DIRECT. War in the Middle East: American deputies approve a text ordering an end to the war against Iran

The United States Central Command (Centcom) announced on

The US Navy, however, authorized the navigation of “36 ships carrying humanitarian aid”.

Four Iranian-flagged oil tankers crossed the Strait of Hormuz with cargo on Monday, an unprecedented event since mid-April and the implementation of the American blockade of Iranian ports, according to data from the maritime monitoring company Kpler published today.

Kpler detected the crossings of the Hilda I, the Amber, the Silvia 1 and the Happiness I, transporting a total of seven million barrels of oil. They all loaded their cargo in mid-April on the island of Kharg, the country’s main oil terminal, through which 90% of the Islamic Republic’s crude normally passes.

In an interview with CNN, the great-grandson of Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic, affirms that Tehran “has no reason to renounce its position” against the United States.

“You should ask us how we can trust the United States again,” he adds.

Traumatized, anxious, agitated… Several parents speak of signs of trauma in their children in the face of war, words reported by the NGO CARE International, and relayed by CNN.

Sama, mother of two twins, fears that the psychological wounds of her two children from the trauma of war are “irreparable”.

“In addition to losing my house and my job in South Lebanon, I have the impression of losing my children,” she told the NGO.

Fatima, a mother of three, fears that the war will harm their “emotional well-being” and their “ability to function.”

The head of European diplomacy Kaja Kallas affirms on X that the European Union will “grant an additional 100 million euros to the Lebanese armed forces”.

“The best way to reduce the threat posed by Hezbollah is to strengthen the Lebanese state, consolidate its institutions and re-establish its monopoly on the use of force,” she adds.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a confidential report seen today by AFP that the lack of access to important nuclear sites in Iran constituted a “cause for concern in terms of proliferation” and it called on Iran to “cooperate constructively”.

“While the Agency recognizes that military attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities and sites have created an unprecedented situation, it is crucial that it can promptly conduct verification activities in Iran,” the report said.

The Lebanese army will begin to deploy “in pilot areas” in the south of the country, announced Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, the day after the announcement of a ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel in Washington.

This agreement, rejected by Hezbollah, mentions the establishment of these zones controlled exclusively by the army after the Israeli withdrawal from parts of southern Lebanon.

This is a “first step (…) concrete and tangible” which “does not prejudice our right to a total (Israeli) withdrawal”, affirms the Prime Minister, quoted by the government spokesperson.

The United Kingdom and France have finalized operational planning for a mine clearance mission in the Strait of Hormuz, explains Bloomberg media.

As soon as a peace deal is signed between Iran and the United States, British personnel are ready to be deployed to mine the strait. The commander of this mission will be French, BFMTV learned from a military source and the operational headquarters will be located in Northwood, near London.

“I bow with great respect to the memory of the Serbian soldier” killed in Lebanon, declared Emmanuel Macron from Montenegro.

“We support the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel and everything that allows us to restore peace, fight against terrorist activities and fully establish the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon,” declares Emmanuel Macron, visiting Montenegro, assuring that France “stands ready to move forward on this path”.

The leader of Hezbollah, Naïm Qassem, demands a “global ceasefire” and an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.

Naïm Qassem, the leader of Hezbollah, castigates the Washington agreement between Lebanon and Israel as being “a capitulation and a defeat”.

The leader of Hezbollah also calls on Lebanon to “stop the charade and humiliation of negotiations” with Israel.

After the death of a peacekeeper in southern Lebanon, the Israeli army accuses Hezbollah in a press release. “The Hezbollah terrorist organization fired mortar shells that hit a UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) position and killed a UN staff member in southern Lebanon,” she said.

“Overnight, the IDF identified several shots in the Al-Qatrani area, carried out by the Hezbollah terrorist organization, which landed inside a position of UNIFIL forces in the Dibbine area of southern Lebanon. Following the shots, a UN staff member was killed and two others were injured,” the same source added.

The soldier was transferred yesterday evening “to a hospital in Beirut where he succumbed to his injuries”. An investigation was opened “in order to determine the exact circumstances of this tragic incident”, indicated UNIFIL.

Without waiting for a possible agreement with Iran, American deputies voted in favor of ending the war yesterday, ordering a withdrawal of American troops engaged since the end of February against the Islamic Republic. It only has symbolic significance due to the American president’s right of veto.

“Yesterday, in an inconsequential vote, the House of Representatives voted, with four defective Republicans and all Democrats, to limit my war powers, even as I conducted final negotiations to end the war with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Who would do one thing so unpatriotic?”, criticizes American President Donald Trump on his Truth Social network.

“The ‘Dumocrats’ (contraction for idiots and democrats, Editor’s note) are driven by the anti-Trump derangement syndrome. They would rather see our country fail than let me win another victory among many others,” he adds.

For the first time, Israeli and Lebanese delegations held direct negotiations in Washington for two days. At the end of these negotiations, Israel and Lebanon agreed on Wednesday to “the implementation of a ceasefire”.

“At the end of the negotiations carried out under the aegis of the United States, Israel and Lebanon have agreed to the implementation of a ceasefire”, we can read in this declaration between the three parties to the negotiations.

>> Our full article on this ceasefire agreement can be read here.

The agreement announced in Washington after Israeli-Lebanese negotiations constitutes “the last chance to achieve a global and definitive ceasefire” with Israel, said Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, adding to await “the response” from Pro-Iranian Hezbollah.

The head of state said he would transmit the group’s response to the United States, whose president will be “the guarantor” of the application of this agreement for a ceasefire conditional on a “complete cessation” of Hezbollah fire.

“Each party must take responsibility if it does not respond favorably,” he added.

The Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic of Iran, demand the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Lebanon, where it is carrying out a ground operation in the south against Hezbollah, supported by Tehran.

“Supporting the resistance in Lebanon is the duty of each of us, and driving Israel from the region is an achievable goal for Muslims,” wrote General Esmaël Qaani, head of the Quds Force, the external operations branch of the Guardians.

“The minimum demand of the resistance is the withdrawal of the usurping regime (Israel, Editor’s note) and its return to the positions it occupied before the start of the war” against Iran at the end of February, added Mr. Qaani. Despite a ceasefire in November 2024 in a previous conflict, the Israeli army then maintained five positions in this region.

Oil is falling a little, after yesterday’s announcement of an agreement for a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, although the Israeli army continues its raids on the south of the country.

The two countries agreed, after two days of talks in Washington, to a cease-fire, conditional on a “complete cessation” of Hezbollah fire. However, Iran demands that any agreement with Washington include a ceasefire in Lebanon.

“There actually seems to be a breakthrough” on this side, notes John Evans, analyst at PVM Energy. This truce “gives hope for a solution to the Iranian conflict”, confirms Kathleen Brooks, of XTB.

The day before, crude oil prices had climbed with the resumption of attacks in the Gulf between Iran and the United States.

Around 9:30 a.m. GMT (11:30 a.m. in Paris), the price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in August, lost 1.52% to $96.32. Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate, for delivery in July, dropped 1.23% to 94.84 dollars.

Since the start of the war, UNESCO has reiterated its condemnations against military operations damaging classified sites.

In May, the organization was able to confirm that seven sites had been damaged by the clashes, including three listed as world heritage sites, the Golestan Palace in Tehran (Iran), the Chehel Sotoun Palace in Isfahan (Iran) and the ancient city of Tire (Lebanon). UNESCO adds a non-exhaustive list of five other places where damage has been reported, but which it has not yet been able to confirm.

>> Golestan Palace, ancient city of Tyre, Beaufort Fortress… Discover our interactive map

The peacekeeper killed in southern Lebanon was Serbian, announced the Serbian Defense Ministry, specifying that he died “as a result of injuries caused by the fall of a missile on the UN base”.

Born in 1989, Staff Sergeant Milovan Jovanovic “received emergency medical treatment at a hospital inside the base after being injured, then was transported by helicopter to the Center medical university of Beirut, where he died around 4 a.m. local time”, adds the press release.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) confirms, on its X account, the death “early this morning” of a peacekeeper deployed in the south-east of Lebanon.

He died “as a result of his serious injuries inflicted by mortar shells which hit his position near Marjayoun“.

“Two other peacekeepers, also injured, are being treated in a medical center on the UNIFIL base,” adds the United Nations force.

The soldier was transferred yesterday evening “to a hospital in Beirut where he succumbed to his injuries”. An investigation was opened “in order to determine the exact circumstances of this tragic incident”.

Supreme Guide Mojtaba Khamenei accused Thursday in a written statement the United States and Israel of seeking to “divide” the Iranian nation, after having suffered a “bitter setback” in the war launched against his country.

“Their main tool”, to weaken Iran, “is to sow the seeds of doubt, despair, fear, mistrust and division”, wrote Mojtaba Khamenei in a text read in public, adding that the “malicious enemy” had suffered a “bitter setback on the battlefield”.

These remarks were read at the mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini in Tehran, on the occasion of the 37th anniversary of the death of the founder of the Islamic Republic.

“Faced with these disastrous intentions, everyone must, through firmness, clairvoyance, preservation of unity and cohesion, mutual trust and refusal to relay the enemy’s propaganda, neutralize his sinister plot,” adds the message.

Israel will strike Beirut in the event of attacks on its soil, Defense Minister Israel Katz declared Thursday, affirming that the Israeli-Lebanese agreement announced overnight for a ceasefire in Lebanon provided for the continuation of Israeli operations.

This “declaration of principles” between Israel and the government of Lebanon provides in southern Lebanon “that the army, at this stage, continues its shooting and its operations on the ground” and maintains itself in the “border security zone” “including in the Beaufort sector and without return of the (Lebanese) population”.

According to a press release from the minister, the agreement also provides for “the freedom of action for Israel, with the approval of the United States, to strike Beirut in response to shots on Israeli localities and territory”.

The Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, a figure of the extreme right, described the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon negotiated under the aegis of Washington as a “serious error”.

“The ceasefire with Lebanon is a serious error and an illusion of advisors who are leading the Prime Minister (Benjamin Netanyahu, Editor’s note) towards bad decisions,” the minister wrote on X.

Israel and Lebanon agreed on Wednesday to implement a ceasefire conditional on a “complete cessation” of shooting by Hezbollah, a Lebanese movement supported by Iran, according to a joint statement published at the end of talks led under the aegis of the United States in Washington.

Lebanese state media reported several Israeli strikes on the south of the country, a few hours after the announcement in Washington of an Israeli-Lebanese ceasefire agreement, conditional on a “complete cessation” of Hezbollah fire.

The National News Agency (ANI) announced Israeli drone strikes along roads in three locations in southern Lebanon, indicating that at least one of them had caused casualties, without specifying whether they were dead or injured.

A statement from Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is expected today, at a time when negotiations between Washington and Tehran are slipping despite the confidence displayed by the American president.

Donald Trump declared yesterday that he “would like to meet” Mojtaba Khamenei, considering in an interview with the New York Post website that the Iranian supreme guide was really “involved” in Tehran’s decisions.

“I would love to meet him. I would love to meet everyone and we will probably meet, depending on what happens,” he added as the United States and Iran accuse each other of violating an increasingly fragile ceasefire.

On Tuesday, the head of American diplomacy declared that the United States considered Mojtaba Khamenei as “alive” and “increasingly involved” in the leadership of the Islamic Republic.

Israeli and Lebanese delegations met in Washington on Tuesday and yesterday, for the fourth time, the first direct negotiations between the two countries, which do not maintain diplomatic relations.

A ceasefire is supposed to be in force between Israel and Hezbollah since April 17 but it has been widely flouted. Hezbollah said yesterday that it had targeted soldiers in northern Israel.

The Israeli Defense Minister, Israel Katz, had warned the day before that the southern suburbs of Beirut, stronghold of the Shiite movement, would be struck if the latter targeted its territory.

Wednesday morning, an Israeli strike targeted Khalde, at the southern entrance to the capital, according to the National Information Agency (ANI, official).

Away from the conflict with Israel, the Lebanese army reported the death of a soldier, killed by an Israeli strike in the south, and two soldiers injured by an Israeli drone in the same region. She denounced “deliberate” Israeli targeting of its troops and positions.

Israeli strikes have killed 3,516 people since March 2, the start of the war in Lebanon, and have displaced more than a million, according to the authorities. On the Israeli side, 26 soldiers and a civilian contractor were killed in Lebanon.

The American House of Representatives adopted a text last night ordering “the president to withdraw the armed forces of the United States from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran”, a snub for Donald Trump who engaged the country in this conflict on February 28.

The resolution – adopted with the votes of four Republican deputies – however has a primarily symbolic significance, due to the American president’s right of veto.

“It is time to put an end to this illegal and deeply unpopular war,” added the elected Democrats on the Foreign Affairs Committee.

If adopted by both houses of Congress after the parliamentary shuttle, Donald Trump would undoubtedly veto to prevent the promulgation of the text.

To circumvent this presidential veto, a new vote in both chambers would then have to be organized and a two-thirds majority would be necessary – a near impossibility given the current composition of the House and the Senate.

Under the US Constitution, only Congress has the authority to declare war. With these resolutions, the Democrats wish to reaffirm the authority of the legislative power on this issue in the face of the executive power represented by Donald Trump.

Israel and Lebanon agreed last night, after two days of talks in Washington, to condition a ceasefire on a “complete cessation” of Hezbollah fire and to create “pilot zones” under the control of the Lebanese army.

It will also be subject to the “evacuation” of all members of Hezbollah – which rejects these discussions – from the sector located south of the Litani River, around thirty kilometers from the border with Israel, it was added.

This comes after new Israeli strikes killing at least 10 people yesterday in Lebanon and after new shots claimed by Hezbollah against Israel, which threatened to strike the southern suburbs of Beirut in the event of an attack on its territory.

Around 1:30 a.m. (Paris time) tonight, Israel and Lebanon agreed to “the implementation of a ceasefire” and the creation of “pilot zones” under the control of the Lebanese army, according to a joint declaration published at the end of two days of talks in Washington.

Israel and Lebanon also agreed to participate in a new round of talks the week of June 22 with a view to a “comprehensive agreement,” the statement added.

Hello everyone and welcome to this live broadcast devoted to the evolution of the war in the Middle East, which is entering its 97th consecutive day.

Iran said yesterday that there was “no tangible progress” in negotiations with Washington to end the conflict, where attacks are resuming in the Gulf region.

“Messages have been exchanged regarding the need to end the aggression against Beirut but no tangible progress has been made in the negotiation process,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a statement. reference to Israeli strikes against pro-Iranian Hezbollah in Lebanon. These remarks contrast with Donald Trump’s statements later in the Oval Office.

“I am told that the negotiations are going very well (…) Who knows (…), it (the end of the discussions) could be this weekend,” judged the American president.

He also declared that he wanted to “separate” discussions on Lebanon from those on Iran, while Tehran considers that they are one and the same subject.