Iran’s foreign ministry says US broke ceasefire with overnight strikes
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Iran’s foreign ministry says US broke ceasefire with overnight strikes
The Guardian-May26th2026
As part of the peace deal with Iran – which could now be on the rocks – Donald Trump has made a push for Gulf states to sign up to his Abraham Accords and recognise the state of Israel. AFP has spoken to some analysts that see these demands as unrealistic.
“For most of the states named, the political cost of signing up under current conditions would be prohibitive,” HA Hellyer, senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and Center for American Progress said.
“Gaza is ongoing, annexation of the West Bank is accelerating, Israeli forces remain in southern Lebanon, the Golan is occupied.”
Yossi Mekelberg, a Middle East expert at London-based think-tank Chatham House, said it was “no more than a sweetener for Israel, and most likely won’t happen”.
“Why would these countries reward (Benjamin) Netanyahu after so much destruction in the region and to their interests?” he asked.
In 2023, Saudi Arabia was engaged in tentative talks on normalisation, but it abruptly pulled out as the Israel-Gaza war erupted. It later said it would not recognise Israel without an independent Palestinian state.
“For Saudia Arabia there is no incentive to join the Abraham Accords, in the current circumstances,” said Hellyer.
“If they decide about normalisation, they would like to do it on their own accord, not the Abraham Accords.”
Former US diplomat Barbara A. Leaf, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs under Joe Biden, told AFP: “I do not expect any of the Arab/Muslim states whose leaders spoke to President Trump on May 23 to move towards normalisation with Israel right now.”
The internet monitoring group Netblocks said in a post on X on Tuesday that live data showed partial restoration of internet connectivity in Iran.
Iranian state media reported on Monday that Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian had issued an order to reopen international internet access, after a near-90-day blackout in the wake of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Afternoon summary
Iran’s foreign ministry has accused the US of violating the ceasefire after overnight strikes by the US military on targets in the southern coastal province of Hormozgan, next to the strait of Hormuz.
Here’s a round-up of the other key events so far today:
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Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said on his Telegram channel that Gulf powers will no longer be a shield for US bases and the US will no longer have a safe haven in the region. The post followe overnight attacks on Iran by the US, testing the ceasefire agreed in April.
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Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said it reserved the “legitimate and definite” right to retaliate against any ceasefire violations by the US. It added that its air defence units had shot down a US MQ-9 drone and fired at a fighter jet that had entered Iranian airspace.
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Brent crude oil rose 3% on Tuesday after the news of the US strikes on Iran. The strikes added to uncertainty about whether a deal will be imminently reached to end the war and open up shipping flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
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An Israeli airstrike on a village in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley killed 12 people, AP reports, citing the country’s state-run National News Agency. Rescue workers said a dozen bodies were pulled out of the rubble following an intense wave of overnight strikes targeting swaths of southern and eastern Lebanon.
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Israel’s military has warned residents of the southern Lebanese town of Nabatieh to leave ahead of possible airstrikes, Reuters reports. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel would escalate strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon, as a US official said the militia had ignored warnings to halt firing at Israel.
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United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said that a tanker had reported an external explosion on the vessel’s port side, 60 nautical miles off Oman’s capital Muscat. In a post on X, UKMTO said the vessel and its crew were safe, although the tanker reported that some bunker fuel was discharged into the sea. UKMTO urged vessels to transit with caution and report suspicious activity.
I’m clocking off, but my colleague Tom Ambrose will continue to bring you the latest updates from the crisis in the Middle East.
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