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Iran’s Top Envoys Discussing Potential Peace Deal in Qatar

A drone view shows vessels sailing through the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, May 25, 2026. (Reuters)
A drone view shows vessels sailing through the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, May 25, 2026. (Reuters)
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Iran’s Top Envoys Discussing Potential Peace Deal in Qatar

A drone view shows vessels sailing through the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, May 25, 2026. (Reuters)
A drone view shows vessels sailing through the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, May 25, 2026. (Reuters)

Iran's top negotiator and its foreign minister were in Doha for talks with Qatar's prime minister on a potential deal with the US to end the three-month-old war, an official briefed on the visit said on Monday, after Washington and Tehran played down hopes for an imminent breakthrough.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in New Delhi earlier that the US would give diplomacy every chance to succeed before considering whether to deal with Iran in "another way".

There was a "pretty solid thing on the table in terms of their ability to open up the strait (of Hormuz), get the strait open, enter into a very real, significant, time-limited negotiation on the nuclear matter, and hopefully we can pull it off," Rubio said.

In a lengthy post on Truth Social on Monday, US President Donald Trump said talks with Iran were going "nicely", but warned of fresh attacks if they failed. It "will only be a Great Deal for all, or no Deal at all," he wrote.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said ‌in a briefing that conclusions ‌had been reached on many topics but that did not mean the sides were close to agreement.

The ‌official briefed ⁠on the Iranians' ⁠Doha visit told Reuters the discussions focused primarily on the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium while Iran's central bank governor attended to discuss the potential release of frozen Iranian funds as part of a final deal.

Baghaei said earlier that nuclear issues would only be negotiated on if the framework accord is agreed first.

Trump has said his key aim in the war is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon with its highly enriched uranium. Tehran has consistently denied it has plans to do that.

The two sides remain at odds on several other issues, such as Israel's war in Lebanon with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Tehran's demands for the lifting of sanctions and the release of tens of billions of dollars of Iranian oil revenues frozen in foreign banks.

As efforts to reach a deal ⁠continued, Iran said it had downed a "hostile" stealth drone using a new air defense system, Iranian news agencies reported, ‌without saying where it had come from.

"This is a sign from us that no more stealth ‌drones can penetrate the skies of the Gulf," Fars quoted unnamed officials as saying.

IRAN DEAL STICKING POINTS

Baghaei said the potential Iran deal contained no specific details on management of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied gas usually flows.

Iran will not charge tolls for ships to pass through but there will be a cost for services offered such as navigation and steps to protect the environment, he said, under a protocol to be agreed with Oman, which lies on the opposite shore of the waterway.

Since the US and Israel first launched strikes on Iran on February 28, only a handful of vessels have been passing through the Strait of Hormuz compared with 125 to 140 daily previously.

Iran's state TV said on Monday that 32 vessels and five oil tankers passed through the strait in the past 24 hours with the authorization of Iran's Revolutionary Guards naval forces.

The standoff has caused a spike in oil prices and driven up the costs of fuel, fertilizer and food. On Monday, oil prices fell more than 4% to two-week lows amid optimism that a deal might come soon.

Trump, whose approval ratings have been hit by the impact on US energy prices, and who has faced congressional efforts to curb his war powers, has repeatedly played up the prospect of a deal to end the war.

Separately, two sources said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told his confidants that Israel now has little ability to influence Trump's decision-making over the conflict.

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WHO Urges DR Congo's Neighbors to Act Immediately on Ebola Risk

Response team members are helped to wear protective suits before burying a person suspected of having died from Ebola in Bunia, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on May 25, 2026. (AFP)
Response team members are helped to wear protective suits before burying a person suspected of having died from Ebola in Bunia, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on May 25, 2026. (AFP)
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WHO Urges DR Congo's Neighbors to Act Immediately on Ebola Risk

Response team members are helped to wear protective suits before burying a person suspected of having died from Ebola in Bunia, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on May 25, 2026. (AFP)
Response team members are helped to wear protective suits before burying a person suspected of having died from Ebola in Bunia, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on May 25, 2026. (AFP)

States neighboring the Democratic Republic of Congo are at great danger from Ebola and should act immediately to counter the deadly virus, the head of the World Health Organization said on Monday.

"Countries bordering DRC are at especially high risk and should take immediate action," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding that he would travel on Tuesday to the DRC, the vast, central African country at the epicenter of the current outbreak.

"The outbreak is spreading rapidly," Tedros told a virtual ministerial meeting on the viral hemorrhagic fever, which spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids. It can cause severe bleeding and organ failure.

He said the current outbreak was "especially challenging".

"First, the delay in detecting the outbreak means that we are now playing catch-up with a very fast-moving epidemic. We are urgently scaling up operations but at the moment, the epidemic is outpacing us," he said by video link from Geneva.

Secondly, the eastern provinces of the DRC, where the outbreak was first detected in mid-May, "are highly insecure, with intensified fighting in recent months (and) there is also significant distrust of outside authorities among the local population".

Thirdly, he pointed out, there were "no approved vaccines or therapeutics" for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola behind the current outbreak.

The WHO has recorded 10 confirmed Ebola deaths and 220 suspected deaths in the DRC since mid-May, while also recording a further 900 suspected cases since Kinshasa declared the outbreak on May 15.

The United Nations agency said the true spread of the virus -- which experts suspect was circulating under the radar for some time -- was probably much wider.

One person is confirmed dead in neighboring Uganda with a further six confirmed infected after Monday saw the health ministry confirm two new cases.

Ten other African countries are "at risk" of infection, the African Union's health agency, Africa CDC, warned on Saturday.

These are Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia.

- Building trust -

Africa CDC head Jean Kaseya said "high mobility and insecurity" contributed to the regional spread of the outbreak, which the WHO has declared an international emergency.

Insecurity is a huge obstacle in the eastern DRC, which has been plagued for three decades by conflict involving a litany of armed groups.

State services in rural areas of Ituri province have been largely absent for decades.

South Kivu province is controlled by the M23 armed group, which has never managed an epidemic like Ebola.

Tedros said it was vital to address the trust deficit in Ebola-affected communities.

Two hospitals in Ituri have been attacked by suspicious locals in the past five days -- one in Mongbwala, where the outbreak was initially detected, and the other in Rwampara, where tents used to isolate Ebola patients were torched.

The violence in Rwampara erupted after a deceased man's family was prevented from taking his body away for burial because of contamination risks.

"Loved ones are throwing themselves at the bodies, touching the corpses... while organizing mourning rituals bringing together loads of people," Jean Marie Ezadri, a civil society leader in Ituri, told AFP last week.

Tedros said the WHO was pouring money, medical supplies and staff into the DRC to support the authorities and speeding up clinical trials on potential treatments.

"It will get worse before it gets better," he said. "But we know this virus and we know how to stop it."

World

Israeli Opposition Leader Lapid Says Trump’s Emerging Deal with Iran Is ‘Bad for the Region’

Yair Lapid, founder of the new "Together" party and head of the Israeli opposition, speaks during a press briefing for the foreign media in Jerusalem, 25 May 2026. (EPA)
Yair Lapid, founder of the new "Together" party and head of the Israeli opposition, speaks during a press briefing for the foreign media in Jerusalem, 25 May 2026. (EPA)
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Israeli Opposition Leader Lapid Says Trump’s Emerging Deal with Iran Is ‘Bad for the Region’

Yair Lapid, founder of the new "Together" party and head of the Israeli opposition, speaks during a press briefing for the foreign media in Jerusalem, 25 May 2026. (EPA)
Yair Lapid, founder of the new "Together" party and head of the Israeli opposition, speaks during a press briefing for the foreign media in Jerusalem, 25 May 2026. (EPA)

The deal being discussed between the US and Iran fails to achieve any of Israel’s goals for the war, Israel’s opposition leader Yair Lapid said on Monday, as he accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to influence a better agreement.

Lapid, who is part of an alliance attempting to unseat Netanyahu in elections this year, said details of the emerging deal are “disturbing.”

“The deal is bad for Israel, bad for the region, bad for the citizens of Iran,” Lapid told reporters in Jerusalem.

Israel and the US launched the war on Feb. 28 vowing to destroy Iran’s ballistic missile program, end its support for proxy armed groups across the region and end Iran’s ability to pursue a nuclear bomb. Both Netanyahu and President Donald Trump also said they hoped to create conditions to topple Iran’s government.

According to regional officials, under the current deal being discussed Iran would give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and reopen the strategic Strait of Hormuz in exchange for ending a US blockade of Iranian ports and the lifting of sanctions against Iran. Key details on Iran’s nuclear program would then be negotiated during a 60-day period. It is unclear if the deal will address Iran’s missiles or support for regional militant groups.

Lapid expressed gratitude to Trump for launching the war with Israel, but criticized Netanyahu for allowing Washington to negotiate a potential deal with little coordination with Israel.

“The Israeli government is at an all-time low in its ability to influence decisions in Washington,” he said, noting that Trump said last week: “Netanyahu will do whatever I want him to do.”

Netanyahu has repeatedly stressed to Trump that Israel maintains “freedom of action” against threats in any arena, according to an official familiar with Israel prime minister's conversations with Trump, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

“Israel is a sovereign state, we are not a vassal state and we are not a protectorate,” Lapid said.

Lapid, head of the centrist “Yesh Atid” party, briefly served as prime minister in 2022 under a rotation agreement with Naftali Bennett, leader of a small conservative party. Their coalition government ended 12 years of Netanyahu’s rule.

They have once again merged their parties into a single faction headed by Bennett as they attempt to unseat Netanyahu in elections which will be held by the end of October.

Lapid has served as Israel’s opposition leader since Netanyahu returned to power in late 2022, while Bennett took a break from politics. Their alliance is aimed at uniting a fragmented opposition united in large part by their shared hostility toward Netanyahu.

Lapid, one of a shrinking number of Israeli politicians who supports the idea of Palestinian independence, said the issue would not be on the next government’s agenda. He said the conditions are not right following the trauma of the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, and wars that have followed.

“There will be no two-state solution in the coming years, because Israelis now understand this will become just another failing terrorist state on our borders,” said Lapid, adding that the Palestinian Authority does not have the ability to effectively prevent attacks against Israel.

But Lapid said he would oppose unilateral steps that would make a future Palestinian state impossible and had received assurances from Bennett, a former West Bank settlement leader, that Israel will not move toward annexing the occupied territory.

Lapid also ruled out cooperation with Arab parties to build a coalition to unseat Netanyahu.

Opinion polls indicate that Bennett and Lapid might not be able to form a governing majority coalition without the support of some Arab lawmakers, as they did in their previous government. They broke a longstanding taboo in 2021 when they invited Mansour Abbas, leader of a small Arab faction, into Israel’s governing coalition for the first and only time in Israel’s history.

Lapid said his previous cooperation with Abbas was “the right government for the moment,” but that Israel is in a very different place after nearly three years of wars and he and Bennett will not build a coalition with Abbas’ party in the next elections.

World

Leaders Keep a Wary Eye on Belarus for Signs It Might Offer Russia Help in Ukraine

27 January 2024, Russia, St. Petersburg: Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko attends an event at the Gazprom Arena stadium in Saint Petersburg. (Vyacheslav Prokofiev/Kremlin/dpa)
27 January 2024, Russia, St. Petersburg: Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko attends an event at the Gazprom Arena stadium in Saint Petersburg. (Vyacheslav Prokofiev/Kremlin/dpa)
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Leaders Keep a Wary Eye on Belarus for Signs It Might Offer Russia Help in Ukraine

27 January 2024, Russia, St. Petersburg: Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko attends an event at the Gazprom Arena stadium in Saint Petersburg. (Vyacheslav Prokofiev/Kremlin/dpa)
27 January 2024, Russia, St. Petersburg: Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko attends an event at the Gazprom Arena stadium in Saint Petersburg. (Vyacheslav Prokofiev/Kremlin/dpa)

Belarus' exiled opposition leader visited Kyiv on Monday as the Ukrainian capital cleaned up after Russia’s biggest missile attack of the year, and world leaders kept a close eye on how much support the Belarusian government is ready to provide for Moscow’s all-out invasion.

Russia and ally Belarus held joint nuclear drills last week, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned in recent days that Belarus could provide a launchpad for Russia to open a new front in northern Ukraine. Some Russian troops entered Ukraine from Belarusian territory in Moscow's invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.

In a further sign of concern, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by phone with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Sunday about the war in Ukraine, their first call since the invasion began.

Russia warns of more 'systemic strikes'

Further “systemic strikes” on Kyiv are in store, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Monday. It urged foreign citizens, including members of diplomatic missions, to leave the city as quickly as possible and told residents to stay away from military and government facilities.

The ministry said Friday’s deadly Ukrainian drone strike on a college dormitory in Starobilsk was “the final straw.” Ukraine said it hit only targets supporting Russia’s invasion.

The Russian army is locked in a hard and costly slog on the 1,250-kilometer (780-mile) front line that mostly snakes through eastern and southern Ukraine.

“Russia hit a dead-end on the battlefield, so it terrorizes Ukraine with deliberate strikes on city centers,” Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said on X, after the weekend barrage that killed two people and damaged buildings across the Ukrainian capital.

With US-made air defense missiles in short supply because of the Iran war, Russian missiles are harder for Ukraine to stop. Meanwhile, US efforts to stop the fighting have stalled.

Countries keep a wary eye on Belarus

In his call with Lukashenko, Macron “underscored the risks for Belarus of allowing itself to be dragged into Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine,” according to a presidential aide in the French leader’s office who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with the presidential palace’s practices. Macron also spoke Sunday with Zelenskyy.

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, on her first visit to Kyiv, told The Associated Press on Sunday that “Lukashenko’s regime knows well what needs to be done to improve ties with the European Union, but it isn’t happening. Instead, hybrid attacks, nuclear blackmail and threats to the entire region continue."

A terse readout released by the Belarusian presidential press service said the call with Macron took place “on the French side’s initiative” and the leaders discussed “regional issues” and Belarusian relations with the EU and France.

Lukashenko, who has governed his country of some 9.5 million people with an iron fist for more than three decades, relies on the Kremlin for cheap energy, loans and other support. Western countries have repeatedly slapped sanctions on Belarus, including for its crackdown on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its territory to invade Ukraine.

More recently, Lukashenko has been trying to improve ties with the West. Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, Lukashenko has released hundreds of political prisoners as part of deals that lifted some US sanctions.

Russia fires hypersonic missile at Ukraine

Sunday’s bombardment included Russia’s powerful hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile, which can carry multiple warheads. Russian President Vladimir Putin has boasted it can travel up to 10 times the speed of sound and evade air defense systems.

Zelenskyy said Ukrainian intelligence services had received tipoffs from the United States and European countries that Russia was preparing to launch an Oreshnik.

In addition to the two deaths, at least 91 people were wounded in Sunday's barrage, according to Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the Kyiv City Administration.

Shattered glass littered sidewalks on Monday after Ukrainian authorities said the assault damaged buildings across the city, including near government offices, residential buildings, schools and a market.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Monday led ambassadors from more than 70 countries on a visit to the sites of the strikes. He urged the international community to step up pressure on Moscow and ensure Ukraine gets more air defense support.

In other developments, Russia’s Federal Security Service said divers found magnetic mines attached to the hull of a liquefied petroleum gas tanker in the Russian Baltic port of Ust-Luga. The tanker Arrhenius was bound for Samsun, Türkiye, it said, adding that the limpet mines were made in a NATO member country. Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment.

Meanwhile, a Russian missile hit a business in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Derhachi, killing two people and wounding 19 others Monday, Kharkiv regional administration head Oleh Syniehubov said. Seventeen people were hospitalized.