Biden Told US Partners that Ukraine Air Defense Missile Responsible for Poland Blast

Polish security officers cordoning off the blast site - EPA
Polish security officers cordoning off the blast site - EPA
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Biden Told US Partners that Ukraine Air Defense Missile Responsible for Poland Blast

Polish security officers cordoning off the blast site - EPA
Polish security officers cordoning off the blast site - EPA

US President Joe Biden told G7 and NATO partners that a missile blast in eastern Poland was caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile, a NATO source told Reuters on Wednesday.

The blast, which killed two people, raised global alarm that the Ukraine conflict could spill into neighboring countries.

For its part, Russia said that its Tuesday strikes were carried out on targets only on the territory of Ukraine, saying its military experts identified the rocket as fragments of a guided anti-aircraft missile of a Ukrainian S-300 air defense system, according to AFP.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that strikes were carried out at a distance of no closer than 35 kilometers from the Ukrainian-Polish border.

"Photographs of the wreckage... were unequivocally identified by Russian military experts as fragments of a guided anti-aircraft missile of a Ukrainian S-300 air defense system," the statement added.

Russian Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the American response had been "restrained" compared to that of other countries, stressing that Russia had nothing to do with the incident.



Macron: French-UK Mission 'Ready' to Aid Hormuz Reopening

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a press conference after talks with Montenegro's President Jakov Milatovic in Cetinje, Montenegro, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a press conference after talks with Montenegro's President Jakov Milatovic in Cetinje, Montenegro, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
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Macron: French-UK Mission 'Ready' to Aid Hormuz Reopening

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a press conference after talks with Montenegro's President Jakov Milatovic in Cetinje, Montenegro, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a press conference after talks with Montenegro's President Jakov Milatovic in Cetinje, Montenegro, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)

France's president on Monday said that a military mission set up by Paris and Britain to help with Strait of Hormuz traffic was ready to deploy, following the announcement of a deal to end the Middle East war.

His comments came after Washington and Tehran said they reached an agreement to end the war that the US and Israel launched on Iran in February, with a deal to be signed on Friday in Switzerland, said AFP.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who is due to host US counterpart Donald Trump for a G7 meeting later on Monday, said that the UK-France mission's "assets are in place and ready to be deployed."

"The resumption of maritime traffic, without restrictions or tolls, is an essential condition for regional stability and the global economy," he said in a post on X.

The Strait of Hormuz is a vital waterway for energy supplies that was effectively blockaded by Iran since the start of the war.


US-Iran Deal Should Immediately Reopen Hormuz Strait, Von Der Leyen Says

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a joint press conference with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics and Estonian President Alar Karis at the Presidential palace in Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a joint press conference with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics and Estonian President Alar Karis at the Presidential palace in Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
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US-Iran Deal Should Immediately Reopen Hormuz Strait, Von Der Leyen Says

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a joint press conference with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics and Estonian President Alar Karis at the Presidential palace in Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a joint press conference with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics and Estonian President Alar Karis at the Presidential palace in Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)

The agreement between the United States and Iran should allow for the "immediate reopening" of the Strait of Hormuz, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday.

"The ‌priority now ‌is its ‌swift ⁠and full implementation ⁠by all parties," von der Leyen said about the announced deal.

"Freedom of navigation must be restored ⁠toll-free. This is essential ‌for ‌regional stability and the ‌global economy. It opens ‌the door to broader negotiations on peace and security in the Middle East," ‌she added.

Von der Leyen also said ⁠that ⁠peace in the Middle East was impossible "while Lebanon is in flames", according to Reuters.

"Once again Europe calls on all parties to respect Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity and implement a genuine ceasefire," she said.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the deal between the US and Iran marks a "potential breakthrough" in the war and the EU will ‌now weigh ‌how it ‌can ⁠be involved in ⁠the next phase.

"From economic ‌leverage ‌to nuclear expertise ‌and longstanding relationships ‌with Gulf partners, the EU stands ready to contribute ‌to a sustainable resolution," Kallas said ⁠in a ⁠post on X, before a meeting of foreign affairs ministers from the 27 EU member states in Brussels.  

European Union chief Antonio Costa welcomed the deal, adding that the bloc was ready to contribute to a strategy for "lasting peace". 

"I look forward to an end to this costly war and to the full restoration of freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz," Costa, the European Council President, wrote on X. 

US and Iranian officials said they had reached an agreement to end their war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a preliminary pact that sent oil prices falling but leaves the fate of Tehran's nuclear program to further negotiations. 

While still a framework, the deal marked the biggest breakthrough towards resolving the conflict that has killed thousands and upended energy markets since it began with joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February.  

"The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete," US President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform at around 5:30 p.m. in Washington (2130 GMT) on Sunday.  

His post came shortly after Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose country has served as a mediator, announced a deal had been struck early on Monday local time. 

The memorandum of understanding is scheduled to be officially signed on Friday in Switzerland. 

The precise terms were not immediately known. Sharif said in a post on X that the pact called for "the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon." 

Lebanon has been a sticking point in negotiations, with Israel and Hezbollah ignoring calls from Trump and others to stop their attacks on each other in recent weeks. 


Obama Doubts Trump-Iran Deal Will Make Improvement Over His 2015 Pact

President Obama meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, November 2016 (AP) 
President Obama meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, November 2016 (AP) 
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Obama Doubts Trump-Iran Deal Will Make Improvement Over His 2015 Pact

President Obama meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, November 2016 (AP) 
President Obama meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, November 2016 (AP) 

Former US President Barack Obama said it was unrealistic to expect that any deal between US President Donald Trump and Tehran would mark a “significant improvement” over his own nuclear pact 11 years ago.

In interview excerpts released Sunday on ABC News talk show “This Week,” the former President also suggested it was better to negotiate a deal that falls short of all of Washington's requirements in order to avoid an outright war.

“It is doubtful that any agreement that arises is going to be significantly different or a significant improvement from the deal that we had in the first place,” Obama said, referring to 2015's landmark pact that Trump abandoned, according to AFP.

Obama added that his own deal “had worked for a long stretch of time before... the United States pulled out of it.”

US and Israeli forces sparked the Middle East war in late February when they launched strikes against Iran. For months, Trump has bandied about a potential peace deal with the Iranian republic.

The US President has stressed the deal would forever block Iran's ability to produce a nuclear weapon and would lead to the immediate opening of the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.

According to Obama, the troubled progress of a new US-Iran deal is a reminder that Washington can not “just bully our way or bomb our way to solutions” instead of engaging in comprehensive diplomacy.

“You'd think we would have learned that lesson by now,” Obama said.

On Monday, US and Iranian officials said they had agreed on a framework to end their war, halt the US blockade of Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a preliminary pact that sent oil prices falling but leaves the fate of Iran's nuclear program to further negotiations.

“The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform around ‌5:30 pm ET local time in Washington (2130 GMT) on Sunday. His post came shortly after Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose country has served as a mediator, announced a deal had been struck early on Monday local time, according to Reuters.

The memorandum of understanding is scheduled to be officially signed on Friday in Switzerland.

Before the deal was announced, a senior Iranian official told Reuters that, ⁠under the terms of the draft, the US would agree to release $25 billion of frozen Iranian assets. The Trump administration has previously said any release of Iranian money would only take place once Iran has fulfilled certain conditions under a peace deal.

A US official, also speaking before the announcement, said the agreement would ultimately lead to the dismantling of Iran's nuclear program, with its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to be destroyed and removed. The senior Iranian official said the draft deal would allow Iran, which denies seeking a nuclear bomb, to dilute its enriched uranium inside the country.