Earthquake of magnitude 4.6 hits Tehran, Iranian state media reports

A ​4.6 magnitude earthquake was reported in the ​Iranian ‌capital ⁠of Tehran on ‌Tuesday, Iranian state media reported, ⁠citing the country’s seismological center.

The ​quake was ‌at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.21 ‌miles), according to the ​center.

There was no immediate report of casualties ​or damage ​from the quake, ​which struck the ​border area between Tehran and Mazandaran.

Hezbollah leader urges Lebanon to withdraw from direct talks with Israel in Washington

The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group called on the government on Tuesday to withdraw from direct talks with Israel this week in Washington, calling them a concession and instead urged for indirect negotiations.

Lebanon and Israel are scheduled to hold two days of talks in Washington, starting Thursday, in an attempt to end the latest Israel-Hezbollah conflict that broke out two months ago, following the Iran war, and discuss the future of relations between the two countries, which have officially been at war since Israel was created in 1948.

Naim Kassem said in a letter directed to the group’s officials that direct negotiations benefit Israel and that they are “concessions by Lebanese authorities.” He said Lebanon’s government should instead resort to indirect negotiations, as it has done in the past, such as when a ceasefire was reached in November 2024.

Indirect talks are usually done through a third party.

Lebanon says 13 killed in Israeli strikes in the south

Israeli strikes killed 13 people in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, including a soldier, a child and two rescue workers, the health ministry said.

“A strike on the city of Nabatieh left five dead, including two Civil Defence rescuers,” the ministry said, while another strike in around Jebchit left four dead “including a soldier and a Syrian national” and a third strike in Bint Jbeil killed “four civilians, including a child and a woman”.

Iran condemns Kuwait’s arrest of four Iranians, rejects allegations of hostile plot

⁠Iran’s ⁠foreign ​ministry has condemned Kuwait’s arrest of four ​people ‌it ⁠said were ‌affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, ⁠saying they were on ​maritime patrol and ‌entered the Gulf country’s territorial ‌waters due ​to “disruption in their navigation.”

The ministry rejected ​Kuwait’s statements ​saying that ​Iran was planning “hostile ​actions” against the Gulf country.

Oil spill in Gulf likely caused by tanker dump, Iranian official says

Iran’s ⁠top environmental official said that a suspected oil spill in ​the Gulf near Iran’s Kharg Island was likely caused by a tanker dumping waste water and not a leak ​from ‌oil facilities.

The suspected oil spill ⁠covering dozens of square kilometres of sea near Iran’s main oil ‌hub of Kharg Island has been seen on satellite ⁠imagery.

A satellite image shows an apparent oil spill off the western side of Kharg Island, Iran’s main crude oil export terminal. © European Space Agency via AP

The likely spill – appearing on images as a grey and white slick – covered waters to ​the west of the 8-kilometre (5-mile) long island, ‌pictures from Copernicus’s Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 satellites showed on May 6-8.

But Iranian Vice-President Shina Ansari said: “Our monitoring ‌results show that this spill was caused by the discharge of ballast ​water contaminated with substances from a non-Iranian tanker, and no oil leaks have been reported from (Iran’s) pipelines ​or oil facilities,” state media reported.

UK to send drones, jets and warship to join defensive mission securing Strait of Hormuz

Britain has ​said it will contribute ‌autonomous ⁠mine-hunting ‌equipment, Typhoon fighter ⁠jets and the ​warship ‌HMS Dragon to ‌a ​multinational defensive mission aimed at ​securing ​shipping in ​the ​Strait of Hormuz.

Israel strikes Lebanon as authorities report 380 killed since truce

Israel hammered south Lebanon with strikes on Tuesday ahead of talks between the two countries in Washington, as Beirut reported 380 people killed in Israeli attacks since an April 17 ceasefire took effect.

Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli strike on Tuesday targeted a civil defence team responding to an earlier raid in the southern city of Nabatieh, killing two rescuers and the wounded person they went to save.

Smoke rises following an Israeli strike in Kfar Tebnit, near Nabatieh in south Lebanon. © Stringer, Reuters

The ministry decried Israel’s “complete disregard for all international norms”.

Hezbollah has also been carrying out attacks, including several on Tuesday, both against Israeli troops who have invaded south Lebanon and across the border, saying they are in response to Israeli ceasefire violations.

EU says could expand naval mission to Strait of Hormuz

EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas has said the bloc could expand a naval mission it has in the Red Sea to cover the Strait of Hormuz, once the Iran war ends.

“Operation Aspides already makes a crucial contribution in protecting shipping in the Red Sea but its activities could also be extended to the strait,” Kallas said after a meeting of European Union defence ministers. 

Kallas said that some countries were already promising to contribute more ships to the mission and that could help if the decision is taken to extend its scope.

Hezbollah leader urges Lebanon to quit direct talks with Israel

The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group called on the government Tuesday to withdraw from direct talks with Israel, calling them a concession and urging “indirect negotiations.”

Lebanon and Israel are scheduled to hold two days of talks in Washington starting Thursday in an attempt to end the latest fighting that broke out two months ago, following the Iran war, and discuss the future of relations between the two sides that have been at war since Israel was created in 1948.

Naim Kassem said in a letter directed to the group’s officials that direct negotiations benefit Israel and that they are “concessions by Lebanese authorities.” He said Lebanon’s government should instead resort to indirect negotiations with Israel, as in previous years, such as when a ceasefire was reached in November 2024.

Indirect talks are usually done through a third party.

Israel passes law establishing military tribunal for October 7 perpetrators

Israel’s parliament has passed a law to set up a special military tribunal to try hundreds of Palestinians accused of taking part in the October 7 2023 attack, under which they could be sentenced to death.

Lawmakers said the step would help heal national trauma, though some rights groups have criticised the measure, warning it does away with procedures safeguarding the right to a fair trial.

Lithuania could contribute minesweeping capabilities to Hormuz mission, top military says

Lithuania ​could ​contribute minesweeping capabilities ​and ‌headquarter ⁠capabilities ‌to ⁠a Strait of Hormuz ​mission, ‌Lithuania’s ‌Chief ​of Defence General Raimundas Vaiksnoras ​said.

Two Lebanese civil defence workers killed in Israeli strike on Nabatieh, state media says

Two ⁠Lebanese ​civil ​defence members were killed in ​an ‌Israeli ⁠strike ‌on the ⁠southern town of Nabatieh ​on ‌Tuesday while carrying ‌out ​a rescue mission after an earlier ​attack, ​Lebanon’s ​state news ​agency NNA reported.

113 Nobel laureates call for Narges Mohammadi’s ‘full and unconditional release’

Some 113 Nobel laureates have called for Narges Mohammadi’s full and unconditional release following news the Iranian rights activist and 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner has been transferred to hospital in Tehran due to her deteriorating health condition.

Prior to being hospitalised, Mohammadi was being held in Zanjan prison in north Iran where her supporters accuse the Iranian authorities of subjecting her to “life threatening negligence”.



Qatar says Iran should not use Hormuz to ‘blackmail’ Gulf

Iran should not use the Strait of Hormuz, which it has blocked since the start of the Middle East war, as a means to blackmail Gulf states, Qatar’s top diplomat and premier said on Tuesday.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was speaking during a press conference in Doha with Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan – close allies who have emerged as key intermediaries in the Iran-US talks alongside mediator Pakistan.

“Iran should not use this strait as a weapon to pressure or to blackmail the Gulf countries,” the Qatari minister said. 

Fidan also said the strait must not be “used as a weapon”, according to an Arabic translation of his Turkish comments.

Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas usually passes, has also halted crucial maritime exports for the energy-rich Gulf, straining their economies.

US war in Iran has cost $29 billion, Pentagon says

The ​United States’ ​war in Iran has cost $29 billion so ​far, ‌a ⁠senior Pentagon ‌official said on Tuesday, an ⁠increase of $4 billion from ​an estimate provided ‌late last month.

Jules Hurst, who ‌is performing ​the duties of the comptroller, told lawmakers that ​the cost ​included updated repair ​and replacement of ​equipment and operational costs.

Iran’s Guards hold military drills in capital as ceasefire teeters

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards held military exercises in capital Tehran to prepare for any confrontation, state media reported Tuesday, after US President Donald Trump warned a ceasefire in the Middle East war was on the brink of collapse.

The drills involved the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or IRGC, the ideological arm of Iran’s military, as well as the Basij, a paramilitary force affiliated with the Guards, according to state TV.

“Enhancing combat capability to confront any movement of the American-Zionist enemy was one of the goals and scenarios implemented in this drill, which was successfully carried out,” Brigadier General Hassan Hassanzadeh, commander of the Tehran Revolutionary Guards, was quoted as saying by state TV.

Hegseth faces a new round of questioning from Congress on Iran war

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing a new round of questioning from lawmakers over the Iran war Tuesday, including some Republicans who have expressed concerns over the length of the conflict and its lack of congressional approval.

The powerful House and Senate subcommittees that oversee defense spending are holding back-to-back hearings to review the Trump administration’s 2027 military budget proposal, which calls for a historic allocation of $1.5 trillion.

But the discussions are expected to veer into the handling of a war that appears locked in a stalemate as higher fuel prices pose political problems for Republicans in the midterm congressional elections.

The House subcommittee kicked off its 8 am hearing with questions about the impact of the Iran war on funding as well as the US military’s weapons stockpiles. 

(Hegseth testifies at a House Appropriations subcommittee budget hearing for the Department of Defense in Washington. © Alex Brandon, AP)

Iranians mourn children killed in US bombing of school

On February 28, a missile strike hit a school in Minab in Hormozgan Province, killing 155 people, including 120 children.

The incident remains the deadliest single attack in the Iran war so far and, according to reports in US media, a preliminary American military investigation found that the strike was made in error: the actual target was an adjacent Islamic Revolutionary Guards Military Base.

FRANCE 24’s correspondent Ali al-Basha gained rare access to the bombsite, and brings us this report.

NATO’s Rutte ‘extremely optimistic’ about future of alliance

NATO ⁠Secretary General ​Mark Rutte has said he ​is “extremely optimistic” about the future of the alliance, despite “discussions” over how the alliance may help the situation in the Strait ‌of Hormuz.

“When you look at ​the ‌short term, of ⁠course there are discussions, about Iran, ‌and how we make sure that ⁠allies in Europe will be able to help with ​situations in the Strait ‌of Hormuz,” Rutte said during a press conference in Montenegro.

“When ‌it comes to the more fundamental ​question of NATO’s future, I’m extremely optimistic,” he added, as he ​referred to commitments by European ​allies and Canada to ​massively increase their defence spending.