Live UpdatesHezbollah’s leader said the Iran-backed group, which was not included in US-brokered talks, had rejected a deal worked out between Israel and the Lebanese government.A man waves an Iranian flag during a street festival celebrating the Muslim Shiite holiday of Eid al-Ghadir, the anniversary Prophet Muhammad naming his successor, Ali, who is revered as the first Shiite Imam, in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, June 4, 2026.(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)US-Iran News LIVE: Trump has abandoned a proposed military operation to seize Iran's enriched uranium from its atomic sites. The operation would have required weeks of sustained presence in a conflict zone and risked becoming what Trump termed a "Jimmy Carter" moment. The rejection signals restraint as nuclear negotiations proceed.The UN nuclear watchdog sent a report to member states on Thursday repeating calls for Iran to account for its enriched uranium following the bombing of its atomic sites a year ago. "Iran must urgently inform the agency of the fate of its enriched uranium" and permit comprehensive inspections, the IAEA signalled.Trump also attacked a House vote to limit his war powers on Thursday, saying it came during his "final negotiations" to end the war with Iran.Ceasefire unravels as fighting intensifiesAn American-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon fractured almost immediately. Within hours of announcement, Israel launched intense strikes on southern Lebanon. Hezbollah's leader, excluded from talks, rejected the deal and his forces fired rockets at Israeli targets.The health ministry in Lebanon reports more than 3,300 deaths and over one million displaced since March. Yet the ceasefire agreement's asymmetry may explain its rapid collapse: Hezbollah faces demands for unilateral ceasefire whilst Israel faces no requirement to withdraw its forces from Lebanese territory.Iran's Quds Force commander demanded Israel withdraw to pre-conflict positions. Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei warned officials that actions causing public frustration would serve adversaries' interests.Broader negotiations to end the US-Iranian war remain stalled over Lebanon's status. Iran insists on terms antithetical to Netanyahu's objective of completely disarming Hezbollah. The temporary ceasefire reflects the incompatibility between Iranian and Israeli positions.Track US Iran War News LIVE Updates.Follow updates here:5 Jun 2026, 06:20:29 AM ISTUS-Iran News LIVE: Iran says was ready to make northern Israel ‘hell’ if Lebanon attackedUS-Iran News LIVE: Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, said Iran’s missiles were ready to turn northern Israel into “hell” if enemy forces moved toward Beirut’s southern suburbs.Speaking on Iran's state TV, Rezaei also warned the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait that Tehran would not leave them alone after the war if they continued their current approach.5 Jun 2026, 06:20:29 AM ISTUS-Iran News LIVE: Qatar, France discuss ways to ease tensions amid Iran-US mediationUS-Iran News LIVE: Qatar’s foreign minister discussed efforts to reduce tensions across the Middle East in a phone call with his French counterpart, as diplomatic efforts continue to prevent further regional escalation.According to Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, the two officials reviewed ongoing attempts to de-escalate tensions through diplomatic channels, including mediation efforts between the United States and Iran.5 Jun 2026, 06:20:29 AM ISTUS-Iran News LIVE: Trump says Hezbollah sought halt to fighting US-Iran News LIVE: Trump said Thursday that Hezbollah had approached the United States seeking an end to the fighting in Lebanon, despite a statement from the group rejecting the terms of a proposed ceasefire.“Hezbollah called us and said, ‘How about stopping?’” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.He described the situation in Lebanon as interconnected with developments involving Iran and said he hoped the country could finally see peace after years of conflict.“It would be really nice if
North Korea unveiled on Thursday, June 4, a new fuel production facility for nuclear arsenal with leader Kim Jong Un pointed towards the “most ferocious enemies” – an apparent reference to the US and South Korea – and also announced the plans to bolster the country’s nuclear forces “at an exponential rate.” The location of the new nuclear fuel production plant remains undisclosed.Some experts still question whether North Korea has functioning nuclear missiles that can reach the U.S. mainland. But the nuclear plant's disclosure implies that Kim is eager to cement his country's status as a nuclear power and has no intentions of placing his bomb program on a negotiating table.After visiting the site on Wednesday, Kim said he and other top officials “confirmed the order of priority for implementing the ambitious future plan designed to beef up our state’s nuclear forces at an exponential rate,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency.The site is likely a uranium enrichment plantKCNA said the facility used “more sophisticated technology” but didn’t provide further details like its location. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff assessed the site as a uranium enrichment plant and said it was closely coordinating with the United States to monitor North Korean nuclear activities.KCNA photos showed Kim walking through narrow aisles lined with dense rows of silver tubes and pipes, in what appeared to be a centrifuge hall. Another image showed him speaking with senior officials in a meeting room, where a blurred graphic depicting a cone-shaped object was spread across a table. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the graphic showed a warhead design.It's the third time that North Korea has disclosed a uranium enrichment site. In 2024, North Korea released photos of another covert uranium-enrichment plant. In 2010, North Korea showed one at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex to visiting American scholars.Last September, South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said that North Korea was operating a total of four uranium enrichment facilities including the Yongbyon complex, and that they were running everyday.Kim wants nuclear weapons stateDuring his plant visit, Kim said the urgency for bolstering up the country’s nuclear war deterrent, both in quality and quantity, has grown because of confrontations with “the most ferocious enemies,” an apparent reference to the U.S. and South Korea.Kim said exercising “the position of a nuclear weapons state” is his country's “invariable” stand. He said North Korea’s nuclear materials production capacity has more than doubled compared with five years ago, a claim that cannot be verified independently.Experts say Kim wants an international recognition as a nuclear state so that he could demand the lifting of U.N. economic sanctions. They say Kim would ultimately push for arms reductions talks with the U.S. as a way to win concessions in return for a partial surrender of his nuclear capability.President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to resume diplomacy with Kim, but the North Korean leader responded the Americans must first drop its demand for North Korea to denuclearize as a precondition for talks.Some question North Korea's nuclear programSince his first round of nuclear diplomacy collapsed in 2019, Kim has performed a provocative run of weapons tests and vowed repeatedly to “exponentially” expand the country’s nuclear arsenal.This led to many experts believing North Korea now likely has nuclear missiles capable of striking the U.S. mainland. But some still note North Korea hasn't proved it mastered last-remaining technological hurdles to obtain such missiles, including ensuring its warheads survive the conditions of atmospheric reentry. They say North Korea also need to perfect technologies to place multiple nuclear warheads on a single missile to defeat U.S. missile shields.A senior South Korean official told lawmakers in 2018 that North Korea was estimated to have
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi expressed concern after Russia accused Ukraine of launching a drone attack on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, a claim Kyiv denied. The incident comes amid escalating cross-border strikes, with Ukraine targeting Russian energy infrastructure overnight.Rafael Grossi, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General, has expressed concerns over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant attack(AP)Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on Saturday (local time) expressed "serious concern" after Russia accused Ukraine of launching a drone attack on the Moscow-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in southern Ukraine, an allegation that Kyiv has denied.In a statement posted on X, the IAEA said that the incident would be the first drone attack within the plant's perimeter since April 2024. ZNPP was captured by Russian forces in the early days of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, ABC News reported. The facility now sits roughly 30 miles from the closest portion of the front line.The agency added, "The IAEA has been informed by the ZNPP that a drone today struck a turbine building at the site, reportedly causing a hole in its wall."IAEA chief expresses concernGrossi expressed serious concern regarding the reported incident, which would "endanger both the seven indispensable pillars for ensuring nuclear safety during the conflict as well as the five concrete principles to protect the ZNPP, which clearly state that 'there should be no attack of any kind from or against' the plant," the statement noted.He warned that attacking a nuclear site is like playing with fire, adding that the agency requested "access to examine the affected turbine building first-hand."Ukraine denies attacking ZNPP, accuses Moscow of nuclear terrorismUkraine's Southern Defense Forces, a military grouping that oversees the southern front, denied the allegations made by Russia and accused Moscow of engaging in "nuclear terrorism."The group, in a statement, said, "The Russian Federation continues to use the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant as a tool of nuclear blackmail and information provocations. Reports circulated by occupation-controlled resources claiming that Ukraine's Defense Forces struck facilities at the ZNPP are another attempt to discredit Ukraine and conceal Russia's own criminal actions."The group also added that members of the Ukrainian service function strictly within the norms of international humanitarian law and "fully understand the consequences of any actions involving nuclear facilities."Slamming Russia for illegally occupying ZNPP, the group noted that Moscow has maintained military control over the plant since March 2022 and turned a civilian nuclear facility into an element of military infrastructure. The force also accused Moscow of violating restrictions on the deployment of military assets within the five-kilometer zone around ZNPP.Kyiv launches overnight attack on Russian energy targetsThe accusations came after Ukraine launched fresh strikes overnight targeting Russian energy sites. News agency AP reported that Ukrainian drones struck the Saratov oil refinery in southwestern Russia, causing a “large-scale fire.” Kyiv's General Staff said the extent of the damage is yet to be clarified, adding the refinery was supplying Moscow's war effort.In recent months, Kyiv has stepped up its attacks on Moscow's oil and gas facilities, arguing the energy sector both funds and directly fuels Moscow’s more than four-year-old invasion.Ukraine's General Staff on Sunday confirmed its forces were behind the strike on the facility in the town of Matveev Kurgan. Local authorities said a drone strike on the depot had caused a large-scale fire across a wide area.According to its General Staff, Ukraine also struck the Lazarevo pumping station in Russia's Kirov region northeast of Moscow, more than 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) from Ukrainian-controlled land. T
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