13 h. ago Europe is scrambling to form a united front and regain relevance in the Iran crisis

Tehran now places little faith in the European countries who played a key role in brokering the Iranian nuclear dealExposed as divided and marginalised during the Iran crisis, European nations are scrambling to retrieve a place at the Middle East negotiating table, fearing an impulsive Donald Trump has diminishing interest in stabilising Iran or the wider region now he believes he has achieved his key objective of wiping out Tehran’s nuclear programme.On Tuesday the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, was the latest senior European figure to phone the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, offering to be a facilitator and urging Tehran not to leave the crisis in a dangerous limbo by keeping UN weapons inspectors out of Iran. Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago Trump says he would ‘absolutely’ consider bombing Iran again – Middle East crisis live

US president tells White House briefing he would ‘without question’ attack the country if Tehran is enriching uranium to concerning levelsWe have more on the state funeral being held in Tehran for around 60 people, including its military commanders and nuclear scientists.The proceedings started at 8.00am local time (04.30 GMT) in the capital as government offices and many businesses were closed on Saturday for the occasion, AFP reports. Continue reading...

Events

8 d. ago Israel closes the most direct route for aid to Palestinians in Gaza

Blockade will increase diplomatic pressure on Israel as Spain PM Pedro Sánchez describes situation as ‘genocide’Israel has closed crossings into northern Gaza, cutting the most direct route for aid to reach hundreds of thousands of people at risk of famine, as airstrikes and shelling killed dozens more people in the devastated Palestinian territory.The move to close the crossings on Thursday will increase diplomatic pressure on Israel as attention shifts from its brief conflict with Iran, back to the violence and grave humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Continue reading...

Politics

9 d. ago Pakistan debates Trump Nobel peace prize nomination after US strikes on Iran

Pakistani government had credited US president with ‘pivotal leadership’ in its ceasefire negotiations with IndiaMiddle East crisis – live updatesDonald Trump’s intervention into the Iran-Israel war, and brokering then announcing a ceasefire, has drawn a heated debate in Pakistan – where the government had formally nominated the US president for the Nobel peace prize as the US military was making its final preparations for a strike that threatened all-out war in the Middle East.A statement in the early hours of Saturday local time – shortly before US B-2 bombers left the Whiteman air force base in Missouri and headed to Iran – had credited Trump for a “legacy of pragmatic diplomacy” and “pivotal leadership” for ensuring Pakistan’s ceasefire with India in a conflict that had begun with the killing of tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir in April. Continue reading...

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9 d. ago ‘It’s like being walled in’: young Iranians break through internet blackout

Desperate for news on war with Israel, people are searching for proxy links that route messages through servers outside Iran• Middle East crisis – live updatesAmir* hasn’t slept much in days. From his apartment in northern Tehran, the 23-year-old spends his nights searching for proxy links – fragile digital lifelines that briefly break through the internet blackout.Iran remains under a near-total internet shutdown, severely limiting access to information. A group of young Iranians are, however, working non-stop to breech the blackout to ensure their voices go out to the outside world. Continue reading...

Politics

9 d. ago ‘It’s like being walled in’: young Iranians try to break through internet blackout

Desperate for news on war with Israel, people search for proxy links to route messages through servers outside Iran• Middle East crisis – live updatesAmir* hasn’t slept much in days. From his apartment in northern Tehran, the 23-year-old spends his nights searching for proxy links, fragile digital lifelines that briefly break through the internet blackout.Iran remains under a near-total internet shutdown, severely limiting access to information. A group of young Iranians are, however, working non-stop to ensure their voices reach the outside world. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Trump lashes out at Israel and Iran after ceasefire he brokered is violated

US president orders Israel to turn around its planes, warning bombing sorties would be ‘major violation’Middle East crisis – live updatesDonald Trump has reacted furiously after an Israel-Iran ceasefire he had brokered and taken credit for was violated within a few hours, ordering Israel to turn its warplanes around midair and abort their planned bombing sorties, which he warned would be a “major violation”.Israel claimed Iran had been the first to break the truce, saying it had shot down two ballistic missiles heading for northern Israel at about 10.30am, about two and a half hours after the ceasefire was announced. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Keir Starmer responds to ceasefire crisis as Trump says Iran and Israel both broke deal

Keir Starmer said Israel and Iran "need to get back" to the ceasefire deal after Donald Trump accused both sides of violating the agreement

Politics

1 week ago Qatar Airways plane diverted back to UK after Iran opens fire on US base

A Qatar Airways flight from Manchester Airport to Doha is diverting back to the UK - after Iran launched attacks against a US base in Qatar as the crisis in the Middle East escalates

Events

1 week ago Never here Keir! Starmer won't come to the Commons to field questions on Iran crisis and will miss PMQs AGAIN this week... after dodging grilling on grooming gangs

Keir Starmer is sending Foreign Secretary David Lammy to deliver a Commons statement on the burgeoning crisis in the Middle East this afternoon.

Events

1 week ago Iran and Israel launch intense wave of attacks as Trump talks of regime change

Attacks on both sides ramp up as US president questions if regime change in Tehran could ‘make Iran great again’Live coverage: region braces for Iranian response to US strikesUS-Iran crisis: what we know so farIran and Israel have launched intense waves of attacks and missile strikes after Donald Trump raised the prospect of regime change in Tehran, further provoking a situation that was drastically inflamed by US strikes on nuclear sites over the weekend.Israel’s military said on Monday it was attacking around Iran’s western city of Kermanshah. It said 15 fighter jets had struck missile launchers and storage sites close to the border with Iraq. One of its drones was downed during an operation, it said. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Western leaders call for diplomacy, but they won’t stop this war – they refuse to even name its cause | Nesrine Malik

The political centre sees the US and Israel’s war on Iran as a crisis to be managed, while the gap between their detached rhetoric and bloody reality widensSince the war on Gaza started, the defining dynamic has been of unprecedented anger, panic and alarm from the public, swirling around an eerily placid political centre. The feeble response from mainstream liberal parties is entirely dissonant with the gravity of the moment. As the US joins Israel in attacking Iran, and the Middle East heads toward a calamitous unravelling, their inertness is more disorienting than ever. They are passengers in Israel’s war, either resigned to the consequences or fundamentally unwilling to even question its wisdom. As reality screams at politicians across the west, they shuffle papers and reheat old rhetoric, all while deferring to an Israel and a White House that have long taken leave of their senses.At a time of extreme geopolitical risk the centre presents itself as the wise party in the fracas,...

Politics

1 week ago Trump reveals where most of 'monumental damage' was done in Iran nuclear 'obliteration' as he calls for regime change: Live updates

President Donald Trump called for an Iranian regime change, less than one day after the US bombed the country's nuclear sites - triggering an array of reaction from world leaders.

Events

1 week ago Trump sensationally calls for Iranian regime change as he holds crisis talks with UK prime minister: Live updates

President Donald Trump called for an Iranian regime change, less than one day after the US bombed the country's nuclear sites - triggering an array of reaction from world leaders.

Politics

1 week ago US bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities is Trump’s biggest gamble yet as president

Much could go wrong for the US and the Middle East as Trump and Netanyahu pursue the disempowerment of Iran Middle East crisis – latest updatesDonald Trump, a self-confessed risk-taker, has taken the greatest gamble – not just with his political reputation and the future of the Middle East, but arguably with the whole concept of military intervention as a way to solve intractable geopolitical problems.If the US president succeeds – and there will be many rival interpretations and metrics of success in the weeks ahead – it is possible he will have disempowered Iran, and diminished the global influence of a regime that has for 40 years sponsored threats against the west. In the process his personal authority will have been enhanced, and his next three years in office will be a triumph that may exacerbate some of his worst authoritarian and impulsive traits. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago US attacks on Iran inflicted major destruction, Pentagon officials say

Defence secretary denies US is pursuing policy of regime change after strikes on Iranian nuclear sitesMiddle East crisis – latest updatesThe surprise overnight US attack on Iran inflicted major damage and destruction on three of its key nuclear sites, senior Pentagon officials said, as the US defence secretary denied that the Trump administration was pursuing a policy of regime change in the Middle East.In a press conference in Washington, Gen Dan Caine, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, detailed Operation Midnight Hammer, in which seven B-2 Spirit bombers flew 18 hours from the US to sites in Iran to drop 14 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators in strikes that were said to have caused “extremely severe damage” to Iranian uranium enrichment facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Global alarm at US strikes on Iran amid fears conflict could spiral out of control

Politicians express ‘grave concern’ and urge all parties to de-escalate and return to talks on Iran’s nuclear programmeMiddle East crisis – latest updatesNations in the Middle East and beyond responded with alarm after US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites on Saturday night as the EU and the UN called for immediate diplomacy, amid mounting fears that the war could trigger a wider escalation that could spiral out of control.Qatar, which hosts the biggest US military base in the Middle East, said on Sunday that it feared there could be serious repercussions regionally and internationally. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Every time Starmer wants us to think the best of Trump, the US president proves him wrong

When Trump left the G7 Starmer told journalists that the US president wanted to de-escalate the Middle East crisis. Five days later Trump bombs Iran. The Independent’s David Maddox looks at why the prime minister keeps getting Trump wrong

Politics

2 w. ago Middle East crisis live: Ministers from Europe and Iran to hold talks; UN warns of ‘man

Ministers from UK, France and Germany will meet Abbas Araqchi after White House says Trump will ‘make a decision on whether to attack Iran within two weeks’Trump sets deadline of two weeks to decide if US will join Israel’s war on IranLiving in Iran: how have you been affected by the recent conflict?Living in Israel: how have you been affected by the recent conflict?The French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot has spoken to the US secretary of state Marco Rubio ahead of a meeting in Geneva between foreign ministers from the UK, France and Germany and their Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi.The Geneva meeting is aimed at creating a pathway back to diplomacy over Iran’s nuclear programme. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Netanyahu stuns Israelis by describing ‘personal cost’ of postponing son’s wedding

Israeli prime minister prompts furious backlash for remarks in front of missile-struck hospital at height of Iran conflict Middle East crisis – live updatesBenjamin Netanyahu has evoked the spirit of London during the blitz, and pointed to his own family’s sacrifice amid the blood, toil, tears and sweat of his nation: the second postponement of his son’s wedding.The Israeli prime minister’s remarks, solemnly delivered to the cameras against the backdrop of a missile-struck hospital building in the southern city of Be’er Sheva, set off a howl of derision that echoed around the Hebrew-language internet, at the height of a war that Netanyahu unleashed on Friday. Continue reading...

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