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The Ocean Koi was seized in the Gulf of Oman before being handed over to the Iranian authorities
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The United States said on Friday it expects to receive an Iranian response to its proposal to end the war as soon as today, even as US and Iranian forces clashed in the Gulf and the UAE came under renewed attack.
“We should know something today,” US secretary of state Marco Rubio told reporters in Rome. “We’re expecting a response from them… The hope is it’s something that can put us into a serious process of negotiation.” Iran’s foreign ministry said Tehran was still weighing its response.
As hopes of a diplomatic resolution to the crisis were again revived, US vice president JD Vance met with the prime minister of Qatar to discuss the negotiations with Iran, according to Axios. A US official said that the Qataris were working behind the scenes towards ending the war.
Sporadic clashes between Iranian armed forces and US vessels were still taking place in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported.
The US military said it had struck two more Iran-linked vessels that were trying to enter an Iranian port with F/A-18 Super Hornet jets from USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier.
Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed at least five people Friday, while Hezbollah fired rockets on northern Israel without in inflicting any casualties.
The Health Ministry in Lebanon said that an Israeli airstrike on the southern village of Toura near the port city of Tyre killed four people and wounded eight.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency report another airstrike near the southeastern village of Kfar Chouba, saying it killed a paramedic with the Lebanese Civil Defense.
The strikes came hours after the Israeli army’s Arabic-language spokesperson issued an evacuation warning to the residents of six villages in Tyre province, including Toura.
President Trump appears little closer to reaching a durable deal to end the war with Iran, but the Republican did announce a diplomatic victory all the same on Friday.
This Saturday will mark the beginning of a three-day ceasefire in the Ukraine war, Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“This request was made directly by me, and I very much appreciate its agreement by President Vladimir Putin and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy,” Trump wrote. “Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard fought War. Talks are continuing on ending this Major Conflict, the biggest since World War II, and we are getting closer and closer every day.”
The U.S. is not at war with Russia, but the Russian campaign in Ukraine nonetheless has its ties to the Iran war.
Russia has made extensive use of low-cost, highly lethal Iranian drones in Ukraine, and Ukraine has used its years of experience fighting off these technologies to advise U.S. forces now facing similar threats.
Russia has also reportedly helped supply intelligence to Iran.
On a more abstract level, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has similarly disrupted global oil markets.
In posts made at the crack of dawn Friday, the president defended the war amid the ongoing Strait of Hormuz standoff and touted his planned UFC match 80th birthday celebration on June 14 as the ‘biggest ever’:
President Donald Trump spent part of his day on Friday asking construction workers on a project updating the reflecting pool near the Lincoln Monument about their thoughts on Iran’s nuclear armament.
“Does anyone think Iran should have a nuclear weapon?” Trump asked the workers. The workers responded with a resounding “no,” shaking their heads.
Read more from reporter Rachel Dobkin below:
The United Arab Emirates confirmed on Friday that it intercepted two ballistic missiles and a trio of drones launched by Iran, but noted that three people were injured by the debris caused by the interceptions.
The nation’s Ministry of Defense said during the announcement that since the start of U.S. President Donald Trump’s war in Iran, it has had to intercept a total of 551 Iranian ballistic missiles, 29 cruise missiles, and another 2,263 drones.
There’s one good reason why America would even suggest a 14-point plan to end hostilities that ignores several of its red lines – not least over nuclear enrichment – and that is next week’s summit with Xi Jinping, says Mary Dejevsky:
On Friday, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that there had been “reports of a limited exchange of fire with U.S. forces around the Strait of Hormuz.”
“Sounds of gunfire have reportedly been heard in areas near the Strait for approximately the past two hours,” the report said.
The report came just hours after U.S. forces intercepted a pair of Iranian-flagged oil tankers attempting to run the blockade, according to U.S. CentComm.
Despite the fighting, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei said Tehran and Washington were still observing a “nominal ceasefire situation.”
Even as Donald Trump insists a deal to end the conflict is within reach, analysts warn the consequences could push the world towards a global recession if disruption to the flow of oil continues in the Strait of Hormuz.
But as consumers bear the brunt of higher energy costs and rising inflation caused by the war, a handful of outliers are celebrating record profits from surging oil prices, renewed defence spending and frenzied trading patterns.
The Independent reviews some of the main beneficiaries of the conflict in the Middle East.
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