LIVE. War in the Middle East: the United States says it has shot down Iranian drones, despite earlier optimism for an agreement

Donald Trump says that the signing of an agreement with Iran is “scheduled” for this Sunday and that the Strait of Hormuz will be opened “immediately” after the signing of the agreement.

The American president affirms at the same time that the United States will go “when the time comes” to recover the enriched uranium in Iran.

This timing, however, was rejected by Iranian leaders, who announced that they could sign the broad outlines of a peace agreement with the United States in the coming days, but not in the next 24 hours.

The aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle will return to Toulon in the coming days and will be replaced in the area by the helicopter carrier Mistral, a military source told BFMTV.

The aircraft carrier, which left the port of Toulon on January 27, is seeing its repair period, scheduled for the beginning of July, approach. It is for this reason that he leaves the Eastern Mediterranean.

This repair period had been scheduled before the ship’s deployment to the Middle East.

Still according to a military source at BFMTV, the air defense frigate (FDA) which accompanied the aircraft carrier will itself be replaced by a similar ship.

On the occasion of the G7 organized in France next week, several bilateral meetings are planned between Donald Trump and other world leaders, including Emmanuel Macron.

The US president will also meet with the leaders of Qatar and the UAE, two countries concerned by the ongoing war in the Middle East.

According to information from BFMTV, a direct meeting between two high-level American and Iranian personalities is to be held next week in Switzerland.

Still according to our information, the Pakistani Minister of Foreign Affairs plans to go to Switzerland soon to prepare for this meeting.

The UKMTO, the British Maritime Trade Operations Agency, says an oil tanker was hit by an unknown projectile at Port Bow, off the coast of Oman.

The crew is safe and sound, and no environmental impact has been reported, as the tanker continues its route to its next port of call, the agency adds.

After the Pakistani Prime Minister’s statement that a peace agreement between Iran and the United States would “probably” be concluded within 24 hours, Iran refutes.

“We have to wait to know the exact date of the signing. It won’t be tomorrow” on Sunday, Iranian diplomatic spokesperson Esmaïl Baghaï told government media Irna, banking instead on “the next few days”.

On its social networks, the Israeli army says it has struck “more than 70 Hezbollah infrastructures in southern Lebanon” in the last 24 hours. She adds that she has “eliminated” people “identified as terrorists” in the areas where her soldiers operate.

Yesterday and today, the Israeli army carried out several strikes on towns in South Lebanon.

In a publication on The drone then targeted him again on a road, seriously injuring him, the Lebanese army continues.

The Israeli army announced in the morning that it had intercepted a “hostile aerial device” entering northern Israel from Lebanon, the day after four similar incidents, during which some of the projectiles had not been intercepted, but without causing any notable damage, according to her.

Hezbollah, for its part, specified that it had launched drone attacks against Israeli military vehicles in the south of the country.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose government mediates between the United States and Iran, assures that a peace agreement will “probably” be finalized within 24 hours.

“We are closer than ever to a peace agreement. While finalization is likely to take place in the next 24 hours, Pakistan is preparing for the electronic signing of the peace agreement immediately thereafter, followed by technical discussions next week,” he wrote on X.

Ali Khamenei will be buried on July 9, state television announced. The funeral, initially planned for March but postponed due to the war, will take place over 6 days from July 4 in the capital Tehran, as well as the holy cities of Qom (north) and Mashhad, where he was from, specifies the channel.

The late Iranian supreme leader, who ruled Iran for nearly 37 years, was killed in an Israeli-American strike on February 28.

His son Mojtaba, who succeeded him at the beginning of March, has not made any public appearance since.

Israeli strikes target southern Lebanon, shortly after an evacuation notice from the Israeli army concerning twenty localities in the region, including the town of Nabatiyé, the official Lebanese news agency Ani reported today.

These bombings target several sectors cited by the Israeli call to evacuate, including the villages of Rihan and Sujud, located not far from Nabatiyé, specifies Ani.

The Israeli army announced today that it is preparing to carry out strikes, targeting the Islamist movement Hezbollah, in the Nabatiyé region, in southern Lebanon.

Colonel Avichay Adraee, Arabic-speaking spokesperson for the Israeli army, calls on the population to “immediately” evacuate twenty localities in the surroundings and north of Nabatiyé, his message on social networks specifying that the Israeli army was preparing to “act with force”.

The Iranian football team is expected in the United States this Sunday to participate in the World Cup. A presence on historic American soil against a backdrop of conflict between the two countries.

To welcome Iranian players to Los Angeles, an “exceptional” security system should be deployed with elite units, drones, and above all partial modification of the airspace.

Pro-Iranian Hezbollah said Friday that its fighters had clashed with Israeli forces advancing toward a town in southern Lebanon located five kilometers from the Israeli border.

For its part, the Israeli army issued a call to evacuate three villages in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese National Information Agency (ANI, official) reported a series of strikes, including on areas not affected by the Israeli warning.

ANI subsequently reported violent explosions and artillery fire near the Ali Taher hills, which overlook the town of Nabatieh, also in the south of the country.

The head of Iranian diplomacy Abbas affirmed that the draft agreement provided for the lifting of the American blockade of Iranian ports and a new management of the Strait of Hormuz.

But he accused Israel of looking for “pretexts” to “derail” a possible agreement with Washington.

Same hope from the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the main negotiator in the conflict. “Peace has never been closer than today,” said Shehbaz Sharif.

The announcement of Iranian drones shot down by the Americans comes at a time when Tehran, the Pakistani mediator and Washington are expressing optimism about the possibility, after weeks of laborious negotiations and disappointed hopes, of concluding an agreement ending the war in the Middle East.

Hello everyone and welcome to this live broadcast dedicated to developments in the conflict in the Middle East this Saturday, June 13.

The United States says it has shot down several Iranian drones that were targeting commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

“Iran launched several attack drones with the aim of striking commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” the US Middle East Command (Centcom) wrote on X. “American forces have shot them all down in recent hours, and maritime traffic in the strait remains fluid,” he added.