“IRAN HAS REQUESTED A MEETING. IT WILL TAKE PLACE TOMORROW IN DOHA!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei flatly contradicted the assertion.

“Over the coming days, we will not have any negotiation meetings with the US side at any level,” he said, adding that Iran had “not yet entered the stage of negotiating a final agreement.”

Baqaei confirmed that an expert delegation from Iran would travel to Doha later this week, but said the visit was solely to review implementation of the memorandum of understanding signed with the United States earlier this month — not to negotiate with American officials.

“The visit of the American representatives to Qatar has no connection to the visit of the Iranian delegation,” the foreign ministry added.

Iran’s embassy in Doha also said preparations for any talks between the two sides had not yet begun.

“We have not received any official information on this matter so far,” it said in a statement to Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said that while consultations with Qatar on MOU implementation were continuing as usual, media reports of technical working group talks being held in Doha “cannot be confirmed.”

He added that a first round of technical talks would only take place once necessary conditions were met and a date and venue agreed upon.

The White House, however, confirmed that US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would travel to Doha for high-level discussions.

Reuters, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported that technical talks on implementing the interim peace deal were expected and that mediators had established a dedicated communications channel to keep tensions in check.

The situation surrounding the anticipated Doha talks remained uncertain on Monday, with Iran’s foreign ministry, deputy foreign minister and Doha embassy all issuing denials within hours of Trump’s announcement.

The announcement came after Iran held its first talks with Oman on managing the Strait of Hormuz since the US-Iran deal was signed, and as Washington and Tehran agreed to halt their attacks, which had strained the agreement.

The exchanges of fire have underscored the fragility of the Pakistan-brokered agreement to stop the war, which sowed havoc across the Middle East and snarled the flow of oil and gas shipments through the vital Strait of Hormuz.

“IRAN HAS REQUESTED A MEETING. IT WILL TAKE PLACE TOMORROW IN DOHA!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Monday, without specifying the participants.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt later told Fox News that US envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner “will be flying to Doha for high-level meetings this week”.

A diplomat with knowledge of the talks confirmed to AFP that officials from the US and Iran were due to meet in the Qatari capital to discuss the deal signed earlier this month.

“Technical teams working on the implementation of the MoU are scheduled to meet in Doha in the coming days,” the diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

The diplomat added that “communications channels created to de-escalate any incidents are in place” after the strikes.

Qatar has played a key role alongside Pakistan in mediating a conclusion to the conflict, with the most recent discussions between Tehran and Washington taking place on June 21 with all four countries in attendance.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi, however, denied reports that technical talks were “planned for this week”, state TV reported.

Nevertheless, a US official also told AFP that the negotiations would continue despite the recent strikes.

“Both sides will stand down for now and vessels can move freely” in and around the Strait of Hormuz, the official said in an email.

Hormuz talks

Iran’s exercise of control over the strait has sparked repeated flare-ups, the latest of which came early on Sunday when US Central Command said it had attacked 10 Iranian military targets over “continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping”.

Iran said it retaliated with strikes against US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain.

The blockade remains a key sticking point in the US negotiations.

Iran and Oman border the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passed prior to the conflict, and Iran said on Monday it held their first talks since the deal was struck.

“During a trip to Muscat, the first meeting of the Joint Hormuz Committee was held,” said Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi on X. “While reviewing the current issues related to the strait, we exchanged views on the future management.”

The strait comprises Omani and Iranian territorial waters, but under customary international law the two cannot generally block passage or charge tolls.

Iran warned on Sunday that any attempt by ships to bypass its preferred route through Hormuz would “increase tensions” in the Middle East.

Iran insists that ships transiting the strait pass through a corridor near its own shores, instead of the opposite side of the waterway, hugging the Omani coast.

Traffic slowed over the weekend after a vessel was struck while transiting the waterway on Saturday, with 29 commodity vessels crossing on Saturday and 12 transiting on Sunday, according to data from the maritime tracking firm Kpler.

Ships continued for several hours to use a southern corridor through Omani waters before traffic appeared to slow, Kpler-owned website MarineTraffic reported.

‘Hegemonic dreams’

The published text of the memorandum of understanding says Iran will define the future administration of the strait in dialogue with Oman and the other Gulf States, but “in line” with international law.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they were taking measures to control traffic in the strait and that vessels violating those measures would be dealt with more firmly than before.

Mohammad Mokhber, adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, wrote on X that as long as Iran managed the strait, Washington’s “hegemonic dreams in the region will not be realised”.

Experts said there would likely be more Hormuz incidents.

For Iran, “a drawn-out negotiation accompanied by controlled pressure in the strait can work to its advantage”, said HA Hellyer of the Royal United Services Institute, a London think tank.

Hasina, 78, who fled to India after a student-led uprising ‌ousted her government in August 2024, said in an interview with Indian broadcaster NDTV that she was undeterred by the risk and would overcome “every obstacle and every conspiracy” to return home.

“I want to say clearly: ​overcoming every obstacle and every conspiracy, I will return to my country this ​year,” Hasina said when asked whether she would come back despite the death ⁠sentence.

It was the first time she had given a time for her return.

Last ​November, a Dhaka court sentenced Hasina to death after convicting her of inciting, ordering killings and ​failing to prevent atrocities during the 2024 unrest.

Rejecting the verdict, she accused Bangladesh’s judiciary of being used as “an instrument of political revenge” aimed at eliminating her Awami League party’s leadership.

“I do not fear death,” she ​said, adding that past efforts to dismantle her party had failed and would fail again.

Hasina ​said her planned return was not driven by personal ambition but by what she described as a ‌broader mission ⁠to restore political rights, democracy, the rule of law and the spirit of the 1971 Liberation War.

Defending her Awami League party, she said it remained deeply rooted in Bangladesh despite a ban on its activities.

The restrictions, first imposed by the previous interim administration, remain in place ​under Prime Minister Tarique ​Rahman’s government, which took ⁠office after the February elections.

“The Awami League is not a paper organisation but a political force rooted in the soil of Bengal, in the ​people of Bengal, in the history of Bengal and in the ​identity of ⁠the Bengali nation,” Hasina said.

She also urged the Tarique Rahman-led government to restore what she called a proper democratic environment by lifting the ban on her party, withdrawing what she described as ⁠false cases ​against its leaders, releasing political prisoners and allowing peaceful ​political activity.

The government has defended the legal proceedings, saying they are part of efforts to ensure accountability for alleged ​crimes committed during the final months of Hasina’s administration.

Speaking during a meeting with Ayatollah Mousa Shobeiri Zanjani, Pezeshkian said the funds represented half of the $12 billion in Iranian assets currently held in Qatar, according to IRNA. He said efforts were continuing to secure the return of the remaining balance.

Pezeshkian described the development as part of a broader achievement resulting from what he called the Iranian people’s resilience in the face of external pressure.

The president said that despite the deaths of senior officials, military commanders, prominent figures and students during what he described as a war imposed by the United States and Israel, Iran’s public, armed forces and government had acted together to prevent their adversaries from achieving their objectives.

He accused the United States and Israel of seeking to destabilise Iran through economic pressure and attacks on key infrastructure, including gas production facilities, steel plants and the petrochemical sector, while attempting to restrict Iranian oil exports. Those efforts had failed because of public support and national unity, he said.

Pezeshkian also described a recent Pakistan-mediated, Islamabad memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States as a major victory for the Iranian people, saying it included the removal of sanctions on Iran’s oil and petrochemical sectors.

The president said the government had expanded social support measures alongside reconstruction efforts, including increasing the value of electronic food assistance vouchers.

Reaffirming Iran’s position on its nuclear programme, Pezeshkian said Tehran was not seeking nuclear weapons and that its nuclear activities would continue solely to meet national needs within its declared policies.

Only four tankers and one container ship used the Omani southern corridor to enter the Gulf on Sunday, escorted by US Navy vessels, according to research firm HFI Research.

No vessels used the route to leave the Gulf on Sunday, according to data by maritime tracking firm Kpler.

Traffic slowed on Saturday after a vessel was struck while transiting the strait — two days after another vessel was targeted on Thursday — and as rounds of strikes between the United States and Iran strained their preliminary deal to end the conflict.

Washington and Tehran have since agreed to halt their attacks but traffic through the strait remains limited.

Just one vessel used the Omani route to exit the Gulf, and another to enter, by 1500GMT on Monday, Kpler data showed.

Iran on Sunday warned ships against using routes it does not approve of to pass through the vital maritime passage.

In total, 29 commodity vessels crossed on Saturday and 12 transited on Sunday, according to data from the maritime tracking firm Kpler.

AXSMarine, another firm that tracks all commercial ships, detected 36 crossings on Saturday and 19 on Sunday.

The figures suggest ships are still passing through the strategic waterway but that traffic has declined from last week’s wartime records after a memorandum of understanding was signed by Tehran and Washington on June 17.

After Saturday’s attack on a vessel crossing the strait, ships continued to use the southern route off Oman for several hours before traffic appeared to slow, according to the Kpler-owned website MarineTraffic.

The website tracks only vessels with active transponders, meaning additional ships may have crossed with their signals switched off.

AXSMarine found that 44 vessels stopped transmitting their AIS signal in the Gulf region after Thursday’s attack.

AXSMarine analyst Mihail Todorov told AFP, however, that large-scale signal spoofing and interference in the region made it difficult to “confirm that every case was a direct result of the recent vessel attacks”.

Ships have continued crossing using Iran-approved routes.

A CMA CMG container ship exited the Gulf on Sunday morning using such a route through Iranian waters north of Larak Island.

Six commodity vessels have used the Iranian route so far on Monday, Kpler shows.

Since Saturday, more ships have entered the Gulf than departed, reversing a trend seen over the previous week, when efforts focused on evacuating seafarers stranded in the Gulf.

“Inbound traffic has remained relatively stable. The decline is almost entirely in outbound traffic,” AXSMarine analyst Mihail Todorov told AFP on Monday.

A UN-led operation to evacuate 11,000 seafarers was suspended on Thursday after a vessel was struck in the Gulf of Oman.

Total figures may rise further as crossings are identified retrospectively, notably through satellite imagery.

Iran said Monday that it had held its first meeting with Oman to discuss managing the strait, as Washington warns it will not accept transit fees for using what it considers an international waterway.

Aoun met Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command, to discuss the Washington-brokered agreement signed last week by Israel and Lebanon aimed at a peace deal.

Cooper also met Lebanon’s army chief Rodolphe Haykal, with the discussions addressing “the latest developments in Lebanon and the region”, the army said in a statement.

As part of the Washington deal, Hezbollah is to be disarmed, with the onus for doing so on the Lebanese army. Israeli leaders have said their troops will continue to occupy the south until then.

The Iran-backed militant group has fiercely opposed the agreement, and leading figures have warned of conflict within Lebanon if the deal is forced on them.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March with rocket fire at Israel, triggering Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion.

According to the statement, Haykal and Cooper discussed “the importance of successfully implementing the security annex of the framework agreement”, as well as ways of strengthening future cooperation.

In a post on X, Central Command said Cooper, Aoun and Haykal “discussed the path forward in implementing” the Washington agreement. Cooper also visited Israel, it said.

‘Verified disarmament’

The deal commits Lebanon to restoring sovereignty over its territory through the “verified disarmament of non-state armed groups and dismantlement of associated infrastructure,” enabling a progressive Israeli withdrawal, according to the text released by the State Department.

“The components of this process will be detailed in a Security Annex, developed with the full support of the United States,” the text said, without immediately publishing the annex.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday that Washington would reimburse Lebanon’s army for $30 million as it seeks to “improve the capability and capacity” of the Lebanese military.

The US has long been a key supporter of the Lebanese army.

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem has called the agreement “null and void” and instead called for the implementation of a US-Iran memorandum of understanding to halt the regional war that included Lebanon.

The Israel-Lebanon talks in Washington have sought to separate Lebanon from the Iran deal.

However, Friday’s agreement came after a lull in fighting that followed the US-Iran memorandum, which Tehran insisted should include Lebanon.

Hezbollah on Monday said it reserved the right to self-defence after several Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon the day before, accusing Israel of a “blatant violation of the ceasefire”.

Israeli troops are operating in a self-declared “security zone” stretching around 10 kilometres (six miles) deep inside Lebanese territory along the border.

Lebanese authorities say Israeli attacks since the war began on March 2 have killed more than 4,200 people.

The court’s decision not to hear the US president’s challenge was issued as part of a raft of other rulings and contained no reasons.

On May 9, 2023, the federal civil court in Manhattan found Trump liable for a “sexual assault” on the former newspaper columnist in a New York department store in 1996.

Trump fired back at the Court’s decision not to reconsider the jury’s ruling.

“Surprisingly, the Supreme Court declined to ‘review’ a Fake Case brought against me by a woman I never met (Decades old celebrity photo line, standing with her husband, does not count!),” Trump wrote on social media.

“I will continue the fight against this Weaponization and Lawfare Case against me, including the ridiculous claim of Defamation, with all of my power and strength.”

E. Jean Carroll, now 82, revealed in a book published in 2019 what she considered to be a rape committed 23 years earlier in a fitting room. The Republican billionaire had called her a “nut job.”

“Today’s Supreme Court decision affirms once and for all the jury’s unanimous verdict that President Donald J. Trump sexually assaulted and defamed E. Jean Carroll,” said Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan.

“His multiple efforts to appeal that verdict have all failed, and today’s ruling ends his quest to avoid accountability for his actions.”

Trump’s enemies

Trump was ordered to pay $2 million in damages for sexual assault and $3 million for defamatory remarks he made in 2022. That judgment was upheld on appeal in December 2024.

In another defamation case before the federal civil court in New York, Trump was ordered by a jury to pay her $83.3 million, a decision that was confirmed on appeal.

A criminal investigation targeting Carroll has been opened by the US Department of Justice, several US media outlets reported at the end of May.

According to CNN and The New York Times, citing sources close to the case, the investigation aims to determine whether the author lied under oath during depositions related to the two civil suits she brought against the president.

CNN reported that prosecutors are focusing on a statement in which she claimed she had received no outside funding.

It later emerged that billionaire Reid Hoffman had covered part of her legal fees and expenses, the broadcaster said.

The probe is just one legal manoeuvre undertaken by Trump’s Justice Department, which is attempting to use the courts to target his personal enemies.

The court, in a 5-4 ruling, rejected a Republican challenge to a Mississippi law that allows mail-in ballots to be tallied if they are postmarked Election Day and arrive within five business days after the day of the vote.

Trump has been a vocal critic of mail-in ballots, falsely claiming that they are subject to fraud and contributed to his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

The Republican president signed an executive order in March seeking to tighten rules on mail-in voting but it has been blocked by the lower courts.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump described the court’s ruling on mail-in voting as a “tremendous loss” for “voter’s rights” and urged Congress to pass a more far-reaching set of voting restrictions called the “SAVE America” act.

In addition to requiring a photo ID to cast a ballot, the SAVE bill, which has stalled in the legislature, would require proof of citizenship to register to vote – a demand that experts say would push millions of people without passports or birth certificates from being able to participate.

The case decided by the conservative-dominated Supreme Court on Monday involved a challenge to the Mississippi law by the Republican National Committee (RNC). Around 30 states allow ballots from some absentee voters received after Election Day to be counted.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, both conservatives, joined the three liberal justices on the top court in voting to uphold the Mississippi law.

Under the US Constitution, states retain broad control over the administration of elections.

“Federal law dictates when ballots must be cast, state law governs when they must be received,” said Barrett, who wrote the majority opinion.

“Federal election-day statutes do not prevent Mississippi from counting absentee ballots postmarked by election day but received up to five days thereafter,” Barrett wrote. “Nothing in the federal election-day statutes requires ballots to be received by election day.”

Democrats tend to use mail-in ballots more than Republicans. The practice became more widespread during the Covid pandemic.

Polls show that Trump’s Republican Party faces a serious threat of losing its narrow control of Congress in the midterm elections in November, particularly in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber.

If Democrats win, they have signalled they will block Trump’s agenda and could even move to impeach him.

Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer welcomed the Supreme Court decision.

“The Supreme Court just upheld this bedrock American principle: if you cast your ballot on time, your vote will count,” Schumer said in a statement.

“Participation in democracy should never be limited — not by your race, where you live, or how you vote.”

Speaking alongside Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein at a joint press conference in Baghdad, Araghchi said Iran would retain full control over the strategic waterway for the next 30 days under existing arrangements. He also warned that any further military action by the United States would only aggravate the situation and complicate efforts to stabilise the region.

Addressing recent developments in the Strait of Hormuz, Araghchi said he had briefed his Iraqi counterpart on the negotiations and memorandum of understanding signed between Iran and the United States.

“Under the memorandum of understanding, the Strait of Hormuz will be managed based on arrangements adopted by the Islamic Republic of Iran and will return to pre-war capacity within 30 days after obstacles are removed by Iran,” Araghchi said.

He stressed that responsibility for implementing these arrangements rested “solely with the Islamic Republic of Iran” and that “no other institution or country” had any role in managing the waterway.

The Iranian foreign minister warned that any attempt by outside parties to introduce separate arrangements would complicate the reopening process, delay the restoration of normal shipping activity and increase regional tensions.

Referring to recent incidents in the strategic waterway, Araghchi called on all parties to refrain from interfering in the management of the Strait of Hormuz and to adhere to the terms of the memorandum of understanding.

Araghchi said his visit to Iraq came amid what he described as “special circumstances” following the recent conflict involving Iran, the United States and Israel.

The Iranian foreign minister said one of the main objectives of his visit was to express appreciation for the support shown by the Iraqi government and people during the conflict.

He also said he intended to strengthen cooperation with Iraq’s new government across political, economic, security and cultural sectors.

Araghchi added that discussions were held regarding arrangements for funeral ceremonies for Iran’s martyred leader in the Iraqi cities of Baghdad, Kazimayn, Karbala and Najaf.

He thanked Iraqi authorities for their cooperation and said joint meetings would be held to finalise the arrangements.

Araghchi also referred to provisions of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, saying it called for an end to hostilities on all fronts, including in Lebanon.

He said responsibility for ensuring Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanese territory rested with the United States.

The Iranian foreign minister further said he had discussed regional security arrangements with Hussein, arguing that the recent conflict had highlighted the need for a new regional security framework in the Gulf that excluded external powers.

He welcomed Iraq’s proposal for a regional dialogue mechanism involving the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, along with Iran and Iraq, in what he described as a “6+2” format, adding that Tehran remained in contact with Baghdad on the initiative.

There was also a warning that the heat was likely to build again from the start of next week in countries such as France and Germany that bore the brunt over the past few days.

In ​Croatia, the weather service issued a red alert on Monday for regions including the capital Zagreb and the ​tourist destinations of Split and Dubrovnik.

Dozens of firefighters, assisted by four aircraft, battled a wildfire burning ⁠pine forests on the tourist island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea, some 34 miles (55 km) southwest of Split.

In neighbouring ​Serbia, the State Hydrometeorological Service (RHMZ) has warned temperatures would reach 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday.

Further south, Albania contained a ​wildfire that has consumed many hectares of bushes and olive trees near the southern village of Klos over the weekend.

Scientists have said the heatwave, which began on June 20, was the worst recorded in Europe, and the blistering conditions have disrupted power generation, damaged infrastructure and overwhelmed healthcare ​systems.

France has reported 1,000 excess deaths during the heatwave. The French public health agency said most of the heat-related fatalities involved ​older people and warned the number was expected to rise.

The heatwave would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change, which has made this ‌week’s soaring ⁠night-time temperatures 100 times more likely than they would have been just two decades ago, according to scientists.

Heat to rise again further west

Luca Mercalli, the president of Italy’s Meteorological Society, said temperatures were set to soar again from July 5-6.

“The areas affected look broadly the same as in the first wave, including France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and to some extent Britain,” he told ​Reuters.

“With the extreme heat the ​risk of forest fires increases, ⁠but we are also seeing a lot of rainstorms, which obviously mitigates that risk,” he added, noting that storms were very localised so rainfall amounts could vary greatly.

Further tragedies related to ​the heat were reported at the weekend.

Two boys aged 8 and 10 from Bulgaria were ​found dead in ⁠a hot car in Cyprus on Sunday afternoon, police said.

Cyprus is currently experiencing temperatures of around 38 C, which is not classified as a heatwave on the east Mediterranean island for the time of year.

Two cyclists, a 30-year-old and a 71-year-old, died while ⁠taking part ​in an event in the Poland Bike Marathon series in Marki near ​Warsaw on Sunday.

Temperatures in Poland reached a new record high on Sunday at 40.5 C.

In a 6-3 ruling, the court’s conservative majority rejected a challenge by Democratic Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, ruling that Trump had the power to fire “subordinates who exercise the President’s power.”

The decision is expected to have wide-ranging implications, with Trump having aggressively sought to expand executive powers as he works to transform the US government and put political allies in key positions.

Trump hailed the verdict in a social media post, saying it expanded presidential power “at a time when it is most needed.”

“It is such an Honour to be the sitting President who won this Historic and Unprecedented Ruling, one of the most important ever given with respect to Presidential Powers,” he said.

Slaughter was dismissed without cause and lower courts upheld her claim that the move violated rules Congress put in place to protect the members of dozens of independent government agencies.

But in Monday’s decision, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court’s majority cited writings by James Madison — a framer of the US constitution who became president — and other Supreme Court rulings that empowered the president on personnel decisions.

“Independent agencies are not ‘independent’ in the sense that they are free of the President and thus responsive ‘only to the people of the United States,’” Roberts wrote in a decision that frequently cited earlier rulings.

In a scathing dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the majority opinion had upended the separation of powers.

“Today, the majority replaces 90 years of proven, workable practice with a half-baked theory of executive power that is simultaneously all-encompassing yet also subject to necessary but undefined exceptions,” Justice Sotomayor wrote.

“The one thing that does appear to be clear going forward is that chaos will follow.”

Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren slammed the opinion, saying “Donald Trump has fired Democratic appointees and seized control of formerly independent agencies so they serve him and his billionaire friends instead of the American public.”

Fed governors protected

In a separate case involving Cook, however, the Supreme Court ruled that while Trump had the power to fire Federal Reserve governors for cause, he could not do so “for any reason or no reason.”

The US central bank is a non-partisan institution that makes monetary policy for the world’s largest economy, with governors appointed by the president after a Senate confirmation process.

The court made special mention of the importance of the Fed’s independence.

“Not only the fact of independence but also the appearance of independence is key to the Federal Reserve’s design,” its 5-4 verdict read.

“We see no reason to leave the public in limbo, or to sow doubt as to the status of one of our Nation’s (and the world’s) most important financial institutions,” Chief Justice Roberts wrote in his decision.

The court decided the case “on the narrow ground that the President failed to afford Cook the procedural protections to which she was entitled by statute,” the verdict said.

It dismissed the “halfhearted contention” that the Fed governor had received due process.

Cook welcomed the decision, saying it “affirms” the central bank’s independence, but Trump immediately went on the offensive.

“We will take appropriate action immediately to make sure that someone who has committed wrongdoing will not be making vital decisions concerning the Welfare of the United States of America!” he posted on social media.

It was unclear what Trump meant by the assertion.

Cook has denied mortgage fraud allegations and in its Monday verdict the Supreme Court said the government was “unlikely” to prevail on appeal in its attempts to remove the Fed governor.

Trump has exerted unprecedented pressure on the Fed to lower interest rates to boost economic activity, and his attempt to fire Cook was the first time a president had tried such a move in the bank’s 111-year history.

Police said three people were detained, including the suspected shooter, and ​that all the fatalities were adults. Footage released by the Bild newspaper showed police ​surrounding and detaining two people from a car that was driving ⁠down a road with a flat tyre.

Police called the incident a homicide with multiple ​victims in the town of Stade near the port city of Hamburg. They did not ​give a motive. The Spiegel news outlet, citing information it obtained, said it was likely a personal rather than political or extremist matter.

Police had warned people to stay away from the ​area where the incident took place, but later said there was no danger ​to the general public.

German media reports initially said four women and one man had been killed. Police ‌later ⁠said a sixth adult had died in hospital of wounds.

Footage posted by Bild showed a car with a flat right tyre slowing to a halt in a tree-lined road. Police with guns then ran towards the car and detained two people who were ​made to lie flat ​on the ground.

Police ⁠cordoned off the area near the facility in a cobbled street with red brick homes, and forensic experts in white ​suits and plainclothes police were at the scene.

Mass shootings are rare ​in Germany, ⁠especially when compared to the United States. In 2023, a gunman in Hamburg shot dead six people before killing himself at a Jehovah’s Witnesses worship hall. In 2016, ⁠an 18-year-old ​German-Iranian man who was obsessed with mass killings ​killed at least nine people in Munich.

“Technical talks are slated to continue on all areas of the MOU. Both sides will stand down for now, and vessels can move freely,“ the official said, referring to the 14-point memorandum of understanding that was agreed on June 17 under which the strait would be reopened for traffic.

Axios, which first reported the cessation ​of hostilities, citing a senior US official, said talks would resume on Tuesday in Qatar.

A return to diplomacy would follow several days of strikes and counterstrikes since ​an Iranian projectile hit a cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, with both the US and Iran accusing the ⁠other of breaking an interim ceasefire that was agreed to on June 17.

Iran launched missiles and drones at US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain early on Sunday, shortly ​after President Donald Trump threatened that the Islamic Republic would cease to exist if it did not honour the agreement to end the war.

Meanwhile, Israel said on Sunday it had once ​again struck Iran-backed armed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, destroying underground infrastructure used by the group in a village in southern Lebanon. That came after another strike on Saturday, which closely followed its latest ceasefire deal with Lebanon on Friday. Iran says the fighting in Lebanon must end if the wider agreement is to stick.

The US military said earlier it had struck Iran again, hours after a tanker was hit in ​the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important energy shipping route, which Tehran has largely closed for most of the conflict.

“There may come a point when we are no ​longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started,” Trump said on social media, before the Axios report.

“If that happens, the Islamic Republic ‌of Iran ⁠will no longer exist!” he added.

The 14-point interim peace accord was meant to halt the fighting, which the US and Israel started on February 28, and reopen the strait while talks proceeded on issues such as Iran’s nuclear program.

Violence and accusations follow peace deal

One round of mediated talks, led by Vice President JD Vance and Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, was held in Switzerland a week ago, and Washington waived sanctions on Tehran, but fighting has since resumed and intensified.

About an hour after Trump’s post, Kuwait’s army said its air defences were responding ​to missile and drone attacks, while Bahrain ​said sirens had sounded there.

Iran’s Islamic ⁠Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement its navy and air forces had launched missile and drone operations targeting US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain.

The Guards said US strikes had violated the ceasefire and “will result in the complete halt of all diplomatic processes”, state-run ​Press TV said. The IRGC Navy command said American bases in the region “will experience hell in the coming days”.

A US official, ​confirming Iran had targeted ⁠US facilities, told Reuters there were no reported US casualties or major damage to US sites in the Middle East, but the situation was still unfolding.

Hours later, alarms sounded for a second time in Bahrain, where authorities said an Iranian attack damaged a residential building in Muharraq province, with no casualties reported. Bahrain urged the UN Security Council to hold an urgent session ⁠to hold Iran ​accountable.

The Kuwaiti army said it had intercepted two ballistic missiles with no damage or casualties.

Separately, Qatar said ​one of its nationals had died after sustaining injuries from shrapnel aboard a vessel that had gone missing on Saturday. A second person was injured in the incident, which was due to “military operations in the area”, the interior ​ministry said, without giving a location or apportioning blame.

The aircraft, used by a parachuting school and carrying five trainee parachutists and ​five instructors, went down shortly after take-off from Nancy-Essey airport, officials ​said.

Some of the trainees’ family members were at the small ⁠regional airport and witnessed the crash, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told ​reporters.

“The plane crashed about 300 meters from the runway,” he told reporters ​at the scene. “The emotion here is intense.”

A witness who declined to be identified told Reuters the plane was climbing at around 11:00am local time when ​the engine noise suddenly stopped, as if it had cut out.

He ​said he saw no fire, explosion or other visible sign of a problem before ‌the ⁠crash.

Yves Seguy, the regional prefect, told BFM the aircraft plunged vertically to the ground.

The crash occurred in a residential area near a shopping centre, with the wreckage of the single-engine plane sitting on a ​bike path.

“Give or take ​a few ⁠meters, and the accident could have caused collateral casualties,” Seguy said.

Media reports said the aircraft was registered in ​Germany. Germany’s foreign ministry did not immediately comment.

It was not immediately clear whether the extreme heat played a role in the incident, with the highest temperature ever recorded in Nancy, the city near Tomblaine, having occurred one day earlier.

The local ​prosecutor did not immediately respond to a ​request for comment.

It was a ‌scene that gave hope to the French and US rescue workers active in the area as they raced against the clock to find more survivors.

Rescue workers carried the pair, visibly weakened and ​both wearing masks, on improvised fabric stretchers through debris-strewn streets to ​a waiting ambulance, as a crowd gathered around the emergency vehicles ⁠in La Guaira.
The coastal state was hardest hit by the earthquakes on ​Wednesday that left at least 1,450 dead and thousands missing.

Their rescue came after 12 hours ​of painstaking efforts by teams that combed through the ruins using specialised search cameras, carefully working through unstable rubble to reach the trapped victims.

“They are extremely weak, as any ​patient trapped under rubble for four days would be, so we are ​doing everything possible to rehydrate them and administer various medications during the extraction process, which ‌is ⁠moving very slowly,” said a member of the French Civil Security.

The rescue team in that area includes members of the French Civil Security and American responders from the Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue Team in Virginia, who, ​the previous day, rescued ​a mother and ⁠her 9-month-old baby.

Before extracting the family members, rescuers prepared intravenous drips and cleared debris. Others remained beside the rubble ​searching for signs of life and communicating with their ​colleagues among ⁠the remains.

At least 33 people were rescued over the weekend, though tens of thousands remain missing, heightening fears that time is running out to find survivors.

According to ⁠specialists, ​after 72 hours following an earthquake, the odds ​of finding victims alive beneath the rubble drop dramatically.

Strikes on the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia killed two people and injured 16, Regional Governor ​Ivan Fedorov said on Telegram.

Pictures ​posted online by the governor showed a ⁠building ablaze and parts of a ​neighbourhood reduced to rubble.

In the northeastern border region ​of Kharkiv, a frequent Russian target, a missile strike on the town of Zmiiv killed one person ​and injured eight, including two children, Regional ​Governor Oleh Syniehubov said.

Police in the Kharkiv region also ‌said ⁠an officer was killed as he was trying to organise the evacuation of residents in another community further north.

In the Sumy ​region, also on ​the ⁠Russian border, the regional governor said an elderly woman was killed ​during the day in an area ​near ⁠the border.

Reuters was unable to independently verify accounts from either side. Both Russia and Ukraine ⁠deny ​deliberately targeting civilians in the ​more than four-year-old conflict.

Putin, speaking to a Russian state television interviewer, also said Russia needed to boost its air defence capacity to counter intensified Ukrainian drone attacks aimed mainly at its oil industry.

He said Russia was coping well in tackling fuel supply problems linked to the Ukrainian strikes.

Putin acknowledged ​earlier on Sunday at a meeting in the Kremlin with government ministers and other officials that the strikes had triggered fuel shortages in ​various Russian regions but that Russia was dealing with them.

In his television interview, Putin said that Ukraine had proposed a mutual ⁠halt to long-range strikes as a step towards peace.

But Moscow saw it as a means to relieve pressure on Kyiv’s forces along the two sides’ ​1,250-km front line and would not be distracted by it.

“It is clear why this proposal is being made, because our counter-strikes deep into Ukrainian territory are much ​stronger, have greater impact and are, frankly, more destructive,” Putin said.

“Given their catastrophic shortage of personnel, the Ukrainian Armed Forces apparently believe this could be their salvation. But saving the Kyiv regime is not part of our plans.”

The office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy did not immediately respond to a request, submitted during late-night hours in Ukraine, for comment on Putin’s remarks.

Zelenskiy ​wrote an open letter to Putin this month proposing a face-to-face meeting, which the Russian leader has rejected.

In the television interview, Putin said that Ukrainian attacks were “aimed ​at diverting our attention and forces from achieving the main objectives – the complete liberation of Donbas and Novorossiya,” a reference to the two regions of the Donbas and the adjacent ‌regions of ⁠Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

Putin has long insisted that Ukraine abandon its remaining positions in the Donetsk Region in Donbas as a key condition of any peace deal.

Seven months after its 2022 invasion, Russia annexed the four regions — the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in Donbas, as well as Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, which it only partly controls.

Ukrainian drone attacks

Addressing Ukraine’s medium- and long-range drone campaign, Putin said: “The first task is to quickly and significantly ramp up production of those air defence systems that are most needed.”

“All the ​strikes, wherever they hit our infrastructure, absolutely ​do not affect the situation on ⁠the front, on the line of combat contact,” he said.

Putin said Russia was expecting a resumption of US-led diplomatic efforts to end the war and a new visit to Moscow by US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner once the “hot ​phase” of the US-Israeli conflict with Iran was resolved.

He appeared to agree with comments last week by US Secretary of State Marco ​Rubio that no formal ⁠agreement had been reached at Putin’s talks in Alaska last year with US President Donald Trump, although US proposals had been discussed.

“Nobody signed anything, but we talked about certain possibilities for ending the conflict in Ukraine,” Putin said.

The US side, he said, had asked for compromises which he said were contained in proposals put forward by the Americans in ⁠the talks.

In ​his comments, Putin also suggested that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, with whom he held two days ​of talks this week, could assist with peace talks.

He did not refer to Ukraine’s allegations that Russia was trying to involve Belarus further in the conflict.

Belarus allowed its territory to be used to ​launch Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine but Lukashenko has pledged to send no forces into combat.

Yossi Karadi, Director General of Israel’s National Cyber Directorate, told German ​newspaper Die Welt that in June 2025 ​during Israeli military operations against Iran, Israel’s ⁠authorities registered around 1,600 hostile cyber incidents.

During the ​same month in 2026, the number had jumped to ​some 4,800 incidents, he told the paper.

“Some groups are very skilled,” Karadi said, according to the German text of the ​interview.

“We can handle them, but we have to ​take them seriously. Unlike in the kinetic realm, there’s no ‌ceasefire ⁠in cyberspace.”

Karadi said the attacks were directed against systems used by Israel’s critical infrastructure, central organisations, small to medium-sized companies and the public, citing law ​practices and accounting ​firms as ⁠among the smaller ones hit.

“So far — and hopefully it stays that way — we’ve ​managed to fend off attacks on ​critical ⁠infrastructure,” he said.

Companies that were easier to penetrate often ended up having their computer systems wiped, he said, ⁠without ​mentioning any names.

Iran typically denies ​carrying out hacking campaigns against other countries while reporting attacks on itself.

“Either ​try to ​fill out the paperwork ‌and ⁠be here under a permanent status, or we’ll ​help ​you ⁠get back to your ​country,” Mullin ​told ⁠CNN’s “State of the Union” ⁠program.

Detailing its preliminary count of excess deaths, Sante Publique said most of the ​fatalities involved older people and that it expected ​the mortality rate to rise as more information ⁠became available about deaths in residential care and homes.

Europeans ​have been enduring blistering conditions during a heatwave that has ​been linked to dozens of deaths — shattering records, disrupting power generation and damaging infrastructure.

Scientists have said the heatwave, which began on ​June 20, was the worst recorded in Europe, ​where the climate is changing faster than the global average.

Extreme heat cases in France

The heatwave has been moving east.

But while France’s weather agency said the extreme heat had diminished in most parts of the country, some areas in the ​northeast were still ​under a ⁠heatwave advisory.

Health Minister Stephanie Rist told La Tribune newspaper that the impact of ​the heatwave could linger for as long ​as 10 ⁠days after the weather had ebbed.

“The episode is not finished,” she told broadcaster BFM.

Most of the deaths involved ⁠people ​aged 65 and older, though the ​health effects of the extreme heat affected all categories of the population, ​Sante Publique said.

The death toll from Wednesday’s twin earthquakes rose above 1,400 as of ‌Saturday as foreign rescue teams poured into coastal La Guaira, the hardest-hit state.

Families and volunteers spent and bodies from the rubble before the arrival of the more than 1,600 foreign rescue workers, often complaining of scant heavy equipment and a limited official presence, as hundreds of aftershocks deepened damage and kept residents on edge.

The government - headed by interim President Delcy Rodriguez since her predecessor was removed by the US in a January raid - had thanked civilian volunteers ferrying aid to ​La Guaira, but then heavily tightened access to the road, saying traffic was preventing efficient movement of emergency vehicles and that only accredited people could use the roadway.

Although the government has ​given a figure of hundreds missing or trapped, just under 50,000 people were listed as unaccounted for on a website promoted by the country’s political opposition ⁠on Sunday.

The figure is a slight decline from Saturday, when 55,000 people were marked as missing.

Limited time for finding survivors

The US Geological Survey estimated more than 10,000 deaths were possible from the magnitude 7.2 ​and 7.5 quakes, which would place them among Latin America’s deadliest of the last century.

The clock is ticking for rescuing people still living amid the rubble.

“There exists a window of roughly three days, 72 hours, where the ​probability afterwards decreases that you can save people alive,” Sebastian Eugster, the leader of the Swiss rescue team, told Reuters on Saturday.

The 80-strong team had found multiple people alive in the rubble thanks to alerts from their eight search dogs, but had not been able to pull them out in time to save them, he added.

Saturday evening marked 72 hours since the quakes.

The Swiss team will jointly define with other teams and local authorities when rescue operations will end, Eugster ​said, but will remain on the ground to help with other aid work.

Rescued children

The US State Department hailed the rescue of an infant by US rescue crews on Saturday, posting a video on X ​showing helmet-clad rescuers removing the blanket-wrapped and wailing child from the rubble.

A Colombian rescue team saved an 11-year-old boy, Moises, who had been trapped some 3 meters (10 feet) deep in rubble, after identifying his location with a scanner, Reuters ‌TV reported.

He ⁠was removed on a stretcher with a broken arm, his eyes covered by a cloth to protect them from the shock of daylight. His mother and sister were killed.

Mexican rescuers working at a collapsed building in the town of Caraballeda rescued another 11-year-old boy, Rodriguez posted on X late on Saturday, showing crews carrying a small figure on a stretcher out of the rubble.

“In these hours, each life is hope for Venezuela,” Rodriguez said, as the government also shared a video of a young man being removed from ruins by rescuers.

The government also posted videos of Rodriguez meeting with international rescuers, where she gave the figure of people ​saved on Saturday.

The government has also said more ​than 3,000 people were injured, and a similar ⁠figure was living in shelters.

In Caraballeda on Saturday, US rescuers worked alongside remaining civilian volunteers, some of whom were searching for their own family members.

Rescuers had originally spray-painted the rubble with the name of the apartment building that used to stand there. By Saturday evening, they had marked debris with coding indicating they ​believed no living person remained in the ruins.

Pope Leo on Sunday told worshippers gathered for the Angelus prayer in Rome that he wanted “to express ​my closeness to the Venezuelan ⁠sisters and brothers affected by the recent earthquakes” and expressed gratitude to rescue workers.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on X that the EU had mobilised 5 million euros ($5.9 million) in emergency assistance and that its Copernicus satellite system is helping map the damage and direct assistance to the areas most in need.

A senior US official said on Saturday that a funding package worth hundreds of millions of dollars is expected to be ⁠announced within the ​next day or so, in addition to $150 million that the Trump administration had already committed.

The disaster could have political consequences for ​Rodriguez, who has portrayed herself as an agent of change even though she served as vice president under predecessor Nicolas Maduro.

Power throughout the region was gradually returning. Venezuela’s power, crippled by years of underinvestment and economic sanctions, regularly experiences problems, leading to daily, ​hours-long blackouts in some regions.

Thai police said they arrested an Australian man in his 40s at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport early on Saturday in connection with the killing in Pattaya, about ​150 km (93 miles) east of Bangkok.

The suspect, identified as Simon Peter Carman, ​faces charges of murder, concealment of a body, moving or ⁠destroying a body, and taking a minor for sexual purposes.

Thai police said ​they reviewed CCTV footage that showed Carman entering a condominium with the girl, ​then leaving alone hours later, carrying a suitcase.

In a post on its official Facebook page, police said he loaded the suitcase onto a motorcycle and rode to a grassy area ​near a railway line. Police later issued an arrest warrant and arrested ​Carman at the airport as he prepared to board a flight back to Australia.

In an ‌investigation ⁠room at the police station, Carman issued a message to the victim’s family before being transferred to the Pattaya Provincial Court.

“I feel bad for what happened to your daughter. It was out of my control,” he said.

The victim’s father, ​Thongchai Donhomla, 46, ​said he was ⁠struggling to come to terms with the loss.

“I am deeply saddened. My daughter had no mother, so whenever she ​wanted anything, she would find a way herself, and she ​always helped ⁠me too,” he said.

Her stepmother, Oradee Bussarakum, said she wanted the suspect to face the harshest punishment.

“I told the police I want him executed. As a (step)mother, ⁠I don’t ​know what else to say … I just want ​him to face the full consequences,” she said.

Police have not said when Carman will first face ​the court.

Aramco had resumed crude oil loadings on Friday at its Ras Tanura terminal ​in the Gulf after they were halted for nearly four months.

“The relevant authorities have launched a ​full investigation to determine the cause ​of the crash,” the state news agency added.

Aramco did ‌not ⁠respond immediately to an emailed request for comment.

The incident took place at 6 am local time (0300 GMT), the state agency ​said, without providing ​further ⁠details.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, has joined a rush ​to move cargoes after Middle ​East ⁠producers ramped up oil and gas output and exports ahead of an interim deal ⁠to ​halt the war between the ​United States and Iran.

“Physical & psychological damages inflicted on each individual of the Iranian nation in the 2nd & 3rd Imposed Wars, from child killings & war crimes in Minab & Lamerd to attacks on medical centres, is each a legal file that must be pursued in both domestic & international courts,” Khamenei said in a post on X.

He said the deaths and damages caused during the conflicts formed the basis for hundreds or thousands of legal cases.

“The criminals must be brought to justice and made to face the consequences of their criminal acts,” Khamenei was quoted as saying by Iran’s Press TV.

In a statement, the IRGC said its Navy and Aerospace Force jointly conducted the operation between 2am and 3am local time, targeting eight “key US military installations,” including the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait and the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain’s Salman Port.

The IRGC said the operation involved ballistic missiles and drones, claiming that the targeted facilities had been destroyed.

The claims could not be independently verified.

According to the statement, the operation was launched in response to US attacks earlier on Sunday against five Iranian coastal outposts.

“The aggressor enemy, whose very nature is characterised by breaking commitments and violating agreements, attacked five coastal outposts of the Islamic Republic in the early hours of today under the pretext of responding to the IRGC Navy’s confrontation with a trespassing vessel,” the statement said.

Earlier, the US said that it had carried out strikes against 10 targets in Iran on the orders of President Donald Trump, marking the latest escalation in a conflict that has continued despite a fragile ceasefire.

In a statement posted on social media, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said American military aircraft targeted Iranian military infrastructure following an attack on a commercial vessel on Saturday.

According to CENTCOM, the strikes targeted Iranian “surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defence sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities.”

The US military later clarified that the operation involved strikes against 10 Iranian military targets at multiple locations in and around the Strait of Hormuz.

US officials said the strikes were conducted in response to threats against maritime security.

The IRGC also warned that maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained under Iran’s responsibility under a recently signed Pakistan-mediated memorandum of understanding between Tehran and Washington.

“Henceforth, vessels found to be in violation will be dealt with more firmly than before,” the statement said.

The force further warned that any future attacks, regardless of their stated justification or scale, would be met with a “crushing response.”

“The enemy should understand that violating the ceasefire constitutes a breach of Clause One of the Islamabad understanding and will result in the complete suspension of all related processes,” the statement added.

The IRGC statement came after the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that it had carried out fresh strikes against targets inside Iran, saying the attacks were launched in response to the targeting of a commercial oil tanker.

Shortly after the announcement, Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB, citing an informed military source, reported explosions in Sirik County in the southern province of Hormozgan.

According to the report, several projectiles struck a telecommunications tower near the village of Tahrouyi in Sirik.

Residents on Qeshm Island also reported hearing multiple explosions.

The latest escalation follows an incident on Friday in which the IRGC Navy reportedly fired warning shots at a vessel accused of using an unauthorised route through the Strait of Hormuz after ignoring repeated warnings.

CENTCOM subsequently announced strikes against Iranian military targets, prompting Tehran to launch retaliatory attacks against American military positions in the region.

Tehran says it responded to the attacks with at least 100 retaliatory strikes and has continued to react to what it describes as subsequent ceasefire violations.

Elite ‌Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) units raided the homes of politicians and senior officials inside Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone in the early hours of Sunday and made several arrests, the sources ​said, declining to be named because they are not authorised to ​speak to the media on sensitive issues.

No official statement has been made ⁠about the arrests.

Zaidi, who took office in May, has pledged to tackle ​entrenched corruption, one of Iraq’s most persistent governance challenges despite repeated promises by ​successive governments to hold officials accountable.

Sunday’s operation was launched on direct orders from Zaidi after Iraqi judicial authorities issued arrest warrants as part of a crackdown on what the sources described ​as suspected corruption networks.

The latest raids followed the recent arrest of several ​senior officials, including a deputy oil minister, on corruption-related charges.

Those arrests led to the issuance ‌of ⁠additional arrest warrants that were executed on Sunday, the three sources said.

Most senior Iraqi government officials, lawmakers and political leaders maintain residences or offices inside Baghdad’s Green Zone, where parliament, foreign embassies and the prime minister’s office are situated.

A ​senior source quoted ​by state news ⁠agency INA said that some of the latest arrests were based on testimony provided by Adnan Al Jumaili, deputy oil minister ​for refining affairs, after his detention on corruption charges.

The ​source told ⁠INA that Al Jumaili’s statements implicated a wider network of officials in alleged corruption schemes.

Some suspects managed to flee before security forces reached them, prompting authorities to close ⁠entrances ​to the Green Zone and launch a wider ​search operation, the three security and legal sources said, adding that the campaign is expected to continue ​over the coming days.

A pilgrimage site for Muslims and Christians alike ​was destroyed in another southern town.

Israeli strikes pummelled the Mamluk-era market in the city of Nabatieh, and the rogue troops razed centuries-old Lebanese border towns.

Israel’s ‌nearly four-month air and ground campaign in Lebanon has damaged or destroyed revered heritage sites across southern Lebanon, Lebanese Culture Minister Ghassan Salame told Reuters.

Despite a ceasefire that took hold a week ago, authorities have yet to build a full picture of the damage as Israeli troops still occupy a zone about 10 km deep into Lebanon that is off-limits to Lebanese, Salame ​said.

“We cannot work under the shadow of occupation,” he said.

That occupation zone includes the medieval Beaufort Castle as well as centuries-old villages that were home to Christians, Muslims and their places of worship.

“There are villages that have been completely bulldozed,” Salame said.

Even ancient towns outside the ⁠zone were pummeled with air strikes, including Tyre and Nabatieh.

Heavy bombing hit the town of Tebnin, prompting fears that its Crusader fortress was also damaged, Salame said.

“Heritage is ​not only Roman and Phoenician antiquities,” he added.

“Heritage is also historic buildings, archaeological sites, and buildings with a cultural function.“

In response to questions from Reuters, Israel’s military said it does not ​aim to “cause excessive damage to civilian infrastructure and strikes only out of military necessity, with consideration for the safety of its citizens,” a reference to residents of northern Israel, which Hezbollah has targeted.

It said it took into account the existence of “sensitive sites” and applied “a rigorous approval process as required”.

Israel has accused Hezbollah of placing weapons in Beaufort Castle, a claim that Lebanese authorities deny.

Ancient ruins damaged

Modern-day Lebanon sits ​at the intersection of civilisations, including the Phoenicians, Byzantines, Mamluks and Crusaders, each leaving their mark with temples, castles and mausoleums.

Nearly 5,000 years old, Tyre and its Roman ruins ​are the products of that heritage.

Established as an island fortress, Tyre was permanently connected to the mainland by the invading forces of Alexander the Great.

It has survived repeated rounds of conflict.

After ‌the recent war, ⁠much of the city has been turned to rubble, and dust-caked cars with blown-out windows are parked around the collection of columns erected in honour of long-forgotten deities.

Barriers set up to shield ancient ruins from Israeli strikes or flying debris were blown into the middle of the site they were meant to protect.

“Look at the damage that happened to it, it’s as if it all exploded from underneath, as if an earthquake hit it,” said Adnan Istanbouli, an official from Lebanon’s antiquities department, as he stood near a Roman mosaic.

Alwan Charafeddine, ​deputy mayor of Tyre, said “it is supposed to ​be one of the cities that ⁠is internationally protected, or that should never be targeted in any way, in any conflict.”

Request for increased protection

In a statement last month, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) said it was concerned about the state of conservation of Tyre, a World Heritage Site ​that is under the body’s enhanced protection status.

It also said it was “deeply alarmed” by reports of damage to a citadel in the ​southern town of Chama ⁠and fighting by Beaufort Castle, while condemning what it described as “unlawful attacks against cultural property.”

The agency had voiced similar concerns over the fate of historical sites in Iran in March.

When Israeli bombing spread to the ruins of Tyre, Salame asked UNESCO to reclassify it as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Danger, which would trigger more protection responsibilities on UNESCO and the international community. It ⁠has not ​yet been listed as one.

Radical Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said earlier in the war that Israel would destroy all houses along Lebanon’s border with Israel.

Salame said he feared Israel’s campaign would permanently erase centuries of Lebanese history.

“There is something systematic: a systematic destruction of villages, hamlets, and ​entire towns,” Salame said.

In a post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday, Trump said US aircraft had targeted Iranian military infrastructure in response to what he described as Tehran’s violation of a ceasefire agreement.

“United States aircraft just struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations, and coastal radar sites, for violating the Cease Fire Agreement, AGAIN!” Trump wrote.

“It is very possible that they will never learn!” he added.

The US president warned that Washington could eventually reach a point where it was “no longer able to be reasonable” and could be “forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started.”

“If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!” Trump said.

Trump’s remarks came after the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that American forces had conducted additional strikes against multiple targets inside Iran on Saturday.

CENTCOM said that the strikes were launched following an alleged Iranian attack on a Panama-flagged oil tanker near the Strait of Hormuz.

The announcement by Vucic, who has been in power as ‌president or prime minister for 12 years, came amid persistent anti-corruption demonstrations led by students and triggered by the collapse of an awning at a railway station in the northern city of Novi Sad in November 2024, in which 16 people died.

Protesters, opposition and rights groups allege the railway station disaster was a sign of broader government mismanagement of construction projects and corruption.

“I will be president for only a couple more weeks, and then I will resign,” ​Vucic told throngs of his supporters at a pro-government rally in the capital, Belgrade. Vucic’s second and final mandate was due to expire in mid-2027.

Vucic said he would help his ​Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) win the presidential election and the early parliamentary vote, also originally set for 2027.

“My proposal is for our list, the winning ⁠list in the upcoming elections, to be named ‘United Serbia’.”

He did not specify when he would resign nor when he would dissolve parliament, a precondition for early parliamentary elections.

‘Not the end of Vucic’

Vucic is ​unlikely to depart from the political stage as his resignation could pave the way for him to become prime minister if his party triumphs in parliamentary elections.

That would continue a long trend ​in which the power in Serbia follows Vucic, regardless of his title.

Analysts said Vucic would try to place an ally as his successor in the presidency so he can continue to hold the levers of power.

“This is not at all the end of Vucic,” said Radivoje Grujic, a Warsaw-based analyst.

“He already has a plan, one that definitely does not mean he’s going to go into political retirement — quite the opposite.”

Still, the timing of Saturday’s announcement suggests ​the protests — the biggest string of rallies since the overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic in 2000 — have played a role.

Days ago, in the city of Novi Sad, students commemorated victims of the disaster and ​demanded snap general elections.

Another student rally is scheduled for Sunday in the town of Kraljevo, in south-central Serbia.

Activists from the student-led movement and the opposition have both said they want to challenge Vucic and the SNS ‌in the ⁠elections.

Savo Manojlovic, head of the student opposition Move-Change movement, said: “By resigning and with early presidential and parliamentary elections, Vucic is trying to preempt his inevitable fall, because of protests and because of the student movement, which has more support than he does.”

Vucic to become PM again?

The position of president in Serbia is largely ceremonial, but Vucic has wielded considerable influence over his party and the government.

He has already floated the idea of becoming prime minister again, and recently several top allies publicly said he should.

In an interview with Reuters in February, Vucic said he was unsure what he would do ​after his term expires, but did not rule ​out returning to party politics or seeking ⁠to become prime minister.

“I would like to be less engaged in politics or not at all, but taking care of my legacy might require some sort of engagement; we’ll see,” he said.

During the rally in sweltering heat, Vucic told his backers, many bused in from across the country, that students ​and anti-government protesters were aiming to destroy the country, and accused them of colluding with unnamed foreign powers, charges the protesters deny.

“For the ​thousand and first time, we ⁠are offering you our hand. We forgive everything you have done, but we are not naive, and we will not forget what has been done to the country in the last year.”

Serbia walks line between EU and Russia

Serbia is a candidate to join the EU, but Belgrade still has strong ties with Russia and China — a line Vucic has had to walk throughout his time in power.

Before joining the EU, ⁠Serbia must improve ​its rule of law, including conditions for free and fair elections, and root out corruption and organised crime.

It also ​has to align its foreign policies with those of the bloc.

Vucic on Saturday pledged his party would end corruption.

He promised an increase in pensions and financial allocations for the poor, and improvements in state-run health services.

But opposition figures accused Vucic and his allies of ​violence against political opponents, rampant corruption, ties with organised crime and stifling media freedoms.

Vucic and his allies deny these allegations.

Meeting in Seoul, South Korean Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back and his Japanese counterpart Shinjiro Koizumi agreed to work on regional stability bilaterally, as well as through their partnerships with ​Washington, in the sixth round of talks between the two countries.

“Both ministers shared the view ​to continue cooperation for maintaining regional peace and stability amid a grave security ⁠environment,” South Korea’s defence ministry said in a statement.

South Korea and Japan, with US encouragement, have been ​working to develop closer ties since 2022 and overcome sometimes bitter historical differences, a policy continued by ​President Lee Jae Myung and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

In 2019, Seoul moved to end the GSOMIA intelligence-sharing pact with Japan after Tokyo restricted exports of semiconductor materials and removed South Korea from its preferential trade list, over lingering ​grievances rooted in Japan’s past colonial rule of the Korean peninsula.

In 2025, Japan’s then-Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba ​and President Lee agreed to closer security and economic ties, and the defence ministers committed to working with Washington ‌against North ⁠Korea’s nuclear threat and Pyongyang’s growing military ties with Russia, including cooperation on AI and unmanned systems and annual trilateral drills.

Takaichi and Lee agreed in January 2026 to deepen shuttle diplomacy and in May expanded cooperation on energy.

On Sunday, Ahn and Koizumi also agreed to continue fostering exchange between their air ​forces’ respective aerobatic teams — South ​Korea’s Black Eagles and ⁠Japan’s Blue Impulse — to further advance search-and-rescue exercises designed for various maritime accident scenarios.

The two previously held talks in Japan in January and met again in May ​at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore where they discussed a possible military-logistics ​support agreement covering ⁠fuel, food and ammunition.

The two sides also agreed to hold a joint humanitarian search-and-rescue exercise in June, the first in almost a decade.

Tensions, however, remain, including lingering disputes over Korean women forced to ⁠work in ​Japanese military brothels during World War Two.

In February, Seoul protested ​against a Japanese government event commemorating a cluster of disputed islands known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea, ​which controls the territory.