Key events<\/p>\n
Special envoy Steve Witkoff reportedly told US lawmakers that Iran<\/a> plans to invite the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect its nuclear sites following the deal with the US, sources told the Associated Press.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.54 EDT<\/p>\n Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized the importance of maintaining close ties with the US on Thursday, saying Washington had stood by Israel<\/a> during the Middle East war.<\/p>\n \u201cThe struggle is not yet over, and further challenges lie ahead. They require calm judgement, steadfast defense of Israel\u2019s security interests, and at the same time the preservation of our vital relationship with our American friends, who stood shoulder to shoulder with us in this fight \u2013 a partnership we deeply appreciate,\u201d Netanyahu said at a function, reported AFP.<\/p>\n His comments come as relations between the US and Israel have come under strain over the US-Iran agreement to halt the conflict, a deal which has faced sharp criticism from Israeli analysts.<\/p>\n Netanyahu has still not commented directly on the deal, though some of his coalition members dismissed it even before the text\u2019s details were released on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The latest episode of the Guardian\u2019s Today in Focus podcast centers on the 14-point agreement between the US and Iran<\/a>, the content of which reveals significant concessions to Tehran. The Guardian\u2019s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, discusses the deal in detail. Check it out here:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Hezbollah said its fighters were engaged in fresh clashes with the Israeli military today, AFP reported, hours after Lebanese state media reported that Israeli strikes in the south killed three people.<\/p>\n The fighting came just a day after the US and Iran signed an agreement to end the Middle East war on all fronts, including in Lebanon<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group, said on Thursday it was fighting \u201ca force of the Israeli enemy army that attempted to advance from the town of Arnoun towards the outskirts of Kfar Tibnit\u201d, near the key town of Nabatieh.<\/p>\n \u201cThe clashes are still ongoing,\u201d it added in the statement released in the late afternoon.<\/p>\n Earlier, Lebanon\u2019s official National News Agency reported an \u201cenemy drone targeted a car\u201d in Kfar Tebnit, a village near the city of Nabatiyeh, killing two people. Another drone attack in the neighboring village of Zebdine killed one person, according to the news agency.<\/p>\n Minutes ago, \u200bDonald Trump posted that the US expects \u201ca \u2060complete ceasefire on all fronts, including \u2060Lebanon, Hezbollah, \u200band Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a>US expects ‘complete ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon, Hezbollah and Israel’ says Trump<\/p>\n Donald Trump said on \u2060Thursday \u2060that the \u200bUS expects \u201ca \u2060complete ceasefire on all fronts, including \u2060Lebanon, Hezbollah, \u200band Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe \u200cencourage everyone \u200cin the \u200cMiddle East Region to maintain their commitment to allowing our negotiations \u200cto beautifully unfold,\u201d Trump wrote \u200bon Truth Social, one day after he \u2060signed a memorandum \u200bof understanding \u200bto end \u200bthe nearly \u200bfour-month \u200cconflict with \u200bIran.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.35 EDT<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s supreme leader, Mojtaba \u2060Khamenei, said on Thursday he had authorized the \u2060memorandum of \u2060understanding signed \u200bby the Iranian and US presidents despite \u201c\u2060holding a different view\u201d after receiving assurances from president \u2060Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior \u200bofficials that \u200cIran\u2019s rights \u200cand the interests of the \u201cResistance \u200cFront\u201d would be safeguarded, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n In a written message to the Iranian nation, Khamenei said Pezeshkian, in his capacity as \u200chead of the Supreme National Security Council, had accepted \u200bresponsibility for ensuring the agreement protected Iran\u2019s interests and pledged not to yield \u2060if Washington made what he described \u200bas \u200bexcessive demands.<\/p>\n Khamenei added \u200bthat future face-to-face \u200bnegotiations with the \u200cUS \u200bwould not mean accepting \u201cthe enemy\u2019s position\u201c.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n When asked about criticism<\/a> Donald Trump is facing from some Republicans over the deal, JD Vance told them to \u201chave a little bit of faith in the president of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe idea that he is going to strike a deal that\u2019s bad for the American people, it\u2019s preposterous\u201d Vance said, adding that the administration has to continue to explain the deal to the American people.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that when people get to understand not just the agreement, but our negotiating posture as a country, they will realize this is an excellent thing for the American people,\u201d Vance told reporters. \u201cThat\u2019s part of our job. We\u2019ve got to tell the story about what this means for Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a>US blockade in strait of Hormuz has ended, says US central command<\/p>\n US central command (Centcom) said in a statement on social media that they have ended their blockade in the strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n \u201cToday, US forces lifted the blockade on all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports and coastal areas, in accordance with the President\u2019s direction,\u201d the statement<\/a> said. \u201cAmerican forces are not impeding the transit of vessels to or from Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. All US military blockade enforcement efforts have ceased.\u201d<\/p>\n The US blockade of the strait had been in effect since 13 April, with control of the waterway being a key point of conflict in the war. Marine Traffic data showed that at least seven ships have crossed the strait so far today.<\/p>\n The Centcom statement added that naval ships will remain in the general area \u201cto make sure that all aspects of the agreement are adhered to, obeyed and in full force and effect\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a013.26 EDT<\/p>\n EU policy chief says she was representing bloc’s position on Middle East The EU\u2019s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she was representing the bloc\u2019s position on the Middle East, after Israel<\/a> announced it was severing diplomatic relations over allegations she had compared the country to apartheid South Africa.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s foreign minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar announced on X earlier on Thursday that he would sever all contact with Kallas over a Euractiv report that she had compared Israel to apartheid-era South Africa.<\/a><\/p>\n Sa\u2019ar said that she had for some time Kallas had been \u201cacting obsessively and with blatant unfairness toward the state of Israel\u201d, while accusing her of a \u201cblood libel\u201d over the alleged comments.<\/p>\n Kallas told reporters she had made tens if not hundreds of statements on Israel and Gaza \u201cand you see what I have been saying\u201d but did not deny the report. \u201cI cannot fight shadows all the time,\u201d she said, asking reporters to refer to her public statements.<\/p>\n She said she was representing the EU and \u201cit is true we don\u2019t always see eye to eye\u201d with the Israeli government.<\/p>\n The former Estonian prime minister has faced criticism inside the EU for not denying the remarks.<\/p>\n EU leaders meeting in Brussels will express \u201cgrave concern\u201d over the \u201cdeteriorating situation in Gaza and the West Bank, including the persistent and devastating humanitarian crisis in Gaza\u201d, according to a draft summit communique due to be released on Friday. But the bloc has been unable to agree trade sanctions against Israel. Under growing pressure to take action, Kallas announced on Monday that she would ask for \u201ca list of options for possible trade measures\u201d, including stopping commerce from occupied territories.<\/p>\n EU diplomats say it remains unclear whether the bloc can find a majority to pass sanctions on Israel.<\/p>\n European Union’s high representative of foreign affairs and security policy Kaja Kallas. Photograph: Olivier Matthys\/EPAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Israel has to \u2018respect this peace process\u2019, says US vice-president JD Vance, adding that civilian deaths \u2018not acceptable\u2019<\/p>\n Asked about Trump\u2019s recent criticisms<\/a> of Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel\u2019s attacks on Lebanon, Vance says that while Israel has the right to defend itself, \u201cthe Israelis, just like everybody else, have to respect this peace process.\u201d<\/p>\n He added:<\/p>\n The president has grown frustrated sometimes that we seem to be right on the cusp of a major breakthrough in the agreement, and then all of a sudden, there\u2019s a major explosion that goes off in a civilian population center in Beirut, and a lot of people who have nothing to do with Hezbollah lose their lives. That\u2019s not acceptable.<\/p>\n Vance also said that he may go to Switzerland for talks with Iran<\/a> this weekend, but that the plan could change.<\/p>\n \u201cWe think these technical negotiations are going to start sometime this weekend. That\u2019s still the plan, but that could change,\u201d Vance told journalists at the White House.<\/p>\n![\"Jennifer](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Jennifer_Rankin,_L.png\")
Jennifer Rankin<\/p>\n