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President Donald Trump has urged Iran to agree to US demands to restrict its nuclear programme as Tehran promised a strong response to Israeli air strikes targeting its nuclear sites and military facilities, killing at least two senior military commanders and several nuclear scientists.

Writing on his Truth Social platform on Friday, Trump warned that the “next already planned attacks” on Iran would be “even more brutal” and urged Iranian officials to “make a deal before there is nothing left”.

“Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left… JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,” he said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier said that the United States had no part in the Israeli attacks and urged Iran not to target American interests or personnel in the region in retaliation, but Tehran said Washington would be “responsible for consequences”.

Iran promised a harsh response to the barrage, and Israel said it was trying to intercept about 100 drones launched towards Israeli territory in retaliation.

Iranian state media has reported that Hossein Salami, commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Mohammad Bagheri, the chief of staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, were both killed in the attacks. Nuclear scientists Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi and Fereydoun Abbasi were also killed.

Some 200 Israeli warplanes took part in overnight air strikes on Iran, hitting more than 100 targets in the country, according to Israeli army spokesman, Brigadier General Effie Defrin.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel struck at the “heart of Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme”, taking aim at the main uranium enrichment facility in Natanz.

The attacks would “continue as many days as it takes”, he said.

Iranian media reported explosions, including some at the main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz. Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation said Natanz had sustained damage but no casualties had been reported.

On Friday afternoon, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported a new Israeli attack in the city of Tabriz, northwest of Iran.

‘Severe punishment for Israel’

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Israel that it “must expect severe punishment” after the assault. The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs added that Tehran has a “legal and legitimate” right to respond.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who is expected to address the public, also said in a statement on his official X account: “The Zionist regime will regret its action today.”

Israel’s military said on Friday it was intercepting Iranian drones. The country’s public broadcaster and Channel 12 reported that Israel also intercepted drones over Saudi Arabia.

At about 08:00 GMT, Israeli media reported that an earlier order requiring citizens to remain near protected areas had been lifted.

In the Iranian city of Qom, hundreds of protesters gathered at the Jamkaran Mosque to demand a “severe punishment” for Israel in response to the strikes.

Mohammad Eslami, a research fellow at Tehran University, said Iranian leaders are preparing an imminent strike on Israel targeting military and nuclear facilities.

“The Iranian military were thinking about this scenario for many years and also in recent days, we have heard lots of statements by the Defence Ministry of Iran that they are ready for any strike by the Israelis,” he told Al Jazeera from Tehran.

“Most Iranian political parties support defending the country because all Iranians [know] the history of Iraq attacking Iran. This is not about political points of view,” he added.

Nuclear talks

US and Iranian officials are due to attend a sixth round of talks over Iran’s nuclear programme in Oman on Sunday.

The two sides have been negotiating over Iran’s enrichment of uranium, with Trump stating recently that “zero” enrichment should be allowed in Iran. He has also said repeatedly that Iran will not be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons.

Tehran has consistently said that its nuclear programme is only for civilian purposes.

Iran said in a statement that Israel’s “cowardly” attack showed why Iran had to insist on enrichment, nuclear technology and missile power.

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors on Thursday declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in almost 20 years.

A UN panel has urged the UK to renegotiate a deal returning the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, saying it “fails to guarantee” the rights of the Chagossian people.

The deal, signed last month, returned sovereignty of the Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius, but the UK retained the right to run a military base on Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos Islands.

By preventing the Chagossian people from returning to Diego Garcia, “the agreement appears to be at variance with the Chagossians’ right to return,” the UN experts wrote.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said the UK-Mauritius deal had been “welcomed by international organisations including the UN secretary general”.

The panel of four experts were appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, but are not UN staff and are independent from the UN.

They said by the UK keeping the military base of Diego Garcia, the Chagossian people were hindered from being able to “exercise their cultural rights in accessing their ancestral lands from which they were expelled”.

The panel called for the current deal to be suspended and for a new agreement to be negotiated.

Under the agreement, the UK would pay an average of £101m a year for 99 years to continue operating the military base on Diego Garcia, in concert with the US.

The Chagos Islands are located in the Indian Ocean about 5,799 miles (9,332km) south-east of the UK, and about 1,250 miles north-east of Mauritius.

The UK purchased the islands for £3m in 1968, but Mauritius has argued it was illegally forced to give away the islands in order to gain independence from Britain.

Diego Garcia was then cleared to make way for a military base, with large groups of Chagossians forcibly moved to Mauritius and the Seychelles, or taking up an invitation to settle in England, mainly in Crawley, West Sussex.

Since then, Chagossians have not been allowed to return to Diego Garcia.

Before the UK-Mauritius deal was signed last month, two Chagossian women living in the UK – who were born on Diego Garcia – launched a last-minute legal bid to stop it, saying the agreement did not guarantee the right of return to their island of birth.

The deal includes a £40m trust fund to support Chagossians, a component that the UN panel also questioned would “comply with the right of the Chagossian people to effective remedy… and prompt reparation”.

“The agreement also lacks provisions to facilitate the Chagossian people’s access to cultural sites on Diego Garcia and protect and conserve their unique cultural heritage,” the panel added.

The Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We recognise the importance of the islands to Chagossians and have worked to ensure the agreement reflects this.”

Shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel said the Conservatives “have been warning from the start that this deal is bad for British taxpayers and bad for the Chagossian people”.

“It is why I have introduced a bill in Parliament that would block the [agreement] and force the government to speak to the people at the heart of their surrender plans,” she said.

Both the House of Commons and House of Lords have until 3 July to pass a resolution to oppose the deal being ratified.

PRINCE William will today urge the world to help save our seas — as he joins Sir David Attenborough to discuss deteriorating oceans.

William is expected to call on everyone to “think big in your actions” when he highlights the urgency of the situation in a landmark speech.

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In the address in Monaco at the Blue Economy and Finance Forum, he will say: “Let us act together with urgency and optimism while we still have the chance.”

The father of three, 42, is there as founder of the Earthshot environmental prize which has “Revive Our Oceans” as one of its themes.

A Kensington Palace spokesman said: “This speech is the Prince of Wales calling for action to save our oceans now.

“The world is watching. This is him using his platform to call for more to be done sooner rather than later.”

William sits down with Sir David, 99, to celebrate the environmentalist’s new film, Ocean, which is released on streaming platforms today, World Oceans Day.

The Prince asks: “David, from what you’ve seen over the years, what state would you say the oceans are in right now?”

He replies: “The awful thing is it’s hidden from you and from me and from most people.

“The thing I’m appalled by when I first saw the shots taken for this film are what we have done to the deep ocean floor is just unspeakably awful.

“If you did anything remotely like it on land everybody was up in arms. If this film . . . just shifts public awareness, it will be very, very important.

“And I can only hope that people who see it will recognise that ­something must be done before we destroy this great treasure.”

Asked by the Prince if there are things deep down in the oceans “we’ve never seen”, he answers that it is “beyond question”.

They also discuss Sir David’s decades of ocean exploration and the vital role the ocean has in supporting and sustaining life on Earth.

Wills and Sir David also speak about the importance of remaining optimistic about ocean protection and the role younger people play.

At the beginning of the film, Sir David has the Prince in stitches as he tries on a diving helmet used in filming 1990’s The Trials of Life.

They also inspect an underwater camera used in filming Ocean.

PM Albanese says government already increasing spending and decisions will be based on defence capability needs.

United States Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth has called on Australia to increase its military spending to 3.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) “as soon as possible”.

Responding on Monday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government will decide on Australia’s defence capability needs before announcing spending.

“What you should do in defence is decide what you need, your capability, and then provide for it,” Albanese told reporters.

“That’s what my government is doing. Investing to our capability and investing in our relationships.”

Albanese added that his government is already increasing defence spending by about 10 billion Australian dollars ($6.5bn).

“We’re continuing to lift up,” he said, citing his government’s goal to increase spending to 2.3 percent of GDP by 2033.

However, the government is facing other demands on its budget.

Albanese was speaking from a farm in the state of South Australia, which is experiencing a significant drought.

Meanwhile, Australia’s treasurer said the country is facing a bill of billions due to recent floods in New South Wales and Cyclone Alfred.

Public broadcaster ABC reported that increasing military spending to 3.5 percent of GDP would cost 100 billion Australian dollars ($65bn) annually, 40 billion Australian dollars ($25bn) more than it spends currently.

Matt Grudnoff, a senior economist with The Australia Institute, said “Australia already spends more than it should” on defence.

“Were Australia to increase its defence spending to 2.3% of GDP, we would be the ninth biggest spender on defence and the military,” Grudnoff said.

“Australia would be devoting more of its economy to defence than France and Taiwan, and on a par with the United Kingdom,” he added.

Worldwide military spending increased by 9.4 percent in 2024, the sharpest rise since the end of the Cold War, in part driven by increased spending by European countries, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

The Australian government has already committed to spending hundreds of billions of dollars on US-manufactured nuclear submarines under its AUKUS agreement with the US and the UK in the coming decades.

It estimates that the programme could cost up to 368 billion Australian dollars ($238bn).

Hegseth and Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles discussed security issues, including accelerating US defence capabilities in Australia and advancing industrial base cooperation during a meeting on Friday, a Pentagon statement said on Sunday.

Australia’s role in manufacturing weapons components has come under increasing scrutiny amid Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, with protests outside Australian weapons factories and at Australian ports, as well as legal challenges.

Albanese says Australia’s position on Taiwan has not changed

Hegseth’s call for Australia to increase its military spending comes after the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Shangri-La Dialogue on Saturday that “the threat China poses is real, and it could be imminent”.

“There’s no reason to sugar-coat it,” the Pentagon chief added. The US continues to warn of the threat that China poses to Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of Chinese territory.

China’s Defence Minister Dong Jun skipped the conference, which is considered to be the region’s top security event.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded by saying: “The US should not entertain illusions about using the question over Taiwan as a bargaining chip to contain China, nor should it play with fire.”

Asked about Hegseth’s remarks, Albanese said Australia will “determine our defence policy”.

“Our position with regard to Taiwan is very clear, [and] has been for a long period of time, which is a bipartisan position to support the status quo,” he said.

Getty Images

Getty Images

‘Deterrence doesn’t come cheap’

‘Common sense’ vision

Cambodian and Thai officials claim soldiers from other side opening fire first in latest deadly border clash between the neighbours.

Cambodia’s leader has called for calm in the country a day after a soldier was killed in a brief clash with troops from neighbouring Thailand, in a disputed zone along the Thai-Cambodia border.

In a written statement on Thursday, Prime Minister Hun Manet said people should not “panic over unverified material being circulated”, and reassured the country that he did not want a conflict between Cambodian and Thai forces.

“For this reason, I hope that the upcoming meeting between the Cambodian and Thai army commanders will produce positive results to preserve stability and good military communication between the two countries, as we have done in the past,” said Hun Manet, who is currently on a visit to Tokyo.

“Even though I am in Japan … the command system and hierarchy for major military operations such as troop movements remain under my full responsibility as prime minister,” he added.

Cambodia’s Ministry of National Defence said on Wednesday that one of its soldiers was killed in a brief firefight with Thai troops, in a disputed border region between the country’s Preah Vihear province and Thailand’s Ubon Ratchathani province.

The ministry accused Thai soldiers of opening fire first on a Cambodian military post that had long existed in the contested border zone.

However, Thailand’s Minister of Defence Phumtham Wechayachai said Cambodian forces in the area had opened fire first, adding they had previously dug a trench in the area in an effort to assert Cambodia’s claim over the disputed territory, local media reported.

“I have been informed that the return fire was necessary to defend ourselves and protect Thailand’s sovereignty. I have instructed caution. Although the ceasefire holds, both sides continue to face each other,” the minister said, according to Thailand’s The Nation newspaper.

The Nation also reported that Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra spoke with her counterpart, Hun Manet, and both were working to lower the temperature on the dispute.

“We don’t want this to escalate,” the Thai prime minister was quoted as saying.

Cambodia and Thailand have a long history of disputes along their mutual border, including armed clashes that broke out in 2008 near Cambodia’s Preah Vihear Temple, which was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site that year. Fighting also broke out along the border in 2011.

The Associated Press news agency reports that in February, Cambodian troops and their family members entered an ancient temple along the border and sang the Cambodian national anthem, leading to a brief argument with Thai troops.

The incident was recorded on video and went viral on social media.

WARSAW, Poland — The Conservative Political Action Conference, the United States’ premier conservative gathering, held its first meeting in Poland on Tuesday, just five days before a tightly contested presidential election between a liberal mayor and a conservative backed by President Trump.

The two candidates vying to replace Polish President Andrzej Duda offer starkly different visions for Poland: Rafał Trzaskowski, the pro-European Union liberal mayor of Warsaw, and Karol Nawrocki, a conservative historian backed by the Law and Justice party who is skeptical of the EU.

“We need you to elect the right leader,” Kristi Noem, the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary and a prominent Trump ally, said in a speech at the event. “You will be the leaders that will turn Europe back to conservative values.”

Noem described Trzaskowski as “an absolute train wreck of a leader” and Nawrocki as someone who would lead Poland in a style similar to Trump.

She opened her speech saying: “I just had the opportunity to meet with Karol and listen: he needs to be the next president of Poland. Do you understand me?”

She also implied that electing Nawrocki would strengthen the U.S.-Poland relationship.

“If you (elect) a leader that will work with President Donald J. Trump, the Polish people will have an ally that will ensure that you will be able to fight off enemies that do not share your values,” she said.

“You will have strong borders and protect your communities and keep them safe, and ensure that your citizens are respected every single day,” she said. “You will continue to have a U.S. presence here, a military presence. And you will have equipment that is American-made, that is high quality.”

The United States currently has some 10,000 troops stationed in Poland, a mission aimed at reassuring the frontline NATO nation worried about Russian aggression.

“Donald Trump is a strong leader for us, but you have an opportunity that you have just as strong of a leader in Karol if you make him the leader of this country,” Noem said.

CPAC sees a ‘globalist’ attack

CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp opened the proceedings with a speech claiming that conservatives around the world are locked in a battle against “globalists,” whom he described as enemies of faith, family and freedom.

Schlapp claimed CPAC had stood by Trump throughout his legal battles and declared that similar threats were playing out in countries like Poland.

“Are you happy that America is getting closer to being great again?” Schlapp asked the audience. “Did the reelection of Donald Trump bring you joy?”

“When one of us is under attack, the rest of us must come to that person’s defense,” he added. “The globalists intend to take each one of us out one by one — to shame us, to silence us, to bankrupt us, to ruin us, to make our kids turn against us.”

He said that’s why it was important to “win all these elections, including in Poland, that are so important to the freedom of people everywhere.”

The conference took place in Jasionka, near the southeastern Polish city of Rzeszow, located in a region of Poland that is staunchly conservative. Jasionka has also been the hub for U.S. and Western weapons sent to Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale invasion more than three years ago.

A global conservative movement

CPAC meetings, which started in 1974, used to champion tight budgets and a hawkish foreign policy, but have steadily been taken over by the Trump wing of the Republican party. CPAC has rebranded itself as a celebration of the U.S. president’s populist approach.

At the same time, it’s reached out to other conservative populists with a stated goal of helping grow a global conservative movement. CPAC has held gatherings in Japan, South Korea, Mexico City and Israel. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his staff have become regular speakers. The gathering in Poland followed multiple CPAC meetings in Budapest.

Another speaker Tuesday was John Eastman, a conservative lawyer who was the architect of much of Trump’s unsuccessful strategy to overturn his 2020 election loss.

In his speech, Eastman framed the upcoming Polish presidential election as a decisive moment for the future of Western civilization. He argued that a cultural and ideological “cancer” marked by a loss of faith in Western civilization is spreading eastward.

“Poland is poised to play a critical role in defeating this threat to Western civilization. That is why the election this coming Sunday is so important,” Eastman said.

Gera writes for the Associated Press.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has urged doctors in England to “vote no” in a ballot on industrial action which gets under way on Tuesday.

In a BBC interview, he urged resident doctors, the new name for junior doctors, to “work with the government” and warned strikes risked hampering the progress being made in the NHS.

He said it was in no-one’s interests for strikes to take place.

Last week it was announced resident doctors would be getting a 5.4% average pay rise this year – more than other doctors, nurses and teachers.

But resident doctors, who took part in 11 strikes in 2023 and 2024, said it was not enough to make up for below-inflation pay awards since 2008.

The union is urging members to vote for industrial action, with sources saying strikes would be the likely action taken.

This year’s pay rise comes after resident doctors were awarded rises worth 22% over the previous two years.

Streeting agreed to that deal shortly after coming into office, ending a dispute which had lasted more than a year.

Taking account of this year’s pay rise, it means the starting salary for a doctor fresh out of university has risen by £9,500 over the past three years to around £38,800, the government said.

But the British Medical Association (BMA) said even after the latest pay rise another 20% was needed to bring wages back to where they were in 2008.

Resident doctors’ committee co-chairs Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt said: “We are urging doctors to vote yes to strike action.

“By voting yes they will be telling the government there is no alternative to fixing pay – this cannot wait for different fiscal circumstances and a healthier NHS. The answer is to fix it today.”

The vote on industrial action runs until 7 July.

Streeting said his door was always open but added there was no more money to increase salaries above the latest award.

And he said a fresh bout of strikes would put attempts to rebuild the NHS at risk.

Speaking to the BBC, Streeting said: ” I don’t think strikes are in their interests, in patients interests and I certainly don’t think it’s in the interest of the NHS overall.”

Streeting has often cited the deal he reached last year to end the previous round of strikes as evidence of the government’s ability to reform the health service and cut waiting lists.

Meanwhile, BMA sources said consultants were likely to start a dispute process over their 4% rise – the first step towards moving to an industrial action ballot.

Other staff including nurses, midwives and physios have been given a 3.6% increase. The Royal College of Nursing said it was “grotesque” nurses were getting less than doctors for the second year in a row.

The Scottish government has agreed a deal worth 8% over two years with health unions representing all staff apart from doctors and dentists. There have been no strikes by health workers in Scotland.

Dragging a suitcase across various different countries and airports can lead to a dirty build-up on the wheels, but one ex-cabin crew member thinks they’ve found the solution

There’s nothing more satisfying than opening up an empty case on your bed and starting to fill it with holiday clothes each summer.

But before you haul your wheelie case out of the loft, have you stopped to think how dirty the wheels are? This is especially important if you still own luggage that has been to various countries with you and is looking a little worse for wear.

One flight attendant believes she has found the answer to the issue, with a simple, low-cost, hack to stop you from bringing dirt from the airport and overseas back into your home. It costs under £5 and comes in a roll – that’s right, it’s black electric tape.

It’s often used to insulate electrical wires in homes, along with marking and protecting them. So there’s a chance if you are in the trade, or not, that you may have a roll of this handy stuff in a drawer.

READ MORE: Ryanair tells cabin crews they have to give back £1,000s in pay

Shared by TikTok user SANA Motherhood, the 14-second video shows her putting black tape around the wheel. She captioned: “Tired of your suitcase wheels dragging airport dirt into your home? This one simple thing will change everything after your trip.”

Accumulating more than 9.6 million views and 172.4k likes, the comment section was flooded with reactions from other users who had never thought such a simple hack would be so useful, especially when we tend to put suitcases on top of the bed. However, others didn’t see the point of it.

One said: “Smart hack for luggage,” with a second one explaining: “For those who don’t know, it helps protect your bag tyres from puncture, hence saving you the cost of replacing new bag tires, including wheel alignment every now and then.”

A third one commented: “Is it not easier to give the wheels a quick disinfecting wipe than to have to put tape on and then peel the dirty tape off with your fingers?”

READ MORE: Happiest place to live in Scotland is named and it’s not where you’d expect

A former flight attendant joked: “Former flight attendant here, do not do this unless you want to collect hair from around the world.”

By applying this simple hack, travellers can rest assured that the wheels of their suitcase remain clean after every trip and ready for the next holiday. Even better, the travel journey will become stress-free without the inconvenience of hearing the squeaky noise of the worn-out wheels.

Additionally, this hack is very simple, and it doesn’t require any special tools or expertise. It’s ideal for last-minute travellers who want to protect their luggage, also adding an extra layer of protection against wheel damage, extending the usage of your suitcase for longer. You can find black electrical tape in any UK supermarket, Amazon, or specialised store selling trade tools.

Actory calls on filmmakers to ‘keep telling the stories, keep expressing yourself and keep fighting to be who you are’.

Chilean-American actor Pedro Pascal has called on members of the film industry to “fight back” and keep expressing themselves amid what he appeared to describe as a political climate of fear in the United States.

“F*** the people that try to make you scared. And fight back. This is the perfect way to do so in telling stories. Don’t let them win,” said 50-year-old Pascal, who was at the Cannes film festival for the premiere of “Eddington”.

“Fear is the way that they win, for one. And so keep telling the stories and keep expressing yourself and keep fighting to be who you are,” he said.

“Eddington” stars Pascal as a small-town mayor campaigning against a down-on-his-luck sheriff played by Joaquin Phoenix in a New Mexico town where tensions are simmering over COVID-19 mask policies and the Black Lives Matter protests.

Pascal, known for his role in dystopian video-game adaptation “The Last of Us”, added that it was “far too intimidating” for him to address a question about US President Donald Trump’s immigration policy.

“It’s very scary for an actor participating in a movie to sort of speak to issues like this,” he said.

“I’m an immigrant. My parents are refugees from Chile. We fled a dictatorship, and I was privileged enough to grow up in the US after asylum in Denmark … I stand by those protections,” the 50-year-old told a news conference in Cannes.

Trump has launched a crackdown on irregular immigration and has also detained and moved to deport a number of legal permanent US residents, his policies triggering a rash of lawsuits and protests.

Trump has made himself one of the main talking points in Cannes this week after announcing on May 5 that he wanted 100 percent tariffs on movies “produced in foreign lands“.

Acting legend Robert de Niro, who accepted a Cannes lifetime achievement award on Tuesday, also urged an audience of A-list directors and actors to resist “America’s philistine president”.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — President Trump met Wednesday with Syria’s new leader, praising him as a “young, attractive guy” and urging him to rid his country of “Palestinian terrorists.”

Trump also urged Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa to sign onto the historic Abraham Accords brokered during Trump’s first term.

The meeting in Riyadh came as Trump concluded the Saudi Arabian leg of his Middle Eastern trip and headed to Qatar, the second destination of what has so far been an opulence-heavy tour of the region.

The meeting with Al-Sharaa, which lasted roughly half an hour and was the first time in a quarter of a century that the leaders of the two nations have met, marks a significant victory for Al-Sharaa’s fledgling government, coming one day after Trump’s decision to lift long-standing sanctions from the war-ravaged country.

It also lends legitimacy to a leader whose past as an Al Qaeda-affiliated jihadi leader — Al-Sharaa severed ties with the group in 2016 — had made Western nations keep him at arm’s length.

The sanctions were imposed on Syria in 2011, when the now-deposed President Bashar Assad began a brutal crackdown to quell anti-government uprisings.

Al-Sharaa headed an Islamist rebel coalition that toppled Assad in December, but the Trump administration and other Western governments conditioned the lifting of sanctions on his government fulfilling certain conditions.

Yet as is his custom, Trump cut through protocol and relied on personal relations, lifting the sanctions at the urging of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a long-time supporter of Syria’s rebellion, who joined the meeting via phone.

Speaking on Air Force One en route to Qatar, Trump described Al-Sharaa as a “young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter.”

“He’s got a real shot at holding it together,” Trump added. “I spoke with President Erdogan, who is very friendly with him. He feels he’s got a shot of doing a good job. It’s a torn-up country.”

According to a readout shared by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on X, Trump urged Al-Sharaa to sign onto the Abraham Accords, tell “foreign terrorists” to leave Syria and deport “Palestinian terrorists,” help the U.S. in preventing Islamic State’s resurgence and assume responsibility for detention centers in northeast Syria housing thousands of people affiliated with Islamic State.

The Abraham Accords were the centerpiece of Trump’s foreign policy achievements in his first term. Brokered in 2020, they established diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan — without conditioning them on Palestinian statehood or Israeli concessions to the Palestinians.

Under Assad, Syria maintained a decades-old truce with Israel, despite hosting several Palestinian factions and allowing Iran and affiliated groups to operate in the country.

Brazil, China call for direct talks as the “only way to end the conflict” between Russia and Ukraine.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has pledged to press his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to attend negotiations with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Turkiye, adding to calls on Moscow to enter talks and end its three-year war.

Lula is expected to stop in the Russian capital on the way back from attending a regional forum in China.

“I’ll try to talk to Putin,” Lula said at a news conference in Beijing on Wednesday before his departure.

“It costs me nothing to say, ‘hey, comrade Putin, go to Istanbul and negotiate, dammit,’” he said.

The negotiations, expected to take place on Thursday in Turkiye’s commercial hub, Istanbul, would be the first direct talks between Kyiv and Moscow since 2022, shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour.

Lula’s comments come after the Ukrainian foreign minister urged Brazil to use its influence with Russia to secure a face-to-face meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy.

Brazil and China issued a joint statement on Tuesday calling for direct negotiations as the “only way to end the conflict”.

Zelenskyy earlier dared Putin to meet him in Turkiye, saying if he does not show up, it would show that Moscow is not interested in peace.

He also urged United States President Donald Trump, currently on a tour of Middle Eastern countries, to also visit Turkiye and participate in the talks.

Trump had announced that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio would participate in the talks in Istanbul.

A State Department official said Rubio was expected to be in Istanbul on Friday.

The Kremlin has not yet specified whether Putin will attend in person, stating only that the “Russian delegation will be present”.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying Moscow was ready for serious talks on Ukraine, but doubted Kyiv’s capacity for negotiations.