US-Iran Tensions Escalate Amid Ceasefire Strain

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Donald Trump says further strikes against Iran can be expected later today, US time, after both sides traded blows on Wednesday. He tells the media Iran "keeps playing us for suckers".

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian has said US threats to target the country's national infrastructure represent a "sign of desperation".

The deteriorating public comments by both leaders and renewed strikes in recent days are major signs that a fragile ceasefire that has held for weeks between the US, Israel and Iran is under significant strain.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres is warning of the risk of return to "full war" in the Middle East.

Stay with us as we bring you more.

Leaders from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will be invited to participate in a G7 session in France next week to discuss the Middle East war, French president Emmanuel Macron has announced.

Next Tuesday's summit session will focus on the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has "a real impact on our economies" due in particular to soaring fuel prices, and on "negotiations on Iran", he said.

Gulf countries have borne the brunt of Iran's drone and missile attacks since the US and Israel carried out their initial strikes in late February.

And Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, each of which are major oil exporters, have faced disruption after Iran's subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

In the past few minutes, the Trump administration has issued a fresh round of Iran-related sanctions.

According to a notice posted on the US Department of Treasury website, the sanctions target six individuals and four entities.

Some of those hit with sanctions appear to be tied to clandestine banking in China and Hong Kong, according to a press release on the department's website.

In one instance, the US alleges a Chinese national, Liu Boyu, "facilitated, or attempted to facilitate, financial transactions in furtherance of the IRGC’s [Islamic Republican Guard Corps] procurement of millions of dollars’ worth of weapons".

Others connected to a company Boyu is director of, Mustad Limited, have also been designated for having provided or attempted to provide support for the IRGC.

About an hour after delivering remarks to the press from the Oval Office, the US president has taken to his Truth Social platform to make another announcement.

In his post, he claims the US military executed "a secret mission" to get oil tankers and commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran closed the strait in the early days of the war, crippling up to a fifth of the world's oil and gas shipments.

"Today, I am pleased to announce that this effort has resulted in more than 100 MILLION Barrels of Oil making its way through the Strait, and into the Open Market," Trump wrote.

"More than 200 Commercial Ships have safely travelled through the Strait.

"This wildly successful effort is because the UNITED STATES of AMERICA CONTROLS the Strait of Hormuz — NOT Iran. Their military is defeated, and their economy is lost. It's over for Iran!

"Thank you for your attention to this matter."

India has summoned a US diplomat over an attack on a commercial tanker off the coast of Oman.

Three Indian crew members are still missing, according to India's foreign ministry, with 21 others rescued.

British maritime security company Vanguard Tech said the Palau-flagged tanker Settebello had "transmitted a distress call stating that its engine room had been struck by a missile while operating off Sohar in the Gulf of Oman" and that there was a fire on board.

The US military said it fired precision munitions into the engine room of an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, disabling the vessel, after the crew failed to comply with directions from American forces.

It is understood India has lodged a "strong protest" with the US deputy chief of mission to the country, Jason Meeks.

In a statement, New Delhi condemned the attack on the vessel, calling again for immediate de-escalation in the conflict.

"Attacks on shipping in the region are deeply worrisome and a direct result of the ongoing conflict in the region," the foreign ministry said.

The news from Donald Trump's press conference earlier was mainly unsurprising: the US president says he plans to keep striking Iran, despite the supposed ceasefire.

"Based on the helicopter, I guess we have the right to," Trump said, in reference to the downing of a US Apache chopper on Monday.

"We hit them hard yesterday, and we're going to them again hard today."

When asked if the attacks would target power plants and bridges — the civilian infrastructure he has threatened before, despite concerns over war crimes — Trump would not say.

But earlier, after using social media to say Iran had "taken too long to negotiate a deal", he reportedly told Fox News he was getting closer to ordering attacks on such facilities.

Trump's public persuasion campaign to push Iran into a deal doesn't appear to have changed much — despite the stubborn stalemate that has seen him repeatedly insist, for weeks, a resolution is imminent.

Iran's president has described the threats against civilian infrastructure as "a sign of desperation". So far, the threats have not worked. As Trump puts it, "they keep playing us for suckers".

The other news from the Oval Office conference, though lacking in detail, was that the US has taken oil out of Iran, according to Trump.

"I can say it now. Something you didn't know. Did you know, we've been taking out millions of barrels of oil?

"Nobody knows it. You know who doesn't know about it? Iran. Until right now.

"We took out, the other night, 22 ships late at night with no lights, because they don't have any radar, because we blasted the crap out of it."

He was announcing the news because Iran "just figured it out", he said.

"I wanted to say it so badly, but it was … I didn't want to ruin it, but it was very hard."

He made the comments at the end of his press conference, after he was asked about inflation, and did not provide specifics.

Inflation in the United States surged to a three-year high in May, hitting 4.2 per cent.

The increase, up from 3.8 per cent in April, was put down largely to higher energy prices.

May marked the third straight month of strong increases in the Consumer Price Index.

Inflation also eroded wages for a second consecutive month in May which could impact overall economic growth.

Although the Federal Reserve is widely expected to hold interest rates at its June meeting next week.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called on Lebanese people to join Israel's fight against Hezbollah, saying their country had been taken "hostage" by the militant group.

"Israel is not at war with you. We are at war with Hezbollah, that has taken your country hostage," Netanyahu said in a video statement.

"We yearn for peace with you, with Lebanon ... seize your future. Join Israel.

"Build safety and prosperity for all of our children.

"And once Hezbollah is dismantled, the possibilities are endless. And they are sky high."

A ceasefire in Lebanon announced in April was never observed, and a new conditional truce declared after Lebanese-Israeli talks in Washington last week was rejected by Hezbollah.

Both sides have continued to trade fire since.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has warned of the risk of return to "full war" in the Middle East after Iran and the United States traded strikes.

He made the comments at a meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in the Middle East.

"We should not minimise the risks of a lesser fire becoming full fire, or in another word -- full war," the secretary-general said.

Meanwhile, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said he was "horrified by the fact that we see escalation upon escalation".

"We're always very relieved when ceasefires are announced, but ceasefires need to be respected in full," he said.

"International law needs to be respected in full."

Iran's president Masoud Pezeshkian has said US threats to target the country's national infrastructure represent a "sign of desperation".

An earlier report from Fox News had suggested that Donald Trump was mulling attacks on Iranian bridges and power plants in retaliation to the downing of a US helicopter earlier this week.

President Donald Trump has vowed to continue attacking Iran if a deal to end the war isn't reached, saying Tehran's peace negotiators "keep playing us for suckers".

"We're going to be attacking them -- attacking them very hard," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

"We were really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along, they keep playing us for suckers."

Trump’s warning came hours after Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan — all of which host US troops — came under Iranian fire with escalating attacks threatening to derail peace efforts in the region.

Meanwhile, the US military said an American warplane had fired on and disabled a tanker in the Gulf of Oman that was attempting to transport oil from Iran in violation of a US blockade.

The aircraft "fired precision munitions into the ship's engine room after the crew repeatedly failed to comply with directions from American forces," US Central Command said in a post on X.

Donald Trump has been talking to reporters from the Oval Office.

After being asked about the Iran war, the US president once again urges Iran to sign a deal to end the fighting.

And he adds that in addition to the strikes on Tuesday, he says "we'll hit them again today".

He adds that he "can" strike Iranian power plants and infrastructure, but refuses to say whether he will make good on his repeated threat to do so.