Middle East crisis live: Trump says he cancelled planned attack on Iran at request of Gulf states, vows US is ready for ‘large scale assault’ if peace talks fail

The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Monday it has been informed by the United Arab Emirates that off-site power was restored to Unit 3 of the Barakah nuclear power plant following the drone strike on Sunday.

Sunday’s drone strike caused a fire at an electrical generator outside the inner perimeter of the Barakah nuclear power plant, with authorities confirming that safety levels were unaffected and no radioactive material was released.

Further to our earlier post, Ireland’s president has urged world leaders not to “normalise war” or “slaughter” as she expresses concern for her sister who was on board a Gaza flotilla intercepted today by Israel.

On her first official visit to the UK, Catherine Connolly, went slightly off script at an event in the Irish embassy to express concern about wars currently tearing up the world order.

Normalising war is never acceptable, normalising slaughhter is never acceptable.

Earlier she met King Charles who “graciously and gratefully” received an invitation for a state visit to Ireland next year.

She spoke to guests at the Irish embassy in London of the need to always defend the values of an independent sovereign nation “by defending international law and the structures of the UN”.

She said Ireland “will not be silent when international law is treated as optional”.

She was asked by reporters about her sister Margaret who was on board the flotilla intercepted by Israeli forces off the coast of Cyprus.

“It’s quite upsetting and I’m also very worried about her,” she said.

“I’ve been very busy today … I haven’t really had a chance to get details in relation to my sister and indeed, equally importantly, her colleagues on the boat.”

Donald Trump has said he would “hold off” an attack on Iran scheduled for Tuesday at the request of Gulf leaders.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said “serious negotiations” are now underway with Iran and that Gulf states believed “a deal will be made”.

“This Deal will include, importantly, NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS FOR IRAN!” he claimed.

But, he added, Washington was ready for a “full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached.”

Here’s the full post:

I have been asked by the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, and the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to hold off on our planned Military attack of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was scheduled for tomorrow, in that serious negotiations are now taking place, and that, in their opinion, as Great Leaders and Allies, a Deal will be made, which will be very acceptable to the United States of America, as well as all Countries in the Middle East, and beyond. This Deal will include, importantly, NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS FOR IRAN! Based on my respect for the above mentioned Leaders, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, The Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Daniel Caine, and The United States Military, that we will NOT be doing the scheduled attack of Iran tomorrow, but have further instructed them to be prepared to go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached.

The organisers of a flotilla of aid vessels bound for Gaza said on Monday that Israeli forces had intercepted 39 of their boats in the eastern Mediterranean, while the remaining ships were continuing to sail toward the enclave.

Earlier on Monday, Israel’s foreign ministry had said on X that it “will not allow any breach of the lawful naval blockade on Gaza”. Ships from the Global Sumud Flotilla had set sail for a third time on Thursday from southern Turkey, after earlier attempts to deliver aid to Gaza were intercepted by Israel in international waters.

Live video showed military vessels approaching the vessels on Monday.

“Military vessels are currently intercepting our fleet and (Israeli) forces are boarding the first of our boats in broad daylight,” the Global Sumud Flotilla initially said on X.

“We demand safe passage for our legal, non-violent humanitarian mission.”

The group said there were 426 people taking part in the 54-vessel flotilla from 39 countries. It named 44 Turks among those on the intercepted vessels, some 250 nautical miles (463 km) from Gaza.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Monday it has been informed by the United Arab Emirates that off-site power was restored to Unit 3 of the Barakah nuclear power plant following the drone strike on Sunday.

The drone strike caused a fire at an electrical generator outside the inner perimeter of the Barakah nuclear power plant.

Whilst authorities confirmed that safety levels were unaffected and no radioactive material was released, it came at an extremely tense moment in the sixth week of a ceasefire in the Iran war.

The US Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent said on Monday that the US will give a 30-day extension for countries to import Russian oil that is already in tankers at sea, a move that is meant to reduce the oil supply shortages caused by the Iran War.

The announcement marks a continued policy reversal by an administration that had previously said the sanctions on Russian oil would resume. Originally announced in early March, the temporary waiver on the sanctions was first renewed in April, two days after Bessent said at the White House that he had no plans to extend the sanctions relief.

The announcement comes after Bessent said that the waiver on Russian oil sanctions would lapse, a sign of the economic challenges created by the Iran war as shortages are pushing up prices.

Earlier on Monday, Donald Trump took to Truth Social to attack the US media over their coverage of his war on Iran.

He claimed that even if Iran completely surrendered, the “fake news media” would report that Tehran had won a victory over the US.

If Iran surrenders, admits their Navy is gone and resting at the bottom of the sea, and their Air Force is no longer with us, and if their entire Military walks out of Tehran, weapons dropped and hands held high, each shouting ‘I surrender, I surrender’ while wildly waving the representative White Flag, and if their entire remaining Leadership signs all necessary ‘Documents of Surrender,’ and admit their defeat to the great power and force of the magnificent USA, The Failing New York Times, The China Street Journal (WSJ!), Corrupt and now Irrelevant CNN, and all other members of the Fake News Media, will headline that Iran had a Masterful and Brilliant Victory over The United States of America, it wasn’t even close. The Dumacrats and Media have totally lost their way. They have gone absolutely CRAZY!!!

Ireland correspondent

Ireland’s president Catherine Connolly has expressed concern for her sister, Margaret, who was reportedly seized by Israeli forces from a Gaza flotilla.

Organisers of the Global Sumud Flotilla said on Monday that Margaret was on one of dozens of vessels intercepted around 70 miles off Cyprus, and that it had lost contact with those aboard.

In a prerecorded video that was released later on Monday Connolly, a medical doctor from Galway, said:

If you are watching this video, it means I have been kidnapped from my boat in the flotilla by the Israeli occupying forces, and I’m now being held illegally in an Israeli prison.

The Irish president said she was proud of her sister but worried. “It seems like this happened in international waters,” she told TG4, an Irish language station. “It’s quite upsetting, and I’m very worried about her, and I’m also very concerned about her colleagues on board.”

The president was speaking in London after meeting King Charles, who accepted an invitation to visit Ireland next year.

• The US has put forward a temporary waiver of sanctions on Iran’s oil to agree to a peace deal and reopen the strait of Hormuz, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency has reported. The offer has yet to be confirmed and would not be in place until a final agreement is reached between the two countries, it said, citing a source close to the negotiations.

• Donald Trump has issued an extreme warning to Iran to quickly agree to a peace deal with the US or face devastation. As Washington struggles to break an impasse on ending the war, the US president said on his Truth Social platform on Sunday: “For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!”

• Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Monday their forces had struck groups linked to the United States and Israel in the western Iranian province of Kurdistan, near the border with Iraq. In a statement carried by the ISNA news agency, the Guards said groups from “northern Iraq and acting on behalf of the US and the Zionist regime were attempting to smuggle a large shipment of American weapons and ammunition” into Iran.

• Israeli strikes have killed more than 3,000 people in Lebanon since the start of the war between Hezbollah and Israel on 2 March, the health ministry said on Monday, after an 17 April ceasefire failed to stop the fighting. “The total cumulative toll of the aggression from 2 March to 18 May is now as follows: 3,020 martyrs and 9,273 wounded,” the ministry said, with 211 people aged 18 and under and 116 healthcare workers among the dead.

• Iran’s top security body has announced the formation of a new body to manage the strait of Hormuz, which Tehran has effectively closed to countries it deems hostile to it – and wants to charge ships to traverse. On its official X account, the Supreme national security council shared a post for the Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) saying it would provide “real‑time updates on the Hormuz Strait operations and latest developments”.

• Lebanese president Joseph Aoun said Monday that he would do the “impossible” in order to stop the war with Israel, after a ceasefire and direct talks between the countries failed to end the fighting. “The framework that Lebanon has set for the negotiations consists of an Israeli withdrawal, a ceasefire, the deployment of the army along the border, the return of the displaced, and economic aid,” Aoun said in a statement.

• Gaza’s health ministry said in its latest update that at least six people were killed and 40 others injured in Israeli attacks across the territory over the past day. The health ministry says 877 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since the ceasefire in October 2025.

• Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has posted to his Telegram account saying that he has held a phone conversation with his Saudi Arabian counterpart, Faisal bin Farhan al Saud, in which they discussed the latest “regional developments” and issues “related to the current diplomatic process” (between Tehran and Washington).

• Iraq’s foreign ministry said Monday that the country’s air defence systems had not detected any drones launched from its territory toward Saudi Arabia. Late Sunday, Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted and destroyed three drones that entered from Iraqi airspace, adding that it “reserves the right to respond at the appropriate time and place.”

• Oman’s foreign ministry has condemned the drone strike that caused a fire at the perimeter of UAE’s Barakah nuclear power plant on Sunday. In a statement shared to X, the ministry expressed its solidarity with the UAE but stressed that it rejected all “hostile and escalatory acts” as it urged for dialogue to address regional issues and called for international law to be respected by all parties.

• One of Indian billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani’s companies will pay the US Treasury $275 million to settle a probe into whether it violated US sanctions against Iran, the Treasury said in a statement on Monday. The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said the agreement had been reached with Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL), part of the billionaire’s sprawling conglomerate of companies.

• Ryanair said it has “almost zero concerns” about its jet fuel supplies this summer amid fears over widespread cancellations linked to the Iran war but warned that holidaymakers booking their flights later this year could face higher fares. The budget airline’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, said Europe had now found plenty of alternative sources of jet fuel, but persistent consumer uncertainty had led to lower summer bookings than usual, keeping fares down.

Could undersea cables – the sinews of the global internet – become the next frontier in the US-Israel war against Iran?

Last week, two Iranian state-linked media channels, Tasnim and Fars, suggested Iran could leverage its power over the strait of Hormuz, the 25-mile (40km) stretch between Iran and Oman, by charging US tech companies to use the internet cables that traverse the strait. Tasnim implied this could be a lucrative proposition, netting Iran hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

At least seven cables lie beneath the waters of the strait, many of them vital to the massive AI buildout under way in Gulf countries. But what exactly is Iran proposing, and is it a realistic course of action?