Iran war news highlights: Trump says 'most of the agreement' with Tehran is about nuclear issues

A senior Iranian commander has warned that any new aggression against his country will be met with a response far more forceful than previous attacks.

“The enemy should know that any aggression against the country’s territory will be met with a response even more forceful than before,” Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, the deputy army commander for coordination, said, according to Press TV.

“Today, the army of the Islamic Republic stands firmly and resolutely against any hostile move by the enemy,” he added.

Iran war news LIVE: Earlier, Axios reported that Trump had sought “several amendments” to the preliminary agreement negotiated by his envoys with Iran.

The New York Times has now reported that Trump has “toughened the terms” of the proposed framework and sent the revised version back to Iran for review.

Iran war news LIVE: The United States warned on Saturday that it was "more than capable" of restarting military action against Iran, as US President Donald Trump said any peace agreement must meet his conditions, including a commitment that Tehran will never be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.

The White House had indicated that Trump was nearing a decision on a possible deal, although Iran rejected reports that a final agreement had been reached to end the conflict.

According to US sources who spoke to AFP, the proposed deal was awaiting Trump's approval. However, no decision was taken following a meeting in the White House Situation Room on Friday.

The capture of Beaufort Castle near the city of Nabatiyeh came after days of intense fighting and airstrikes in nearby villages, where Israeli troops fought Hezbollah members in the rugged area.

The capture of the castle marks a major gain for Israel since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war began in early March, and as the two countries that have been in a state of war since Israel was created in 1948 hold direct talks in Washington.

The Israeli army has claimed that it has captured a strategic castle in southern Lebanon in the deepest incursion into the country in 26 years, the AP news agency reported.

The Israeli military says a 21-year-old soldier has been killed in battle in southern Lebanon on Saturday. It said four others were also wounded in the same incident.

The Channel 12 broadcaster reported that the soldier was killed in a drone attack.

The Israeli military has said in a statement that its ground operations in Lebanon are expanding to additional areas, AFP reported.

Earlier, Axios reported that Donald Trump asked for “several amendments” to the preliminary agreement his envoys reached with Iran.

Now, the New York Times has also reported that Trump has “toughened the terms” of the potential framework and sent those proposed changes back to Iran for consideration.

The NYT report said it was not immediately clear what changes had been made to the agreement's text.

Rising fuel prices, driven by the Middle East war, are driving a sharp increase in carpooling, with a ride-sharing platform reporting a surge in new users seeking cheaper ways to travel.

The world's largest carpooling platform, BlaBlaCar, said soaring energy costs have pushed 600,000 additional drivers onto the app this year -- 20 per cent more than initially projected -- as commuters look to offset the rising cost of fuel.

In India, it's single biggest market with more than 20 million users in 2025, the number of passengers has increased by 40 per cent since the start of the US-Israeli airstrikes against Iran on February 28.

President Donald Trump has sought to change several terms of a proposal to end the Middle East war, US media reported Saturday, as a finalised deal remains elusive among the parties.

The New York Times reported that Trump's changes involved toughening the terms of the deal and sent the new framework back to be considered by Iran, according to officials familiar with the proceedings.

The report said it was not immediately clear what the changes entailed, but news site Axios reported that Trump wanted to reinforce multiple points of the deal he personally felt were important, such as what is done with Iran's nuclear material.

The new tweaks could prolong negotiations between the parties for days before a decision is reached on whether the deal would end the war, which began after the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran on February 28.

US sources told AFP that the proposal had been awaiting Trump's sign-off, but he made no decision after a White House Situation Room meeting on Friday.

Trump has said his priorities for any deal included Iran agreeing to never develop nuclear weapons and the reopening of the blockaded Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20 per cent of the world's oil supply transits.

Al Jazeera Arabic reported that Israeli forces have demolished houses in the town of Dibbine in southern Lebanon.

With summer around the corner, soaring prices and other complications stemming from the war with Iran are straining the tourism-dependent economies of Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand and Vietnam.

The region's peak tourist summer season is at risk as elevated jet fuel costs, coupled with ceasefire uncertainties, prompt flight cancellations and higher ticket prices.

Tourism in Asia has yet to fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, many countries are coping with the war's repercussions for global energy supplies and prices, which hit Asia first and hardest. Some families are pulling back on travel as the cost of visiting gas stations and grocery stores rises worldwide. Crowds have thinned at some places once synonymous with travel.

A provision in a bill before the United States Congress could tie the American and Israeli militaries far more closely together, deepening their cooperation on weapons research, production and technology.

According to Al Jazeera, the proposal, titled the “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative,” appears as Section 224 of the House Armed Services Committee’s version of the fiscal year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the annual US defence policy bill.

The measure is still at an early stage. The NDAA is passed by Congress each year to set US military policy and authorise defence programmes and spending levels.

If enacted, the provision could mark a major change in one of the world’s closest military relationships, shifting the two countries from a partnership centred largely on American military aid towards one in which their defence industries are more deeply intertwined.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed that its air defence units shot down a US MQ-1 drone after it allegedly entered Iranian territorial airspace in the early hours of Sunday, according to Iranian semi-official news agency Tasnim.

According to the Iranian news agency, the statement said the aerial vehicle was immediately detected by the IRGC's surveillance and air defence systems and was subsequently targeted by advanced air defence missiles. Iranian authorities claimed the drone was successfully destroyed.

The IRGC characterised the aircraft belonging to the US Army and justified the claimed shooting down of the drone as it claimed that the drone entered with the "intention of carrying out hostile operations."

US President Donald Trump asked for several amendments to the deal his envoys reached with their Iranian counterparts during a Situation Room meeting on Friday, Axios reported, quoting a senior administration official and a second source briefed on the issue.

Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman bin Hassan bin Ali Al Thani has told the Shangri-La Dialogue that his country would oppose a permanent toll for passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

He added that Qatar would find a temporary fee negotiable, if it was to be used to help reopen the waterway, by removing sea mines, for example.

Donald Trump told Fox News that the US is going to make a “great deal” and if not, “we’ll just go back and finish it off military”. He said he would rather make a deal as it will “save a lot of lives” and “we can open the strait [of Hormuz] immediately upon signing”.

He described Iran’s leadership as “very tough negotiators” and said the US was getting what it wants slowly.

“It takes a long time. I’m in no hurry,” he said. “If you’re gonna be in a hurry, you’re not gonna make a good deal. And slowly but surely, we’re getting, I think, what we want, and if we don’t get what we want, we’re gonna end it a different way.”

US President Donald Trump reflected on the US war in Iraq and said American forces shouldn’t have been in Baghdad or in Iran.

Speaking on Fox News about his next moves on Iran, Trump said, "You look at what happened with Iraq. We did so bad. It was such a foolish thing, what we did. We shouldn’t have been there in the first place, by the way.”

“We shouldn’t have been in Iran, but Iran has the capability,” he continued. “If we didn’t hit them with a B2 bombers, nine months ago, they would have a nuclear weapon right now and will be a whole different story, you probably wouldn’t have had Israel, but you probably wouldn’t have had a Middle East, and then where do they go from there?”

Trump also claimed the US has deliberately spared the Iranian military.

“Their military, we sort of left it alone because we think that their military is somewhat moderate. They have other people that aren’t moderate. We’ve taken them. We’ve taken different forms of leadership out. We’ve actually left their military alone,” he said.

Trump added that “people would be surprised to hear that because mistakes have been made in wars where you wipe out everybody and then you have a country that’s, you know, for 40 years can never rebuild”.

Iran has reasserted its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, issuing a stern warning that both mercantile and naval vessels must strictly adhere to shipping protocols in the crucial maritime corridor or face potential repercussions.

According to a statement carried by Iranian media, the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters declared, "The management of the Strait of Hormuz is exercised with full authority by the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran."

The military command went on to emphasise that "all ships, commercial vessels, and tankers are only required to travel through the designated routes and obtain permission from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy. Any violation of these regulations will seriously jeopardise the security of their traffic."

Tehran additionally cautioned international naval contingents deployed in the region, asserting that any disruption to shipping administration or vessel traffic would trigger a swift countermeasure.

US President Donald Trump met with his advisers on Friday at the White House in the Situation Room, which is the room where the president tends to make the biggest wartime decisions.

He was there, and then he left. And there’s still really no word on why he did not make a decision on this framework for potentially extending the ceasefire.

Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency is reporting that the military has unveiled its newest naval attack craft, named “27 Rajab”, during a ceremony in Tehran’s Enqelab Square.

The agency said the vessel can achieve speeds of up to 100 knots (185km per hour) and is equipped to launch long-range cruise missiles.

It described the deployment as a new symbol of Iran’s maritime military capabilities.

The US affirmed that deals with Iran to safely sail through the Strait of Hormuz — even those which don’t involve paying a toll — aren’t allowed, as the conflict between the two nations grinds on.

“Regardless of whether a payment is made, US persons are prohibited from receiving services from the Government of Iran, including services related to a guarantee of safe passage,” the US Treasury said in an updated statement dated May 29.

Shipping through Hormuz — the vital waterway that connects energy infrastructure inside the Persian Gulf to the rest of the world — has slowed to a trickle since the Iran war began on Feb. 28, sending the price of oil soaring. The White House has sent conflicting messages on the prospects for a deal with Iran, a pattern that continued on Friday.

Iran created a new entity called the Persian Gulf Strait Authority to “collect tolls and extort vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” Treasury said in the statement. The US Office of Foreign Assets Control has designated the PGSA “pursuant to our counterterrorism authorities,” and warned that having dealings with it carries sanctions risks.