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Khushboo Razdan

Xinyi Wu

As Monday morning broke over a Middle East bracing for renewed conflict, a fragile regional ceasefire appeared to have collapsed after an exchange of direct strikes between Iran and Israel.
The latest developments came as US President Donald Trump said Israel would have no choice but to accept a potential deal, following an interview walkout when pressed on his campaign pledge of “no new wars”.
Some experts said Trump’s credibility was being called into question as Israel defied his warnings against further strikes.
Here is the latest on the conflict.
Retaliatory strikes
The Israel Defence Forces carried out a wave of retaliatory air strikes against Iranian regime targets in western and central Iran on Monday.
The Israeli Air Force said its fighter jets struck multiple strategic sites, while local reports described large explosions heard across Tehran, Tabriz and Isfahan.
Isfahan is a strategic location with nuclear sites and major military industries. Iran’s IRNA news agency, citing the Tehran Fire Department, said “no urban zones within the city were struck”.
The strikes mark a sharp escalation, coming after the military had reportedly paused earlier in the evening amid political clearance and heavy diplomatic pressure from Washington.
Missiles from Iran
Iran launched a coordinated barrage of ballistic missiles towards Israel, according to the Israel Defence Forces. It marked the first direct confrontation between the two nations since an April ceasefire.
Air raid sirens blared across central and northern Israel, sending millions of residents into fortified shelters as Israel activated its air defence network to successfully intercept the incoming threats.
Addressing the press, Effie Defrin, a spokesman for the Israeli army, described the strikes as a “grave mistake” by Iran.
According to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ballistic missile strike on Israel’s Ramat David airbase was a warning shot and an immediate response to Israeli air strikes in Beirut earlier on Sunday that left two people dead and 20 more injured.
In a social media post, parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf accused Washington of allowing the attacks and giving the “green light”.
Iranian authorities have suspended operations at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport “until further notice”, IRNA reported.

‘No choice’ for Israel
Even as air raid sirens sounded across northern Israel, Trump told the Financial Times the strikes would not derail his push for a permanent deal, saying Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would have “no choice” but to accept it because the US “calls the shots”.
According to American media reports, Trump has been briefed on the escalation between Iran and Israel.
In an interview with Fox News, Trump said: “What I would suggest to Iran: you’ve shot your missiles, that is enough … Get back to the table and make a deal.”
The comments came the same day Trump abruptly walked out of a combative NBC Meet the Press interview after being pressed on whether the three-month conflict with Iran contradicted his campaign pledge of “no new wars”.
Trump rejected the premise, saying: “First of all, I didn’t guarantee no war. Why would I have built the strongest military in the world?”
He argued the conflict was necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Trump’s credibility
Foreign policy expert Trita Parsi wrote on social media that by openly defying explicit instructions from Washington, Israel had effectively put Trump’s credibility on the line.
“If Israel defies Trump and strikes Iran, it isn’t Iran’s deterrence that is put under question, but Trump’s credibility since he had so explicitly told the Israelis not to strike,” Parsi said.
Opec+ and oil prices
In response to the crisis, seven key Opec+ nations held a virtual meeting on Sunday and agreed to raise their July production targets by 188,000 barrels per day.
Opec+ said ministers from Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman approved the increase, which was aimed “to support oil market stability”.
Meanwhile, oil prices surged amid the new escalation. Brent rose 3.6 per cent to US$96.47 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate climbed near US$94.

Frozen Iranian assets
In the NBC interview, Trump denied reports that he was planning to unfreeze Iranian assets or lift sanctions as part of a peace deal.
“If they behave, if they do a good job, we start talking” about releasing the assets, Trump said in the interview taped on Friday.
A top Iranian official has said that a potential peace deal with Trump depends on the administration releasing US$24 billion in frozen Iranian assets.
“This US$24 billion is a test of trust that Iran wants to have with Trump – this is a test that America must pass and the path will be opened,” Mohsen Rezaei, a military adviser to the Iranian supreme leader, told CNN in a report published on Saturday.
The US, however, plans to redirect Iranian assets to Gulf states for rebuilding and repairs of damage caused by Iran, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing a source familiar with the matter.
The source said US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had instructed a team to assess the cost of damage among Gulf allies since the war began, and that Washington would also consider using Iranian assets to pay for any future destruction.
Semi-official Iranian news agency Tasnim previously reported that Iran was seeking the immediate release of US$12 billion upon the announcement of an interim peace agreement.


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US-Israel war on Iran

Iranians attend a rally in Tehran after Iran’s attack on Israel on Sunday. Photo: EPA

An Israeli security officer works next to projectile debris following a missile attack from Iran. Photo: Reuters

President Donald Trump with NBC’s Kristen Welker before he walked out of the interview. Photo: TNS

Seven Opec+ nations have agreed to raise their July production targets. Photo: AFP

Israeli security forces examine a fragment of an intercepted Iranian missile in northern Israel. Photo: AP

A projectile streaks through the sky over central Israel during an Iranian missile attack on Sunday. Photo: AP

Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepting an Iranian missile, as seen from Jerusalem. Photo: Reuters

The fragment of an intercepted Iranian missile in northern Israel. Photo: Reuters

The aftermath of an Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. Photo: Reuters

‘Fake dirty press’: Trump storms out of tense NBC interview as reporter pushes back

US President Donald Trump in an interview with Meet the Press host Kristen Welker. Photo: NBC via TNS

President Donald Trump regularly clashes with the media. Here he is speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday. Photo: AP

Iranians walk past a huge billboard featuring previous supreme leaders Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on a street in Tehran, Iran, on Sunday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Chief of Defence Forces of Pakistan, Field Marshal Asim Munir (centre-left) is welcomed by Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni (centre-right) upon his arrival in Tehran as a part of the ongoing mediation efforts between the US and Iran, on May 22. Photo: Reuters

US strikes Iranian radar sites after drone shootdown in Strait of Hormuz

Iranians swim at Suru Beach in Bandar Abbas along the Strait of Hormuz on Monday. Photo: ISNA/AFP

Debris lie on the floor following a strike on Kuwait International Airport on Wednesday. Photo: Civil Aviation Kuwait/Handout via Reuters

Commuters drive past a large banner depicting the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in Tehran on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

Smoke rises from a vehicle targeted by an Israeli drone attack in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh on Friday. Photo: AFP

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Diplomacy

It is now 100 days since the war erupted and it has been marked by an escalation of violence in the region


It is now 100 days since the war erupted and it has been marked by an escalation of violence in the region.


Israel strikes Iran, defying Trump after ‘I call the shots’ claim

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}It is now 100 days since the war erupted and it has been marked by an escalation of violence in the region

Retaliatory strikes

It is now 100 days since the war erupted and it has been marked by an escalation of violence in the region