil tankers are currently sailing in the northern Indian Ocean, and two others carrying essential goods and livestock feed are en route and sailing towards southern ports,” said a state television reporter from a site in the strait of Hormuz.
He added that “the operation to lift the naval blockade has been implemented”, in reference to the US measure in place since April.
Here are some of the latest images being sent to us over the newswires from Lebanon, where some people displaced by the Israeli assault on the country are cautiously making their way home after news of the initial US-Iran deal:
Qatar, a key mediator between the US and Iran, said it believed the framework peace agreement could deliver security to the Middle East.
“We are cautiously optimistic that the signing of the memorandum of understanding will lead to the next phase of regional security through the talks that will take place on the nuclear programme and on other issues,” foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari told reporters in Doha, as he praised Pakistan’s mediation efforts.
“We are on the right track now towards regional security. Obviously, there are a lot of challenges coming ahead, but let’s take this as a moment to enjoy some optimism,” he said.
“We are talking about various issues: the strait of Hormuz, regional security and non-aggression, and good neighbourly relations between this region and Iran,” he added.
“We’re talking about, of course, the nuclear program but also other issues regarding proxies and missiles and other issues that have played prominent in the region for decades. These will not be resolved in mere days.”
According to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA), Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, and the country’s prime minister, Nawaf Salam, stressed the need for a permanent ceasefire in Lebanon, the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from territory in the south, the return of Lebanese prisoners and the deployment of the Lebanese army to “internationally recognised borders”.
Aoun and Salam described the US–Iran memorandum of understanding as a “positive step” toward de-escalation across the region.
Their meeting, at Baabda Palace, also focused on “preparations” for the next round of talks between Israel and Lebanon due to take place in Washington next week, according to the NNA. Hezbollah is not party to these negotiations.
The militant group, which has been funded and supported by Iran for decades, has welcomed the US-Iran agreement but warned that it would not accept any attacks that violated Lebanon’s sovereignty or targeted its people.
Trump says that Iran has “rational” leadership now because of the US-Israeli attacks on the country that killed senior Iranian figures. This is untrue because Iran’s powerful hardliners are now energised by a three-month confrontation they feel Tehran has won.
Despite his obvious irritation with Netanyahu, Trump said his relationship with the Israeli leader is a “very effective” one. He said their relationship is “unbelievable” – but made a point of saying that Israel would not exist without his support.
The US president said Lebanon has been “treated the worst” out of “all countries” as they “can’t defend themselves” and they are having to deal with Hezbollah, which he said is a “problem for them”.
Trump told reporters:
No, I am not happy with the way Israel has handled themselves with Lebanon and with Hezbollah. They should have been able to do the job faster. It just goes on forever and when that happens it throws a negative light on the big deal – and that is the deal with Iran.
Trump thinks Syria will do a ‘better job’ of ‘taking care of Hezbollah’ than Israel
In unusually frank remarks, Trump seems to acknowledge the fact that Israel has been killing many civilians in its attacks on Lebanon that it claims are only targeting Hezbollah. He told reporters:
Israel’s fighting Hezbollah too long and too many people are being killed. And you don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you are looking for somebody, because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses and they are not all Hezbollah, that I can tell you.
And I suggested to Israel to let Syria take care of Hezbollah because to be honest with you I think they will do a better job of doing it.
Trump said he didn’t “like” that Israel attacked the Lebanese capital of Beirut – not the “southern side” – shortly before the deal with Iran was signed. “I let them know that. I didn’t like it – not at all,” Trump said.
“If Israel can’t do the job, without killing everyone else, he’ll do the job, Syria will do the job,’ Trump said, referring to Syrian president, Ahmed al Sharaa, whom he has good relations with.
During Syria’s civil war that broke out in 2011, Hezbollah sent thousands of fighters to help Bashar al-Assad stay in power. They remained until Sharaa’s Islamist rebel forces toppled the longtime ruler in December 2024. Sharaa is the former leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the rebel group that led the military operation to topple Assad.
Trump said Sharaa “is very good with Hezbollah” and “does not like them”. “He’s been very good for me. He’s protected everything that I have asked for,” he said, referring to Sharaa.
Netanyahu has to be ‘more responsible with respect to Lebanon’, Trump says
Trump also said he had a “great relationship” with Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, but said he “has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon”.
“Without me there would be no Israel, because no other president was willing to do what I did,” he told reporters.
Trump says he considers Israel’s war in Lebanon a ‘minor’ one
Donald Trump also said he considers Israel’s war on Lebanon a “minor” one and believes his deal with Iran can survive even if Israeli attacks continue.
“I consider that the minor war,” Trump said. “Iran’s the big one, but we have that little pinprick out there that constantly rears its head and that’s Hezbollah”.
Iran does not agree with Trump’s assessment as it is increasingly asserting that continued Israeli attacks in Lebanon will violate its agreement with the US, and has sought to characterise the US and Israel as one entity in this respect.
Iran ‘will never have a nuclear weapon’ and ‘all hell will rain down’ if it tries to get them, Trump says
In his comments to reporters, Donald Trump also warned that “all hell will rain down” on Iran if it tries to get a nuclear weapon.
“The only thing that really matters to me is Iran will never have a nuclear weapon, and it says it loud and clear,” he said, referring to the agreement with Tehran.
As my colleague Graham Russell notes in this useful explainer, Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is peaceful and has not publicly committed to giving up the enriched uranium, which is believed to be buried under three nuclear sites that were badly damaged by US strikes last year.
Trump faces significant political pressure to secure a better deal on this issue than the one he scuppered during his first term. He withdrew the US from a 2015 multilateral Iran deal, negotiated by Barack Obama, that lifted sanctions on Tehran in exchange for limits on its nuclear program, including international inspections.
Iran responded by ramping up its enrichment of uranium, producing more than 400kg of material at close to bomb-grade purity. The eventual fate of that uranium is likely to be a key negotiating point during the upcoming broader talks.
Trump says US-Iran deal going to a ‘second stage’
We have some comments from Donald Trump who has been speaking to reporters at the G7 summit.
According to the Reuters news agency, the US president said the deal with Iran was going to a “second stage” and said Washington was not investing any money in Iran as part of the agreement.
“We have our deal done with Iran, and it should be successful, it goes to a second stage, which I think would be actually easier,” he told journalists.
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