Israeli journalist Gideon Levy says the US-Iran announcement represents a personal defeat for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ambitions against Iran and Lebanon. His relationship with US President Donald Trump could also be at risk if Israel jeopardises the deal.
Published On 15 Jun 202615 Jun 2026
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EXPLAINER
US President Donald Trump and Iranian leaders say a deal has been agreed to end more than 100 days of war that killed thousands.
By Agence France Presse and Reuters
Published On 15 Jun 202615 Jun 2026
United States President Donald Trump and Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on Sunday that they had reached an initial deal to end the war and to resume traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump said the deal allows for toll-free shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely closed since the US and Israel launched an assault on Iran on February 28.
“The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday.
The US and Iran will sign a memorandum of understanding in Switzerland on Friday, said the prime minister of Pakistan, whose country has served as a mediator.
Monday marks 108 days since the war began, with the US and Israel’s attacks on Iran. Here is what’s happening:
The US-Iran ceasefire announcement has raised hopes in Lebanon, after Pakistani mediators claimed it included an end to Israel’s war on the country. But as Al Jazeera’s Heidi Pett explains, we’ve been here before.
Published On 15 Jun 202615 Jun 2026
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Dan Perry: The US ‘may pretend’ that Israel can’t attack Hezbollah ‘in order to get this deal done’. Israeli affairs analyst Dan Perry explains how the US, Israel and Iran may react as they get closer to a potential agreement.
Published On 14 Jun 202614 Jun 2026
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Al Jazeera’s Heidi Pett reports from the site of an Israeli attack on a residential building in southern Beirut, which Israel calls a Hezbollah command centre. The strike came hours before President Trump said a US-Iran deal was meant to be signed.
Published On 14 Jun 202614 Jun 2026
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Al Jazeera’s Basel Ghazoghli traces the documented record from 1948 to the present. Sexual violence against Palestinians in Israeli custody is often framed as a post-October 7 issue. But historical records, academic research, and legal testimony suggest a much longer history.
Published On 14 Jun 202614 Jun 2026
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Israel has bombed the southern suburbs of Beirut, saying it targeted Hezbollah ‘infrastructure’ in response to cross-border fire. The strikes come as Israel continues to violate a supposed ceasefire with incursions and daily bombardment in southern Lebanon. Trump has said a deal to end the war on Iran will be signed on Sunday.
Published On 14 Jun 202614 Jun 2026
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United States President Donald Trump has said an initial agreement to end the US-Israeli war with Iran is “scheduled to get signed tomorrow”.
But that announcement, made on Trump’s Truth Social account on Saturday, contradicts an earlier statement by Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei.
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In remarks carried by Iran’s IRNA news agency, Baghaei said a memorandum of understanding would not be signed on Sunday and that negotiators are not planning to travel immediately to Geneva, Switzerland, in preparation for such an event.
According to Baghaei, a signing could happen “in the coming days”.
Hours later, Trump wrote, “The Deal is scheduled to get signed tomorrow, and immediately after it is signed, the Hormuz Strait is OPEN TO ALL.” Sunday marks Trump’s 80th birthday.
In recent days, Iran and the US have repeatedly contradicted each other when describing the details of the anticipated agreement, even as both sides have broadly signalled that a deal was closer than ever before.
Still, no terms have been officially released, with US and Iranian officials on Friday stressing that the agreement had not been finalised.
Beyond opening the Strait of Hormuz, Trump said in Saturday’s post that the agreement would be a “A WALL TO NO NUCLEAR WEAPON!” and that “no money would exchange hands”.
Trump also maintained that “at the appropriate time, when all is calm, we will go in and get the Nuclear Dust”, referring to Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium.
But speaking on Iran’s Press TV on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the initial memorandum of understanding would only be a launch point for negotiations about the future of Iran’s nuclear programme.
He added that the signing would result in an immediate pause in fighting, but that Iran and Oman would continue to administer the Strait of Hormuz.
The issue of lifting foreign sanctions against Iran and unfreezing the country’s assets would be discussed following the signing of the memorandum of understanding, Araghchi said.
The latest flurry of diplomacy came after the US and Iran traded strikes for two days this week, threatening to end a pause in fighting that has persisted since April 8.
The US and Israel launched the war on Iran on February 28, amid ongoing indirect talks on the future of Iran’s nuclear programme.
The US and Israel had also launched a 12-day war on Iran in 2025, during another round of nuclear talks.
Iranian officials have said that deep distrust towards the US has slowed the progress towards creating a lasting agreement to bring the current war to an end.
Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly pledged to reach a deal that would surpass the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), struck under his Democratic rival, former President Barack Obama.
That agreement, from which Trump unilaterally withdrew in 2018, saw Tehran agree to limit its nuclear programme and allow for international inspections in exchange for sanctions relief.
For years, Iran has maintained that it is building a nuclear programme for civilian use only and is not seeking a nuclear weapon.
In his post on Truth Social, Trump again pledged that any deal reached would be more stringent than the JCPOA.
“Our relationship with Iran is a much different and better one than previous Administrations have had,” he said.
“Hopefully, this process will all work out quickly, easily, and smoothly,” he added.
“If it doesn’t, we have the ultimate alternative, hopefully never to be used again!” he wrote, without elaborating on what his threat meant.
Israeli attack reportedly kills one person in central Gaza’s Bureij camp, as a disabled Palestinian is shot in the West Bank.
Published On 13 Jun 202613 Jun 2026
Israeli forces have carried out a deadly attack in a refugee camp in central Gaza, according to Palestinian media reports, as casualties continue to mount in the enclave despite a “ceasefire” declared months ago.
The Israeli drone attack in the Bureij camp on Saturday killed one person and injured two others, reported the Wafa news agency.
The Palestinian Information Center identified the person killed as Muawiya al-Aydi, a local municipality worker.
Further north, a separate Israeli attack injured a person at a gathering in Gaza City’s Tuffah neighbourhood, according to Wafa.
Despite a ceasefire technically in effect since October, Israel’s military has regularly attacked Gaza, over half of which is under Israeli military control in defiance of the ceasefire’s terms.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, at least two Palestinians have been killed and 11 injured in Israeli attacks on the enclave in the past 48 hours.
The ministry said 983 people have been killed and 3,122 injured in Israeli attacks since the ceasefire was declared.
Hamas has accused Israel of repeatedly violating the agreement through its continued attacks and by shifting the so-called “Yellow Line” that demarcates Israeli-controlled areas in Gaza.
“Israeli actions reflect its unwillingness to implement the ceasefire agreement and aim to blow up the negotiation track and thwart the efforts being made, while continuing escalation to serve political and electoral considerations,” said Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem on Friday.
Israeli troops also carried out a series of violent raids in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, part of a pattern of near-daily operations since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.
According to Wafa, Israeli forces deployed stun grenades and tear gas during two separate incidents near Bethlehem, causing numerous injuries: one during a raid on the Dheisheh refugee camp and the other while blocking access to the Solomon’s Pools reservoirs.
A disabled Palestinian man was also shot and injured in the town of Duma, near Hebron.
Wafa said Israeli forces shot the man, while Israeli media cited Israeli police as saying an Israeli settler was responsible. According to Israeli police, the settler felt threatened by the man who was carrying a rock.
Other Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians and vandalised property near Bethlehem, including assaulting Palestinian electrical workers and stealing water pipes, said Wafa.
Israel has continued to attack Lebanon, despite Iran saying it was included in a potential memorandum of understanding with the US. Fresh forced displacement orders were issued on Saturday morning, following Israeli bombardment throughout Friday night on towns and villages in the south.
Published On 13 Jun 202613 Jun 2026
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The Israeli military has ordered residents of 20 Lebanese towns and villages to leave their homes immediately.
By Al Jazeera Staff and Reuters
Published On 13 Jun 202613 Jun 2026
Israeli air raids across southern Lebanon have killed one person as attacks continue despite a United States-brokered “ceasefire”.
Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported that the person was killed in an Israeli air raid in the municipality of Maarakeh, in the Tyre district of southern Lebanon.
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Al Jazeera’s Heidi Pett, reporting from Beirut, said that over the course of Friday and into the evening, there were continued Israeli air attacks on towns and villages that are well north of what the Israelis call the “Yellow Line” – the part of southern Lebanon that they have been seeking to control and to occupy.
The attacks come after an announcement by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday that the United States and Iran have agreed on the wording of an agreement aimed at ending their war, and that mediators were working with both sides to finalise a deal.
Iranian media report the initial agreement would declare an end to the war “on all fronts, including Lebanon”.
This has led to fears that Israel’s actions in Lebanon could scupper a deal, since Israel is not a party to the negotiations between the US and Iran, and its leaders have said they do not plan to withdraw from Lebanon.
The attacks also come amid a supposed ceasefire, agreed between Israeli and Lebanese officials earlier this month, that would require a “complete cessation” of fire by Hezbollah, yet the fighting continues.
The next round of talks between the two countries is expected on June 22, with a view towards reaching a comprehensive agreement.
Israeli attacks at dawn have demolished homes and government buildings in southern Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil, the country’s NNA reports.
The Israeli military also ordered residents of 20 Lebanese towns and villages to leave their homes immediately and move “north of the Zahrani River”.
The forced displacement orders apply to Deir al-Zahrani, al-Namirieh, al-Sharquieh, al-Dewayr, Harouf, Habboush, Kfarjoz, Zibdine (Nabatieh), Nabatieh al-Tahta, Nabatieh al-Fawqa, Kfar Rouman, Al-Mahmoudieh, Sajed (Jezzine), Reihan, Aaramta, Kfarchouba, Mlki, Al-Lawiza (Jezzine), Jarjouh and Arab Salim.
On Saturday, the Israeli military said an air raid alert had been activated in the northern town of Metula due to the “infiltration of a hostile aircraft” from Lebanon, but did not name the armed group Hezbollah.
Four activists from Palestine Action jailed by a British court over protest raid on Israeli arms firm in UK.
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Jibril Rajoub is in Mexico awaiting a US visa to attend the World Cup 2026.
Published On 12 Jun 202612 Jun 2026
The head of the Palestinian Football Association says he is waiting in Mexico City for permission to enter the United States to attend the FIFA World Cup with other federation heads.
Jibril Rajoub attended the opening match between Mexico and South Africa on Thursday, but he has now joined several people accredited to attend the World Cup who have been denied visas or have yet to receive them from the US.
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“I don’t believe that it’s fair to use or to abuse and deny the right of all footballers all over the world to attend,” the veteran Palestinian political figure told The Associated Press news agency.
The Palestinian team did not qualify for the World Cup, but FIFA typically invites the heads of football associations from around the world to the event every four years, which it frames as a celebration of global unity.
“Everyone will be welcome in Canada, Mexico and the United States for the FIFA World Cup next year. We are working exactly for that,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said last year.
The US, however, has refused entry to delegates from several countries, including a referee from Somalia and a photographer travelling with Iraq’s team.
Infantino said this week that FIFA had been trying to resolve visa issues but could not overrule the US government.
“We need to respect that we are not the kings of the world who can rule over governments and police forces,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
The US Department of State had no immediate comment on Rajoub’s visa, but last year implemented new restrictions on Palestinian passport holders, including on anyone who had been employed by the Palestinian Authority.
It revoked a visa to allow Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to travel to the United Nations General Assembly last September.
Rajoub and other Palestinian football officials have long argued that Israel violates statutes by allowing teams from settlements in the occupied West Bank to play in Israel’s national league.
They have pushed FIFA to sanction Israel, highlighting restrictions on the movement of Palestinian players and how Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has damaged or destroyed 80 percent of sports facilities and killed at least 565 players there, according to the association.
Last month, Rajoub refused to shake hands with the head of Israel’s football federation at Infantino’s behest because he said the gesture would not heal wounds but instead whitewash Israel’s actions.
Rajoub pointed out that when Russia hosted the 2018 World Cup, it did not implement comparable visa restrictions for people who were invited to the tournament.
Both Amnesty International and Oxfam released reports this week documenting a rise in state-backed Israeli settler violence across the occupied West Bank over the past three years. What’s driving the escalation? Al Jazeera’s Marah Rayan breaks it down.
Published On 12 Jun 202612 Jun 2026
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Israeli authorities released Hamas co-founder Hassan Yousef after more than two years in administrative detention. He was jailed without trial following his arrest in October 2023. The 71-year-old was taken to a hospital in Ramallah where he was received by family members.
Published On 11 Jun 202611 Jun 2026
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Israel continues to expand settlements in the occupied territory, which are illegal under international law.
Published On 11 Jun 202611 Jun 2026
The Israeli government has allocated a first tranche of an expected $388m in new funds for the construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The anti-settlement group Peace Now reported on Thursday that the government had allocated 152 million shekels ($51m) to prepare construction plans for 69 illegal settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank.
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The cabinet later reportedly postponed a decision about a 1-billion-shekel ($338m) allocation. That proposal, if passed, would mark one of the largest expansions of illegal Israeli settlements in decades.
“The government decided to postpone the decision [on the 1-billion-shekel allocation] and refer it to the Security Cabinet which is expected to convene on Sunday,” Peace Now wrote.
Under the yet-to-be-approved plan, construction for the settlements, including infrastructure and public buildings, would begin despite necessary planning protocols not having been carried out in accord with Israeli law.
Peace Now accused the government of intending to bypass planning and construction regulations.
“October 7 proved that the right-wing approach has failed: the conflict cannot be ‘managed,’ and the Palestinians cannot be ‘defeated’,” the group said in a statement.
“Israel must reach a political solution and diplomatic agreement, but instead the government is only sinking us deeper into the mire and condemning us to many more years of bloody conflict.”
Israel has come under growing condemnation for expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law.
On Tuesday, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France and Norway imposed sanctions on networks involved in financing, enabling and carrying out settler violence against Palestinians.
According to Peace Now, the current Israeli government has approved 103 settlements since it took office in December 2022. From that figure, 51 are entirely new settlements.
On Wednesday, Amnesty International published a report accusing the Israeli government of playing a central role in what it describes as the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. The report described the government’s actions as “integral”.
At least 117 villages in the West Bank have been subject to either complete or partial displacement due to settler attacks, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Amnesty also condemned the upcoming “Great Israeli Real Estate Event”, which is due to take place in London on Sunday.
The event, which has also been held in the United States and Canada, promotes the sale of properties in the occupied West Bank, which campaigners say is in violation of international law.
The Washington institution cut its global growth forecast by 0.4 percentage points to 2.5 percent, citing surging energy prices, inflation and borrowing costs.
Published On 11 Jun 202611 Jun 2026
The conflict in the Middle East is set to bring global economic growth to its slowest since the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Bank has warned.
In its latest Global Economic Prospects report, published on Thursday, the Washington-based institution cut its global growth forecast for 2026 to 2.5 percent from the 2.9 percent it had predicted in January, citing surging energy prices, rising inflation and higher borrowing costs.
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The report highlights the significant economic costs of the conflict, which is at risk of flaring up again, as the fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran is tested on both sides.
The analysis warns that the outlook could decline further if supply disruptions worsen. Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz – a vital passageway for oil and gas transit – in response to the hostilities launched by the US and Israel has put huge stress upon global energy and other supply chains.
The World Bank estimates that Brent crude prices — the international oil benchmark — will average $94 a barrel this year, 36 percent above last year’s average. Fertiliser prices are forecast to increase significantly this year, with knock-on effects for food prices.
Overall, the closure of the strategic waterway will help to push global inflation to 4 percent this year, a substantial increase from last year’s rate of 3.3 percent.
However, the World Bank cautions that global growth could plummet to as low as 1.3 percent this year, should energy supply disruptions worsen, with inflation pushing to 4.4 percent.
The World Bank report also cautions that developing countries are on the front line of the potential impact.
In its report, the institution has downgraded its growth forecasts for two-thirds of countries since January. Global growth is expected to improve to 2.8 percent in 2027, but will remain 0.4 percentage points below the average during the 2010s, during which the world economy was recovering from the global financial crisis.
Excluding China and India, the report worries that developing countries have made little progress towards narrowing their per capita income gap with wealthy nations over the past decade.
“Developing countries have faced a series of challenges over the last decade,” said Ajay Banga, president of the World Bank Group. “The impact differs by country, but the basic test is the same: protect people and preserve stability today, without giving up on growth and jobs tomorrow.”
The World Bank is pledging to assist any developing country experiencing the economic fallout of the Middle East conflict. The organisation says it has set aside up to $60bn to help. It added that if the conflict persists, it can increase its support to $100bn.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — President Trump threatened Thursday to launch major strikes on Iran and seize control of its oil industry as escalating attacks between the countries pushed the Middle East closer to the resumption of a full-scale war.
Trump said in a social media post that the U.S. would hit Iran “VERY HARD TONIGHT” and would “assume total control” of Iran’s oil and gas industries, including the vital Kharg Island oil terminal, in the “not too distant future.”
The American leader’s latest threats came as efforts to negotiate an end to the war appeared stuck. Trump has voiced his frustration with the stalled negotiations, warning earlier in the week that Tehran would “pay the price” for taking too long to reach a deal.
Iran’s monthslong stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted global energy supplies, driven up fuel prices and made food and other basics more expensive well beyond the region.
The U.S. and Iran traded strikes for a second straight day Thursday after reaching a tenuous ceasefire more than a month ago. While the strikes have increased tensions in the region, they have been more limited compared to the early weeks of the war and negotiations between the U.S. and Iran are ongoing.
Trump’s threats on Thursday, while stark, represented his latest verbal escalation in the Iran war. In April, he warned Iran that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” if it didn’t agree to his terms, before extending a ceasefire.
Kharg Island — located on the other side of the Persian Gulf from U.S. bases in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia — is the beating heart of Iran’s oil industry, through which 90% of its exports pass. It is important because Iran’s coastline is mostly too shallow for tanker ships to dock.
It was unclear how serious Trump was about his threat to seize it.
“My preference has always been to take Kharg Island,” Trump said in an interview Thursday on Fox News. “I don’t know that America has the stomach for it to be honest.”
American troops would be vulnerable on Kharg Island because of its close proximity — about 21 miles — to the Iranian mainland, from which missiles, drones and artillery could be fired.
Trump indicated in the interview that he remains averse to sending U.S. forces into Iran. “We could walk in there tomorrow. We could take soldiers — I don’t want to have boots on the ground. But if I wanted to we could put a small group of soldiers and take over the place.”
Trump compared his threat to take over Iran’s oil industry to how the U.S. assumed control of Venezuela’s oil sector after capturing then-president Nicolás Maduro in January.
American strikes on Iran that lasted into Thursday morning appeared more intense and widespread than the day before.
Tehran released little information on the extent of the damage and said it fired back at Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan, as it had the previous day.
It was the third time this week that back-and-forth strikes have rattled the Middle East. The first involved attacks between Iran and Israel, followed by the two rounds of fire between the U.S. and Iran, which hit countries in the region that host American bases.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday that the U.S. attacks had “effectively rendered the ceasefire … meaningless,” without saying it was abandoning it.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a social media post that the U.S. would extract funds from frozen Iranian accounts to offset the costs of damage to American allies as well as any tolls Iran imposes on ships seeking passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
Beyond the deadlock over the strait, the two sides also remain at odds over Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran insists is peaceful but which the U.S. and Israel fear could be used to build an atomic weapon due to its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. The U.S. and Israel said a major reason they went to war on Feb. 28 was to ensure that Iran would never be able to do that.
Iran has insisted that any deal to end the war must also end fighting in Lebanon between its ally Hezbollah and Israel. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears intent on pursuing his goal of destroying the militant group.
Central Command said its latest round of airstrikes came “in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression” and targeted “Iranian military surveillance capabilities, communication systems and air defense sites.” It did not elaborate on the damage done by the strikes, which it said ended just before sunrise Thursday in Iran.
Explosions from the strikes echoed around Iran’s capital, as well as the port city of Bandar Abbas and other southern areas along the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard later said sites hit included a manufacturing complex, a military barracks and a local Guard base outside of Tehran.
Kuwait closed its airspace for several hours because of the attack, but did not elaborate on any damage. Jordan said it intercepted 20 Iranian missiles fired toward an area that is home to a base hosting U.S. troops, though no one was hurt.
Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said an 11-year-old girl was hurt and cars and homes were damaged by debris from interceptions responding to the Iranian attack.
Meanwhile, Israel warned residents in the country’s north to seek shelter after the detection of suspected incoming fire from Lebanon, where Israel is fighting the Iran-allied Hezbollah militant group.
The U.S. military’s Central Command said Thursday that it struck a Guinea-Bissau-flagged tanker attempting to evade the American blockade on Iranian ports. It said the M/T Jalveer was transporting Iranian oil when it was disabled late Wednesday after its crew failed to obey U.S. orders.
It’s the ninth merchant vessel the U.S. military says it disabled to enforce the blockade.
Three Indian sailors were killed when American forces struck the Palau-flagged M/T Settebello on Tuesday, India’s minister overseeing ports and shipping said Thursday on X.
U.S. Central Command said American forces issued warnings before firing on the ship, which it accused of trying to evade the blockade.
The leader of the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency, condemned the attack.
Gambrell and Madhani write for the Associated Press. Madhani reported from Washington. AP writers Will Weissert, Collin Binkley, Michelle L. Price and Konstantin Toropin in Washington; Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi; Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Victoria Eastwood in Cairo and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Ga., contributed to this report.
Four activists from the Palestine Action group face sentencing in the United Kingdom as “terrorists” on Friday, despite only being convicted by a jury of other criminal charges.
Palestine Action was formally proscribed as a “terrorist” organisation in the UK last July.
Last month, four of six activists on trial were convicted at Woolwich Crown Court in London of criminal damage during a 2024 raid on a factory in Filton, Bristol, operated by Israeli defence firm Elbit. One of the defendants was also found guilty of striking a police officer with a sledgehammer.
The possibility that the judge will rule that the offences have a “terrorist connection” for sentencing purposes has prompted protests.
The protest group Palestine Action, launched in July 2020, describes itself as a movement “committed to ending global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime”.
It seeks to use “disruptive tactics” to target “corporate enablers” and companies involved in the manufacture of weapons for Israel, such as Israel-based Elbit Systems, Italian aerospace company Leonardo, French multinational Thales and Teledyne from the United States. The group has targeted British facilities linked to those companies.
The UK parliament voted in favour of proscribing the group on July 2, 2025, classifying it as a “terrorist” organisation, and bringing it into the same category as armed groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS). The proscription came days after its activists sneaked into an air force base in southern England.
Critics decried the move by MPs, arguing that while members of the group have caused damage to property, they have not committed violent acts that amount to terrorism.
In August 2024, Palestine Action activists raided a factory in Filton near Bristol in southwest England, operated by Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems. They entered the site and caused extensive damage in an attempt to disrupt the production of weapons and drone components they say would be used by Israel in Gaza.
The raid, which prosecutors said caused about one million pounds ($1.36m) of damage, happened 10 months into Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza that began in October 2023.
Last month, jurors at Woolwich Crown Court convicted Charlotte Head, 30, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, and Fatema Zainab Rajwani, 21, of criminal damage. The four activists have become known as “the Filton 4”.
Corner was also found guilty of striking a police officer with a sledgehammer and convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm.
Two other Palestine Action activists, Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31, were found not guilty.
The verdict followed an earlier trial, at which all six defendants were acquitted of aggravated burglary, while the jury was unable to reach verdicts for the criminal damage charges.
Each of the defendants gave evidence, admitting that they damaged Israeli military drones and equipment inside Elbit’s research and development facility in Filton – in order to “save lives in Palestine”, according to a statement by their lawyers.
The jury was not told that, if they convicted, the four could be sentenced under terrorism laws. Criminal damage is not usually a terrorism offence, but in England and Wales judges can decide to treat an offence as having a “terrorist connection” at sentencing, even when the charge itself is not a terrorism offence.
If the court decides there was a terrorism connection, the activists would have to serve their entire sentences in prison, unless they have already completed at least two‑thirds of the sentence and a parole board decides they can be released.
Conversely, non-terrorist prisoners usually serve about 40 percent of their sentence in custody and are released early, but under conditions and supervision, sometimes called licence conditions. If they break those conditions, they can be sent back to prison to finish their sentence.
Additionally, if the activists are sentenced in this way, they can be recorded as “terrorists” for the rest of their lives, would be required to register new mobile devices, email addresses and bank accounts with the police for their lifetime, and face being returned to prison if they breach their licence conditions or reoffend.
On Wednesday, a group of more than 50 lawyers and law professors published an open letter denouncing plans to sentence the four Palestine Action members as terrorists.
The letter highlights that damage to property has been a recurring feature of protest campaigns from the Suffragettes who fought for women to have the right to vote, to environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion.
“It has never previously even been suggested that those taking such action should be treated as terrorists. Blurring the distinction between principled direct action and terrorism is the hallmark of authoritarian regimes,” the open letter stated.
The letter has been signed by law professors from universities in the UK, the Netherlands, Norway and Canada as well as by dozens of practising barristers and solicitors.
According to local news reports, a protest is expected at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday against the potential judgement.
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Israel and Iran may be seeking an off-ramp to keep the latest flare-up of fighting from boiling over to an extended conflict in the wake of strikes between the two nations on Sunday and Monday. The attacks marked the most serious challenge to the shaky ceasefire that went into effect on April 8. They took place despite President Donald Trump urging both sides to stand down to let the sputtering peace process move forward.
Meanwhile, adding to the tensions, the Houthi rebels of Yemen, an Iranian proxy group, have threatened to attack Israeli shipping in the Red Sea region in support of Iran. As we reported yesterday, they fired missiles at Israel on Sunday.
Both Israel and Iran said on Monday evening local time that they were ready to stop fighting.
“Israel has decided to stop its attacks on Iran,” Reuters reporter Phil Stewart stated on X, citing a source.
SOURCE TO REUTERS: ISRAEL HAS DECIDED TO STOP ITS ATTACKS ON IRAN
— Phil Stewart (@phildstewart) June 8, 2026
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it was halting attacks on Israel but maintained the right to resume them if Jerusalem continued “to target Hezbollah in Lebanon,” Fox News reporter Trey Yingst reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed the decision to stop attacking Iran was made because “after we dealt a heavy blow to the terrorist regime in Tehran, it ceased its attacks on us. If the terrorist regime in Iran makes a mistake and attacks us again—we will respond with full force.”
در حال حاضر، آتش متوقف شده است، زیرا پس از اینکه ما به رژیم تروریستی در تهران ضربه محکم زدیم، حمله به ما را متوقف کرد.
اگر رژیم تروریستی در ایران اشتباه کند و دوباره به ما حمله کند – ما با قدرت پاسخ خواهیم داد.
نخست وزیر نتانیاهو:
🔸️شهروندان عزیز اسرائیل، یک سال پیش ما یک… pic.twitter.com/sk7sRwHNta— اسرائیل به فارسی (@IsraelPersian) June 8, 2026
In a post on his social media platform, President Donald Trump said both sides “are looking to do an immediate CEASEFIRE! Final negotiations on ‘Peace’ are proceeding, subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way.”
The ongoing U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, however, “will remain in place, and in full force and effect, until a ‘Final Deal’ is reached,” Trump added. “Things should move quickly.”
“Both sides, Israel and Iran, are looking to do an immediate CEASEFIRE! Final negotiations on “Peace” are proceeding, subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way…” – President DONALD J. TRUMP pic.twitter.com/zLoFSZo3jZ
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 8, 2026
Earlier on Monday, Trump demanded that the two sides stop fighting.
“Israel and Iran must immediately stop ‘shooting,’” Trump insisted on Truth Social.
As we noted yesterday, the latest Israel-Iran fighting was sparked by Israeli bombing of Beirut on Sunday. Hours after that took place, Iran launched missiles at Israel and Israel fired back. Initially on Monday, Israeli leaders said they were expecting a conflict that would last for at least several days and that Iran has sufficient stocks of ballistic missiles to carry that out, according to the Israeli N12 News outlet.
In addition, the IDF was preparing for more attacks from the Houthis and Hezbollah, N12 stated.
However, that analysis had apparently changed in recent hours.
Israel’s retaliatory strikes came despite Trump telling several reporters on Sunday that he was going to tell Netanyahu to hold his fire and that both sides had done enough to each other and should cease attacking. Those conversations pointed to either messaging to deceive Iran about a pending attack or further signs of strain between the two leaders.
Trump to Channel 13 News:
”I think Israel has responded enough, no need for more. We can achieve peace after 3,000 years.”— Farzad Seifikaran (@FSeifikaran) June 7, 2026
Netanyahu’s push to attack Hezbollah in Lebanon had reportedly already earned a invective-laden rebuke from Trump.
“You’re fucking crazy,” Axios said Trump told the Israeli leader in a phone call last week. “You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.”
After Israel struck Beirut on Sunday, Trump told Financial Times that Netanyahu would have no choice but to accept any deal the U.S. negotiates with Iran, because he “calls the shots.”
“He won’t have any choice,” Trump told the outlet in a telephone interview. “I call the shots. I call all the shots. He [Netanyahu] doesn’t call the shots.”
BREAKING: President Trump says Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu will have “no choice” but to accept a US deal with Iran, because he “calls the shots,” per FT.
Details include:
1. “I call the shots. I call all the shots. He [Netanyahu] doesn’t call the shots,” Trump said
2.…
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) June 7, 2026
Despite Trump putting his foot down, overnight, “dozens of Israeli Air Force fighter jets struck nine Iranian air defense systems in western and central Iran, and this morning, the IAF struck three factories at a petrochemical complex in southwest Iran,” the Times of Israel reported. “The military says the strikes are only being carried out by Israel, but there is ‘full coordination’ with CENTCOM. Meanwhile, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has spoken with his counterpart, CENTCOM chief Adm. Brad Cooper, three times, according to the military.”
U.S. forces “are assisting in intercepting incoming missiles,” I24 News Diplomatic Correspondent Amichai Stein reported on X. “So far, Iran has launched approximately 22–24 missiles, while the Houthis have fired two.”
An IDF official confirmed that to us, saying that “the Israeli strikes were fully coordinated with CENTCOM across multiple dimensions, including intelligence, defensive preparedness, and operational planning.”
CENTCOM declined to comment.
However, a U.S. official told TWZ that American forces “did not defend Israel with air defense against missiles and drones.”
IDF sources:
• The military is preparing for at least several days of combat.
• U.S. forces are assisting in intercepting incoming missiles.
• So far, Iran has launched approximately 22–24 missiles, while the Houthis have fired two.
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) June 8, 2026
Earlier on Monday, Israel released video it says showed attacks on Iranian air defense systems.
🎥FIRST FOOTAGE: Watch IDF strikes targeting aerial defense systems in Iran, which housed missiles intended to target aircraft. pic.twitter.com/7pWhnOuSGV
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 8, 2026
That strike was part of a wave of attacks Israel carried out on Iranian air defenses across the country.
⭕️🛩️ STRUCK: The IDF completed a large-scale strike on strategic defense systems belonging to the Iranian terror regime.
Recently, defense systems were deployed across Iran to restore the regime’s capabilities degraded during Operation Roaring Lion. The strike led to the… pic.twitter.com/eEqV2QnXK3
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 8, 2026
Israel also claimed that among its targets were “infrastructure sites at the petrochemical complex in Mahshahr, in southwestern Iran.”
“These facilities were used by the armed forces of the Iranian terror regime to produce and export raw materials for weapons production,” the IDF posited. “The targeted infrastructure produced unique materials that serve as critical components for the development of ballistic missiles.”
🚨 confirmed. Among the 15 Targets IAF attacked is the Mahshahr Petrochemical Complex, officially known as the Petrochemical Special Economic Zone (PETZONE) in Bandar-e Mahshahr, Khuzestan Province. Right across the border from Kuwait !
This is Iran’s 2nd largest petrochemical… https://t.co/2JgcUZpSZ3 pic.twitter.com/qvQFWMcC6I
— Eyal Ofer אייל עופר (@Eyalo365) June 8, 2026
Video emerged online showing the Israeli airstrikes in Tehran.
For the first time since the April ceasefire, Israel and Iran have attacked each other. Israel carried out strikes on western and central Iran including the Iranian capital Tehran.
While Iran launched missiles at northern Israel and said it is the beginning of a week of attacks.… pic.twitter.com/SmcwFKMw14
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) June 8, 2026
The attacks sparked a warning from the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.
“As a result of the current security situation in Israel, including Home Front Command alerts for multiple regions,” the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem is ordering “all U.S. government employees and their family members to shelter in place, and be prepared to move to a protected shelter in the event of a red alert, until further notice.”
As a result of the current security situation in Israel, including Home Front Command alerts for multiple regions, the U.S. Embassy has directed all U.S. government employees and their family members to shelter in place, and be prepared to move to a protected shelter in the event… pic.twitter.com/ohyK56GyNh
— U.S. Embassy Jerusalem (@usembassyjlm) June 8, 2026
Though both Israel and Iran say they are willing to stop fighting, tensions in the region remain high. We will continue to monitor the situation.
As we noted earlier in this story, the Houthi rebels of Yemen said they are banning Israeli ships from the Red Sea and took credit for missile attacks on Israel that took place on Sunday.
“We announce a complete ban on navigation for the enemy in the Red Sea, and any Zionist movements will be considered military targets for our forces,” said Brigadier General Yahya Sare’e, the Houthis’ spokesman. “We will confront escalation with escalation, and our operations will be escalating in line with the battle and our participation in the axis of jihad and resistance.”
“We affirm the right of our people and the free peoples of our nation to confront American-Israeli aggression,” he added. “We will not stand idly by in the face of the unjust siege on our people and the peoples of the axis of jihad and resistance.”
Sare’e also said the Houthis launched “a missile strike on sensitive targets of the Israeli enemy in occupied Jaffa, and achieving its objectives with precision, thanks to God.”
There were no reported injuries or damage from that attack.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis announce that they launched a missile attack on Israel and declared a ban on Israeli shipping in the Red Sea.#Yemen pic.twitter.com/LYYPB7bibK
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) June 8, 2026
As we have previously reported, there have been major and relevant concerns that the Houthis could effectively shut down the Bab el-Mandeb (BAM) strait, a narrow stretch of water between Yemen and Djibouti. Doing so would choke off a flow of oil exports from Saudi Arabia to the east, exacerbating a huge spike in oil prices after Iran closed off the Strait of Hormuz to most shipping. Having both straits closed at once is something of a ‘sum of all fears’ scenario for the global energy marketplace.
A new Houthi offensive would be a major cudgel for Iran, because it would open a new front in the war and draw in U.S. military resources at a time when they are already heavily involved in the region.
During the previous Houthi Red Sea campaign that stretched into early 2025, the U.S. and its allies deployed many warships, including the Eisenhower and Truman Carrier Strike Groups (CSG) to both defend against Houthi attacks and strike targets in Yemen. These operations resulted in a large expenditure of air defense munitions already under strain as Iran rained down missiles and drones across the Middle East.
You can see video from some of those encounters below.
Strikes on Iranian-backed Houthi Targets by USS Gravely, USS Carney, and USS Dwight D. Eisenhower
Iran, meanwhile, insists it is maintaining its control over the Strait of Hormuz.
“No vessel without Iran’s permission has the right to pass through the Strait of Hormuz Command vessel of the IRGC Navy,” the official Iranian Fars News Agency stated on X. “It is announced to all vessels that entry of any vessel from hostile countries into the Strait of Hormuz is prohibited and, if observed, they will immediately be targeted.”
CENTCOM says its forces once again disabled a ship trying to run the blockade. This time, the effort involved an F/A-18E/F Super Hornet from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) firing “a precision munition into the ship’s engineering and steering spaces after the crew failed to comply with directions.”
The incident, involving the Palau-flagged M/T Marivex, took place as the unladen oil tanker transited international waters in the Gulf of Oman toward Iran, the command stated on X.
“Marivex is no longer sailing to Iran,” CENTCOM added.
This was the seventh ship trying to run the blockade that CENTCOM forces disabled, the command noted. In addition, it said it “redirected 134 ships that complied, and allowed 42 vessels supporting humanitarian aid to pass since initiating the blockade on April 13.”
You can read more about how the other six ships were disabled in our story here.
According to a release from U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), the U.S. disabled an unladen oil tanker, the M/T Marivex, in the Gulf of Oman today. Per the release, a “precise munition” from an F/A-18 Super Hornet was fired into the engine and steering areas of the vessel when the… pic.twitter.com/qyW4WBhfLa
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) June 8, 2026
Given existing concerns that Iran has mined the Strait, “US allies will seek Trump’s approval for a Europe-led plan to demine the Strait of Hormuz at next week’s G7 summit in France,” Bloomberg News is reporting. “The UK and French-led mine-clearing mission is operationally ready and set to deploy in the days after any Iran deal. Securing a G7 endorsement of the mission is one of the main goals of the summit. European leaders see it as a way of showing the continent is stepping up to help the US after Trump’s fury it didn’t back his war.”
US allies will seek President Donald Trump’s approval for a Europe-led plan to demine the Strait of Hormuz at next week’s Group of Seven summit in France. https://t.co/Byy6mE94rh
— Bloomberg (@business) June 8, 2026
You can read more about what it takes to conduct demining operations in our exclusive interview with a former MH-53E pilot who carried out those operations, which you can read here.
My exclusive interview with a pilot who flew the behemoth MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopters on counter mine missions over the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz.https://t.co/C0tvO2sLKp
— Howard Altman (@haltman) June 5, 2026
Despite the renewed fighting, Iran’s president says his country has not abandoned diplomacy.
“Our priority is national security and the peace of our people. We will defend the rights of the nation with authority and will not retreat in the face of any threat,” Masoud Pezeshkian stated on X. “Diplomacy and defense are the two wings of national power; we have neither abandoned the field nor the negotiating table. God willing, with unity and rationality, Iran will emerge triumphant from this trial as well.”
اولویت ما امنیت ملی و آرامش مردم است. با اقتدار از حقوق ملت دفاع میکنیم و در برابر هیچ تهدیدی عقبنشینی نخواهیم کرد. دیپلماسی و دفاع دو بال قدرت ملیاند؛ نه میدان را ترک کردهایم و نه میز مذاکره را. به امید خدا با وحدت و عقلانیت ایران از این آزمون نیز سربلند عبور خواهد کرد.
— Masoud Pezeshkian (@drpezeshkian) June 8, 2026
In a post on X, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-connected Tasnim news agency claims Iran fired a new jet-powered drone at Israel during its waves of attacks yesterday. The outlet provided no details about the weapon or any imagery of it in flight. TWZ cannot independently verify the claim.
Iran Utilized Newly Unveiled Jet-Powered Drone in Overnight Strikes on Israel
Iran employed a previously unseen jet-powered drone in its overnight attacks on Israel, according to Seyed Mohammad Taheri, a military analyst at Tasnim News Agency’s War Interpretation Desk. https://t.co/ATvBOUmiOZ pic.twitter.com/Z4SBHawMcz
— Tasnim News Agency (@Tasnimnews_EN) June 8, 2026
Contact the author: howard@twz.com
DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,
Explosions hit Qeshm Island, ports along Strait of Hormuz after Trump threatens to hit Iran ‘very hard’.
Published On 10 Jun 202610 Jun 2026
The United States has launched fresh strikes against “multiple targets” in Iran at President Donald Trump’s direction, in a fresh escalation that prompted Tehran to declare the Strait of Hormuz closed to “all types of vessels”.
The US military said the strikes late on Wednesday were “in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression”, as Iranian state media reported explosions on Qeshm Island and in the cities of Bandar Abbas and Sirik along the Strait of Hormuz.
list of 4 itemsend of list
Blasts also hit the southern city of Kargan, wounding at least two people.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps accused the US of “repeated violations” of their April ceasefire, and said the Strait of Hormuz was “closed until further notice”.
It said all traffic in the vital waterway, including oil tankers and commercial vessels, would be affected, and firmly rejected the US’s previous claims that it had helped ships pass through the strait.
The IRGC subsequently added that “two oil tankers attempting to illegally pass through the strait were hit”.
The escalation comes a day after the US and Iran exchanged tit-for-tat strikes over the downing of a US Apache helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz.
Earlier, Trump said the US would hit Iran “very hard”.
“We’ll see what happens with the deal. We were really close to a deal. But they keep stringing us along. They keep playing us for suckers because you know what? They dealt with some very stupid presidents. I have to say that I’m embarrassed to say it,” he told reporters at the White House.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian slammed Trump’s threat in a post on X.
“Critical infrastructures are the lifeblood of the people. Threats to target them – from transportation networks to the electricity and water industries – are not a show of strength but a sign of desperation in the face of a nation’s will,” he wrote.
“Iran, relying on the knowledge and capabilities of its specialists, national unity, and solidarity, will stand firm against any pressure or threat,” he added.
Tehran remains defiant amid US attacks, orders complete closure of Strait of Hormuz to all vessels.
Published On 11 Jun 202611 Jun 2026
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