Pentagon chief says US ready to resume war on Iran if no deal

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Israel's health ministry has told the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya to move its operations to its underground facilities as part of tightened restrictions by the Israeli army. 

The restrictions come amid continued Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks.

Israel has intercepted two rockets fired by Hezbollah at Kiryat Shmona, according to the Times of Israel.

The report comes amid the government tightens guidelines over Hezbollah's continued rocket and drone attacks on northern Israel.

Nine Syrians, including six children, were killed in an Israeli strike on south Lebanon's municipality of Adloun on Friday, Lebanon's Ministry of Health said, according to the country's National News Agency.

Iranian state media reported on Saturday that a proposed memorandum of understanding with the United States included an agreement to release $12 billion in frozen assets.

The report cited an "unofficial" draft of the memorandum, and a similar item carried by state TV earlier this week was dismissed by the White House as a "fabrication".

Saturday's state TV report said, "the United States has pledged to provide Iran with full access to $12 billion of its assets within 60 days, so that these resources can be transferred and spent in banks of Iran's desired destination without restrictions."

The report also said that Tehran would continue to manage the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has blockaded since the start of the war, roiling global markets.

The US military said Saturday it had disabled a Gambia-flagged cargo vessel attempting to sail to an Iranian port by launching a missile into its engine room.

US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees forces in the Middle East region, said the strike occurred on 29 May after the M/V Lian Star failed to respond to more than 20 warnings.

"A US aircraft disabled the vessel by firing a Hellfire missile into the ship's engine room after Lian Star's crew failed to comply. The ship is no longer transiting to Iran," CENTCOM said on X.

The statement did not mention if there were any injuries aboard the Lian Star following the strike.

"US forces have disabled five commercial vessels and redirected 116 to fully enforce the blockade as a ceasefire with Iran remains in effect," CENTCOM said.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to hold a security assessment on the situation in Lebanon, where Israel is currently fighting Hezbollah, according to Israeli publication Haaretz.

An Israeli strike on Gaza City killed one Palestinian and wounded several others, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa, which added that the strike occurred on the Firas market, targeting civilians.

Wafa also reported that Israeli troops continue to blow up houses in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza.

Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon have killed 3,371 people and wounded a further 10,129 since the start of fighting with Hezbollah, according to Lebanon's Ministry of Health.

The U.S. military has stopped another merchant vessel trying to break through the American blockade of Iranian ports, a U.S. official with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Saturday.

The Gambia-flagged bulk carrier Lian Star ignored multiple warnings from U.S. forces overnight as it tried to enter an Iranian port, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations. The ship was disabled by U.S. aircraft in the Gulf of Oman and remains adrift there, the official said, adding that U.S. forces have not boarded it.

With the latest action, U.S. military has stopped six ships trying to breach the blockade. One was allowed to proceed.

The U.S. launched the blockade on April 17 in response to Iran effectively closing the strait after the war began on 28 February.

The blockade seeks to limit Iran’s own shipments and further weaken its access to cash, creating more pain for its long-weakened economy.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Saturday denounced what he called a "dangerous and unprecedented" Israeli escalation in the south, urging an immediate ceasefire and insisting that a "scorched-earth policy" would not ensure Israel's security.

In a televised address, Salam also defended his government's direct negotiations with Israel, saying that the talks were the "least costly path" for Lebanon.

Israel’s air force and artillery struck areas close to a strategic mountain housing a Crusader-built castle in southern Lebanon Saturday, as fighting raged in villages close to the southern city of Nabatiyeh.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling near the Beaufort Castle that is about 15 kilometres (9 miles) from the Israeli border and overlooks wide parts of southern Lebanon.

The strategic castle was held by occupying Israeli troops for 18 years until they withdrew from Lebanon in May 2000.

Israeli troops have been advancing for days in villages close to the castle, including Yohmor and Zawtar al-Sharqieh near the city of Nabatiyeh after they crossed the strategic Litani River, which the Israeli military has used as a de facto boundary.

🎥 De la fumée s'élève aux abords du château de Beaufort, site historique et point stratégique au nord du Litani (Liban-Sud), au centre de combats entre le Hezbollah et l'armée israélienne.

Les troupes israéliennes tentent de progresser depuis plusieurs jours en direction de la… pic.twitter.com/AJXDETIPvX

— L'Orient-Le Jour (@LOrientLeJour) May 30, 2026

• The United States has warned that it will resume the war on Iran if a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and address Tehran's nuclear programme is not reached
• Israel continued to bombard southern Lebanon and issue evacuation warnings for villages there on Saturday, a day after a landmark meeting at the Pentagon between Lebanese and Israeli military delegations
• Iraq's powerful Kataeb Hezbollah militia says it refuses to surrender its weapons amid growing US pressure on Baghdad to disarm Iran-backed factions
• Israeli strikes on Gaza killed a doctor on Saturday in yet another violation of the October 2025 ceasefire

The influential Iraqi armed group Kataeb Hezbollah pledged on Saturday to keep up its "jihadist action", as Baghdad faces mounting US pressure to disarm factions backed by Iran.

Since taking office in mid-May, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has pledged to restrict weapons to the hands of the state.

But in a statement on Saturday, Kataeb Hezbollah security chief Abu Mujahid al-Assaf said "jihadist action is today a collective duty, and we will carry it out on behalf of the brothers who have decided to abandon it".

Oman's maritime security centre urges vessels to exercise caution due to sighting of floating object suspected to be naval mine west of inshore traffic zone of Hormuz strait within Omani territorial waters.

Concerns are rising over the availability and cost of food supplies in Yemen, one of the world's poorest countries which is already facing high levels of food insecurity, following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and rising commercial shipping costs.

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Israel launched strikes across south Lebanon Saturday after ordering evacuations from more than a dozen locations. The Lebanese army said two of its soldiers "were seriously wounded as a result of being targeted inside a vehicle by a hostile Israeli drone" near the southern city of Nabatiyeh.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli several strikes in the south, including artillery fire near the mediaeval-era Beaufort castle.

The Lebanese presidency announced in a statement that President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam had agreed "to intensify contacts to put an end to these condemned Israeli practices" ahead of the new round of talks with Israel scheduled for June 2 and 3.

Aoun and Salam discussed "Israeli attacks and their expansion to a number of southern cities and villages, especially in the districts of Tyre and Nabatiyeh, in addition to the continued bombing and bulldozing of houses, and the destruction of historical landmarks in the south".

The security meeting between Lebanese and Israeli military delegations in Washington on Friday ended without any major breakthrough, with the two sides remaining far apart on key issues despite US mediation, Lebanese sources told The New Arab. Lebanon continued to insist that a full ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from occupied positions in southern Lebanon must come before any further security arrangements.

The report says the US focused on advancing a broader negotiating process, while Israel continued to press for the disarmament of Hezbollah and other security demands. Lebanese officials reportedly rejected linking these issues to ongoing Israeli military operations and violations of the truce.

Sources said there were no indications of an imminent ceasefire, with Israel continuing to escalate its attacks in Lebanon even as talks were underway. The article argues that Washington is effectively using negotiations alongside military pressure to push Beirut toward concessions.

Despite the lack of progress, both sides agreed to continue direct talks, with further political and diplomatic meetings expected in the coming weeks. Lebanese officials maintain that diplomacy remains the preferred route, but stress that any sustainable agreement must begin with a complete halt to Israeli attacks and the implementation of existing ceasefire commitments.

Iran is increasingly turning to overland trade routes through Afghanistan and Central Asia as disruptions and tensions in the Strait of Hormuz highlight the vulnerability of its maritime trade links.

The move is aimed at reducing reliance on the strategic waterway, through which a large share of Iran's imports and exports pass.

Experts cited in the report say Afghanistan is emerging as an important transit corridor, with trade being redirected through border crossings and regional transport networks. However, they caution that land routes cannot fully replace maritime shipping because of higher costs, infrastructure constraints and security challenges.

The shift could boost Afghanistan's strategic and economic importance, but analysts note that Iran's trade ambitions continue to face obstacles from US sanctions and broader regional instability.

At least one Palestinian was killed and three others, including a young girl, were wounded on Saturday after an Israeli airstrike struck the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah.

Medical sources said one fatality and three injured people were brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital following a strike opposite the Central Governorate building on Al-Aqsa Martyrs Street in Deir al-Balah.

Sources also reported that Dr Jamal Abu Aoun, head of the anaesthesia department at Yaffa Hospital, was killed in the Israeli strike on the city.

Videos shared online showed doctors at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital bidding farewell to Dr Aoun.

📷 شاهد| الأطباء في مستشفى شهداء الأقصى يودعون زميلهم الدكتور جمال أبو عون، رئيس قسم التخدير في مستشفى يافا، الذي ارتقى في استهداف الاحتلال لمدينة دير البلح وسط قطاع غزة. pic.twitter.com/HHF5da3NFk

— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) May 30, 2026

At no point since the eruption of the US-Israel-Iran war on 28 February have the prospects for a diplomatic breakthrough been as bright as they are now.

Nonetheless, there is no guarantee that Washington and Tehran will reach a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the upcoming period.

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday that Tom Barrack would continue helping shape Washington's policy on Syria and Iraq despite stepping down as US special envoy to Syria.

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The Israeli military issued evacuation orders for six more villages in south Lebanon on Saturday, after issuing warnings for seven others in the morning.

In a statement shared on X, the military called on residents of Marwaniyeh, Loubieh, Maidoun, Ansariyeh, Zefta and Teffahta to leave their villages and head north of the Zahrani River, far from the border.

Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, said on Saturday that U.S. President Donald Trump was "betraying diplomacy for the third time" by continuing a naval blockade imposed on Iran and making what he described as excessive demands in negotiations.

Hezbollah said on Saturday it fired rockets at the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, as exchanges of fire between the two sides have intensified despite Lebanon-Israel negotiations.

In at least two statements, the Iran-backed group said it launched a "rocket barrage" at the town "in defence of Lebanon and its people, and in response to the Israeli enemy's violation of the ceasefire".

A Brooklyn grocery store has voted to boycott Israeli products, in a decision that has turned one of New York's best-known food cooperatives into a new flashpoint in the debate over Palestine solidarity and Israel's war on Gaza.

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Lebanon's Health Ministry said on Friday that an Israeli strike on the town of Maaroub in the Tyre district the previous day killed four people, including a paramedic from the Islamic Health Society, and wounded five others, including another paramedic.

The ministry described the attack as part of a series of assaults that constitute a "flagrant violation" of international humanitarian law, which protects medical personnel, accusing Israel of deliberately targeting healthcare workers.

It added that an Israeli strike on the town of Abbassiyeh in the Tyre district killed three people, including one Syrian national, and wounded another. In Tayr Debba, another Israeli strike killed four people and injured two others, according to the ministry.

The National News Agency said an Israeli drone strike shortly after midnight Friday-Saturday targeted a home in Ansar, killing one man and his son, and wounding seven other family members.

In a separate attack on Saturday morning, a drone strike hit a pickup truck on the Sharifa-Haboush-Nabatiyeh road, killing one person and seriously injuring another.

The United States announced Friday that it is "dismantling a sophisticated Iranian network" used to obtain sensitive military technology.

The network "impersonated and defrauded" dozens of American technology companies out of millions of dollars to "acquire advanced equipment - including spectrum analysers and security detection devices - for Iran's defence sector," State Department Tommy Pigott said in a statement.

The statement did not name the technology companies who were lured into doing business through fake websites that "mimicked real American companies, using intermediaries in Dubai to receive shipments, and then smuggling the technology into Iran in violation of US sanctions."

The network was led by Iran-based Ali Majd Sepehr, the State Department spokesman said.

On Thursday, the State Department announced a $15 million reward for any information "leading to the disruption of the financial mechanisms of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its various branches."

The Israeli military issued evacuation warnings on Saturday for residents of seven villages, most of them in southern Lebanon, claiming it was about to strike Hezbollah targets there.

"In light of the terrorist organisation Hezbollah's violation of the ceasefire agreement, the IDF is compelled to take decisive action against it," the military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X in two separate statements, naming seven villages in Lebanon's south, including some near Nabatieh.

They were Maifadoun, Choukine, Zebdine, Jdeidet Ansar, Al-Zrariyeh, and Mazraat Kawthariyat al-Rez in south Lebanon, and Mashghara in Beqaa.