Israel continues striking Lebanon as US-Iran trade fire in Gulf

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The ceasefire is contingent on a complete cessation of fire from Hezbollah and the evacuation of all its personnel from the South Litani Sector, according to the statement. The two sides had agreed last month to a ceasefire but hostilities had continued.

Lebanon and Israel agreed to further direct negotiations to build confidence and resolve other outstanding issues, the statement said on Wednesday.

Lebanon and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire, according to a joint statement with the United States released by the State Department on Wednesday following negotiations in Washington.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he wants to separate talks on the conflict in Lebanon and those on the war between the United States and Iran, although Tehran insists the conflicts are linked.

"I'd like to separate it, I'd like to have a separate thing, because it is, it is separate," Trump told reporters.

The US House of Representatives passed a resolution Wednesday directing withdrawal of American troops from the Iran war, in a political blow against President Donald Trump, who launched the conflict in February.

The resolution, adopted with four members of Trump's Republican Party joining Democrats, was largely symbolic, as the US president can veto the measure if it gains Senate approval.

US President Donald Trump said that talks with Iran could yield results over the coming weekend and are going "very well."

"I hear the negotiation itself is going very well actually," Trump told reporters, adding of a potential deal: "It could happen... over the weekend."

Iran's comments on talks dispute this, however, with Tasnim news agency quoting Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi as telling Lebanon's Al Mayadeen TV that "communications with the Americans have not been cut off, and messages have been exchanged regarding the need to stop aggression against Beirut, but no tangible progress has been made in the negotiation process."

"Returning to the negotiating table is conditional on ensuring the rights of the Iranian people, ending the war in Lebanon, and stopping tensions in the region," he added.

Iran has targeted a United States military ship hosting a "control and command center" while it was approaching Iranian territorial waters in the Gulf of Oman, Iran's state media reported on Wednesday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned on Wednesday that any attack on Lebanese capital Beirut would trigger a "full-scale resumption" of the Middle East war, as Israel pressed its campaign against Hezbollah.

"Any attack on Beirut will have grave consequences and will lead to a full-scale resumption of the war," the Tasnim news agency quoted Araghchi as telling Lebanon's Al Mayadeen TV. "Our armed forces are ready to strike Israel if it attacks Beirut."

US President Donald Trump's recent threat to "blow up" Oman if the country didn't "behave" was striking not only for its tone, but also for its target.

Threatening a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member widely regarded as one of the world's most effective diplomatic intermediaries marked a rare departure from Washington's traditionally close relationship with Muscat.

For decades, Oman has helped advance American national interests with the Sultanate pairing its close partnership with the United States with a distinctive role as an effective and credible diplomatic bridge, quietly facilitating dialogue and helping ease sensitive disputes.

"The strait is going to be open to everybody," the president said during a Cabinet meeting late last month. "It's international waters. Nobody's going to control it. We're going to watch over it. We'll watch over it, but nobody's going to control it. That's part of the negotiation that we have. They would like to control it; nobody's going to control it. It's international waters. And Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we'll have to blow 'em up. They understand that. They'll be fine."

Within 24 hours, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reinforced the Trump administration's position, warning that Washington would "aggressively target any actors involved, directly or indirectly, in facilitating tolls for the Strait".

You can read more of Giorgio Cafiero's piece on Oman caught between Trump and Tehran here:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that he and US President Donald Trump are aligned on the goal of disarming Hezbollah in order to achieve peace between Israel and Lebanon.

Hezbollah "is an Iranian proxy that puts all the citizens of Lebanon at gunpoint and uses Lebanon as a platform to launch terror missiles into our cities, to launch killer drones against our civilians", Netanyahu said in an interview with US television channel CNBC.

"And so if we want to save Lebanon, if we want to get a Lebanese-Israeli peace, as I do, we have to disarm Hezbollah and we have to demilitarise Lebanon. And I know that this is a goal that the president and I share, and that's what we have to do."

Iran's chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that Tehran would meet any attack with a strong response, local media reported Wednesday, after its Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted Kuwait in retaliation for US attacks.

"Today, the Iranian nation, in its battle with America and the Zionist regime, showed that the era of free-of-charge Iran threats is over and that any aggression will be met with a decisive, regrettable, and proportionate response," Ghalibaf said, according to local news agency ISNA.

Lebanon's health ministry has said that 3,516 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on the country since the war with Hezbollah began, with a further 10,674 people wounded.

Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry has condemned Iran's attack on Kuwait, calling it a "blatant violation of the sovereignty of the brotherly Kingdom of Bahrain and the brotherly State of Kuwait."

#Statement | The Foreign Ministry expresses the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s condemnation and denunciation in the strongest terms of the flagrant Iranian aggression and blatant violation of the sovereignty of the brotherly Kingdom of Bahrain and the brotherly State of Kuwait,… pic.twitter.com/7Lf7yauHUK

— Foreign Ministry 🇸🇦 (@KSAmofaEN) June 3, 2026

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has defended strikes against Kuwait and Bahrain in a post on X, saying "our Armed Forces are conducting self-defense strikes on sites the US is permitted to use to attack civilian shipping and violate the ceasefire."

He added, "Any hostile act will be met with an immediate, decisive response. What sanctions and war failed to achieve won't be won with more war."

Our Armed Forces are conducting self-defense strikes on sites the U.S. is permitted to use to attack civilian shipping and violate the ceasefire.

Any hostile act will be met with an immediate, decisive response. What sanctions and war failed to achieve won't be won with more war pic.twitter.com/CwjULJ6PeI

— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) June 3, 2026

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday he hoped an ongoing meeting between Lebanese and Israeli officials facilitated by Washington would produce a joint statement and action plan.

The latest round of talks aimed at ending fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon and reaching a long-term peace began on Tuesday and was set to finish on Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Iran was "playing with fire" after the Islamic republic carried out an attack on Kuwait.

"Iran surely knows what the (US) president has said, that if necessary, there'll be a full-scale return to military action," Netanyahu said in an interview with US channel CNBC when asked if there was still a ceasefire following recent attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain.

"You know, it's the president's decision. Israel is ready and the US forces are ready. I think Iran should take that into account. I think they are taking it into account but they're playing with fire, that's clear."

Kuwait demanded that two Iranian embassy staff leave the country within 24 hours on Wednesday after an Iranian attack on the country's airport that killed one person and injured dozens more.

Kuwait's deputy foreign affairs minister Hamad Suleiman Al-Mashaan summoned Iran's charge d'affaires in Kuwait, Hamed Hamid Yaqoubi Far, and "handed him an official protest note regarding the continued Iranian attacks and the decision to reduce the number of members of the Iranian Embassy in the country and to consider two members of the Iranian diplomatic mission persona non grata, and request their departure from the territory of the State of Kuwait within a maximum period of 24 hours" the ministry said in a statement.

The UK's Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has condemned an Iranian ballistic missile strike on Kuwait that damaged the country's airport.

In a post on X, Cooper said: "The UK condemns the shocking attack on civilians in the international airport in Kuwait in the strongest terms."

"Our total solidarity is with the people of Kuwait and our partners in the Gulf who deserve security," she added.

The UK condemns the shocking attack on civilians in the international airport in Kuwait in the strongest terms. My thoughts are with all those affected.

Our total solidarity is with the people of Kuwait and our partners in the Gulf who deserve security. It is vital the ceasefire…

— Yvette Cooper (@YvetteCooperMP) June 3, 2026

Iraq's Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has ordered the resumption of operations by oil companies in the country's Kurdistan region starting on Thursday, according to a statement released by his office on Wednesday.

Some ⁠energy companies operating in Iraqi Kurdistan shut oil and gas production at their fields because of repeated drone attacks on oilfields and energy infrastructure.

Kurdistan production shutdowns have added to the Middle East supply disruptions after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran.

Hezbollah claimed an attack on Israeli troops in northern Israel on Wednesday as Israeli and Lebanese officials began a second day of direct talks in Washington that Hezbollah opposes.

In a statement, Hezbollah said that "in response to the Israeli enemy army's violation of the ceasefire", its fighters targeted "a gathering of Israeli enemy army soldiers" in northern Israel with a rocket barrage.