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Trump insists White House ballroom security costs would be ‘very good expenditure’ despite Republican backlash – live | US news
Trump insists White House ballroom security costs would be a ‘very good expenditure’ despite GOP backlash
Asked about Republican backlash over plans to provide $1bn in security funds for his White House ballroom project, Donald Trump drew distinctions between the ballroom and proposed security improvements.
He said the ballroom was being built “in conjunction” with the military and the Secret Service and claimed that “a tremendous amount” of the project “is for national security”.
The president also said that the changes were “not for me because I’ll be gone” – even though he’s repeatedly mused about remaining in office after his term, including yesterday.
Pressured by the White House, Republicans tried to add the funds to a roughly $70bn bill to restore funding to ICE and the Border Patrol. But the security proposal is expected to be scrapped after being met with opposition from some GOP lawmakers who feared diverting taxpayer dollars to the project amid mounting cost of living concerns across the US would risk alienating voters ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Asked if he was losing control of the Senate, Trump said:
I really don’t know. I don’t need money for the ballroom, I’m making a gift of the ballroom.
We’re on time, on budget, it’s going beautifully. I have all the money I need, I’m making a gift to the United States. The ballroom is paid for, it’s a gift.
He then claimed the funds needed for the ballroom are for “national security”, including the drone port and bulletproof glass.
If they want to spend money securing the White House, I think it would be very much a good expenditure.
Asked what if Congress doesn’t sign off on the security money, Trump replied:
Well, the White House won’t be a very secure place.
Key events
US Senate refuses to push through ICE funding amid row over Trump’s ballroom
A bid to restore funding to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and border patrol has been derailed by rows over a $1bn proposal for security measures tied to Donald Trump’s White House ballroom and controversial plans to create a $1.8bn “anti-weaponization” fund.
The US Senate will not pass the $70bn legislation ahead of a 1 June deadline set by the US president, Republican senators told reporters on Thursday, as lawmakers leave Washington for the Memorial Day recess.
It comes amid backlash from members of Trump’s own party against an attempt to latch funding for his ballroom project on to the immigration bill.
The plan prompted intense anxiety among congressional Republicans, who feared diverting taxpayer dollars toward Trump’s “East Wing modernization project” amid mounting cost of living concerns across the US would risk alienating voters ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Some Senate Republicans have also expressed concerns about a plan, announced on Monday, to create a secretive $1.776bn fund – which critics have argued is essentially a slush fund – to compensate Trump allies as part of an agreement in which the president and his sons dropped a $10bn long-shot lawsuit against the US Internal Revenue Service.
The DNC autopsy report is a disgrace, said RootsAction, a progressive grassroots advocacy group, in a statement Thursday.
The report focuses extensively on ad spending and fundraising, without providing enough attention to the Democratic policy positions and the context of the 2024 election, said the advocacy group.
“The word “affordability,” arguably the most important issue in the 2024 election, appears twice in the 129-page report,” said the statement. “The report makes no mention whatsoever of Gaza or Israel — neither word even appears in its text.”
The Democratic party is trying to distance itself from the report by poking holes into its legitimacy instead of taking responsibility after commissioning it, the statement said.
Republicans are also reacting to the report. Democrats didn’t need a report to tell them the obvious, said Mike Marinella, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee.
“Democrats keep stepping on the same rake and seem genuinely surprised when it smacks them in the face,” said Marinella. “Americans have made it pretty clear they’re tired of radical social experiments and out of touch priorities.”
On the Supreme Court’s decision about birthright citizenship that was expected today – but wasn’t announced – Trump claimed the US is the only country in the world to have it.
About 32 other countries, most of them in the Western Hemisphere, have birthright citizenship laws that are similar to the US, according to a Pew Research Center analysis. Approximately 50 other countries have variations of birthright citizenship.
“This was not meant for Chinese billionaires to come in and have their kids here,” he said. “This was meant for the babies of slaves. You look at the dates, it was right after the Civil War, and you can tell.”
Trump said are misusing the birthright citizenship and “if allowed to stand, it will be a disaster.” The Supreme Court will probably rule against eliminating birthright citizenship, he said.
“Birthright citizen is done by no other country in the world,” Trump said. “We are a laughingstock.”
If birthright citizenship is overturned, hundreds of thousands of children born annually would be blocked from US citizenship.
Trump says ‘it looks like I’ll be the one’ to intervene in Cuba after Castro indictment
Asked about the US aircraft carrier that arrived in the Caribbean yesterday and whether it was meant to intimidate the Cuban government, Trump said: “No, not at all.”
“We’re going to help them along … because I want to help them,” he said, adding: “Other presidents have looked at this for 50, 60 years. It looks like I’ll be the one that does it. We want to open it up to Cuban Americans where they can go back and help.”
Fears of potential US military strikes on Cuba are growing, following the issuing of a federal criminal indictment against former president Raúl Castro and five others yesterday, marking a significant escalation of the Trump administration’s campaign to oust the country’s six-decades-old communist regime.
David Smith
I’ve just been in the Oval Office, wishing I’d worn dark glasses to dim the glare of all that gold. Donald Trump was ostensibly promoting of the reversal of Joe Biden’s regulations on fridges but sounded more enthusiastic about his White House ballroom, Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool and triumphal arch, which just received approval from a fine arts commission.
I asked the US president why today’s AI executive order signing ceremony – which tech titans were expected to attend – has abruptly been called off. “Because I didn’t like certain aspects of it, I postponed it,” said Trump, sitting at the Resolute desk. “We’re leading China, we’re leading everybody, and I don’t want to do anything that’s gonna get in the way of that lead.”
He said AI is “causing tremendous good and it’s also bringing in a lot of jobs, tremendous numbers of jobs. Again, we have more people working right now than we’ve ever had. I really thought that could have been a blocker and I want to make sure that it’s not.”
Trump travelled to China last week with Elon Musk of Tesla, Tim Cook of Apple and other tech leaders. Did he discuss AI safeguards with Chinese leader Xi Jinping? “I did, I did, I discussed it and he acknowledges how well we’re doing,” the presidenty said. “It’s the two of us, the two countries are fighting for it. Other countries are way behind. Way, way behind.
“They’re fighting for it, they want it, everybody wants it but they’re way behind. But I didn’t want to do it – I postponed that meeting – it was a signing actually – because I didn’t like what I was seeing.”
Trump insists White House ballroom security costs would be a ‘very good expenditure’ despite GOP backlash
Asked about Republican backlash over plans to provide $1bn in security funds for his White House ballroom project, Donald Trump drew distinctions between the ballroom and proposed security improvements.
He said the ballroom was being built “in conjunction” with the military and the Secret Service and claimed that “a tremendous amount” of the project “is for national security”.
The president also said that the changes were “not for me because I’ll be gone” – even though he’s repeatedly mused about remaining in office after his term, including yesterday.
Pressured by the White House, Republicans tried to add the funds to a roughly $70bn bill to restore funding to ICE and the Border Patrol. But the security proposal is expected to be scrapped after being met with opposition from some GOP lawmakers who feared diverting taxpayer dollars to the project amid mounting cost of living concerns across the US would risk alienating voters ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Asked if he was losing control of the Senate, Trump said:
I really don’t know. I don’t need money for the ballroom, I’m making a gift of the ballroom.
We’re on time, on budget, it’s going beautifully. I have all the money I need, I’m making a gift to the United States. The ballroom is paid for, it’s a gift.
He then claimed the funds needed for the ballroom are for “national security”, including the drone port and bulletproof glass.
If they want to spend money securing the White House, I think it would be very much a good expenditure.
Asked what if Congress doesn’t sign off on the security money, Trump replied:
Well, the White House won’t be a very secure place.
Trump postpones signing AI executive order because he ‘didn’t like some aspects’
Donald Trump also called off a signing ceremony for an executive order on artificial intelligence because he didn’t like some aspects of the text.
“Because I didn’t like certain aspects of it I postponed it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office a short while ago, just a few hours before the ceremony with top CEOs at the White House was due to take place. “I didn’t like what I was seeing.”
He added: “We’re leading China, we’re leading everybody, and I don’t want to do anything that’s going to get in the way of that lead.”
In response to a comments about the DNC autopsy report and the 2024 presidential election, Trump said “US election are so rigged and we have to do something about it.”
He again brought up that voters should have proof of citizenship and that the practice of mail-in ballots should be eliminated.
“We have elections that are more corrupt than third world countries,” said Trump, then changing the conversation to talk about Democratic support towards the participation of transgender people in sports.
Trump’s environmental protection agency has rolled back refrigerant rule for grocery stores, claiming it will lower prices.
The EPA is relaxing a Biden-era federal rule that mandated US businesses to reduce greenhouse gases used in cooling equipment. Officials say the relaxation is a push to lower grocery costs.
“Substantial and big savings are expected for a lot of families,” said Trump from the White House. “Numbers will come soon.”
Trump said the relaxation of in the rule did not raise any environment concerns.
“There will not be any impact on the environment,” he said.
Annotations throughout the Democrat autopsy report suggest that the report makes claims that are contradicted elsewhere in the same report and evidence and data is not provided for numerous claims. At times the report’s methodology appears inconsistent, and public reporting and data oppose the claims the report is making.
In the “What happened” section of the DNC autopsy report, one of key takeaways from the Democrats failure in the 2024 presidential election is “despite winning the popular vote, Trump won the election by a little more than 2 million votes in the popular vote, meaning the election was swayed by 0.15 percent of the votes cast across the country in the election.”
The annotations on the report, however, suggest that this analysis is not supported by data.
Another takeaway is that “the margin of defeat for Kamala Harris was among the smallest in American history. Under the structure of the Electoral College, a handful of swing states are generally determinative in the outcome, meaning the margins of victories in those states are the key to the overall outcome.”
The report suggests that in the future, Democrats should identify early on, in what states and battlegrounds they will fight the hardest.
California governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order to prepare workers, small businesses, and communities from the economic disruption that AI could bring to the workforce, the governor’s office said in a statement Thursday.
“The order mobilizes state agencies, labor experts, economists, universities, and industry leaders to develop new policies, gather data, and identify early warning signs of workforce disruption — while ensuring workers share in the gains created by AI-driven productivity,” said the statement.
“California has never sat back and watched as the future happened to us – and we won’t start now,” said Newsom. “This moment demands that we reimagine the entire system — how we work, how we govern, how we prepare people for the future — and that work is starting right here in the Golden State.”
Edward Helmore
Trump health officials issue advisory on children and teens’ excessive screen time
Health officials in the Trump administration have issued an advisory about children and adolescents’ excessive screen time, warning that negative impacts on sleep and mental functioning have “become a public health concern”.
The advisory from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) notes that the amount of screen time reaches an average of four or more hours per day by the time a child becomes a teenager and can be linked to poor sleep, decreased functioning in school, less physical activity and weakened in-person relationships.
“A concern at all stages of life, and a particularly important one around children’s screen exposure, is its potential to disrupt healthy sleep, which is fundamental to learning, mood, behavior, physical health, and overall development,” the report says.
The department provided guidance about how to identify harmful behaviors around screens and how to set limits, including no screen time for children under 18 months old, less than one hour per day for children under six and two hours per day for ages six to 18.
“Exposure often begins before a child’s first birthday and increases as children age. By adolescence, children may spend more time on screens than sleeping or attending school,” the report says.
DNC releases autopsy of party’s 2024 presidential campaign
The Democratic National Party released a copy of a report about why Democrats lost the 2024 presidential election, written by Democratic strategist Paul Rivera Thursday.
News about the report and the full report was first published by CNN.
The report was commissioned at the request of Ken Martin, the DNC’s committee chair, and the version CNN published includes annotations that the DNC added to Rivera’s report.
The report was handed to Martin late last year, he told CNN in a statement, but he didn’t share it then because no source material was provided. He apologized for the delay, but said he was releasing it now even though it still does not meet his standards, because “people need to be able to trust the Democratic Party and trust our word.”
Senator Angela Alsobrooks, like other Democratic leaders, spoke about how families are being forced to think about how to cut back in the face of rising prices of gas and groceries, and the budget allocating more money to ICE.
“We are here with this bill as further proof of what Republicans are thinking about, and its not about the American people,” she said. “They wanna give billions of your dollars to the wasteful ballroom.”
Nothing in this bill talks about relief in gas or grocery prices, she said.
Democrats did not open the news conference for questions from the press.
UK News
Bundesliga 2025-26 awards: our players, goal, coach and head loss of the season | Bundesliga
Team of the season
A hearty pat on the back to Hoffenheim, the unexpected and unfancied top-four gatecrashers who ultimately couldn’t quite hold on. This season has been all about Bayern, though, and not just in the normal they-always-win-it way. To call them the most beloved Bayern team in a generation would be overcooking it – the club will never be universally loved, and fair enough – but Vincent Kompany’s team were not just a behemoth but an absolute joy to watch, not only irresistible but endlessly entertaining, with Harry Kane and Michael Olise as ingenious as they were consistent. So much of the club’s change of image, as a team at least, is down to Kompany, a humble and emotionally intelligent coach who gives Bayern all the regal flow of their best teams down the years – but with added humility.
Player of the season
To some it may seem bizarre not to crown Kane the player of the year after a 61-goal season in all competitions. But stellar as he has been, this column would argue Olise has been Bayern’s brightest star. His debut season in Bavaria was excellent but this was something else – 15 goals and 21 assists in only 23 starts in the league – with another five goals and six assists in the Champions League. The numbers don’t really do Olise’s majesty justice, though. He glides past opponents and sets Bayern’s tempo, while his shooting and passing is deadly accurate from just about anywhere. That the Paris Saint-Germain manager, Luis Enrique, instructed his goalkeeper, Matvey Safonov, to boot the ball out of play for a Bayern throw-in during the Champions League semi-final second leg to crowd Olise’s flank, inhibiting the space the Frenchman could find, showed what an all-consuming threat he has become.
Young player of the season
In any other season it would be Saïd El Mala, the 19-year-old having taken the top flight by storm after Köln’s promotion. Dribbling with confidence and directness from the left, he was a goal threat too, scoring 13 and laying on another five in a struggling side. That led to a Germany call-up in the autumn – and those numbers surely would have been higher had the coach, Lukas Kwasniok, not left him on the bench fairly frequently. Props too to Leipzig’s Yan Diomande, who scored a dozen goals in a jaw-dropping first Bundesliga season. Yet our winner is a loan player, with Luka Vuskovic perhaps the biggest influence on the other promoted team, Hamburg, who sailed to mid-table safety after seven years away. Following in the footsteps of his older brother Mario, who last played for HSV in 2022 before a doping ban, representing the club clearly means everything to the 19-year-old and he led from the front, tackling tigerishly, bringing calm and even chipping in with six goals. One of the best centre-backs in the Bundesliga, the only downside is he has no chance of fulfilling his stated dream of turning out for HSV with Mario; or not yet anyway, with Tottenham, whom he joined last year, seemingly having a future captain or significant collateral on their hands, with Bayern and Dortmund also interested.
Goal of the season
This is an even tougher one, so we’ll go with a top three. Honourable mentions to both our young players, with Vuskovic scoring a memorable backheeled flick against Werder Bremen and El Mala running from halfway and through half of Bayern’s team for Köln’s consolation goal on the final day at the Allianz. Third is Martin Terrier’s scorpion kick against Köln, reaching behind himself for Arthur’s cross and looping it over Marvin Schwäbe (not dissimilar from Vuskovic’s but a bit more by design). Our runner-up is Fábio Vieira’s on-the-run lob from a tough angle against Köln, one of a number of occasions when you realised the Arsenal loanee was several moves ahead of his Hamburg teammates. The winner, though, is Luis Díaz, who had a brilliant debut season that is perhaps a bit underappreciated given Kane’s and Olise’s staggering campaigns. The Colombian’s goal at Union Berlin was a remarkable combination of graft and craft, sliding to keep Josip Stanisic’s firm pass in play, dribbling through the eye of a needle and past Janik Haberer and then smashing a shot high past Frederik Rønnow from a seemingly impossible angle.
Coach of the season
Commendations to Ole Werner – who guided RB Leipzig back into the Champions League despite last summer’s losses of Benjamin Sesko, Xavi Simons and Loïs Openda – and to Christian Ilzer at Hoffenheim, as well as Kompany. The real answer, though, is Sebastian Hoeness, who continued his titanic work at Stuttgart. Every season begins in the same way, with big-name departures (this year it was Enzo Millot and Nick Woltemade, with no time to effectively replace the latter), and every season sees progress, Stuttgart continuing to play their front-foot football. This time it was fourth place finish, a Pokal final appearance and the last 16 of the Europa League. At some point a giant will come and take Hoeness away.
Great escape of the season
For this also read ‘reluctant sacking of the season’, with Mainz pushed into parting ways with the esteemed Bo Henriksen, having lost nine of the first 13 and winning only one, for a total of six points. Enter Urs Fischer, the former Union Berlin coach who wrote the book on heartbreaking sackings and who subsequently steered Mainz to a near-miraculous point away at Bayern on his mid-December debut, before racking up six wins (and only one defeat) in a 10-game spell in the new year, lifting them clear. A great organiser, Fischer even kept the form on track when the Germany star Nadiem Amiri was out injured (through the captain returned for the joyous final games, with his team safe earlier than expected).
Dortmundy moment of the season
Dortmundy (adj.): to suggest an unexpected surge towards contention only to slip in sight of the line.
Harsh, perhaps, given that BVB were smartly governed by Niko Kovac, tough to beat in the Bundesliga and never in danger of losing second place – but having crept into a position where they could have imbued March’s edition of Der Klassiker with some title jeopardy, Dortmund performed poorly at Leipzig (despite Fábio Silva’s stoppage-time goal saving a point) and then imploded at Atalanta in the Champions League to enter the Bundesliga showpiece eight points adrift and with morale on the floor. Leverkusen challenged for this award as well, Kasper Hjulmand’s side pulling themselves back into the top four with two games to go and then capitulating at their direct rivals Stuttgart on the very next matchday to miss out.
Head loss of the season
This category should have been reserved for Jonathan Burkhardt, a calm and religious man driven to openly swearing at his Eintracht Frankfurt coach Albert Riera mid-match in Dortmund, but Wolfsburg’s Joakim Mæhle trumped him in the second leg of the relegation playoff. With his side leading at Paderborn he picked up two bookings in double-quick time inside the first 14 minutes, leaving Dieter Hecking’s team to play the remaining 106 minutes (plus stoppages) with 10 men. Wolfsburg became only the fourth Bundesliga side to lose a top-flight playoff and be relegated since it was reintroduced in 2008.
Anyone who sees someone in an emergency in the water should call 999, stay out of the water themselves and throw them something that floats, such as a plastic water bottle or football, for them to hold onto and stay afloat while help is on the way, the RLSS added.
UK News
Middle East crisis live: Iran’s foreign ministry says US broke ceasefire with overnight strikes | US-Israel war on Iran
Iran’s foreign ministry says US broke ceasefire with overnight strikes
Iran’s foreign ministry has said the US broke the ceasefire in the Hormozgan region close to the strait of Hormuz, Reuters reports.
The ministry said Iran will respond and will not hesitate in defending itself.
The US military carried out strikes on Monday in southern Iran against targets including boats attempting to lay mines and missile launch sites, in what it described as defensive actions.
“The United States committed a gross violation of the ceasefire in the Hormozgan region in the past 48 hours … Iran holds the US regime responsible for all the consequences resulting from these aggressive and unjustified actions,” the Iran foreign ministry statement said.
Key events
The US has launched fresh strikes on Iran despite suggestions that a peace deal could be within reach.
Donald Trump faces growing criticism from Republicans over the proposed plan to end the war, which reportedly contained major concessions from Washington. But could an agreement still be imminent?
Lucy Hough speaks to diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour…
Israel has issued an expropriation order for land in the occupied West Bank near the site of a Biblical prophet’s grave north of Jerusalem, an Israeli NGO reported on Tuesday.
The site, known as Nabi Samuel, is believed in Christian, Jewish, and Muslim tradition to include the grave of the Biblical figure of prophet Samuel, and includes a mosque owned by Palestinian religious authorities, the Waqf.
“This marks the first time that the [Israeli] Civil Administration has expropriated a holy site owned by the Muslim Waqf in the occupied West Bank”, Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said in a statement.
According to the Israeli order, dated 9 May but published this week, the area for expropriation will include 109.79 dunams (roughly 11 hectares), including access roads, agricultural land, and a mosque.
Israeli forces have begun operating beyond its so-called ‘Yellow Line’ in south Lebanon, which runs around 10km (six miles) deep inside Lebanese territory, a military official confirmed to AFP on Tuesday.
“The IDF is operating in a targeted manner beyond the Forward Defence Line in order to remove direct threats to the citizens of the State of Israel and IDF troops, in accordance with the directives of the political echelon,” the military official said when asked about reports that the military had begun ground operations beyond its demarcation line.
“Specific details regarding soldiers’ locations cannot be provided,” the official added.
Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would continue providing support for peace talks during a phone call with Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian, the Turkish presidency said on Tuesday.
Erdogan said the conflicts in the region had cast a shadow over the Muslim Eid holiday period, adding that he believed the Iranian people would overcome the challenges.
Iran’s vice-president said on Tuesday that the government has taken the first steps to restore the internet after a near-total blackout since war with the United States and Israel broke out in late February.
“The first step toward free and regulated access to cyberspace has been taken,” vice-president Mohammad Reza Aref said in a post on X, adding that the demands of Iranians “will be fulfilled.”
Israeli media reported on Tuesday that the military had expanded its ground operations in southern Lebanon beyond the ‘Yellow Line’, an Israeli-drawn demarcation line near the border, though the reports gave no further details on the extent of the advance.
Cross-border fighting has been escalating between Israel and Hezbollah, despite the declaration of a ceasefire several weeks ago.
As part of the peace deal with Iran – which could now be on the rocks – Donald Trump has made a push for Gulf states to sign up to his Abraham Accords and recognise the state of Israel. AFP has spoken to some analysts that see these demands as unrealistic.
“For most of the states named, the political cost of signing up under current conditions would be prohibitive,” HA Hellyer, senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and Center for American Progress said.
“Gaza is ongoing, annexation of the West Bank is accelerating, Israeli forces remain in southern Lebanon, the Golan is occupied.”
Yossi Mekelberg, a Middle East expert at London-based think-tank Chatham House, said it was “no more than a sweetener for Israel, and most likely won’t happen”.
“Why would these countries reward (Benjamin) Netanyahu after so much destruction in the region and to their interests?” he asked.
In 2023, Saudi Arabia was engaged in tentative talks on normalisation, but it abruptly pulled out as the Israel-Gaza war erupted. It later said it would not recognise Israel without an independent Palestinian state.
“For Saudia Arabia there is no incentive to join the Abraham Accords, in the current circumstances,” said Hellyer.
“If they decide about normalisation, they would like to do it on their own accord, not the Abraham Accords.”
Former US diplomat Barbara A. Leaf, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs under Joe Biden, told AFP: “I do not expect any of the Arab/Muslim states whose leaders spoke to President Trump on May 23 to move towards normalisation with Israel right now.”
The internet monitoring group Netblocks said in a post on X on Tuesday that live data showed partial restoration of internet connectivity in Iran.
Iranian state media reported on Monday that Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian had issued an order to reopen international internet access, after a near-90-day blackout in the wake of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Afternoon summary
Iran’s foreign ministry has accused the US of violating the ceasefire after overnight strikes by the US military on targets in the southern coastal province of Hormozgan, next to the strait of Hormuz.
Here’s a round-up of the other key events so far today:
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Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said on his Telegram channel that Gulf powers will no longer be a shield for US bases and the US will no longer have a safe haven in the region. The post followe overnight attacks on Iran by the US, testing the ceasefire agreed in April.
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Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said it reserved the “legitimate and definite” right to retaliate against any ceasefire violations by the US. It added that its air defence units had shot down a US MQ-9 drone and fired at a fighter jet that had entered Iranian airspace.
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Brent crude oil rose 3% on Tuesday after the news of the US strikes on Iran. The strikes added to uncertainty about whether a deal will be imminently reached to end the war and open up shipping flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
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An Israeli airstrike on a village in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley killed 12 people, AP reports, citing the country’s state-run National News Agency. Rescue workers said a dozen bodies were pulled out of the rubble following an intense wave of overnight strikes targeting swaths of southern and eastern Lebanon.
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Israel’s military has warned residents of the southern Lebanese town of Nabatieh to leave ahead of possible airstrikes, Reuters reports. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel would escalate strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon, as a US official said the militia had ignored warnings to halt firing at Israel.
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United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said that a tanker had reported an external explosion on the vessel’s port side, 60 nautical miles off Oman’s capital Muscat. In a post on X, UKMTO said the vessel and its crew were safe, although the tanker reported that some bunker fuel was discharged into the sea. UKMTO urged vessels to transit with caution and report suspicious activity.
I’m clocking off, but my colleague Tom Ambrose will continue to bring you the latest updates from the crisis in the Middle East.
Iran’s judiciary has suspended a presidential body that had ordered the restoration of internet access, AFP reports.
Iranian authorities first imposed sweeping internet restrictions during large-scale anti-government protests that peaked in early January, before shutting access down again on 28 February at the start of the war.
The judicial decision targeted the “Special Headquarters for Organising and Governing the Country’s Cyberspace”, a body formed on 12 May by president Masoud Pezeshkian.
The body had on Monday reached a decision to “restore the internet” in Iran, according to government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani, after local media reported that Pezeshkian had decreed the measure.
In recent weeks, Iran introduced a tiered internet system known as “Pro Internet”, which, according to Iranian media, granted broader access to selected groups of professionals for higher fees.
By 5 April, internet monitor NetBlocks said the shutdown imposed after the outbreak of war was “the longest nation-scale internet shutdown on record in any country”.
United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said that a tanker had reported an external explosion on the vessel’s port side, 60 nautical miles off Oman’s capital Muscat.
In a post on X, UKMTO said the vessel and its crew were safe, although the tanker reported that some bunker fuel was discharged into the sea. UKMTO urged vessels to transit with caution and report suspicious activity.
Iran’s foreign ministry says US broke ceasefire with overnight strikes
Iran’s foreign ministry has said the US broke the ceasefire in the Hormozgan region close to the strait of Hormuz, Reuters reports.
The ministry said Iran will respond and will not hesitate in defending itself.
The US military carried out strikes on Monday in southern Iran against targets including boats attempting to lay mines and missile launch sites, in what it described as defensive actions.
“The United States committed a gross violation of the ceasefire in the Hormozgan region in the past 48 hours … Iran holds the US regime responsible for all the consequences resulting from these aggressive and unjustified actions,” the Iran foreign ministry statement said.
Photos show the aftermath of an Israeli strike on al-Hosh, near the city of Tyre in southern Lebanon.
Israel targeted southern and eastern Lebanon in a series of overnight strikes.
Pictures showed Lebanese civil defence workers searching through the rubble in the aftermath of the strikes.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday he had ordered the military to intensify its offensive in Lebanon in an effort to “crush” Hezbollah, accusing the group of targeting Israeli forces with drone attacks.
One major sticking point in the negotiations for a peace deal in the US-Israel war with Iran involves the unfreezing of Iranian funds frozen overseas.
Around $24bn (£18bn) of frozen funds must be released under a memorandum of understanding being negotiated with the US a source close to Tehran’s negotiation team said, according to report by Iran’s Tasnim news agency on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
The Iranian agency said Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Baqr Qalibaf, had travelled to Qatar to reach agreement on a mechanism to implement this demand.
Beijing has urged Iran and the US to observe the ceasefire in the US-Israeli war on Iran.
“We urge the parties concerned to fulfil their ceasefire commitments, resolve disputes through peaceful means … and promote the early restoration of peace,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a news briefing.
The US struck targets in Iran overnight and Iran said it shot down a US drone.
Israel’s military has warned residents of the southern Lebanese town of Nabatieh to leave ahead of possible airstrikes, Reuters reports.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel would escalate strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon, as a US official said the militia had ignored warnings to halt firing at Israel.
Earlier today an Israeli airstrike on a village in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley killed 12 people.
Brent crude oil rose 3% on Tuesday after the US military carried out strikes in Iran, adding to uncertainty on whether a deal will be imminently reached to end the war and open up shipping flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
“While differences between the parties have narrowed, any eventual peace deal would likely lead only to a gradual reopening [of the strait of Hormuz], meaning the current tight supply outlook could take months to normalise,” Ole Hansen at Saxo Bank told Reuters.
Iran has executed a man for alleged espionage and intelligence cooperation with Israel, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said.
The agency identified the individual as Gholamreza Khani Shekarab.
According to the Iran Human Rights NGO (IHRNGO), Gholamreza was arrested on 24 September 2025 and charged with “collaboration with the Zionist regime and specifically the Mossad intelligence agency”.
At least ten people have been executed for espionage charges in 2026. Eight were accused of espionage for Israel and the US, and two Iraqi nationals were accused of espionage for an unknown Arab country. According to IHRNGO’s 2025 Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran, at least 13 people were executed for charges related to espionage for Israel.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said it reserved the “legitimate and definite” right to retaliate against any ceasefire violations by the US, adding that its air defence units had shot down a US MQ-9 drone and fired at a fighter jet that had entered Iranian airspace, state media reported.
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