US forces board sanctioned tanker in Indian Ocean
US forces boarded an oil tanker in the Indian Ocean overnight that was sanctioned by Washington for transporting Iranian crude, the US military said on Friday.
"US forces carried out a maritime interdiction and right-of-visit boarding of the sanctioned stateless vessel MT DAVINA located in the Indian Ocean," the US Indo-Pacific Command said in a post on X.
"We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate," said the post, which included photos and a video clip of the operation.
The Davina was sanctioned in 2024 by the US Treasury, which said it had delivered oil from Iran to China.
US says it has issued new Iran-related sanctions
The United States imposed new Iran-related sanctions on Friday, targeting several entities, individuals and LPG tankers, the US Treasury Department's website showed.
Among 12 entities designated are five that are based in the Marshall Islands, four in the UAE, and one in China, according to details posted to the department's website. Six vessels were targeted, including four Panama-flagged tankers.
US preparing draft resolution condemning Iran at IAEA, diplomats say
The United States is preparing a draft resolution condemning Iran ahead of next week's meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog's Board of Governors, diplomats said, a step that could complicate wider talks between the US and Iran.
Washington and Tehran are negotiating an extension of their ceasefire that would pave the way for talks on issues including Iran's nuclear programme, with US President Donald Trump insisting Iran must never develop a nuclear weapon.
Iran says it never would.
Israeli and US military strikes last June destroyed or badly damaged the three uranium-enrichment plants known to have been operating in Iran at the time. Much of its highly enriched uranium, however, is thought to have survived, though the UN nuclear watchdog has not had access to check.
Photos show Lebanese and UN troops take positions in a village vacated by Israeli soldiers
In CNN interview, Lebanon president tells Iran 'not your job to interfere' in country
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged Iran not to interfere in his country in a video interview published on Friday by CNN, also telling the Tehran-backed Hezbollah that diplomacy was the only solution to the conflict with Israel.
"It's not your country, it's our country... It's not your job to interfere into our country," Aoun told Iran in the interview, adding that "they are using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in their negotiation with the United States. It's unacceptable".
"Hezbollah must understand that (there is) no other way but to sit and talk, no other way to solve this problem and to save what's left except through negotiation and diplomacy," he added.
Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun speaks during a press conference after the EU Summit in Nicosia, Cyprus, April 24, 2026. © Petros Karadjias, AP
US military rejects Iran's claim of firing on American warships
The US military rejected Iran's claim that it fired warning shots at American warships, saying it would have been a serious breach of the fragile ceasefire between the two countries.
"Iranian forces did NOT attack or fire at US Navy warships. Doing so would be a gross violation of the ceasefire," US Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East, said in a post on X.
Iran dismisses idea of Trump meeting supreme leader
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has dismissed the idea of his country's supreme leader meeting Donald Trump, after the US president floated the prospect.
On Wednesday, Trump told the New York Post: "Yeah, I'd like to meet him," when he was asked about a possible encounter, adding that "we probably will meet at some point, depending on how it all works out".
Iran's top diplomat however played down the chances in an interview with Lebanese media aired on Thursday night, suggesting it was not realistic.
"I saw a report which apparently said that he (Trump) had stated that he was ready for a meeting or that he wanted to hold a meeting," Araghchi told Al Mayadeen television channel.
"I think we should be realistic and think and live in the real world," he said.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi gestures as he arrives for a group photograph during the BRICS Foreign Ministers’ meeting at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on May 14, 2026. © Arun Sankar, AFP
Lebanon PM tells Iran to stop treating country as 'bargaining chip'
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam urged Iran to stop treating his country, where Israel and the Tehran-backed Hezbollah are at war, as a "bargaining chip" in its negotiations with Washington on the Middle East conflict.
"If I may address a word to Iran, it is this: have mercy on our south, stop treating it and its people as merely a bargaining chip to improve the terms of your negotiations," Salam told a press conference for a UN aid appeal for Lebanon.
Israel plans first embassy in Slovenia, says foreign minister
Israel plans to open an embassy in Slovenia, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said late on Thursday, a sign of a thaw in relations since a new centre-right government took power in Ljubljana.
Iran army says fired 'warning missiles' at US destroyers in Gulf of Oman
Iran's navy said it had fired warning missiles and drones at US warships in the Gulf of Oman, accusing the US Navy of harassing maritime traffic and seizing commercial vessels and oil tankers, Iranian state media reported.
Earlier, the US Indo-Pacific Command said US forces had intercepted the sanctioned stateless vessel M/T DAVINA in the Indian Ocean overnight.
"We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate," it said in a post on X.
Lebanon ceasefire brings little comfort to displaced families in Beirut
Months after fleeing the fighting in eastern and southern Lebanon, thousands of displaced people remain in makeshift camps across Beirut. Despite the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, many say they feel no safer and have little confidence the truce will hold. FRANCE 24's special correspondent Antonia Kerrigan reports.
Israel army warns of imminent strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon
Israel's military on Friday warned residents of south Lebanon's Sarafand, a town on the coastal road between Tyre and Sidon, to immediately evacuate ahead of expected attacks against Iran-backed Hezbollah.
FRANCE 24's Antonia Kerrigan reports from Beirut.
Hezbollah ally says group to withdraw from south Lebanon if full truce reached, Israel pulls back
Lebanese parliament speaker and Hezbollah ally Nabih Berri has said that the Iran-backed group would withdraw from the area south of Lebanon's Litani River if Israel pulls out and a comprehensive ceasefire is reached.
"I agree to... Hezbollah's withdrawal from south of the Litani River in parallel with an Israeli withdrawal from the areas it occupies" and "a complete and comprehensive ceasefire without conditions", Berri, who acts as Hezbollah's mediator, said in a statement.
Lebanon’s Speaker of parliament says he would agree to hezbollah withdrawal from southern Lebanon in parallel with Israeli withdrawal
Lebanon's parliament speaker and Hezbollah ally Nabih Berri said on Friday he would agree to the withdrawal of the Iran backed group from southern Lebanon if Israeli troops simultaneously left territory they occupy in the country.
In written comments distributed by his office, Berri criticised the U.S.-mediated ceasefire framework announced this week as unfair, saying it should have included an "unconditional ceasefire by land, sea and air." He added that he "agrees to... Hezbollah's withdrawal from south of the Litani River, in parallel with the Israeli withdrawal from the areas it occupied."
Palestinian teenager killed by Israeli army in West Bank (Palestinian Authority)
A young Palestinian was killed Friday by Israeli gunfire in the central West Bank, the Palestinian Authority announced, while the Israeli military said it had shot and killed a person who was throwing Molotov cocktails at Israeli vehicles.
Haitham Ezzedine Omar Hamida, 18, was killed shortly after midnight “by bullets fired by the occupation [Israel] in the village of Beitin,” near Ramallah, according to a brief statement from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, which noted that his body is being held by Israel, as is often the case.
WPF warns Middle East conflict pushing millions into hunger
The Middle East conflict is pushing millions of people closer to hunger, as rising fuel and transport costs drive up food prices while funding shortfalls force aid agencies to scale back assistance, the U.N. World Food Programme said on Friday.
Joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran in February triggered a regional conflict stretching across the Gulf and into Lebanon, disrupting key shipping routes, including the Strait of Hormuz, forcing vessels to reroute and sharply constraining global energy flows and supply chains.
In March, the WFP forecast as many as 45 million people could fall into acute food insecurity if oil prices remained around $100 per barrel through June.
UN doubles its call for Lebanon aid as humanitarian crisis deteriorates
The UN on Friday more than doubled its aid appeal for Lebanon as the country reels from Israel's war against Iran-backed Hezbollah, saying nearly $640 million was needed over six months.
"The humanitarian crisis in Lebanon is severe and deteriorating," the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in a revised appeal for the country.
"Repeated displacements, insufficient shelter capacity and limited prospects for safe return are deepening vulnerability," it said, warning that "affected people are rapidly exhausting their coping capacities, and essential services are under increasing strain".
The UN had appealed for $308 million in March to support a massive emergency response led by Lebanon's government through to the end of May.
Israel announces imminent strikes against Hezbollah in the town of Sarafand
The Israeli military announced late Friday morning that it was preparing to carry out strikes it claimed were targeting the Islamist group Hezbollah in the coastal town of Sarafand, in southern Lebanon, despite the new ceasefire agreement announced by Washington.
Colonel Avichay Adraee, the Israeli army’s Arabic-speaking spokesperson, called on residents to evacuate this town located between the cities of Tyre and Saida, as well as six other localities, following a similar call earlier that morning for three villages.
"Out of concern for your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and move north of the Zahrani River," which runs some 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of the border.
Israel army warns will attack 3 villages north of Lebanon's Litani River
Israel's military warned residents of three villages north of the Litani River in southern Lebanon to evacuate on Friday ahead of expected attacks against Iran-backed Hezbollah.
"For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and move away from the villages and towns by at least 1,000 metres into open areas. Anyone who is near Hezbollah operatives, their facilities, or their weapons endangers their life!" the army's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem on Thursday rejected a conditional truce announced by Lebanese and Israeli envoys, demanding a comprehensive ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal instead as he threatened northern Israel with new attacks.
Israeli strikes kill 7 in south Lebanon's Tyre, civil defence
Israeli strikes overnight in the south Lebanon city of Tyre killed seven people, a source from Lebanon's civil defence told AFP on Friday, despite a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
One strike near the Jabal Amel hospital killed four people, wounded seven and lightly damaged the facility, while another elsewhere in the city killed three and wounded five, including two children.
Yesterday's key developments:
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Israel and Lebanon agreed Wednesday to renew their fragile ceasefire and create a number of “pilot” security zones inside Lebanon from which Hezbollah militants would be banned. However, Hezbollah rejected the agreement, demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei called for national unity in a message in which he said that Iran’s enemies, having been defeated on the battlefield, were now seeking to undermine public resilience and sow internal divisions.
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A UN peacekeeper in Lebanon has died after his position was hit by mortar shells near Marjayoun in southeastern Lebanon late on Wednesday, the UN peacekeeping mission UNIFIL said. Two other peacekeepers were wounded in the incident.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
