Iran’s Foreign Ministry says large part of deal with US finalized, but no decision made yet

Iran’s Foreign Ministry says large part of deal with US finalized, but no decision made yet

By REUTERS

Iran has not yet made a final decision on a possible agreement with the US and will not compromise on its “red lines” in negotiations, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei says, according to Iran’s IRNA ​news agency.

Baghaei says reports regarding a time and place of signing the agreement remain speculative, and that nothing had been finalized. He adds that a large part of the negotiating text has been finalized, but the US repeatedly changed its positions during the talks.

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Netanyahu reportedly not given heads-up about Trump’s announcement, was caught off guard

Could a war of words between Turkey and Israel escalate toward a new crisis? - analysis

Could a war of words between Turkey and Israel escalate toward a new crisis? - analysis

SETH J. FRANTZMAN

Turkey and Israel appear to be heading towards increasing chances of a confrontation in the region. This confrontation has so far played itself out primarily as a war of words.

For instance, Turkey’s interior minister, Mustafa Ciftci, said he hoped to see the “liberation” of Jerusalem. He compared this to recent conflicts between Armenia and Azerbaijan and in Syria, where areas had been liberated from adversaries.

On June 7, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on social media, “To the Turkish Interior Minister who dreams of administering Jerusalem and hurls threats, I say this: Jerusalem is not Constantinople, and the State of Israel is not a crumbling Crusader Empire. Israel is a strong and resolute state that has proven its capacity to defend itself against any threat.”

Katz went on to note to the Turkish official that “Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people for 3,000 years and will remain Israel’s capital forever. You and the Ottoman Empire that Erdogan dreams of, on the other hand, have collapsed and will never return.

“Unfortunately, you have learned nothing from the legacy of Atatürk, who worked to transform Turkey into a modern state; on the contrary, you are working to drag Turkey back into a dark and backward era.”

Ankara has talked about liberating Jerusalem in the past. It has been a theme of some rhetoric going back years, and it has become more common under the multi-decade rule of the AKP in Turkey.

The AKP party has roots in the Muslim Brotherhood and political Islam. It is the more conservative and right-wing of the parties in Turkey, compared to the more secular and nationalist Republican People’s Party (CHP), which once dominated Turkish politics.

“Just as we witnessed the liberation of Damascus, Aleppo, and Karabakh, God willing, one day we will also witness the liberation of Jerusalem,” Ciftci said in a speech at an AKP Party conference in the city of Corum.

Now, Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan has appeared to increase the rhetoric by saying on Wednesday that Israel’s attacks on Syria and Lebanon had reached a point where they also threaten Turkey, Reuters noted. Turkey’s president condemns Israeli aggression in the region.

Turkey has been increasingly concerned that Israel is becoming a regional superpower. From Turkey’s point of view, the multi-front war after October 7 has led Israel to a much stronger position in the region. This has led to Israeli strikes on the Houthis in Yemen, on Iran, and also Israeli operations in Lebanon and Syria.

What’s interesting about Turkey’s view is that it is partly projecting its own policy on Israel.

Turkey and Israel are among the strongest military powers in the region. Both are allies of the US. Both have strong defense industrial complexes. They also have very different ideologies: one is led by a right-leaning Jewish party with increasingly religious-nationalist elements, and the other is led by a conservative, populist, Islamic-leaning party.

“The ‌attacks ⁠by (Israeli Prime Minister ⁠Benjamin) Netanyahu and his network of murder on Lebanon and Syria have brought the issue to a point where it also threatens Turkey,” Erdogan told lawmakers from his ruling AK Party in parliament, Reuters said this week.

He also accused Israel of destabilizing African countries, a reference to Israel’s recognition of Somaliland. Turkey has forces in Somalia and has backed Somalia for years.

Erdogan also accused Israel of creating “discord” in the Eastern Mediterranean and referenced Israel-Cyprus ties. Turkey backs Northern Cyprus, which it recognizes as a country. Turkey invaded Cyprus in the 1970s to support Turkish Cypriots. This led to the division of the island.

Israel has increasingly warm ties with Cyprus and Greece. This challenges Turkey’s role in the Eastern Mediterranean.

“These ‌small entities, whose ambitions far exceed their size, have boarded Israel’s boat of mischief, taken on the role of Zionist subcontractors, and are pursuing some pipe dreams in the Eastern ‌Mediterranean,” Erdogan said. “Nobody should chase adventures...”

“I want everyone to ⁠know that if ⁠the rights of Turkey and Turkish Cypriots are violated in the Eastern Mediterranean, our response will be very clear and very strong,” he stated.

The comments in recent days have raised eyebrows in Jerusalem and Ankara.

It is clear that Turkey and Israel, under their current leadership, will have rhetorical clashes. The question is whether this may one day lead to larger tensions in Syria or the Eastern Mediterranean.

US takeover of Iran’s Kharg Island might be quick but would pose risks to troops, experts say

US takeover of Iran’s Kharg Island might be quick but would pose risks to troops, experts say

David Brunnstrom

 US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he wants to take over Kharg Island, Iran’s oil infrastructure hub. Analysts say the US military could seize the island quickly, but the move could leave US troops in great peril and prolong rather than shorten the war.

Kharg Island sits 16 miles (26 kilometers) from Iran’s coast in the northern end of the Gulf, about 300 miles (483 kilometers) northwest of the Strait of Hormuz. It lies in waters deep enough to enable the docking of tankers that are too large to approach the Iranian mainland’s shallow coastal waters.

The island handled 90 percent of Iran’s oil exports before the war started on February 28. Seizing it would severely disrupt Iran’s energy trade and place enormous pressure on Tehran’s economy. Iran is the third largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, known as OPEC.

US forces carried out strikes against Kharg in March and April, and Trump said they “totally obliterated” all military targets there and that they could next target oil infrastructure. US officials told Reuters at the time the administration was weighing whether to send ground forces to the island.

Kharg has not been attacked since then, amid a fragile and inconsistent ceasefire, though the United States has targeted oil tankers near the island as it maintains a blockade on Iranian ports.

Trump on Thursday said he would like to seize the oil hub, though he did not indicate clear plans to do so and said his citizens might oppose it.

“My preference has always been – take Kharg Island … my preference would be that. I don’t know that America has the stomach for it,” he told Fox News.

US troops could likely seize the island relatively quickly, but that would not necessarily lead to a quick and decisive end to the war, experts said.

“A seizure and occupation of Kharg Island is more likely to expand and extend the war than it is to deliver any sort of decisive victory,” Ryan Brobst and Cameron McMillan of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies wrote in March.

They said US troops would be exposed to missile and drone attacks, including, potentially, camera-wielding “first-person view drones” that are already used by the millions in Ukraine and have posed a festering and lethal threat to Israeli troops in Lebanon.

“Upon any successful strikes, the Iranian regime would be expected to release videos of those attacks online, using the graphic deaths of American service members as propaganda,” they said.

A former commander of the US Central Command, Joseph Votel, told TWZ.com in March that while only 800 to 1,000 troops would be needed to hold Kharg Island, they would require logistical backup that would need protection as well.

Votel said the troops would be very vulnerable and doubted that taking the island would provide any particular tactical advantage. He said it would be an “odd” thing to do, although the US could do so if it had to.

Live Updates: Trump cancels Iran strikes, Islamic Regime, Israel dispute his claims that ceasefire reached

Live Updates: Trump cancels Iran strikes, Islamic Regime, Israel dispute his claims that ceasefire reached

IDF pushes deeper in into Lebanon to neutralize threat of Hezbollah

IDF assessments have determined that they can't fully disarm the terror organization but can push them back far enough into Lebanon to significantly reduce the risk to Israeli citizens.I

n the last few weeks, the IDF has advanced past the Litani River in Lebanon and is now approaching the Zaharani River.

With the Zaharani River only six kilometers away, and Nabatieh only three kilometers away, Hezbollah has become concerned about a new IDF advance and has reinforced those areas.

Trump says US will hit Iran 'very hard' tonight, threatens to take Kharg Island soonUS President Donald Trump announced that he had canceled scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran on Thursday night, after a deal with Iran had been agreed upon.

The deal was approved "both in concept and great detail" by all involved parties, including the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and multiple other Middle Eastern countries, Trump wrote.

The blockade will stay in place until the deal is finalized, Trump added.

No date was given for the signing, but Trump said it could happen this weekend, with US President JD Vance set to attend.

Notably, Israeli sources told Channel 12 that Israel does not recognize reaching an agreement.

Over 3,000 Aftershocks Following 7.8 Quake Philippines

Over 3,000 Mindanao earthquake aftershocks recorded — Phivolcs

Jason Sigales

 A total of 3,019 aftershocks have so far been recorded following the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that shook southern Mindanao earlier this week, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).

In its latest bulletin sent to reporters, as of 11 a.m. on June 11, Phivolcs said the aftershocks ranged between magnitudes 1.2 and 6.4.

Of the 3,019 aftershocks recorded so far, 790 of them were plotted and 61 were felt.

The original magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck 32 kilometers (km) southwest of Maasim, Sarangani at 7:37 a.m. on Monday.

Earlier, the Office of Civil Defense said the death toll from the magnitude 7.8 earthquake rose to 47 as of 6 a.m. on June 11.

Among the most recent aftershocks with the strongest magnitudes was a magnitude 5.5 earthquake that occurred 67 km southwest of Balut Island in Sarangani town, Davao Occidental at around 9:56 a.m. on Thursday

M7.8 earthquake off southern Mindanao leaves at least 47 dead, over 680 injured and 12 600 homes damaged, Philippines

The earthquake struck at 07:37 LT on June 8 (23:27 UTC on June 7), about 20 km (12.4 miles) off Sarangani province, and was felt strongly across Mindanao.

Most of the damage was concentrated in General Santos, a city of about 700 000 people. Reuters reported damaged shops and buildings, broken signs and glass, and some structures reduced to concrete and rubble. One hospital in the city was evacuated because of cracks on higher floors, and one building at Notre Dame of Dadiangas University collapsed while empty.

AP reported collapsed buildings and key infrastructure damage in General Santos, while tsunami damage was reported in at least one coastal village. The quake also triggered a landslide in Glan, Sarangani, that killed 13 villagers, according to AP, citing provincial disaster official Rene Punzalan.

Office of Civil Defense (OCD) spokesperson Junie Castillo reported 19 deaths under verification and validation, including 16 in Soccsksargen and three in Davao Region. In Soccsksargen, 10 fatalities were reported in General Santos, three in Glan, two in Tupi, and one in Malapatan, Sarangani.

The same OCD update mentioned 134 injured, including 129 in Soccsksargen and five in Davao Region, and 12 people missing in General Santos. Castillo said some fatalities were initially reported to have been caused by collapsed structures, falling debris, and landslides.

The Department of Public Works and Highways placed the initial property damage in General Santos at about PHP 1 billion. DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon said the running total covered damage to different buildings in General Santos alone, and the department said it would coordinate with local governments to identify critical buildings, conduct damage assessments, and secure structures ahead of possible aftershocks.

Around 10 000 families from Sarangani and Sultan Kudarat had been evacuated, and 700 families were affected, according to the OCD-linked GMA update. Search, rescue, and retrieval operations were ongoing.

The earthquake generated a 1 m (3 feet) tsunami, with waves monitored in Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani and a 1.4 m (4.6 feet) wave recorded at one time in Kiamba, Sarangani. An 83 cm (2.7 feet) tsunami was reported off Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, 30 cm (1 foot) waves in Palau, and waves up to 20 cm (7.8 inches) in parts of Japan.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) said the tsunami threat had largely passed about five hours after the quake, and Philippine officials lifted the warning by mid-afternoon. Six shanties on stilts were damaged in a coastal village in Zamboanga del Sur due to the quake and taller waves, officials told AP.

The Department of Energy said it was consolidating reports on power lines, substations, distribution facilities, fuel depots, retail stations, and other energy infrastructure to determine whether facilities had been affected.