Skip next section What you need to know
What you need to know
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Israel says projectiles fired at country’s north from Lebanon
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Hezbollah claims attacks on Israeli targets in south Lebanon
- Iran threatens to suspends talks with US
- President Donald Trump initially said he “couldn’t care less” but then said on social media that talks were continuing
This blog is closed. Below is a roundup of the developments in Iran and the Middle East on Monday, June 1.
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Skip next section Israel military says intercepted projectiles from Lebanon06/02/2026June 2, 2026
Israel military says intercepted projectiles from Lebanon
Israel says its air defenses intercepted two projectiles launched from Lebanon into the country’s north early Tuesday.
The Israeli military said warning sirens sounded shortly after 1:30 a.m. local time in several northern areas.
It said the Israeli Air Force shot down the two projectiles after they crossed into Israeli territory and that it also identified a “suspicious aerial target” that later fell inside Israel near the Lebanese border.
https://p.dw.com/p/5Egy1Skip next section Iran agreement ‘over next week,’ Trump reportedly says06/02/2026June 2, 2026
Iran agreement ‘over next week,’ Trump reportedly says
US President Donald Trump told ABC News that he thinks an Iran agreement will be ready “over the next week.”
In a post on X, the US broadcaster cited Trump as saying the agreement would involve extending the existing albeit shaky ceasefire and reopening the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
https://p.dw.com/p/5EguLSkip next section Hezbollah claims several attacks on Israeli targets in Lebanon06/02/2026June 2, 2026
Hezbollah claims several attacks on Israeli targets in Lebanon
The Iran-backed, Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has claimed several attacks targeting Israeli tanks and troops in southern Lebanon, hours after US President Donald Trump said both Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to halt strikes.
Hezbollah said that its fighters targeted a Merkava tank in the town of Hadatha with an attack drone, while targeting Israeli troops with “barrages of rockets and artillery shelling.”
In another statement, the militant group said it targeted another Merkava tank in the town of Bayada “with a guided missile.”
Beirut, which is set to take part in a new round of US-mediated negotiations with Israel starting Tuesday, said that Hezbollah has agreed to cease attacks on Israel, in exchange for Israel halting attacks on the Lebanese capital.
https://p.dw.com/p/5EguNSkip next section UN chief pushes for UNIFIL to stay in Lebanon06/01/2026June 1, 2026
UN chief pushes for UNIFIL to stay in Lebanon
UN chief Antonio Guterres called for maintaining peacekeepers in Lebanon after the mandate of the current mission expires at the end of this year.
Guterres made the suggestion in a report to the Security Council, according to the AFP news agency.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has represented a buffer between Lebanon and Israel since 1978, but its has not been enough to prevent repeated conflicts.
“Under all proposed options, a uniformed United Nations presence working to facilitate de-escalation, dialogue, liaison and coordination, and support for the Lebanese Armed Forces, would be necessary… towards the overarching objective of a long-term solution to the conflict,” the report is quoted as saying.
Guterres has proposed three options ranging from nearly 2,000 to more than 5,500 UN personnel to assist with monitoring the ceasefire and supporting the Lebanese armed forces.
https://p.dw.com/p/5EgsESkip next section Israel ‘to operate as planned in southern Lebanon,’ Netanyahu says06/01/2026June 1, 2026
Israel ‘to operate as planned in southern Lebanon,’ Netanyahu says
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stressed that the Israeli military will “continue to operate as planned in southern Lebanon,” without explicitly clarifying whether he has agreed to a US proposal to cease Israeli strikes on southern Beirut.
“I spoke this evening with President Trump and told him that if Hezbollah does not stop firing at our cities and citizens – Israel will strike terrorist targets in Beirut,” Netanyahu said in a statement on X, adding: “This position of ours remain (sic) unchanged.”
Meanwhile, the Lebanese government said it received assurances from US President Donald Trump that Netanyahu had agreed to a US proposal to stop Israeli attacks on the Lebanese capital, in exchange for Hezbollah halting attacks on Israel.
https://p.dw.com/p/5EgnMSkip next section Hezbollah accepts to halt attacks on Israel, Beirut says06/01/2026June 1, 2026
Hezbollah accepts to halt attacks on Israel, Beirut says
The Lebanese government announced that the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group accepted a US proposal to cease attacks on Israel in exchange for Israel halting strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs.
A statement posted by the Lebanese Embassy in Washington on X said the agreement with Hezbollah was “in the context of the efforts exerted by the Lebanese state to preserve stability and spare Lebanon further escalation.”
The agreement followed a phone call between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and was followed by another call between US President Donald Trump and Lebanese Ambassador to the US Nada Maawad.
“Under the proposed arrangement, Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs would cease in exchange for Hezbollah refraining from carrying out attacks against Israel, with the ceasefire framework to be expanded to encompass all Lebanese territories,” the statement read.
According to the statement, Trump informed Maawad that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had also agreed to the proposal.
Negotiations are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, “to discuss this progress and build upon it,” the embassy added.
https://p.dw.com/p/5EgmpSkip next section UN Security Council convening for emergency Lebanon meeting06/01/2026June 1, 2026
UN Security Council convening for emergency Lebanon meeting
The UN Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting on the war in Lebanon for late Monday in New York, amid threats of escalation and Israeli strikes in the south of the country.
This comes a day before Lebanon and Israel are scheduled to begin a fourth round of US-hosted direct negotiations on Tuesday.
Shortly before the session, US President Donald Trump claimed on social media that he had spoken to both sides and secured assurances that they would de-escalate.
But this followed a few hours after the Israeli government had threatened renewed attacks on the south of the capital Beirut unless rocket and drone attacks in northern Israel stopped.
It also came as Lebanese state-run news agencies on Monday reported Israeli airstrikes on dozens of locations in the south, including one that reportedly damaged a hospital in Tyre.
Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said “we are deeply alarmed by the escalation in military activities across southern Lebanon and beyond.” He urged all sides “to respect the cessation of hostilities and avoid further escalation.”
The meeting was set to start at 3 p.m. local time in New York.
https://p.dw.com/p/5EgdLSkip next section Trump claims Israel, Hezbollah both pledged to tone down fighting06/01/2026June 1, 2026
Trump claims Israel, Hezbollah both pledged to tone down fighting
US President Donald Trump has claimed that after talks both with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “highly placed” Hezbollah representatives, both sides had indicated a willingness to halt strikes.
This comes after Israel threatened renewed strikes on southern Beirut, and after Iran said it would deem this a breach of its ceasefire with the US.
“I had a very productive call with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, of Israel, and there will be no troops going to Beirut, and any troops that are on their way, have already been turned back,” Trump asserted on social media.
“Likewise, thorugh highly placed representatives, I had a very good call with Hezbollah, and they agreed that all shooting will stop — that Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel.”
In a subsequent post a few minutes later, Trump wrote that: “Talks are continuing, at a rapid pace, with the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
This seemed to contradict earlier reports on Iranian state media, which cited the intensifying tensions in Lebanon as a reason to put the negotiations on hold.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier in the day instructed the Israeli military to strike Beirut’s Dahieh district, a stronghold of Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry on Monday afternoon reported an airstrike on the southern city of Tyre but there were no strikes on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital as of Monday mid-evening.
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https://p.dw.com/p/5EgZmSkip next section Iran is suspending talks with the US over Israel’s strikes on Lebanon06/01/2026June 1, 2026
Iran is suspending talks with the US over Israel’s strikes on Lebanon
Iranian state TV on Monday quoted the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as threatening to open “new fronts” and keep the Strait of Hormuz closed if Israel continued more widespread attacks on Lebanon.
“Iran considers crossing the red lines in Lebanon and Gaza to mean direct war,” state TV quoted the Guards’ intelligence organization as saying.
According to the report, the IRGC unit said: “In return, it is determined to carry out defensive operations by taking meaningful actions and opening new fronts, in addition to preserving the Strait of Hormuz equation.”
Iranian state news agency Tasnim reported that “the Iranian negotiating team is suspending dialogues and exchange of texts through mediators,” blaming Israeli actions in Lebanon.
A military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamaenei, Mohsen Rezaee, said online that “the escalation of tensions in Lebanon will not be tolerated” and that Iran’s “patience … has a limit.”
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said earlier on Monday that Iran considered Lebanon to be a component of the shaky ceasefire between the US and Iran.
Iran’s lead negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said earlier that Israel’s escalation in Lebanon and the blockade on Iranian ports are “clear evidence of US noncompliance with the ceasefire.”
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https://p.dw.com/p/5EgQ1Skip next section Israeli military reports death of ‘unit commander in Hezbollah’s missile array’ 06/01/2026June 1, 2026
Israeli military reports death of ‘unit commander in Hezbollah’s missile array’
The Israel Defense Forces say that strikes in southern Lebanon on Sunday killed “a unit commander in Hezbollah’s missile array,” identifying him as Mohammed Mouse Mteirek.
According to the Israeli military, Mteirek was “in charge of advancing and executing hundreds of rocket and UAV [drone] launches towards Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers.”
In a slightly longer Hebrew-language post, the IDF said that Mteirek had been killed in a strike on Sunday in the Nabatieh area, not far north of the de facto border.
This reported attack was therefore not part of the strikes on a southern suburb of Beirut that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz had warned of earlier on Monday — with no word of strikes around the capital from the Lebanese side as yet either. The original warnings were tied to continued strikes on northern Israel, with Katz saying there would be no “calm” in Beirut unless there was also calm in the Israeli border region.
https://p.dw.com/p/5EgP8Skip next section What to know if you’re joining us now06/01/2026June 1, 2026
What to know if you’re joining us now
Roshni Majumdar Editor
The US military on Monday said it bombed radar and drone sites in Iran after Tehran shot down an American drone over the weekend.
Iran on Monday then targeted a US air base in retaliation, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said, without indentifying where the site was.
Iran announced the news after Kuwait said it repelled drone and missile attacks, likely referring to the attack on Kuwait.
The exchange of fire came as the two sides were working to figure out a potential agreement to bring an end to the fighting. But the text of the agreement is yet to be agreed on.
https://p.dw.com/p/5EfwXSkip next section Ceasefire also includes Lebanon — Iran’s top diplomat06/01/2026June 1, 2026
Ceasefire also includes Lebanon — Iran’s top diplomat
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said the ongoing ceasefire between the US and Iran means a halt in fighting on all fronts, including Lebanon.
His comment comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered attacks on the southern suburbs of Beirut, where Hezbollah has control.
“Violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts,” Araghchi wrote on X.
“The US and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any violation,” he added.
Tehran has been consistent in demanding that any ceasefire or peace deal with the US should stipulate an end to Israel’s hostilities against the Iran-backed militia in Lebanon.
Israel began its current offensive against Hezbollah after the paramilitary force carried out attacks on Israel in support of Iran amid the US-Israeli strikes on it launched at the end of February.
https://p.dw.com/p/5EfNeSkip next section Iran conducts more protest-related executions06/01/2026June 1, 2026
Iran conducts more protest-related executions
Iran has carried out two more death sentences over convictions connected with the mass anti-government protests in January, the judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported.
Two men, Mehdad Mohammadi-Nia and Ashkan Malek, were executed on Monday morning after being found guilty of acts including setting fire to a mosque, Mizan said.
More than a dozen executions have so far been carried out in connection with the protests, which started at the end of December in response to the country’s economic plight before mutating into an uprising against Iran’s authoritarian regime.
Iran is surpassed only by China in the number of people it executes each year.
According to Amnesty International, at least 2,159 people were executed in Iran last year — the highest recorded figure since 1981.
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https://p.dw.com/p/5EecUSkip next section US violating ceasefire with naval blockade — top Iranian negotiator06/01/2026June 1, 2026
US violating ceasefire with naval blockade — top Iranian negotiator
Top Iranian negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has said that the continued US naval blockade of Iran’s ports and Israel’s intensifying offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon show that Washington is not complying with the ceasefire.
He wrote on X that “the naval blockade and escalation of war crimes in Lebanon” were “clear evidence of US noncompliance with the ceasefire.”
“Every choice has a price, and the bill comes due. It will all fall into place,” he added.
The US and Iran agreed a ceasefire that went into force on April 8 and has since been extended, but both sides have accused each other of violating the truce.
The US began its naval blockade of Iranian ports on April 16 after talks between delegations from Washington and Tehran in Pakistan failed to produce a peace agreement.
Iran has maintained its closure of the Strait of Hormuz — a major chokepoint for the transport of oil and gas — partly because of the blockade.
It has also said a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israel is continuing its military operations against the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah, is a prerequisite for any peace deal with the US.
https://p.dw.com/p/5EeMtSkip next section Lack of trust dogs diplomatic peace process — Iran’s Foreign Ministry06/01/2026June 1, 2026
Lack of trust dogs diplomatic peace process — Iran’s Foreign Ministry
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday that exchanges between Tehran and Washington on ending the US-Iran war were taking place under difficult conditions caused partly by contradictory messages coming from the US.
“Negotiations have started amid severe suspicion and mistrust, and the exchange of messages is taking place in this atmosphere,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in a weekly press briefing.
“The other party is constantly changing its views and putting forward new or contradictory demands (…) it is natural that this situation will prolong negotiations,” he said.
Bagaei also said “a ceasefire in Lebanon is an essential condition for any deal aimed at ending the war” as Israel continues its offensive against the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah.
He said there were currently no negotiations with the US over Tehran’s nuclear program.
“We know when it is necessary to act on nuclear matters. No negotiations have taken place on the details of the nuclear file. At this stage, our priority is ending the war,” he said.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly asserted that the US offensive against Iran has the main aim of stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons, something Tehran has always denied as the purpose of its nuclear activities.
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