Iran War
(Reuters/Al Arabiya) Kuwait’s army said on Thursday that its air defenses were intercepting hostile missile and drone threats, but did not say where they were coming from. The army said any sounds of explosions heard in the country were the result of air-defense systems intercepting the threats, and urged people to follow security and safety instructions issued by authorities. The statement came after US strikes earlier on Thursday on what Washington said was an Iranian drone operation threatening US forces and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. – Kuwait says air defenses intercepting hostile missile, drone attacks
(AFP/Al Arabiya) The United States Treasury announced sanctions Wednesday against Iran’s Gulf Strait Authority, Tehran’s new agency that collects fees for traveling through the strategic Strait of Hormuz. “The Iranian military’s latest attempt to extort global maritime trade is proof that Economic Fury has left the regime desperate for cash,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a statement. – US Treasury sanctions Iran authorities overseeing Straif of Hormuz
(AFP/Al Arabiya) The United States carried out new strikes on southern Iran on Thursday, after President Donald Trump threatened to “finish the job” if Tehran did not agree to a peace deal. Iranian media reported three loud explosions rang out in the port city of Bandar Abbas in the early hours of Thursday morning, following US strikes earlier in the week that underscored the fragile state of a diplomatic push to get a provisional peace agreement across the finish line. – US carries out new strikes on southern Iran
(Ray Furlong – RFE/RL) US President Donald Trump has indicated that Iran’s decision to end its unprecedented Internet blackout is a sign that the country wants to reach an agreement with the United States. Speaking at the opening of a cabinet meeting in Washington on April 27, Trump said Iran was “intent” on a deal. “I think it looks like they want to just make a deal. I don’t think they have a choice. They’re just going back to the Internet because they’re getting clobbered. Their economy is in freefall,” he said. – Trump Says Iran’s Internet Reopening Is A Sign It Wants A Deal
Israel – Lebanon
(AFP/Al Arabiya) The Israeli military said on Thursday it had begun new strikes on Hezbollah infrastructure around the southern Lebanese city of Tyre after issuing an evacuation warning to its residents. Israel the previous day had declared all areas south of Lebanon’s Zahrani River – an area roughly 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the border and including Tyre – as “combat zones” and told residents to evacuate ahead of attacks against Iran-backed Hezbollah. – Israel strikes Tyre after declaring ‘combat zones’ in south Lebanon
Russia – Ukraine
(RFE/RL) Nearly 500,000 Russian soldiers are estimated to have been killed in Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine since it began in 2022, a top British intelligence official has said, as the conflicts grinds to a near stalemate. The figure, announced in a speech on May 27 by the director of the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) tracks with other estimates made in recent months by other Western governments, as well as independent media organizations. Anne Keast-Butler echoed other British government warnings that Russia was “relentlessly targeting critical infrastructure, democratic processes, supply chains, and public trust” in Britain and across Europe. GCHQ is Britain’s top signals intelligence unit, the equivalent to the US National Security Agency. – Nearly 500,000 Russian Soldiers Killed In Ukraine Since Start Of All-Out War, British Intelligence Says
