The Times of Israel liveblogged Thursday’s events as they unfolded.
A poll by Channel 12 finds that only a sliver of Israelis feel their country won the Iran war, or trust US President Donald Trump to look out for their interests as he negotiates a deal with the Islamic Republic.
In addition, most feel that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct hurt Israel’s interests in the US-Iran agreement.
The numbers mark a stark departure from the robust support Israelis have given Trump for years in poll after poll. Now, however, there is deep concern across Israel over the terms of the US-Iran memorandum of understanding signed this week, while a series of recent harsh public criticisms of Israeli officials from both Trump and US Vice President JD Vance point to a rift in the US-Israel relationship.
The Channel 12 poll, asking whether Netanyahu’s conduct benefited or harmed Israeli interests in the US-Iran agreement, finds that 52% say it harmed it, while 24% feel it helped and another 24% don’t know.
Asked whether they trust Trump to look out for Israeli interests in an agreement with Iran, 71% said they don’t, while just 13% said they do and another 16% don’t know. Those numbers mark a decline for Trump on this question since last week, when the split was 62% to 21%.
And asked about how they think the war ended, 43% say Israel lost, while 41% say it ended inconclusively. Just 11% feel Israel won the war.
The International Criminal Court has scheduled a vote for July 24 on whether to remove chief prosecutor Karim Khan from office, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing diplomats and documents.
Reuters cannot immediately verify the report. The ICC does not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Reuters reported earlier this month, citing a diplomatic source, that the executive bureau of the court’s governing body had ruled Khan committed serious misconduct following an 18-month-long probe into accusations that he had non-consensual sexual interactions with a lawyer in his office.
Khan, who issued warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, has always denied the charges.
Election surveys released today show continued momentum for Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party, which overtakes fellow opposition party Together, and gains on or matches Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.
A poll by The Times of Israel’s partner site, Zman Yisrael, shows Yashar pulling even with Likud at the top of the heap, with each party winning 22 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Bennett’s party, by contrast, which was neck-and-neck with Netanyahu’s party in many previous surveys, drops to third place with 19 seats.
Overall, the poll finds that Netanyahu’s coalition would win 50 seats while anti-Netanyahu Jewish parties would win 60, just shy of a 61-seat majority. The poll finds that Arab parties would win 10 seats.
The Zman Yisrael survey polled 500 voters between yesterday and today, with a 4.4% margin of error.
A poll by Channel 12 returns similar results, also showing Eisenkot’s party overtaking Bennett’s, 21 seats to 19, with both closely trailing Likud, which takes 22. A look back at Channel 12 polls dating back to April shows Eisenkot steadily gaining on Bennett in the race to be the largest opposition party, before exceeding his total in today’s survey.
The Channel 12 poll finds that the Jewish anti-Netanyahu parties would win 59 seats, while Netanyahu’s coalition would win 51 and Arab parties would win 10.
Both polls also test how voters would respond if Bennett’s and Eisenkot’s parties merged. The surveys both found that the united party would win fewer seats than the parties would win collectively if they remained separate.
For months, polls have consistently found that neither side would win a majority outright in the Knesset, despite this year’s seismic domestic and foreign developments. Most polls show the opposition coming closer to a majority than the coalition.
The Channel 12 poll finds that 39% of voters prefer Eisenkot over Netanyahu for prime minister, while 35% prefer Netanyahu over Eisenkot.
In a Bennett-Netanyahu race, however, 37% prefer Netanyahu while 35% prefer Bennett.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council says in a statement that the country’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority will take measures to issue fast authorizations to ships hoping to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as per the memorandum of understanding signed by Tehran and Washington.
Measures on mine clearance will be carried out under the MOU, though ships are advised to stick to the path and timing allocated by the authority, the statement published by state media adds.
The City of Paris grants honorary citizenship to Palestinian civilians and journalists, in a symbolic gesture of support for “the suffering the Palestinian people.”
“Honorary citizenship is not just a symbol, but a commitment to peace. We are extending a hand to an entire people,” Emmanuel Gregoire, the capital’s Socialist mayor, says before the Council of Paris.
He speaks in the presence of the Palestinian representative in France, Hala Abou-Hassira, who receives a long round of applause.
“Recognizing the suffering of the Palestinian people in no way erases that of the Israeli people,” says Gregoire.
“We will never forget October 7, 2023,” he adds in a reference to the Hamas-led attack that began the Gaza war, stressing that the French capital had earlier granted honorary citizenship to the hostages held by the terror group.
A resolution adopted by the Council of Paris says “the humanitarian situation of Gaza’s population remains dramatic.”
The political right votes against the resolution, pointing to a resurgence of antisemitic acts in France.
Last week, Paris hosted a meeting of Palestinian and Israeli civil society groups, who urged global leaders to take urgent action and help implement a permanent ceasefire.
France as well as Britain, Canada and several other countries, recognized a Palestinian state last year over Israeli objections. Paris has earlier bestowed honorary citizenship on the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s far-right national security minister, responds to US Vice President JD Vance’s criticism of him, telling Vance to fight Iran as the US fought Nazi Germany in World War II.
In a New York Times interview published earlier today, Vance called out Ben Gvir and far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for criticizing the US-Iran MOU, saying that “you’ve seen people in [Israel’s] system, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who’ve attacked the deal. And I guess my response to them would be: What is your exact proposal? You’re a country of nine million people. You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have.”
In a post on X in English addressed to Vance, Ben Gvir responds, “This is the proposal… To deal with the Nazis of the 21st century, just as the United States dealt with the Nazis of the 20th century.”
This is the proposal, @JDVance:
To deal with the Nazis of the 21st century, just as the United States dealt with the Nazis of the 20th century. pic.twitter.com/kv0wbRa9gi
— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) June 18, 2026
The head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc in Lebanon, Mohammad Raad, says Israel’s fight against the Iran-backed terror group had “failed” to eliminate it.
Raad says in a statement that “the enemy’s war aimed at crushing the resistance in Lebanon has failed and will not achieve its objectives.”
He also calls on Lebanese authorities to “adopt a framework for indirect negotiations with the enemy” to stop the fighting. Lebanon and Israel have held a series of direct talks.
He says the Israeli military must “fully comply with the cessation of hostilities on land, at sea and in the air” outlined in the Iran-US MOU, “and prepare for and begin withdrawal within 60 days, without any need whatsoever for direct negotiations.”
US President Donald Trump says he will “most likely” endorse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the fall Israeli elections, but he wants to see who else is running against him first.
“I’ll have to look at who’s running, but I like Bibi very much. I would be most likely to endorse him,” Trump tells the Kan public broadcaster in a phone interview.
Netanyahu’s most formidable opponents at the moment appear to be former IDF chief of staff and Yashar party chief Gadi Eisenkot and former prime minister and Together party chief Naftali Bennett.
“He’s doing a very good job, he’s got to be a little bit more rational,” Trump adds, apparently referring to Israel’s strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon, which the US feels has been indiscriminate.
Trump has issued a series of harsh criticisms of Netanyahu in recent days and weeks, calling him “fucking crazy” and saying he has “no fucking judgment,” among other things, but has also praised their relationship, which he’s called “very good” and “unbelievable.”
Making the case for the memorandum of understanding that he signed this week with Iran, Trump says, “The Israeli people should support the deal because we took the nuclear weapon threat away against Israel. He repeats a sentiment he expressed, earlier in the week, saying, “If it wasn’t for Donald Trump, Israel wouldn’t exist right now. They would have been blown off the planet.”
As for Iran’s stockpiles of highly enriched uranium that the MOU says will be the subject of subsequent talks, Trump says the issue is “very unimportant, frankly.”
“It’s buried under a mountain that nobody can get to except us, it’s very safely buried under a mountain and at the right time we will get it. We’ll take it at the right time,” Trump claims.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei purportedly says he has authorized a memorandum of understanding signed by the Iranian and US presidents after receiving assurances from Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior officials that Iran’s rights and the interests of the “Resistance Front” would be safeguarded.
Khamenei, who was appointed supreme leader in March, was injured in the strike that killed his father and predecessor on February 28 and hasn’t been seen or heard publicly since. In a written message to the Iranian nation, Khamenei says Pezeshkian, in his capacity as head of the Supreme National Security Council, has accepted responsibility for ensuring the agreement protects Iran’s interests and pledges not to yield if Washington makes what he described as excessive demands.
He says future talks with the United States will be held directly but do not mean “accepting its views.”
“It is obvious that the face-to-face negotiations that will be held in the future will not mean accepting the enemy’s point of view,” Khamenei says.
US Vice President JD Vance says he still plans to travel to Switzerland for talks with Iran and expects to make the trip over the weekend, but that the meeting has not yet been finalized.
The sides were initially slated to hold a signing ceremony on Friday, but that was scrapped after the deal was signed separately by each country on Wednesday. The memorandum of understanding launched 60 days of talks on Iran’s nuclear program and other outstanding disputes, with Vance saying at a White House press conference that the clock on that began on Thursday.
Some officials have suggested that the first round of talks would be held on Friday, with others predicting an unspecified time over the weekend.
Vance says it’s difficult for Iranian officials to get out of Iran, suggesting that the meeting may take more time to get together.
The vice president appears to differentiate between technical talks and ones led by senior politicians — the latter of which he plans to attend. He says he still plans to go to Switzerland this weekend but that that could change.
Vance spends much of the press conference making the case for the MOU he helped negotiate. He says the US was in a position to accept it because Iran’s nuclear facilities and conventional military have been destroyed and that “their capacity to threaten their neighbors is still largely gone.”
The latter point appears to refer to Iran’s missile program, which the US had began the war pledging to completely destroy but is now arguing should be allowed to exist in some scope as a means of “self-defense” for Iran.
“I’ve seen skeptics of the deal. People say the Iranians will never change their behavior. Maybe that’s true, and if so, they don’t get any of the benefits of the bargain. But isn’t it worth trying?” Vance asks.
Vance claims that the war against Iran caused major divisions in the Islamic Republic and that the “pragmatists within the Iranian system — the people who really do want to transform their relationship with the Middle East and with the world — are winning the argument.”
To back up his point, Vance reiterates that the Gulf states have embraced this deal, contrasting that with what he claims was their disdain for the 2015 nuclear deal inked by former US president Barack Obama.
Except then, too, the Gulf states embraced that agreement, not wanting to pick a fight with a superpower — a similar strategy they seem to be adopting now, even while there may be great private consternation with the way that the US conducted a war in which they found themselves as Iran’s main target.
US President Donald Trump declares, “We expect a complete ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon, Hezbollah and Israel.”
The message on Truth Social comes against the backdrop of mounting US anger at Israel over the civilian toll in Lebanon amid the fight against Hezbollah.
“The United States is committed to PEACE, and we encourage everyone in the Middle East region to maintain their commitment to allowing our negotiations to beautifully unfold,” Trump writes.
The US has not, however, publicly and explicitly called on Israel to pull out of southern Lebanon, even though the MOU signed this week declares the permanent end of military operations in Lebanon. Israel has insisted that it is not beholden to the MOU and that it will not pull its troops out of Lebanon.
Israeli defense industry booths at the Eurosatory arms expo in Paris drew visits from senior military and government officials from around the world despite French restrictions on Israel’s participation, the Defense Ministry says.
The ministry says representatives of countries, defense ministries, militaries and defense companies visited Israeli exhibitors throughout the event, even after France barred Israel from establishing a national pavilion, prevented the participation of Israeli government officials and banned the display of Israeli offensive weapons.
“Despite the restrictions imposed on Israeli industries and the arbitrary blocking of some of them, there was very heavy traffic around the Israeli booths,” says Israel’s defense attaché to France, Col. Sagi Fink.
According to Fink, “senior official representatives, chiefs of staff, generals and defense ministers from various countries” visited the Israeli booths, “expressed support and showed interest in learning about Israeli technologies.”
The statement comes days after the Defense Ministry said Eurosatory organizers erected wooden barriers around Israeli defense industry booths despite the companies complying with French restrictions and displaying only defensive systems.
דוכנים עמוסים וביקורי עשרות משלחות בינ"ל: חרף ההגבלות הצרפתיות, התעשיות הביטחוניות הישראליות עמדו במוקד ההתעניינות בתערוכת יורוסטורי 2026
להמשך קריאה:https://t.co/Sc1JSDnRu9 pic.twitter.com/erslsklahz— משרד הביטחון (@MoDIsrael) June 18, 2026
Despite widespread concern about the terms of the US-Iran memorandum of understanding in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not criticize the MOU in recent conversations with American officials, they said, and told them that if Tehran fully complies with the deal’s terms, it would be a “home run,” Channel 12 reports.
According to the news outlet, US officials believe far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who have publicly criticized the deal, are pushing Netanyahu to take a tougher stance against it.
Israeli officials reject that assessment, Channel 12 reports, arguing that opposition to the deal extends across the security establishment, including Defense Minister Israel Katz, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and other senior military officials, who reportedly view the agreement as a strategic disaster for Israel.
“Israel must be prepared to act alone,” a senior member of Netanyahu’s security cabinet tells the network. “It won’t happen tomorrow morning, but our baseline assumption is that Trump has lost interest, regardless of what the Iranians will or won’t do.”
Israel is also reportedly bracing for months of American pressure to limit its military freedom of action not only in Iran and Lebanon, which are referenced in the MOU, but potentially also in Gaza and Yemen, the bases of Iranian proxies Hamas and the Houthis, respectively.
The US military has lifted its blockade on maritime traffic to and from Iran, with US Central Command announcing that American forces have ceased all blockade enforcement operations in accordance with US President Donald Trump’s directive following the signing of a memorandum of understanding ending the war between the two countries.
In a statement, CENTCOM says US forces are no longer impeding vessels entering or leaving Iranian ports on the Gulf or the Gulf of Oman, marking a key step in implementing the agreement. The agreement also commits Iran to reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
CENTCOM adds that US naval forces will remain in the region to ensure that “all aspects of the agreement are adhered to, obeyed and in full force and effect.”
The United States imposed a naval blockade on Iran’s ports and coasts on April 13, days after a ceasefire was announced that paused its war with Iran, in response to Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
US Vice President JD Vance closes out his White House press conference on the US-Iran memorandum of understanding by lashing out at Israeli critics of the deal once more, claiming that US President Donald Trump is the only world leader who retains sympathy for Israel and that the US is the only “powerful ally” it still has.
He adds that many of Israel’s arms are manufactured in the US, and says Israelis focused on criticizing Trump need to “wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in.”
He notes that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refrained from criticizing the deal in conversations with him, but adds, using the premier’s nickname, “What I will say, and this does bother me, is that you have seen people within Bibi’s cabinet who have come out and attacked the deal, and in some ways very personally attacked the president of the United States.”
He adds, “Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time. And he happens to be the head of state of the world’s superpower. If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.”
JD Vance ends his press conference by turning on Israel: "What does bother me is you've seen people in Bibi's cabinet who have come out and attacked the deal and in some ways very personally attacked the president. My message to them is Donald J Trump is the only head in the… pic.twitter.com/7JfbbgPZm7
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 18, 2026
He continues, addressing Israeli critics, “Over the last three months, two-thirds of the defensive weapons that have protected your homeland have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars.”
Since the beginning of the Gaza war following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack, a growing chorus of voices in the US have taken a critical tone toward — if not outright opposed — US military aid to Israel, which once enjoyed broad support in Washington. Netanyahu has proposed phasing it out over a decade-long period.
Vance suggests Israeli critics of Trump must become aware of how unpopular their country has become.
“The problem for Israel is not Donald J. Trump,” Vance continues. “And anybody in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the president of the United States needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in.”
The United States has issued new “counter terrorism” sanctions targeting individuals and entities linked to the Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah, details posted to the US Treasury Department’s website show.
Several rockets were fired by Hezbollah at Israeli troops in southern Lebanon a short while ago.
The IDF says some of the rockets were intercepted while others struck near the forces.
No injuries were caused, the army adds.
Speaking at a White House press conference on the US-Iran memorandum of understanding, US Vice President JD Vance comes down hard on Israeli strikes against Hezbollah in Beirut, noting their civilian death toll, calling them “not acceptable,” and suggesting they threatened to derail US-Iran talks.
Vance asserts that while Israel has a right to defend itself, it also must “respect this peace process.”
Vance’s comments come after US President Donald Trump also lashed out about Israeli strikes in Beirut following Hezbollah attacks, which led to a brief exchange of fire with Iran earlier this month during the talks.
“Israel has the right to defend itself, but fundamentally the Israelis, just like everybody else, have to respect this peace process that is fundamentally good for them and good for the entire region,” Vance says.
He continues, “What the president gets very frustrated [with] sometimes is that we seem to be right on the cusp of a major breakthrough in the agreement, and then all of a sudden, there’s 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’s not acceptable. That’s the sort of thing that we’ve asked for closer coordination so that we ensure it doesn’t happen.”
He says that the MOU, which has been harshly criticized across the Israeli political spectrum, could lead to a deal that cuts off Iranian support for Hezbollah, although the MOU does not mention Iran’s network of proxies in the region.
“Our message to the Israelis, just as our message to everybody else, is fundamentally, we want this peace process to be good for you,” Vance says. “We do not want Hezbollah attacking Israel, but in order to ensure that that happens, we have got to actually build the kind of regional framework that can cut off the money to Hezbollah, cut off Iranian support for Hezbollah, and also ensure that Lebanon’s territorial sovereignty is respected by all parties.”
Asked at a White House press conference about the clause of the US-Iran agreement extending the ceasefire to Lebanon, US Vice President JD Vance says that he still expects some conflict between Israel and Hezbollah there but that he hopes both abide by the deal.
“This is about regional peace,” Vance says. “And what that means is, we expect Hezbollah is not going to be firing rockets and firing drones at the Israelis. But we also expect that the Israelis are not going to be going wild in Lebanon.”
He adds, “Both sides have to honor their end of the deal.”
Iran has demanded that Israel withdraw its troops from a buffer zone in Lebanon as part of the agreement, which Israel has vowed not to do in order to continue combating Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and has targeted northern Israel with missile fire throughout the war.
US President Donald Trump has strongly objected to Israel striking Hezbollah in Beirut in response to the terror group’s attacks.
Vance says, “Now, as you guys know, sometimes these ceasefires are a little messy… We have seen radical progress in Lebanon: less shooting, less firing, but you’re still going to have these little flare-ups from time to time.”
He adds, “And eventually, what we’re going to want to see is the Lebanese government, the elected representatives of the people of Lebanon, who are able to police southern Lebanon so that Hezbollah has not taken over the country, the Israelis are not threatened, and then consequently the Israelis are not attacking southern Lebanon or Beirut either. That’s the plan there.”
The hawkish opposition Yisrael Beytenu party, which aims to represent Israel’s secular Russian-speaking community, announces that Miki Fishman, a former Yesh Atid official who headed the party’s Russian-speaking outreach headquarters, is joining its ranks ahead of the upcoming elections.
Fishman previously served as chief of staff to former tourism minister Yoel Razvozov and ran as a Yesh Atid candidate in municipal elections in Netanya.
Fishman says he is grateful for his years in Yesh Atid and the opportunity to have served as part of the Bennett-Lapid government that briefly unseated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2021-22, wishing his former colleagues success going forward.
However, given Israel’s “complex reality,” he says that Yisrael Beytenu chair Avigdor Liberman is “the most suitable person to lead the State of Israel.”
“Liberman is a determined and strong leader with extensive experience, who will stand firm in the face of Israel’s security, economic and social challenges,” Fishman says.
Liberman has said he is running for prime minister but is not seen as a leading candidate for the role.
US Vice President JD Vance defends President Donald Trump’s assertion that Iran be allowed to keep some of its ballistic missiles, arguing that it needs them for “self-defense,” just as Israel has a right to self-defense.
Vance is asked at a White House press conference to explain Trump’s apparent shift on that issue, given that the US has previously framed destruction of Iran’s missile program as a key war aim.
The vice president begins by noting that the US destroyed “a substantial number” of Iran’s missiles and launchers during the recent war
“All the president said yesterday is that, of course, regional countries don’t give up the right of self-defense,” Vance says.
“Israel doesn’t give up the right of self-defense if Hezbollah fires rockets or drones at Israel,” he continues. “You can’t tell the country, whether Israel or Iran, they’re not allowed to have any self-defense.”
He clarifies that the final deal that the US hopes will be reached in the coming two months will see Iran agree not to “build the kind of missiles that can broadly threaten the entire world.”
“As part of the final deal, what we want to see is Iran not funding regional instability, funding regional terrorism, and of course, [not] trying to rebuild their nuclear weapons program.”
Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter cautiously pushes back against US President Donald Trump’s assertion that Iran should be allowed to keep some ballistic missiles.
After his administration made the destruction of Iran’s missile program one of its war aims, Trump declared yesterday that he was okay with Tehran holding on to some, given that some of its neighbors have them as well. US officials have said they plan to raise the issue in negotiations with Iran set to take place over the next 60 days, but it wasn’t included in the memorandum of understanding signed this week by the US and Iran.
“We’re hopeful that in these 60 days, the issue of ballistic missiles is also going to be discussed and hopefully terminated because Tehran is not like any other state in the region; they’re not like any other state altogether,” Leiter says in an interview with the right-wing Newsmax network.
“They’re a murderous bunch of thugs, and if they have ballistic missiles, they’re going to use them on all of their neighbors,” he adds.
Leiter says Israel is also “very concerned” with the MOU’s inclusion of Lebanon, with the text stating that the permanent end of hostilities between the US and Iran extends to Lebanon and that the latter country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty must be respected, an ostensible call-out of the buffer zone Israel’s military has created in southern Lebanon to try and fight Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terror group.
Leiter says Lebanon was apparently included in the MOU at the insistence of Iran in order to protect Hezbollah.
Leiter is the latest Israeli official to indicate that Israel doesn’t plan to abide by the MOU terms pertaining to Lebanon, which specify that all military operations cease in the country.
“We can’t have Hezbollah on our border, and we can’t have Hezbollah continue to maintain tens of thousands of their terrorist fighters that try to infiltrate northern Israel and fire shoulder-to-shoulder missiles and killer drones into our communities. So, we’re hopeful that Iran will not be allowed to dictate the future of Lebanon for [the] Lebanese and for Israel,” Leiter says.
Amid US President Donald Trump’s mounting criticism of Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, particularly over what Washington feels is the IDF’s indiscriminate bombing campaign in Lebanon, the Israeli envoy tries to remind Trump of the assistance that Jerusalem has been providing over the past year.
“We’ve been great partners ever since the president came back to office. We’ve implemented the 12 Day War in June together against Iran, and ever since February 28 Epic Fury and Roaring Lion, we’ve flown shoulder to shoulder into wing, and we’ve degraded one of the world’s most malign group of people, the madmen of Tehran, who have held us all hostage by closing down the Strait of Hormuz and firing ballistic missiles into all her neighbors,” Leiter says.
Despite his concern about certain aspects of the MOU, Leiter says, “We’re very, very hopeful that [it]… will actually lead to what it claims, and that’s the complete cessation of any kind of nuclear proliferation on the part of Iran.”
For now, it merely sees Iran reaffirm that it will not obtain a nuclear weapon — a commitment that was included in former US president Barack Obama’s 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which Israel was far more public in criticizing.
The meeting between US and Iranian negotiators scheduled for tomorrow at the Burgenstock resort in Switzerland for initial talks on Iran’s nuclear program and other outstanding disputes is still expected to take place, though there remains a chance it could fall apart, a diplomatic source familiar with the planning tells The Times of Israel.
“It looks like talks should start tomorrow. There is a strong US presence on the ground [in Switzerland]. But things are very unclear. All of this could again fall apart,” the source says.
Switzerland would be responsible for logistics and security of the meeting, but is not leading the planning and coordination, the source adds, noting that the Burgenstock resort is owned by Qatar, a mediator in the talks.
The source could not provide further details on the agenda.
The memorandum of understanding signed by Tehran and Washington yesterday already appears under strain, as Iran continues to warn that a continued IDF presence in southern Lebanon would mean the “annulment” of the deal, while Israel has doubled down on its vow to keep troops in Lebanon amid its conflict with Hezbollah.
The sides originally planned to hold a signing ceremony for the deal on Friday, but ended up signing it electronically yesterday in order to begin its implementation sooner. It remains unclear if a physical signing ceremony will still occur.
Eight Muslim-majority countries, including regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Turkey, say they hold Israel responsible for recent arson attacks on two West Bank mosques, which Palestinian officials said were torched by settlers.
The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE, Qatar, Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey lambast “the continued and escalating settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank,” pointing to the mosques that were set on fire a day earlier.
“The Ministers hold Israel — as the occupying power — responsible for these attacks,” they say in the joint statement.
US Vice President JD Vance holds a press conference at the White House that is expected to heavily focus on the memorandum of understanding reached with Iran this week, which he helped negotiate.
Global trade in fertilizers crucial to agriculture harvests worldwide has slumped 30 percent since the start of the year, as the Iran war sent prices soaring and led several countries to restrict exports, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization says.
Many farmers have delayed or forgone purchases as supplies tightened with Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, blocking shipments of the raw materials and liquefied natural gas (LNG) used in fertilizer production.
At the same time, China, Russia, Turkey and Egypt are among the main producer countries that have limited exports to protect their domestic markets.
Prices on average jumped 25 percent between February and May, according to FAO data released in its biannual Food Outlook report.
As a result, trade volumes fell to 41 million tons in the first four months of this year, down from 58 million tons in the same period last year.
Even if the strait reopens under a deal signed by the US and Iran this week, “recovery across nitrogen, phosphates, and sulphur-linked inputs would be slow and uneven, keeping prices historically elevated”, the FAO warns.
A third of the world’s fertilizer supply passed through the Strait of Hormuz before the war that began on February 28, and officials have warned that farmers could face shortages during the summer growing season.
Britain’s international development minister Jenny Chapman calls for Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon so that families displaced by three months of war could return to their homes.
“Israel should withdraw from southern Lebanon, absolutely. Displacement we know anywhere in the world causes huge disruption,” she tells Reuters while visiting a school where displaced families were sheltering. “That is why we want to get the conditions right so that people can return home and be secure, be safe and be confident they can stay in their homes for the long term.”
US Vice President JD Vance pushes back on what he calls an Israeli “freakout” over the recently signed US-Iranian memorandum of understanding in an interview with The New York Times, suggesting Israel relies too much on military force to address its problems, that it should give more “credit” to the US as an ally, and that concerns that the agreement emboldens Iran or its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, are misplaced.
“I find this whole freakout in Israel a little bit odd because I think that it comes from a place of mistrust, and I think that America has earned the trust of that region of the world,” he says. “We’ve done a very good job by that particular country and that particular government, and I think that the idea that we’ve made a terrible deal is not supported by the facts, but just doesn’t make any sense if you consider the broad length of the relationship.”
Vance, who has become the face of the Trump administration’s defense of the MOU, has spoken several times about how the United States needs to pursue its own interests in negotiating with Iran, regardless of whether Israel agrees.
At another point, he says, “There is this weird panic almost in the Israeli system that I’ve picked up on where they assume that everything that is contemplated that is good for Iran will happen — but that will happen without the Iranians changing any behavior. And I just don’t know why anybody would think that’s true.”
Vance notes in the interview that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has avoided criticizing the deal, but acknowledges that the premier’s far-right partners National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich “have attacked the deal.” Netanyahu’s allies in the media, in addition to members of the opposition, have also decried the agreement as harmful to Israel’s security interests.
“It’s clear that large segments of the Israeli political system and population are very sensitive about this deal,” he says. “But I also think they’re picking up on some misinformation about the deal and running with it and sort of panicking about it.”
Regarding the deal’s Israeli critics, he adds, “I guess my response to them would be: What is your exact proposal? You’re a country of nine million people. You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have.” (Israel’s population is roughly 10 million.)
Vance claims that the US “destroyed their nuclear program,” although the text of the MOU refers to Iran’s country’s stockpile of enriched uranium, and says that for now, Iran “will maintain the current status quo of its nuclear program.”
The Petah Tikva Magistrate’s Court extends the remand of a professional soccer player until Monday, as police continue to probe him on suspicion of mob ties.
The athlete, who plays in Israel’s second division, was arrested at the start of the week on suspicion of gambling and game-fixing, alleged offenses police believe are linked to the activities of a northern gang.
The judge also extends a gag order barring the soccer player’s name from publication, Walla reports.
Police arrested the suspect Sunday as part of a larger investigation into a violent gang based in Migdal Ha’emek, whose members are suspected of taking orders from a mob boss currently behind bars.
According to law enforcement, the group took over gambling establishments and provided victims loans at exorbitant interest rates, then threatened them with violence when they failed to pay them back.
The gang is responsible for “setting property and businesses on fire, instilling fear and intimidation in debtors and their families and terrorizing law-abiding citizens while cynically exploiting their economic distress,” police said in a statement last week.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition has expressed opposition to a measure proposed by the Central Elections Committee ahead of the 2026 Knesset election aimed at operating polling stations at old age homes throughout the country, Ynet reports.
According to the news site, representatives of Likud and Religious Zionism on the committee came out against the move, which had been enacted as a provisional measure in recent elections, but were outvoted. The proposal will be discussed next week in the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.
The site quotes a Likud source as claiming that the proposal “will help [Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor] Liberman electorally.” Liberman’s party is part of the opposition.
Polls consistently show that younger voters are to the right, and more supportive of Netanyahu’s political allies, than their elders.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stresses that Israeli troops will not withdraw from southern Lebanon and will maintain its security zone there as long as required, after US President Donald Trump this week publicly criticized Israeli fighting against Hezbollah as overly aggressive and as Iran continues to insist that a full Israeli withdrawal is a condition of its deal with Washington.
“We will restore security and prosperity to northern towns,” he says at an official ceremony concerning Route 60, a north-south highway stretching from Nazareth to Beersheba that runs through the West Bank. “That requires maintaining the security zone in southern Lebanon; it requires that we not leave there, as long as Israel’s security needs require it.”
The memorandum of understanding signed by Washington and Tehran yesterday, to which Israel is not a signatory, dictated an end to all hostilities in Lebanon.
A senior Israeli official close to Netanyahu told Reuters earlier today that Jerusalem is “conducting stubborn negotiations” with the US on the issue of continuing its deployment of troops in southern Lebanon. The IDF later published an updated map of its security zone in the country, saying it will not be withdrawing from the territory at this stage.
The death toll from Israeli strikes in south Lebanon rises to three, according to Lebanese state media.
“An enemy drone targeted a car” in the Kfar Tebnit area, killing two people, the official National News Agency (NNA) reports, raising an earlier toll of one dead.
In the neighboring village of Zebdine, another drone killed one more person, NNA says.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi calls on the coalition to ignore the High Court’s recommendation that the Knesset hold a new election for the position of state comptroller due to concerns that the vote earlier this month violated the requirement that it be held by secret ballot.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s lawyer, Michael Rabello, won the initial vote.
“When the High Court of Justice tries to reshuffle the ballots in the ballot box to get a different result, we should all be worried about the upcoming elections. We say no(!) to the High Court,” Karhi posts on X.
The court’s call to rerun the election is welcomed, however, by Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid, which frames it as a “victory.”
Lapid submitted a petition on behalf of his and former prime minister Nafatli Bennett’s joint Together slate, over Rabello’s election, arguing that the secret-ballot vote was irreparably compromised by alleged efforts to pressure Likud lawmakers into proving how they had voted.
During the vote on June 3, at least seven coalition MKs recorded themselves voting for Rabello, allegedly on the instructions of senior Likud officials.
“The court’s decision strengthens our argument that the coalition contaminated and disgraced the election process, and that a proper, fair process, free of political considerations, must be ensured,” Yesh Atid says in a statement.
“We must not take our eyes off the most corrupt government in the country’s history, even for a moment,” says Lapid.
The left-wing Democrats party announces that it will hold primaries for its Knesset slate on July 20, ahead of the upcoming legislative election due to be held by October 27.
Candidate registration will close on June 25, with the full list of primary candidates to be published on June 30. Members who join the party through July 12 can vote in the primaries.
The party says it has surpassed 75,000 registered members, arguing that the figure demonstrates a demand for “Zionist, liberal and clean leadership that will put the country back on track.”
While the party currently holds four Knesset seats, it is expected to more than double its representation in the next election, having consistently polled at 10-11 seats for months, including in surveys conducted by The Times of Israel’s sister site Zman Yisrael.
The party was formed in 2024 through the merger of Labor and Meretz, which both historically held primaries. Only a handful of Israeli parties, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud, use primaries to select their Knesset slates
The party’s leader, Yair Golan, occupies the top spot on the slate and will not be competing in the primary. Candidates below him will be ranked according to the number of votes they receive, subject to party rules meant to create gender parity, representation for Meretz candidates, kibbutzim and moshavim, and Arab and Druze minorities.
MKs Naama Lazimi, Gilad Kariv and Efrat Rayten are among those running, alongside former Meretz MK Michal Rozin, former deputy national security adviser Eran Etzion, Rabbis for Human Rights CEO Avi Dabush, Danny Elgarat, brother of slain hostage Itzik Elgarat, Arab rights activist Somaya Bashir and anti-government protest leaders Moshe Radman, Ami Dror, Moran Michel and Nava Rozolyo.
Current MK and former Labor chair Merav Michaeli will not run.
The High Court of Justice strongly recommends that a new election for the position of state comptroller be held in the Knesset, due to concerns that the original election earlier this month violated the requirement that it be held by secret ballot.
“We are suggesting a procedural step that does not interfere with the discretion of the Knesset: in simple Hebrew, do it again. Whatever you decide is fine, but just do it in a clean and proper manner,” says Supreme Court Deputy President Noam Sohlberg at the end of a lengthy hearing.
During the vote on June 3, at least seven coalition MKs recorded themselves voting for the coalition candidate, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s longtime lawyer Michael Rabello, allegedly on the instruction of senior Likud officials.
“At the moment there is an unwanted cloud… a bitter taste,” Sohlberg says of the election.
“Some of the votes are apparently problematic. Members of Knesset acted in opposition to the instructions of the Knesset legal adviser [not to record their votes] and through the creation of a new principle that it is ok to record [one’s vote],” the deputy court president adds.
Sohlberg gives the respondents — include the Knesset itself, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Rabello — until Monday to respond, saying that otherwise the court will issue a conditional order against them.
The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in Gaza has reached more than 1,000 since a US-brokered ceasefire took effect last October, the enclave’s Hamas-run health ministry says, as at least three people were reported killed in the latest strike.
Medics say an Israeli strike hit a vehicle on the main Omar Al-Mokhtar road in Gaza City, killing three.
Including the latest incident, the number of Palestinians killed since the ceasefire began was 1,008, the ministry says. The death toll is not verified and does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
The IDF does not immediately comment on the incident.
Four IDF soldiers have been killed by Hamas operatives in that period.
Israel says its strikes aim to thwart imminent attacks by Hamas and other terror groups.
Shas MK Moshe Abutbul visits the IDF’s Beit Lid military prison to offer encouragement to yeshiva students arrested for draft evasion.
“We came to strengthen and support the Torah students. Each one with his own painful story, we heard from them about the difficulties and the desire to return to the study hall… I told them: The entire Shas movement stands behind you. The detainees expressed great joy and hope in light of the efforts led by Shas chairman Rabbi Aryeh Deri to stop the arrests of Torah scholars,” Abutbul says.
Deri is reportedly pushing for a bill to halt the arrests of draft evaders.
Abutbul and other lawmakers have visited the prison on multiple occasions in recent months. On Wednesday afternoon, thousands of Haredim demonstrated there.
DOHA, Qatar — Qatar, a key negotiator in the deal to end the war between the US and Iran, says the agreement served as a firm basis for further talks.
The Gulf state’s Foreign Ministry says in a statement that the deal “represents a solid foundation for advancing to the next stage of negotiations between the American and Iranian parties,” ahead of technical talks expected in Switzerland tomorrow.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to use pro-Israel senators and right-wing media personalities to influence the terms of a final agreement between the United States and Iran, CNN reports, citing an Israeli source.
Netanyahu believes a final deal with Iran will be secured but that Tehran will not fulfill its obligations under the agreement, the source says.
He plans to use media figures, such as Fox News’ Mark Levin, and pro-Israel politicians, to get his message across to Trump.
CNN says it reached out to the Prime Minister’s Office for comment on its report.
Several dozen sick and wounded Palestinians in Gaza stage a protest outside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, demanding adequate medical care, including the ability to travel abroad for treatment, according to videos circulating on social media in Gaza.
Such demonstrations are rare in the Gaza Strip. Some protesters voiced indirect criticism of Hamas.
“I am standing here today on behalf of the wounded so that we can go abroad. No one is treating us — not even the [Hamas-run] health ministry,” one protester says, whose leg had been amputated. “They are all thieves.”
Another woman carries a sign reading: “It is my right to travel abroad to receive treatment.”
في مشهد يثير الكثير من علامات الاستفهام، اشتكى عدد من المرضى والمحتجين أمام مستشفى ناصر من تعرضهم للمضايقات من ميليشيا حما$س أثناء وقفتهم المطالبة بحقوقهم الإنسانية والعلاجية.
فيما رفض عدد من الصحفيين أصحاب روابط التبرعات تغطية المظاهرة.
يبقى السؤال: من ينقل صوت المرضى عندما… pic.twitter.com/gHDu3yhWs2— زاهر ابو حسين (@ZAHERABUHUSIEN) June 18, 2026
A man has been killed after his car exploded in the southern city of Kiryat Gat, police and medics say.
First responders called to the scene found the victim lifeless near his burning car in the southern city. Medics pronounced him dead at the scene.
Police have launched an investigation and are working to determine the circumstances of the fatal blast.
BEIRUT/LONDON — Three Saudi-flagged supertankers carrying 6 million barrels of crude sailed through the Strait of Hormuz today, hours after US President Donald Trump signed a deal with Iran to end the war that has disrupted global energy supplies.
Though shippers say it will still take time for transit across the strait to reach prewar levels, with a need yet to ensure safe access and clear mines, there were immediate signs of an impact.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas stresses that the EU is “committed to a constructive relationship” with Israel, after Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced that he is cutting off contact with her after she reportedly compared Israel to South Africa’s apartheid regime.
Kallas does not address the reported remarks in her response.
“Dear Gideon, as you know, the EU and Israel have a lot that binds us. I value our dialogue and engagement, and I’m open to continue in that spirit, respectfully and constructively. Dialogue is the foundation of diplomacy, especially when differences arise. The EU is always committed to a constructive relationship with Israel,” Kallas writes on X.
Apparently rejecting Sa’ar’s accusation that she has acted “obsessively and with blatant unfairness” in her approach to Israel, Kallas reiterates the EU’s stance that the two-state solution is “the only viable path” to “bring peace to the Middle East,” and that the bloc has therefore “condemned the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank that make it increasingly difficult to get to that goal.”
Dear Gideon, as you know, the EU and Israel have a lot that binds us. I value our dialogue and engagement, and I’m open to continue in that spirit, respectfully and constructively. Dialogue is the foundation of diplomacy, especially when differences arise. The EU is always…
— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) June 18, 2026
Despite his severing contact, Sa’ar responds to Kallas in a Hebrew-language post on X, telling her, “even in your statement here, you avoid denying or condemning” the reported remarks, saying this “speaks for itself.”
“To the best of my knowledge,” he continues, the reported remarks “do not reflect the position of the European Union.”
“The matter is simple: if you did in fact make these disgraceful and defamatory remarks, then stand behind them. If you did not make them, deny it. As long as this cloud remains unresolved, my decision will stand,” he says.
It is unclear exactly what cutting contact with Kallas will entail, and whether it applies only to Kallas herself or to her office and other bodies under her supervision as well, though, given the significance of her role, it is most likely the former.
The terms were similarly vague when Sa’ar decided to cut contact with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last month after he placed Israel’s security forces on his blacklist of entities said to be credibly accused of sexual violence in war zones.
The IDF publishes an updated map of its security zone in southern Lebanon, saying it will not be withdrawing from the territory at this stage.
Stretching east to west, the deployment line on the map runs up to 10 kilometers (6 miles) deep from the border into Lebanese territory.
“IDF soldiers are stationed in the designated area of operation in southern Lebanon and will continue to remove threats and strengthen the defense of Israel’s northern residents,” the military says in a statement.
The map shows that Israeli troops have advanced deeper into Lebanon since the “forward defense line” was first announced in April, including reaching the outskirts of Nabatieh.
The IDF’s potential withdrawal from areas of southern Lebanon is still being discussed amid direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon. The teams are expected to convene again next week.
At this stage, the IDF says it will continue to hold onto the territory, “in accordance with operational needs,” to remove any threat to troops and to Israel’s northern border communities.
The military also says that it calls on the Lebanese army to coordinate its activity with the IDF and not approach the security zone, as operations in the area continue.
WASHINGTON — The United States will restart military action and reimpose a blockade if Iran does not fulfill its commitments under its agreement with the US, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tells reporters.
“The president has pointed out that we will be prepared to recommence if underneath the timeline of these talks, Iran does not do what it says it’s going to do,” Hegseth says in Brussels after meeting NATO defense ministers.
“If Iran doesn’t comply, then we’re more than able to reimpose an ironclad blockade.”
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announces that he is halting all contact with European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas for reportedly comparing Israel to South Africa’s apartheid regime.
In a post on X, Sa’ar charges that Kallas “has for some time now been acting obsessively and with blatant unfairness toward the State of Israel,” and points to reports that she made the apartheid comparison during high-level talks in Mexico.
Officials and diplomats told Euractiv that Kallas compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank to the apartheid system that existed in South Africa until the early 1990s. The reported remarks sparked criticism from a number of European representatives.
Sa’ar adds that “to date, no denial, clarification or response has been issued by her regarding this severe statement,” leaving him with “no choice but to sever all contact with Ms. Kallas until she retracts the blood libel she directed at the world’s only Jewish state, which is also the only democracy in the Middle East.”
Ms. @kajakallas, the EU High Rep. for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, has for some time now been acting obsessively and with blatant unfairness toward the State of Israel.
Recently, it was published that during her visit to Mexico, she compared Israel to the racist…
— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) June 18, 2026
US President Donald Trump hits back at critics over his policies on Iran, calling them “jealous, bad people, or stupid,” in a post on Truth Social.
“These fools, who think I haven’t been tough enough on Iran, when the Stock Market Just Hit A RECORD HIGH, and Oil prices are ‘tumbling’ down, are either jealous, bad people, or stupid. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
An unvaccinated one-year-old baby was hospitalized in critical condition at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem last week, suffering from epiglottitis, a rare disease caused by Haemophilus influenzae type B, the hospital says.
Massive swelling blocked the baby’s windpipe, and doctors were forced to use a tiny, thin tube, usually intended to help premature babies breathe immediately after birth, and thus managed to save the toddler from suffocation.
The baby, who is unvaccinated against Haemophilus influenzae type B, is now hospitalized in the pediatrics department.
Dr. Efrat Blankenstein, a resident physician in the pediatrics department who took part in the emergency treatment, states that the infant “was just minutes away from death.”
Epiglottitis “was primarily an emergency we learned about theoretically,” she says. “Had the child been vaccinated, this entire incident would have been prevented.”
Antisemitic incidents in Germany remained at record levels in 2025, with a new report documenting 8,725 cases nationwide, or an average of 24 incidents per day, the Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS) said in its annual report yesterday.
The number was slightly up from 2024’s 8,627 incidents, and nearly double the figure reported in 2023, RIAS said. In 2020, for comparison, 1,957 incidents were recorded. It was the highest total since RIAS began tracking such incidents in 2018.
Antisemitism has remained consistently high since the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre in Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. Israel-related antisemitism accounted for 68% of all documented incidents, RIAS said.
The report recorded 178 assaults, 257 threats, and four cases of extreme violence, including a terrorist attack at Berlin’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.
Many incidents occurred in everyday settings, with victims targeted and blamed for Israeli government actions, RIAS said. In Kehl, four members of the Jewish community were insulted and spat on outside a Jewish prayer room, and in Hesse, a rabbi was shoved in a supermarket in front of his children and had his phone snatched from him.
RIAS also reported a sharp rise in online abuse. More than a quarter of all incidents occurred on the internet, while 43% of documented threats, including death threats, were made online.
Right-wing extremist antisemitic incidents reached a record high of 807 cases, according to the report. These included Holocaust glorification, conspiracy theories, and calls for anti-Jewish violence.
“The RIAS annual report shows that antisemitism in Germany continues to rise without any sign of slowing down,” said Klein, Federal government commissioner for Jewish life in Germany and the fight against antisemitism. “Antisemitism threatens not only Jews; it threatens our democracy, our freedom, and the moral core of our republic.”
Supreme Court Deputy President Noam Sohlberg has Likud MK Tali Gotliv removed from the courtroom where petitions are being heard requesting that the recent election in the Knesset for state comptroller be annulled.
Gotliv repeatedly interrupted the hearing and was repeatedly warned by Sohlberg to desist, before he ordered her removed due to her final interruption.
Gotliv has shouted and heckled during numerous Supreme Court hearings along with other coalition MKs and right-wing activists in recent years, a phenomenon almost unheard of before the current government took office.
Israel is “conducting stubborn negotiations” with the US on the issue of continuing its deployment of troops in southern Lebanon, a senior Israeli official close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells Reuters.
Israel has no intention of backing down on its positions, the official says.
GENEVA, Switzerland — The United Nations nuclear watchdog welcomes the memorandum of understanding signed yesterday evening by Washington and Iran.
“It is good that the memorandum is there. Now the technical work starts,” the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi tells reporters in Geneva.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran has restored about 89 percent of petrochemical units that were knocked offline during the war with Israel and the US, the head of the country’s largest petrochemical holding group says, according to the Iranian Student News Agency.
Mohammad Shariatmadari, chief executive of Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company, says disrupted facilities had returned to production following what he described as rapid reconstruction efforts, with some units operating above nominal capacity, while others had yet to reach full output.
Iran introduced a ban on petrochemical exports in April to ensure domestic supply after its petrochemical sector production was disrupted by Israeli strikes hitting utilities companies that provide feedstock for petrochemical plants.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson says that Israel’s continued presence in southern Lebanon would mean the “annulment” of the memorandum of understanding it signed with the United States, in an interview with Lebanon’s Hezbollah-aligned Al Akhbar news outlet.
He says that “the second phase of our negotiations will begin to reach a final agreement, and this final agreement will be achieved only if the memorandum of understanding is fully implemented, which, in our view, means the complete cessation of attacks and the end of the occupation.”
US and Iranian negotiators are set to meet in the Swiss resort town of Burgenstock on Friday for initial talks.
“It was not acceptable for us to abandon our brothers in Lebanon,” Baghaei says. “As for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon, as you know, we mean to end the war and put a definitive and sustainable end to it. For this reason, we cannot talk about ending the war while parts of Lebanese territory remain under the occupation of the Zionist entity. As long as the occupation continues, it can be said that the war is still in place and has not ended in essence.”
Lebanese media reports one dead and another critically wounded in an Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon this morning.
Lebanon’s National News Agency reports that the strike hit a car near Kfar Tebnit, a village near Nabatieh where the Israeli army has been operating in recent days.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF on the strike.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei says the memorandum of understanding signed with the US ensures respect for Lebanon’s territory and sovereignty.
Baghaei tells the Hezbollah-aligned Lebanese news outlet Al Akhbar that “the continuation of the Zionist entity’s attacks on Lebanon will be a violation of the pledges contained in the memorandum.”
He charges that “the Zionist entity does not want to provide any opportunity for any diplomatic path to calm the situation in our region.”
“Washington is responsible for obliging the Zionist entity to respect the pledges made in the agreement,” he adds.
Baghaei tells Al Akhbar that the memorandum determined that the US and Iran “will negotiate exclusively on the nuclear file and the lifting of sanctions.”
The apparently limited talks come in contrast to the core declared goals of the war launched by the US and Israel on February 28, including destroying its missile program and creating the conditions for the Iranian public to overthrow the regime in addition to ensuring that Iran does not attain nuclear weapons.
“We will hold negotiations on the nuclear file and sanctions within 60 days, and if necessary, it will be extended,” Baghaei says.
“We have not sought to acquire nuclear weapons and we do not seek them either through their manufacture or through their purchase,” he states.
A hearing in the High Court of Justice begins over petitions demanding that the election this month of Michael Rabello, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s longtime lawyer and adviser, as state comptroller be annulled.
The petitions argue that coalition MKs who filmed or photographed themselves putting a voting slip for Rabello into the ballot box during the second round of voting, reportedly on orders of the Likud party, violated Basic Law: The State Comptroller, which says that the vote must be secret.
According to the petitions, the MKs who acted in this manner undermined the freedom of other MKs to vote their conscience and, by extension, the political independence of Rabello as comptroller.
Rabello’s opponent, retired Supreme Court justice Yosef Elron who lost 61-57 in the second round vote, has joined the petitioners, calling the election “unlawful.”
Petitioners also argued that Rabello’s many years of work for Netanyahu, his wife Sara, and the Likud party mean that he cannot carry out the duties of state comptroller impartially.
Rabello in his response to the High Court said he rejects accusations of being politically dependent, arguing that Israeli law determines that a fair-minded person can carry out public service faithfully even if they had prior connections to those who appointed them.
Knesset Legal Adviser Sagit Afik, in her response, asked the court to dismiss the petitions, saying the petitioners presented no direct evidence that Likud MKs had been ordered to document their vote and arguing that the law does not bar an MK from voluntarily documenting their own vote.
ZURICH, Switzerland — Initial talks between the United States and Iran are planned at the Burgenstock mountaintop resort in Switzerland tomorrow, following the signing of a ceasefire agreement yesterday between Tehran and Washington, the Swiss government says.
“As things stand, the plan is still for the US and Iran, along with mediators Pakistan and Qatar and other involved countries, to meet tomorrow at Burgenstock for initial negotiations about implementing the agreement.
“No further information is currently available regarding the schedule and details of this meeting,” the Swiss Foreign Ministry says in a statement.
Two Israelis are being held in connection with a brawl and stabbing outside a nightclub in the Cypriot town of Ayia Napa, local media reports.
According to reports, a 21-year-old Israeli allegedly stabbed and wounded a man with whom he was arguing, as well as two security guards.
Yesterday, a court extended police custody of the 21-year-old, while his friend, 22, an Israeli who was injured in the clash, was also being held in connection with the incident, reports say.
US President Donald Trump urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “stop blowing up buildings” in a recent phone call on Lebanon, the Wall Street Journal reports.
According to the report, the two leaders’ frequent phone calls are more hostile than they used to be.
Trump has expressed frustration to his advisers that Netanyahu wants to “bomb everyone,” according to a person who heard the remarks, while a senior official in the administration says the president has grown tired of the premier’s constant requests for military action.
“Bibi tells the president why he needs to blow something up, and why Israeli intelligence knows how to do it, and when to do it, and the president listens,” the official says. “The calls are usually the same.”
In another phone call with Netanyahu, Trump expressed concern that economic strains brought on by the Iran war could link him to former US president Herbert Hoover and his failures during the 1930s Great Depression.
Trump has also been increasingly publicly critical of Netanyahu, confirming in an interview earlier this month that he called the Israeli leader “fucking crazy” during a phone call. Then, earlier this week, he reportedly told Axios that he had informed Netanyahu he has “no fucking judgment” following an Israeli strike on Hezbollah in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
A 50-year-old woman shot alongside her husband early this morning in Qalansawe has died of her wounds.
Medics found the victim in a serious and unstable condition and took her to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The couple was shot while driving in the central Arab city, in what police believe is linked to a conflict between two families.
Her husband, 62 years old, was pronounced dead earlier at the crime scene.
No arrests have yet been reported.
A man in his 50s was killed early this morning, and a woman was critically injured after being shot in their car while on the way to work in the central Arab city of Qalansawe, police say.
Police say it launched an investigation and that the shooting is linked to an ongoing blood feud.
Former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party would be the largest opposition faction if new elections were held today, overtaking ex-premier Naftali Bennett’s Together, according to Channel 13 news.
A poll published by the network shows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party as the largest with 22 seats, followed by Yashar with 20 and Together with 17.
The next largest parties were also opposition factions, The Democrats and Yisrael Beytenu, with 11 seats each, followed by the ultra-Orthodox Shas party with nine seats and eight apiece for ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit and Haredi United Torah Judaism.
The majority Arab Hadash-Ta’al alliance picked up six seats, while the Islamist Ra’am and far-right Religious Zionism closed out the poll with four seats a pop.
Combined, the survey gave opposition parties 59 seats, two short of a majority in the Knesset, while the Netanyahu-led bloc received 51 seats and Arab parties 10.
An IDF reservist soldier was killed, and seven others were wounded, including senior officers, by a Hezbollah explosive device in southern Lebanon yesterday afternoon, the military announces.
The slain soldier is named as Master Sgt. (res.) Alexander Filin, 29, a combat soldier with the 36th Division’s headquarters, from Haifa.
At around 5 p.m., the deputy commander of the 36th Division, his forward command team, and other soldiers were walking along the Litani River when they were hit by a blast.
The deputy division commander, with the rank of colonel; a battalion commander in the 556th Transport Regiment, a reservist officer with the rank of lieutenant colonel; and another reservist were moderately injured.
In addition, a combat soldier, two combat reservists, and a servicewoman were lightly injured in the explosion.
The IDF says the soldiers were all taken to hospitals and their families were notified.
An initial IDF probe suggests the blast was a Hezbollah explosive device, but further details are under investigation.
Following the incident, the IDF says it carried out artillery shelling on Hezbollah infrastructure in the area.
The signing of the US-Iran memorandum of understanding to end the Middle East war means Tehran will reopen the Strait of Hormuz “instantly” and the American blockade of Iranian ports will end “immediately,” Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says.
The memorandum “shall enter into force with immediate effect and as a first step, Islamic Republic of Iran will instantly reopen the Strait of Hormuz and the United States of America will immediately lift the naval blockade,” Sharif writes on X.
He also confirms that Pakistan, with Qatari support, will host a ceremony in Switzerland on Friday to “commemorate this landmark event and commence with the technical level talks.”
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei says that talks between Iran and the United States on Friday in Switzerland are not confirmed for now.
“The Friday meeting was confirmed until a few hours ago, but when it was decided that the presidents of the two sides (Iran and the US) would sign the agreement, it was decided to pause consideration of the Friday meeting for now,” Baghaei says.
US President Donald Trump has signed a deal with Iran to end the Middle East war, a US official tells AFP after Axios reported that the signing took place during a dinner with France’s president and the agreement is now in effect.
“Can confirm the signing,” the official says when asked about the report that Trump personally signed a copy during dinner with Macron at the Palace of Versailles following a G7 summit.
A US official clarifies to Reuters that Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed it after the memo was first signed digitally on Sunday by Vice President JD Vance and Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and witnessed by Trump.
The text of the agreement between the United States and Iran has been officially signed by the presidents of both sides, Iran state media reports, citing foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei.
“The text of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding was finalized with the signatures of the presidents — now it is time to test the implementation of the agreement,” Baghaei says, quoted by the state news agency IRNA.
Iran’s chief negotiator says the deal with Washington to end the Middle East war after more than three months is a “failure” for the United States.
“The agreement is a record of US failure. People will see it and judge,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf says on state TV after the text was released by both sides.
He also repeats that Tehran will charge ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz after a 60-day fee-free period stipulated in the memorandum of understanding with the US.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf says the “Strait of Hormuz will not return to pre-war conditions,” adding: “Iran has the right to sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and of course we will receive a fee for services.”
US President Donald Trump doubles down on his assertion that Iran be allowed to maintain some ballistic missiles.
“If other countries have them, it’s a little bit unfair for them not to have some,” Trump tells reporters in France.
“A ballistic missile is not the same thing as what we’re talking about when we talk nuclear,” he continues.
“But if Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and they all have some, I would say that in relative proportion, I think it’s okay” for Iran to have ballistic missiles, Trump adds.
