LIVE War in the Middle East: Donald Trump awaits a response from Iraq…

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatened on Saturday to attack American sites “in the region” and “enemy ships” in the event of an attack on its tankers, Iranian media reported.

These threats come the day after attacks by the American army against two Iranian oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman.

While Donald Trump awaits an “imminent” response, Iran on Saturday questioned the seriousness of American diplomacy. A month after the entry into force of a truce, the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abbas Araghchi, expressed this skepticism during a telephone interview with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, the day after new skirmishes in the waters of the Gulf:

« The recent escalation of tensions by American forces and their multiple violations of the ceasefire reinforce suspicions about the motivation and seriousness of the American side on the path to diplomacy. »

The EU manager for humanitarian crisis situations, Hadja Lahbib, called this Saturday, during a visit to Beirut, for better humanitarian access in southern Lebanon, the scene of clashes between Israel and the pro-Iranian movement Hezbollah despite a ceasefire. “Humanitarian aid is ready, but too often it cannot reach those who need it most,” she declared during a press conference on the second day of her visit to Lebanon.

“South of the Litani River, access remains severely limited due to evacuation orders and Israeli military activities. This concerns in particular 55 villages located below the so-called yellow line,” said Hadja Lahbib, referring to the line which demarcates the “security zone” established by Israel.

The oil slick that appeared a few days ago off the Iranian island of Kharg, raising fears of an oil spill, has “significantly reduced”, noted this Saturday the Conflict and Environment Observatory, a non-governmental organization based in the United Kingdom, based on the analysis of satellite images. In recent days, images appeared to show an expanding oil spill, the cause of which was unknown, off the island, the main Iranian oil terminal, through which 90% of the Islamic Republic’s crude normally passes.

“The cause and origin of the spill remain unknown and cannot be conclusively determined from the available images alone,” added the NGO, while American media reported the possibility of leaks in infrastructure Iranian oil companies.

The ship, HMS Dragon, will carry out a mission in the Strait of Hormuz.

“This prepositioning of HMS Dragon is part of rigorous planning to ensure that the United Kingdom is ready, as part of a multinational coalition led jointly by the United Kingdom and France, to secure the Strait, when conditions allow,” said the British Ministry of Defense.

The Iranian Football Federation affirmed this Saturday that the men’s national team would participate in the 2026 World Cup, while demanding that the host countries, the United States, Mexico and Canada accept its conditions in the context of the war in the Middle East.

This request comes after Canada last month refused entry into its territory to the president of the Iranian federation before the FIFA Congress, due to his links with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, designated a terrorist organization by Ottawa in 2024.

The president of the federation, Mehdi Taj, declared on Friday that Tehran had set 10 conditions for participating in the event, demanding guarantees on the treatment reserved for the country. These conditions include the granting of visas and respect for staff, the Iranian flag and the national anthem. Tehran also requires a high level of security in airports, hotels and on routes leading to stadiums where the team will play.

Bahrain’s Interior Ministry announced the dismantling of an organization accused of links with the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the arrest of 41 of its alleged members.

The authorities have “carried out arrests targeting some of the most important Shiite figures in the country,” said Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, of the London-based Bahraini NGO Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), earlier on This is an “unprecedented operation that had not occurred on such a scale, even at the height of the repression in 2011,” said the human rights activist.

The Israeli army, which had launched a call to evacuate nine localities in southern Lebanon for attacks against pro-Iranian Hezbollah, carried out strikes in the region, the Lebanese news agency Ani said. Despite the ceasefire in force since April 17, Israeli warplanes “launched a strike on the town of Zrariyeh after an early warning,” the official agency said.

Several other areas mentioned in the Israeli evacuation order were also affected, specifies this source, which also reports Israeli aerial bombardments and artillery fire on other sectors of the south of the country not mentioned in the Israeli appeal.

Extensive oil pollution was detected on Friday in the Persian Gulf near the Iranian island of Kharg Island, the main export point of Iranian oil, according to information from the New York Times. Satellite images studied by Orbital EOS show a slick extending over more than 50 km2, with a volume estimated at more than 3,000 barrels of oil.

The causes of this leak have not been determined at this stage. The island of Kharg, located in the north of the Gulf, usually concentrates nearly 90% of Iran’s oil exports. Still according to the American daily, the slick was progressing south towards Saudi waters.

Hezbollah announced Friday that it had carried out a new operation using drones against an air base located in northern Israel. The pro-Iranian Lebanese movement presents this attack as a response to recent Israeli strikes, notably that carried out on Wednesday in the southern suburbs of Beirut, an area considered one of its main strongholds.

According to the Hezbollah press release, a first attack had already targeted this same military installation near Nahariya earlier in the day. Wednesday’s Israeli raid cost the life of a senior member of the Shiite movement. Israeli authorities did not immediately comment on these new demands.

In a video published by the Iranian agency Mehr, Mohammad Mokhber, advisor to the Iranian Supreme Guide, underlined the strategic importance of the Strait of Hormuz in the context of discussions with the United States. He compared this maritime zone to “an opportunity as precious as an atomic bomb.”

The Iranian official also estimated that Tehran had not sufficiently exploited until now the influence given to it by controlling this key passage for world trade. He mentioned a possible evolution of the legal framework of the Strait, based either on international law or on Iranian national legislation.

While Donald Trump awaits an “imminent” response, Iran on Saturday questioned the seriousness of American diplomacy. A month after the entry into force of a truce, the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abbas Araghchi, expressed this skepticism during a telephone interview with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, the day after new skirmishes in the waters of the Gulf:

« The recent escalation of tensions by American forces and their multiple violations of the ceasefire reinforce suspicions about the motivation and seriousness of the American side on the path to diplomacy. »

The ship, HMS Dragon, will carry out a mission in the Strait of Hormuz.

“This prepositioning of HMS Dragon is part of rigorous planning to ensure that the United Kingdom is ready, as part of a multinational coalition led jointly by the United Kingdom and France, to secure the Strait, when conditions allow,” said the British Ministry of Defense.

The Israeli army, which had launched a call to evacuate nine localities in southern Lebanon for attacks against pro-Iranian Hezbollah, carried out strikes in the region, the Lebanese news agency Ani said. Despite the ceasefire in force since April 17, Israeli warplanes “launched a strike on the town of Zrariyeh after an early warning,” the official agency said.

Several other areas mentioned in the Israeli evacuation order were also affected, specifies this source, which also reports Israeli aerial bombardments and artillery fire on other sectors of the south of the country not mentioned in the Israeli appeal.

Extensive oil pollution was detected on Friday in the Persian Gulf near the Iranian island of Kharg Island, the main export point of Iranian oil, according to information from the New York Times. Satellite images studied by Orbital EOS show a slick extending over more than 50 km2, with a volume estimated at more than 3,000 barrels of oil.

The causes of this leak have not been determined at this stage. The island of Kharg, located in the north of the Gulf, usually concentrates nearly 90% of Iran’s oil exports. Still according to the American daily, the slick was progressing south towards Saudi waters.

Hezbollah announced Friday that it had carried out a new operation using drones against an air base located in northern Israel. The pro-Iranian Lebanese movement presents this attack as a response to recent Israeli strikes, notably that carried out on Wednesday in the southern suburbs of Beirut, an area considered one of its main strongholds.

According to the Hezbollah press release, a first attack had already targeted this same military installation near Nahariya earlier in the day. Wednesday’s Israeli raid cost the life of a senior member of the Shiite movement. Israeli authorities did not immediately comment on these new demands.

In a video published by the Iranian agency Mehr, Mohammad Mokhber, advisor to the Iranian Supreme Guide, underlined the strategic importance of the Strait of Hormuz in the context of discussions with the United States. He compared this maritime zone to “an opportunity as precious as an atomic bomb.”

The Iranian official also estimated that Tehran had not sufficiently exploited until now the influence given to it by controlling this key passage for world trade. He mentioned a possible evolution of the legal framework of the Strait, based either on international law or on Iranian national legislation.