LIVE War in the Middle East: Iran tightens its control over destruction…

Strikes hit two buildings in the Lebanese city of Tire and its outskirts during the night from Friday to Saturday, shortly after a call to evacuate these areas issued by the Israeli army.

An AFP correspondent heard two explosions when a building on the outskirts of this town in southern Lebanon was hit and then saw flames and smoke rising from the site. Shortly after, a second explosion was heard in the city, as a column of smoke rose from the site of the strike.

Israel carried out five air strikes on Friday evening in eastern Lebanon, near the Syrian border, according to the official Lebanese agency NNA. The bombings targeted the area of ​​Nabi Sreij, near the town of Brital, shortly before midnight local time, said an agency correspondent in Baalbek.

This region had no longer been targeted since the truce concluded between Israel and Hezbollah came into force on April 17, while Israeli strikes nevertheless continue in other sectors of Lebanon.

Donald Trump confirmed Friday that he would not attend the wedding of his eldest son Don Jr. on Saturday, indicating that he would remain in Washington due to ongoing negotiations with Iran and other state issues. The White House also clarified that he would not go to his golf course in Bedminster, in the northeast of the United States, this weekend.

The American president explained that he was kept at the White House “for reasons relating to state affairs”, without further details. On Truth Social, he wrote: “I feel it is important for me to stay in Washington at the White House during this very important moment. Congratulations to Don and Bettina.” Already on Thursday, he had confided: “It’s not the right time for me. I have this thing called Iran and other things.”

Global stock markets are rising Friday on hopes of a Middle East deal and continued AI growth despite expensive oil pushing up inflation and interest rates.

All three New York indexes opened higher. On the Nasdaq of technology stocks (+ 0.60%), AMD, Nvidia’s great rival in the market for chips essential to AI, jumped (+ 5.66%) in the first exchanges.

In Europe, all indices also increased (Paris +0.44%, Frankfurt +1.04%, London +0.15% and Milan +0.45%) around 2 p.m. GMT.

Pakistani army chief Asim Munir is on his way to Tehran. Pakistan is the mediating country in negotiations aimed at ending the war between Iran and the United States.

Since the entry into force of a fragile truce on April 8 after more than a month of conflict, only one unsuccessful negotiation session was held on April 11 in Islamabad. Since then, discussions have continued behind the scenes. On Thursday, American Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he hoped that this visit by Asim Munir would “move things forward”, after that at the start of the week by the Pakistani Minister of the Interior.

The European Union opened the way on Friday for sanctions against “persons” or “entities” in Iran who block the Strait of Hormuz. This strategic passageway, through which around 20% of the world’s hydrocarbons usually pass, has been blocked since the end of February by Iran, in response to the war launched by Israel and the United States.

“Iran’s actions against ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz are contrary to international law,” Brussels said in a statement.

Israel ordered the World Food Program (WFP) to suspend its collaboration in the Gaza Strip with a Turkish NGO accused of being a “terrorist organization” and of being linked to the “flotillas for Gaza.”

“The WFP has been instructed by Israeli authorities to immediately suspend fuel supplies and all its activities with its partner IHH, thereby cutting off aid to more than 166,000 people who depend on daily hot meals, bread and food support to survive,” according to a spokesperson.

The WFP began working with this humanitarian organization in January 2024 in Gaza, after a “rigorous” process of verifying its activities, he said.

Six people, including two rescuers and a girl, were killed Friday in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Ministry of Health announced, despite the ceasefire in force between Israel and pro-Iranian Hezbollah.

“A strike on the village of Deir Qanoune al-Nahr, in the Tire region,” killed six people, including two rescue workers affiliated with the Shiite Amal movement, an ally of Hezbollah, as well as a young Syrian girl, the ministry said in a press release. One of the rescuers killed also worked as a freelance photographer.

During the night from Thursday to Friday, an Israeli strike also targeted the town of Hanaouay, near Tyre, killing four rescue workers affiliated with Hezbollah, according to the ministry.

A United Arab Emirates official estimated Friday that the chances for the United States and Iran to reach an agreement to unblock the Strait of Hormuz were “50-50”. Iranian officials “have missed a lot of opportunities in recent years because of a tendency to overplay their cards,” added the senior adviser to the Emirati president Anwar Gargash, in Prague for the Globsec security conference.

“I hope they don’t do it again this time.”

Since the start of the war in the Middle East on February 28, the United Arab Emirates, an oil-rich country which hosts American military installations, has been the target of around 3,300 drones and missiles, said Anwar Gargash.

More than a million Muslim pilgrims from around the world have already begun to converge on Mecca for the annual Great Muslim Pilgrimage, amid fears of a collapse of the fragile ceasefire between Iran and the United States and a resumption of war in the region. Like every year, worshipers from all countries, including Iran and the Gulf monarchies, will gather next week for the hajj.

“Waving political or sectarian flags as well as any form of chanting slogans is prohibited during the hajj,” Saudi state media recalled on Tuesday. Riyadh is keen to keep politics away from the pilgrimage, especially since the fragility of the truce concluded at the beginning of April as well as a recent strike against a nuclear installation in the United Arab Emirates keep the region under tension.

The head of American diplomacy Marco Rubio told his NATO allies on Friday that it will be necessary to “respond” to Donald Trump’s “concerns” over the Middle East. “The president’s feelings – frankly, his concern about some of our NATO allies and their reaction to our operations in the Middle East – are well known; it will have to be answered, but it will neither be resolved nor addressed today,” said the Secretary of State.

The American president has not let up since the Europeans refused to get involved with him in the war he launched with Israel against Iran.

American Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured Friday that the American decisions on troop deployments in Europe announced in recent weeks by Donald Trump were in no way “punitive”.

“This is not a punitive measure, it is simply an ongoing process that already existed before,” he said during a NATO ministerial meeting in Sweden.

Fuel consumption in France decreased by 14% from May 1 to 20 compared to the same period last year due to the increase in their costs caused by the war in the Middle East, announced Friday the Minister of the Economy Roland Lescure on Sud Radio.

“The French drive a little less, they carpool, maybe they telework a little more,” added Roland Lescure, whose government announced Thursday new targeted aid to deal with the rise in fuel prices, to the tune of 710 million euros.

The Israeli army announced early Friday that it had killed two men in southern Lebanon, near its border. These “armed individuals who were moving suspiciously a few hundred meters from Israeli territory” were killed during an air strike, this source said on Telegram.

The official Lebanese agency Ani also reported four health personnel killed in a nighttime Israeli strike on the town of Hanawiya near Tyre.

Despite a ceasefire that came into force on April 17, Israel continues its operations in Lebanon where it says it is fighting pro-Iranian Hezbollah.

Washington expressed Thursday its hope that diplomatic efforts would allow progress towards an agreement to end the war against Iran, and said it was awaiting the visit to Tehran of a Pakistani mediator. “I believe the Pakistanis will go to Tehran today. So let’s hope that this will move things forward,” declared the head of American diplomacy, Marco Rubio, on Thursday before his arrival in Sweden for a NATO meeting in Sweden on Friday.

The American Secretary of State also affirmed that progress had been made in the negotiations. Donald Trump had described the situation the day before as “on the edge”, between an agreement or a resumption of hostilities.

According to the Isna news agency and other media, it is the powerful head of the Pakistani army, Asim Munir, who is expected in Iran to “continue discussions with Iranian officials”. Pakistan has not confirmed sending an envoy

Strikes hit two buildings in the Lebanese city of Tire and its outskirts during the night from Friday to Saturday, shortly after a call to evacuate these areas issued by the Israeli army.

An AFP correspondent heard two explosions when a building on the outskirts of this town in southern Lebanon was hit and then saw flames and smoke rising from the site. Shortly after, a second explosion was heard in the city, as a column of smoke rose from the site of the strike.

Israel carried out five air strikes on Friday evening in eastern Lebanon, near the Syrian border, according to the official Lebanese agency NNA. The bombings targeted the area of ​​Nabi Sreij, near the town of Brital, shortly before midnight local time, said an agency correspondent in Baalbek.

This region had no longer been targeted since the truce concluded between Israel and Hezbollah came into force on April 17, while Israeli strikes nevertheless continue in other sectors of Lebanon.

Pakistani army chief Asim Munir is on his way to Tehran. Pakistan is the mediating country in negotiations aimed at ending the war between Iran and the United States.

Since the entry into force of a fragile truce on April 8 after more than a month of conflict, only one unsuccessful negotiation session was held on April 11 in Islamabad. Since then, discussions have continued behind the scenes. On Thursday, American Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he hoped that this visit by Asim Munir would “move things forward”, after that at the start of the week by the Pakistani Minister of the Interior.

The European Union opened the way on Friday for sanctions against “persons” or “entities” in Iran who block the Strait of Hormuz. This strategic passageway, through which around 20% of the world’s hydrocarbons usually pass, has been blocked since the end of February by Iran, in response to the war launched by Israel and the United States.

“Iran’s actions against ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz are contrary to international law,” Brussels said in a statement.

A United Arab Emirates official estimated Friday that the chances for the United States and Iran to reach an agreement to unblock the Strait of Hormuz were “50-50”. Iranian officials “have missed a lot of opportunities in recent years because of a tendency to overplay their cards,” added the senior adviser to the Emirati president Anwar Gargash, in Prague for the Globsec security conference.

“I hope they don’t do it again this time.”

Since the start of the war in the Middle East on February 28, the United Arab Emirates, an oil-rich country which hosts American military installations, has been the target of around 3,300 drones and missiles, said Anwar Gargash.

The head of American diplomacy Marco Rubio told his NATO allies on Friday that it will be necessary to “respond” to Donald Trump’s “concerns” over the Middle East. “The president’s feelings – frankly, his concern about some of our NATO allies and their reaction to our operations in the Middle East – are well known; it will have to be answered, but it will neither be resolved nor addressed today,” said the Secretary of State.

The American president has not let up since the Europeans refused to get involved with him in the war he launched with Israel against Iran.

The Israeli army announced early Friday that it had killed two men in southern Lebanon, near its border. These “armed individuals who were moving suspiciously a few hundred meters from Israeli territory” were killed during an air strike, this source said on Telegram.

The official Lebanese agency Ani also reported four health personnel killed in a nighttime Israeli strike on the town of Hanawiya near Tyre.

Despite a ceasefire that came into force on April 17, Israel continues its operations in Lebanon where it says it is fighting pro-Iranian Hezbollah.

Faced with the surge in fuel prices linked to the war in the Middle East, the government announced 710 million euros in additional aid, bringing the total to 1.2 billion. The main measures concern the doubling of fuel assistance for low-income workers, the increase in the fuel bonus paid by companies, as well as an increase in mileage allowances for home help and civil servants.

Truck drivers, fishermen and farmers also see their aid extended, while taxis will be able to benefit from support to buy an electric vehicle. On the other hand, the government refuses to lower fuel taxes, considered too costly.

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The global oil market risks entering a critical period this summer if the conflict in the Middle East continues, warned the executive director of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, on Thursday.

During an event organized by the Chatham House think tank, he explained that a tension on supply could appear “in July or August”, when the summer travel season traditionally causes an increase in demand and consumption of oil.

The new Iranian body responsible for supervising the Strait of Hormuz has claimed to exercise its control as far as the waters located south of the Emirati port of Fujairah, a strategic site with oil infrastructure designed to circumvent a possible closure of the strait.

Since the outbreak of war in the Middle East after the Israeli-American offensive, Tehran has closely controlled maritime traffic in this essential route to global oil and gas trade. Despite the ceasefire, Iran still requires ships to seek authorization from its armed forces before crossing the area.