Ajuede.com

FOREIGN MINISTER of Iran Abbas Araghchi, and Speaker of Iran Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf with the delegation of Iran at the Lake Lucerne Summit at the Buergenstock resort in Obbuergen, near Lucerne, Switzerland, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (photo credit: Urs Flueeler/Pool via REUTERS) US officials believed Israel may have planned to use the negotiations between the US and Iran as a window of opportunity to kill Iran’s top negotiators, the  New York Times  reported on Thursday.  According to the report, US officials were particularly concerned that Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Iran’s Foreign Minister  Abbas Araghchi  would be targeted during the cease-fire negotiations beginning in April.  While targeting high-level government officials was one of the goals at the start of the war, which began with the joint US-Israeli strikes that killed Supreme Leader  Ali Khamenei , after talks began, US officials feared that any attempt on...

Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks to the reporters at Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Antalya, Turkey, April 19, 2026 (photo credit: REUTERS/UMIT BEKTAS) Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar lashed out at Turkey’s Foreign Minister  Hakan Fidan  late Thursday night, following his comments that Israel was a “burden that humanity can no longer bear” on a TV broadcast. In an interview with CNN Türk, Fidan sharply attacked Israel and called for sanctions to be imposed on it. “No matter which way you look at it, there is no parameter to continue to bear these people,” Fidan exclaimed. “Israel is not only Turkey’s problem, and it is not only President [Recep Tayyip]  Erdogan ’s problem,” the Turkish foreign minister said. “These people have become a burden that humanity can no longer bear. The human conscience cannot bear it, political systems cannot sustain it, and economic systems cannot sustain it either.

US President Donald Trump participates in a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, June 24, 2026. (photo credit: REUTERS/Evan Vucci/File Photo) NATO leaders gather next week in Ankara, where Europeans aim to set aside strife with US President  Donald Trump  over Iran and Greenland and show they are stepping up to defend the continent as Washington cuts back on its commitments to the alliance. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte says the gathering next Tuesday and Wednesday will show Europeans are honoring pledges to hike defense spending to deter Russia from any attack, with arms deals worth tens of billions of dollars to be signed. Leaders are also expected to vow to keep funding weapons for  Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion . Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will attend a dinner hosted by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who will also hold bilateral talks with Trump.

Coffins are displayed containing the late Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and his family at Imam Khomeini Grand Mosque on July 3, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. (photo credit: Majid Saeedi/Getty Images) The commander of Khatam al-Anbiya, Ali Abdollahi, threatened Israel and the US against making “any miscalculation” during former Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei's week-long funeral, warning of “harsh and regrettable responses” in the case of an attack in a Friday statement. Khatam al-Anbiya is the Joint Command of Iran's military. Khamenei's funeral is slated to begin on Saturday and is expected to be the largest event in the history of the Islamic Republic. It will span several major cities in Iran and  Iraq , with ceremonies in Tehran, Qom, Mashhad, Najaf, and Karbala.

Iranian flag with stock graph and an oil pump jack miniature model are seen in this illustration taken October 9, 2023. (photo credit: REUTERS/DADO RUVIC/ILLUSTRATION/FILE PHOTO) Iran has begun talks with Japanese companies under a  US sanctions waiver  allowing it to resume oil sales, though prospective buyers are seeking a longer waiver and reassurances about ship safety, three Iranian and Western sources said. The waiver, part of 60-day peace talks between Tehran and Washington, was issued on June 22 and expires August 21. Three Japanese buyers were looking at possible crude oil purchases from Iran, their first since 2019, said two Iranian sources, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue. Japanese and  Iranian officials  were in initial talks about possible oil sales, a Western industry source familiar with the matter said separately.

France has deployed minehunters to the Middle East, French President Emmanuel Macron said in a post on X/Twitter Friday night. Alongside the minehunters, two frigates and a patrol aircraft are ready to contribute to the “full resumption of navigation… in the Strait of Hormuz,” he wrote. Macron also highlighted the importance of the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding as a “step forward” towards stability. Further, the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, which France deployed following the outbreak of the US-Iran War, will return to France, Macron wrote.