This liveblog is no longer being updated; for our new liveblog, visit here.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, referring to the Pakistani top general's trip to Tehran, said on Friday, "Despite becoming more frequent, such exchanges are a continuation of the same diplomatic process. We cannot necessarily say we have reached a point where a deal is near."
Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir arrived in Tehran on Friday for meetings with senior Iranian officials, state media reported on Friday. A Qatari negotiating team arrived in Tehran on Friday in coordination with the United States to help secure a deal aimed at ending the war.
Iran’s state-affiliated ISNA news agency reported that the ongoing exchange of messages between Tehran and Washington is intended to establish a framework for a possible agreement.
The United States sanctions nine individuals, including Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, accusing them of obstructing Lebanon’s peace process and helping preserve Hezbollah’s influence over state institutions.
Republican leaders postponed a War Powers vote on Iran on Thursday, drawing criticism from Democratic Congressman Mike Levin, who said the move was meant to avoid a likely bipartisan rebuke.
President Donald Trump told reporters the United States will "get the highly enriched" uranium stockpiles from Iran. He also ruled out Iran's Hormuz toll plan.
This liveblog is no longer being updated; for our new liveblog, visit here.
A product tanker was approached by a small craft carrying five people within 200 nautical miles west of Yemen’s Socotra island, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said.
UKMTO said the vessel’s armed security team was deployed, after which the small craft changed course away from the tanker.
Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran on Friday to discuss the latest diplomatic efforts and initiatives aimed at ending the Iran war, Iranian state media reported.
The two sides also exchanged views on security issues in West Asia and efforts to prevent further escalation, according to the report.
Hasan Hassan Zadeh, commander of the Basij’s “Mohammad Rasoul Allah” Corps in Tehran and one of the main figures behind the crackdown on protests in the capital, warned in a televised interview on Friday that if the enemy “makes a mistake,” the armed forces will respond “harder, more painfully, and more decisively than before.”
Hassan Zadeh said the expected reply as “hard, remorse‑making, and final,” adding that the Islamic Republic is ready to escalate force in the face of any foreign strike.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino on Friday posted a 17-second video showing a US Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bomber flying through the clouds, drawing attention amid escalating tensions with Iran.
Iran’s UN mission in New York on Friday accused the United States and its allies of blocking the outcome of the latest Nuclear Non‑Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, saying the gathering failed for the third time in a row.
“US Excessive Demands Push the NPT into Free Fall. The NPT Review Conference failed for the third consecutive time due to obstructionism by the United States and its allies. Iran’s warning: Without nuclear disarmament, no future can be envisaged for the NPT,” it posted on X.
Ivanka Trump was targeted for assassination by an "Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps‑linked terrorist" in a plot to avenge the 2020 US drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, The New York Post reported on Friday, citing intelligence sources.
The Iraqi national, Mohammad Bagher Saad Dawood Al‑Saadi, allegedly pledged to kill Ivanka, had a blueprint of her Florida home, and posted online threats warning that “neither your palaces nor the Secret Service will protect you.”
Al‑Saadi, described as a high‑ranking figure in Iraq‑Iran terror circles, was arrested in Turkey on May 15 and extradited to the US, where he faces charges connected to 18 attacks and attempted attacks in Europe and the United States, including attacks on US and Jewish targets in Amsterdam, London, Toronto, and Belgium, the report said.
Republican Representative Dan Crenshaw on Friday warned that the Iran War Powers Resolution would “tie the President’s hands” in the middle of a crisis, saying that removing credible deterrence from the commander in chief during an escalating conflict would only embolden Tehran and the terrorist groups it backs.
"The Iranian regime would love nothing more than for Congress to tie the President’s hands in the middle of a crisis. That’s exactly what the Iran War Powers Resolution would do. Iran has spent decades funding terrorist proxies, murdering Americans, attacking our allies, targeting commercial shipping, and openly chanting “Death to America,” Crenshaw posted on X. "Now some in Congress want to advertise to that regime that they must pre-approve every possible military response. That’s not restraint. That’s strategic stupidity."
At least some US troops’ Memorial Day weekend leave has been canceled as a precaution, sources familiar with military planning have told The New York Post on Friday.
Senator Ted Cruz blamed former US President Barack Obama for the current Iran crisis, accusing him of radicalizing the Democratic Party and saying Obama “loved communists who were enemies of America,” during an episode of his podcast “Verdict with Ted Cruz.”
"Obama loved communists who were enemies of America. Obama started his presidency, one of the very first things he did, he went to the University of Cairo in Egypt. And he gave a speech and he said Iran has a right, and he used the word right, to nuclear technology. Now that's idiocy. That That makes no sense," Cruz said.