Here's the latest
• Peace proposal: US President Donald Trump said he will review a new peace plan from Iran but “can’t imagine that it would be acceptable.” Tehran has submitted a 14-point response to a proposal from the US, according to state media.
• Arms sales: Israel has approved plans to buy new fighter squadrons in a deal estimated to cost billions of dollars, citing “operational lessons” from the Iran war. Separately, the US has fast-tracked $8B in arms sales to its Middle East allies.
• Shipping threat: Iran’s parliament is set to approve a law placing restrictions on which vessels can pass through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian state media. Under the plan, it reported, Israeli vessels will never be allowed through the waterway and ships from “hostile countries” will be required to pay reparations to obtain a permit.
• Troop withdrawal: Trump says the US plans to cut “a lot further” than the 5,000 troops the Pentagon said it would withdraw from Germany over the next year.
Israel issues fresh evacuation warnings for towns in southern Lebanon
The Israeli military issued an urgent evacuation warning Sunday morning for multiple towns in southern Lebanon, including several north of the Litany River.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) instructed people to evacuate their homes immediately and stay at least 1,000 meters away from villages and towns, instead moving to open areas.
The Israeli military has issued evacuation warnings for southern Lebanon nearly every day for the past week. Sunday’s evacuation warnings for the towns of Arab Salim and Braykaa were north of the band of territory occupied by Israeli forces.
Israel has continued to launch strikes at southern Lebanon despite a declared ceasefire as the military targets what it says are Hezbollah militants and infrastructure.
Trump says he'll review new Iran plan and that US will withdraw more troops from Europe
It has now been more than nine weeks since the US and Israel launched their initial attacks on Iran in February, sparking a conflict that has spiraled across the region, effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz and sent fuel costs skyrocketing globally.
Catch up on some of US President Donald Trump’s latest comments on the prospect of an end to the conflict:
- Trump said yesterday that he would be reviewing a new peace proposal from Iran, but added that he “can’t imagine that it would be acceptable.”
- After announcing earlier this week that the US will be withdrawing roughly 5,000 troops from Germany this year, Trump said yesterday that his country will be “cutting a lot further” than this initial number.
- On Friday, Trump said that the US might be “better off” if officials don’t reach a deal with Iran, but then yesterday denied he said that.
- The president also said Friday that he considers it “treasonous” for people to say that his country is not “winning” the war with Iran
CNN’s Alejandra Jaramillo, Aleena Fayaz and Kit Maher contributed to this reporting.
What to know about the Strait of Hormuz
As Iranian state media reported, Iran’s parliament is set to approve a law that would place restrictions on which vessels are allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
The strait has remained a crucial factor since the start of the conflict after it was effectively closed by Tehran. In recent days is has seen just a handful of crossings, according to Kpler and other shipping data sources.
A narrow waterway that bypasses Iran and Oman, the Strait of Hormuz is the main route for shipping crude from oil-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to the rest of the world.
Iran controls the strait’s northern side. About 20 million barrels of oil, or about one-fifth of daily global production, used to flow through the strait every day, according to the US Energy Information Administration, which calls the channel a “critical oil chokepoint.” According to the EIA, “very few alternative options exist to move oil out of the strait if it is closed.”
The strait also carries about one-fifth of global trade in liquefied natural gas.
Bomb site at damaged Iran university to be turned into a museum
Iranian authorities plan to turn a bomb site at a university in Isfahan into a museum showing the impact of US-Israeli strikes, the semi-official news agency Tasnim reported.
The president of Isfahan University of Technology said that the damaged area of the university will be preserved, and that a new building will be constructed as a replacement, Tasnim said.
“With government support, this damaged area will remain untouched to become a war museum forever,” Zafarollah Kalantari, the university’s president, was quoted as saying by Tasnim, adding that “attacking a university is a clear example of a war crime and shows that those who claim to support human rights have no commitment to moral principles or global regulation.”
Iranian universities and scientific research centers came under a series of attacks during the war, with dozens of sustaining damage and even academics targeted in what Tehran claimed is an attempt to weaken the country’s scientific and cultural foundations.
US and Iran as far apart as ever on Strait of Hormuz
The United States and Iran appear to be as far apart as ever on one critical element of their confrontation: the future of the Strait of Hormuz.
Navigation of this critical chokepoint, through which nearly a quarter of the world’s crude oil normally flows, was not an issue before the conflict broke out at the end of February. Iran did not claim control over it.
But within hours of US and Israeli airstrikes beginning, Iran warned shipping not to try to use the Strait. Most operators immediately complied, fearful of attacks by small Iranian patrol boats or drones.
In the middle of March, a statement attributed to Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, said that “the leverage of closing the Strait of Hormuz must certainly continue to be used.”
Ever since, Iranian officials have spoken of a new regime for the strait, essentially placing it under Tehran’s control, which would be a violation of international law by infringing upon the “right of transit passage” for international navigation.
This has led President Donald Trump to threaten massive retaliation and to order a US naval blockade of vessels using Iranian ports. The US military said Saturday it had intercepted 48 ships in 20 days and forced them to turn back.
But some Iranian ships are still getting though. A fully laden Iranian tanker “carrying over 1.9 million barrels (valued at nearly $220 million dollars) of crude oil has managed to evade the U.S. Navy and reach the Far East,” the monitoring group TankerTrackers reported Sunday.
Iran’s parliament is set to approve a law formalizing control over the Strait, according to Iranian state television.
Press TV reported that under the proposed 12-point plan, Israeli vessels will never be allowed through. Ships from “hostile countries” — a likely reference to the US — will be required to pay war reparations to obtain a permit before crossing the waterway.
All other vessels will have to seek Iran’s authorization to transit the strait, the outlet reported.
Two months into the war, almost everybody appears to be losing
When US President Donald Trump launched the war on Iran, he promised a swift and decisive victory. Just ten days into the conflict, he said the United States had “already won the war in many ways.”
Two months on, the fighting has been suspended but a definitive end to the war is nowhere in sight. Washington remains short of clear strategic gains, while a conflict once framed as limited is now dragging much of the world into a widening quagmire – with few, if any, coming out ahead.
Here is where the key actors stand.
- Iranian people: The Iranian people have found themselves under fire from both the outside and the inside. The US and Israel have struck thousands of targets in Iran, killing more than 3,600 people, according to the advocacy group Human Rights Activists in Iran. At the same time, the Iranian regime has stepped up its brutal crackdown on dissent. The Iranian economy has also suffered a heavy blow, leading to job losses and rising poverty.
- Lebanese people: The Lebanese people have been caught up in the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel for decades. A fragile ceasefire was in place until February, when, after Israel killed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Hezbollah began firing at Israel. Israel retaliated by launching a wave of deadly airstrikes and a deeper ground incursion.
- American people: The war has been punishing for Americans and their wallets. They are already paying more for gasoline and air tickets as well as some services as more businesses start adding a fuel surcharge to their prices.
Subscribers can read the full story here.
A look back at the 2015 Iran nuclear deal
Ever since US President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, he has mocked the “decaying” and “rotten” agreement brokered by his predecessor.
The Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) capped Iran’s uranium enrichment for 15 years and facilitated UN-led inspections to ensure Tehran’s adherence to the deal, in exchange for partially dissolving sanctions on Iranian oil wealth and unfreezing billions of dollars in assets.
The deal had broad international support, but was opposed by some US and Israeli lawmakers. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an address to the US Congress insisted the deal left much of Iran’s military power intact.
Trump abandoned the JCPOA in 2018, during his first presidency. Other signatories tried to sustain the agreement, but Iran gradually reduced its compliance from 2019, and the deal ultimately unraveled.
In February this year, after US-Israeli strikes on Tehran disrupted tense talks to reach a fresh nuclear deal, hopes of achieving a new agreement began to fall apart. Iran has retaliated by effectively shutting off the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important energy chokepoint, giving Tehran new leverage over the US.
The White House has repeatedly demanded that Iran stop all uranium enrichment and relinquish its stockpile of near-bomb-grade material, something Tehran refuses to do.
Instead, Iran insists on retaining its grip on shipping through the key strait as a tool of pressure to bring an end to crippling economic sanctions. It now says that it will only discuss its nuclear program after the war ends.
Israel approves plan for new fighter squadrons, costing billions
Israel’s Ministerial Procurement Committee has greenlit plans to buy two new fighter squadrons, citing “operational lessons” from the Iran war.
The new military squadrons will comprise F-35 and F-15IA fighter jets manufactured by Lockheed Martin and Boeing respectively and the scope of the deal is estimated at billions of US dollars, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday.
Katz said the approval of the fighter squadrons is the first step in implementing a 350 billion Israeli shekel ($118.9 billion) force buildup plan “for an intensive security decade” to protect the country.
Iran cares most about release of frozen funds and lifting of sanctions, expert says
Releasing frozen funds and lifting sanctions are Iran’s top priorities, an expert said on Sunday, as US President Donald Trump prepares to review Tehran’s latest proposal.
Iran has submitted a 14-point response to a US proposal, state media reported on Saturday, amid ongoing tensions over the Strait of Hormuz and stalled talks.
The response includes the release of frozen Iranian assets, the removal of sanctions and calls for the introduction of a “new mechanism for the Strait of Hormuz,” according to state-affiliated Tasnim news agency. It also addresses topics like guarantees against military aggression and the withdrawal of US military forces from the region surrounding Iran, Tasnim reported.
Kamrava said this is “much more important” to the Iranians than having a coordinating role in the Strait of Hormuz which is “more of a bargaining chip that they’re willing to give up rather than something they’re going to stick to, hard and fast.”
Iran’s parliament is poised to approve a law that would place restrictions on traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian state news outlet Press TV. Israeli vessels will never be allowed through the critical waterway and ships from “hostile countries” will be required to pay reparations to obtain a permit, it reported.
In April, CNN reported that the Trump administration was considering unfreezing $20 billion in Iranian assets as part of ongoing negotiations with Tehran, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.
CNN’s Alayna Treene and Kevin Liptak contributed reporting.
What we know about US troops in Europe
The Pentagon has said the US will withdraw roughly 5,000 troops from Germany over the next year, a move President Donald Trump said is just the beginning.
The withdrawal will take the total back to about the level before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
According to Department of Defense data, there were 36,436 US military personnel in Germany as of December last year, second only to the numbers in Japan.
The Pentagon did not indicate whether the troops would return to the US or be redeployed elsewhere. The planned deployment of a long-range fires battalion later this year will be canceled, depriving Germany of the cover of a significant missile capability.
Former President Joe Biden approved the deployment of 7,000 additional US troops to Germany in February 2022, days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The US military presence in Germany peaked during the Cold War, when there were roughly 250,000 personnel stationed in West Germany.
Other European countries where significant numbers of active duty US personnel are based include Italy, with more than 12,000, and the UK, with just over 10,000.
There are nearly 4,000 US service members in Spain, but Trump has threatened to withdraw them over the Spanish government’s refusal to allow bases there to be used in the war with Iran.
Besides playing an important role in the Cold War, US facilities in Europe have served a role in multiple crises in the Middle East.
European countries host US forces at several important air and naval bases, including the US airbase at Ramstein in Germany, RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom, Aviano in Italy and Lajes Field in the Portuguese Azores.
The headquarters of US European Command and US Africa Command are in Stuttgart, Germany, and there are two facilities that support the US Navy in Naples and Sigonella, Italy.
Hezbollah has a new weapon designed to evade Israeli detection
The explosive-laden quadcopter skimmed above the rooftops of southern Lebanon, navigating with precision between bombed-out buildings and along dirt roads. The drone gave its operator a clear first-person picture of its target: an Israeli tank with soldiers standing nearby.
At the top of the picture, in white letters, were two words.
“BOMB READY”
The quadcopter is a fiber-optic drone, experts say, a weapon Hezbollah has increasingly used with deadly accuracy. The drones are difficult to stop and even harder to detect, giving their operators a high-resolution view of the target without emitting any signal that could be jammed.
The drones are “immune to communication jamming, and in the absence of an electronic signature, it is also impossible to discover the location from which they were launched,” wrote Yehoshua Kalisky, a senior researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies.
In a sleekly produced Hezbollah video from Sunday, the quadcopter drone, weighing no more than a few kilograms, hits its target as the Israeli soldiers appear to be completely unaware of its approach. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the attack killed 19-year-old Sgt. Idan Fooks and injured several others. Hezbollah then launched more drones at a rescue helicopter that arrived at the scene to evacuate the wounded troops.
Fiber-optic drones are effective in their simplicity: Instead of a wireless signal that controls the drone remotely, the fiber-optic cable hardwires the drone directly to its operator.
Because fiber optic cables are so thin and light – virtually invisible to the naked eye – the cable can stretch for up to 9.3 miles (15 kilometers) or more, an Israeli military source told CNN.
Troubled Spirit Airlines shuts down amid high jet fuel costs due to Iran war
Spirit Airlines has become the first major US airline to shut down in 25 years amid financial stress.
The company was in financial trouble well before the Iran war sent jet fuel prices surging, but a source familiar with the airline’s deliberations said the shutdown is an example of how the conflict is putting pressure on American consumers. CNN’s Betsy Klein has more.
Spirit Airlines has grounded all operations, becoming the first major US airline to shut down in 25 years amid financial stress. CNN's Betsy Klein reports.
Trump: "We’re cutting a lot further than 5,000" troops in Germany
President Donald Trump said Saturday the US plans to remove “a lot further” than the initial 5,000 troops the Pentagon said it would withdraw from Germany over the next year.
“We’re going to cut way down and we’re cutting a lot further than 5,000,” Trump told reporters in South Florida as he boarded Air Force One.
Trump’s comments come nearly a day after the Pentagon announced the US will withdraw roughly 5,000 troops over the next six-to-12 months following a “thorough review of the Department’s force posture in Europe.”
The president foreshadowed the cuts earlier this week after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the US was being “humiliated” by Iran. Friction between European leaders and the Trump administration has intensified due to the war with Iran, which the US launched without notifying most NATO allies.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, for his part, played down the move, calling it “foreseeable,” adding it showed the need for Europe to take greater responsibility for its own security.
Germany is home to Ramstein Air Base, which is the headquarters for US air forces in Europe – including the unit that does “airlift, airdrop and aeromedical evacuation operations” – and a NATO installation, according to its website.
CNN’s Natasha Bertrand and Kit Maher contributed to this post.
Trump administration fast-tracks $8 billion in arms sales to Mideast allies
The Trump administration has fast-tracked billions of dollars in arms sales to Israel, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, according to statements released by the US State Department on Friday.
Cumulatively, the weapons are valued at more than $8 billion. They include air-defense systems for Kuwait and Qatar, and laser-guided rockets for Qatar, the UAE and Israel.
Included in the sales to Qatar are Patriot missiles. An April report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that US Patriot stockpiles had been significantly depleted by weeks of war with Iran.
In justifying the State Department’s bypassing of Congress to approve the weapons sales, each statement says that Secretary of State Marco Rubio “determined and provided detailed justification that an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale” of the arms to the countries.
It isn’t the first time since the start of the war with Iran that the administration has cited an emergency to skip a congressional review for weapons sales.
In early March, the State Department made an emergency determination to bypass Congress and immediately sell 12,000 bombs to Israel. Later that month, Rubio declared an emergency and expedited a multibillion-dollar weapons sale to the UAE and Kuwait, along with aircraft and munitions support for Jordan.
What's in Iran's proposed law to restrict Strait of Hormuz traffic, as reported on state TV
Iran’s parliament is poised to approve a law that would place restrictions on which vessels are allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state news outlet Press TV reported on Saturday.
Citing Vice Parliamentary Speaker Ali Nikzad, Press TV reported that under the proposed 12-point plan, Israeli vessels will never be allowed through. Ships from “hostile countries” – a likely reference to the United States – will be required to pay war reparations to obtain a permit before crossing the waterway.
All other vessels will have to seek Iran’s authorization to transit the strait, the outlet reported.
The measure comes as talks between Tehran and Washington have stalled, with both sides refusing to back down on their demands.
On Friday, Iran submitted a revised peace proposal to negotiators after US President Donald Trump rejected a previous version.
Trump then said Saturday evening he will soon review a new plan from Iran but that he “can’t imagine that it would be acceptable.” Tehran had submitted a 14-point response to a proposal from the US, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-affiliated Tasnim news agency reported.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said on Saturday that “the ball is in America’s court to choose the path of diplomacy or confrontation,” state broadcaster IRIB reported.
Trump says he'll review a new plan from Iran. Here's the latest
US President Donald Trump said Saturday evening he will soon review a new plan from Iran, but that he “can’t imagine that it would be acceptable.”
“They told me about the concept of the deal. They’re going to give me the exact wording now,” he told reporters as he boarded Air Force One in Florida.
Iran submitted a 14-point response to a proposal from the US, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-affiliated Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday.
Tasnim reported that the US proposed a two-month ceasefire, but that Iran believes “that the issues should be resolved within 30 days” and that negotiations should focus on the “termination of the war” rather than extending a ceasefire.
Iranian officials have not yet publicly commented on the details of the reported response.
The president also pushed back on remarks he made Friday night, when he said, “Frankly, maybe we’re better off not making a deal at all. Do you want to know the truth? Because we can’t let this thing go on.”
“I didn’t say that,” Trump said Saturday.
“I said that if we left right now, it would take them 20 years to rebuild. But we’re not leaving right now,” he told reporters.
Other headlines to know:
- Troop withdrawal: Trump said the US plans to remove “a lot further” than the initial 5,000 troops the Pentagon said it would withdraw from Germany.
- New law: Iran’s parliament is poised to approve a law that would place restrictions on which vessels are allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state television Press TV reported on Saturday.
- Arms sales: The Trump administration has fast-tracked billions of dollars in arms sales to its Middle Eastern allies, according to statements released by the US State Department. Cumulatively, the weapons are valued at more than $8 billion.
- Activist in hospital: The family and foundation of Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi say the human rights activist has been denied proper treatment and has not gotten better since being transferred from prison to a hospital.
- Strikes continue: Israel and Hezbollah continued to strike each other Saturday despite a declared ceasefire in Lebanon, according to statements from both sides.
CNN’s Alejandra Jaramillo, Aleena Fayaz, Mitchell McCluskey, Jomana Karadsheh, Jennifer Hansler, Max Saltman, Eyad Kourdi and Eugenia Yosef contributed reporting.
