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Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa met with senior Israeli security officials in the United Arab Emirates in April to lay the groundwork for the current talks over peace and normalization, a Syrian source with knowledge of the matter told i24NEWS.

The April 13 meeting in Abu Dhabi was attended by senior officials from the Israeli Mossad, the National Security Council, and IDF intelligence, through the mediation of the Emiratis.

This meeting established a new phase in relations between Israel and Syria and opened the door to further direct contacts between Jerusalem and Damascus.

(photo: AFP)

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said it will take time and assurances from the US before Tehran is ready to re-engage in talks on its nuclear program, and insisted that Iran will soon be ready to start enriching uranium again and “make up for lost time.”

“I don’t think negotiations will restart as quickly as that,” Araghchi on Monday told CBS News, though he added that diplomacy was not off the table.

“In order for us to decide to reengage, we will have to first ensure that America will not revert back to targeting us in a military attack during the negotiations,” Araghchi added. “And I think with all these considerations, we still need more time.”

US President Donald Trump said he will discuss the situations in Gaza and Iran when he meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Washington next Monday, and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer will arrive in Washington on Monday, a source told The Jerusalem Post.

The cabinet held a discussion and will wait to hear about Dermer's meetings in Washington before considering additional significant steps in Gaza.

On Sunday, US President Donald Trump called for a deal to be made in Gaza and to "get the hostages back!!!" in a post to Truth Social.

U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Monday removing longstanding sanctions on the Syrian government while maintaining sanctions on the regime of deposed Syrian President Bashar Assad and other destabilizing actors.

The executive order ends the national emergency that the U.S. government declared in 2004 under Executive Order 13338 and revokes the five orders that constitute the basis of that program, according to a senior Trump administration official, who spoke to reporters on background.

The executive order also directs “certain actions with respect to waivers of applicable statutory-based sanctions, export controls and other restrictions,” the official said.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday he was not speaking to Iran and was not offering the country "anything," and he reiterated his assertion that the United States had "totally OBLITERATED" Tehran's nuclear facilities.

Former president Barack Obama "paid [Iran] $Billions under the stupid “road to a Nuclear Weapon JCPOA (which would now be expired!)" Trump's Truth Social post continued.

Trump on Friday dismissed media reports that said his administration had discussed possibly helping Iran access as much as $30 billion to build a civilian-energy-producing nuclear program.

Iran's top Shiite cleric issued a religious decree against President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday, an act some experts called an incitement to terrorism.

The fatwa from Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi called on Muslims around the world to take a stand, according to the New York Sun. It states that any individual or government that challenges or endangers the leadership and unity of the global Islamic community (the Ummah) is to be regarded as a "warlord" or a "mohareb," defined as someone who wages war against God. Under Iranian law, those identified as mohareb can face execution, crucifixion, limb amputation, or exile.

"Those who threaten the leadership and integrity of the Islamic Ummah are to be considered warlords," Makarem said in the ruling. He finished with a prayer asking for protection from these "enemies" and for the swift return of the Mahdi...

Any ceasefire or post-war arrangement regarding Gaza must meet specific criteria outlined by the Cabinet, Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said on Sunday.

“Three essential goals must be achieved,” Karhi told JNS. “First, the return of all hostages; second, the elimination of Hamas’s governing and military capabilities; and third, ensuring that the Gaza Strip no longer poses a threat to the State of Israel.”

He added that, beyond these objectives, U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to resettle Gazans who so wish in other countries is “a significant and worthwhile initiative that should also be pursued.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in the process of negotiating a deal with Hamas to get the rest of the hostages back, US President Donald Trump said on Saturday.

Hamas has said it is willing to free remaining hostages in Gaza under any deal to end the war, while Israel says it can only end if Hamas is disarmed and dismantled. Hamas refuses to lay down its arms.

Trump also criticized Israel's prosecutors over an ongoing corruption trial against Netanyahu, saying it was interfering with his ability to conduct talks with both Hamas and Iran.

US President Donald Trump on Friday said he thinks a ceasefire will be reached in the Gaza Strip “within the next week.”

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he just spoke with some of the individuals involved in trying to secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal, without further elaborating.

“I think [a deal] is close,” he said. “We think within the next week we’re going to get a ceasefire.”

President Donald Trump issued blistering remarks in response to Iran’s Supreme Leader claiming victory over Israel and, by extension, the U.S. In a loaded public message, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had also threatened to attack more U.S. Military bases, further splintering the Middle Eastern country’s relationship with the U.S.

“Look, you’re a man of great faith. A man who’s highly respected in his country. You have to tell the truth. You got beat to hell,” Trump said as he addressed the Iranian Supreme Leader during a White House press conference on Friday. Trump issued an even stronger response on his social media platform, Truth Social, later in the day, and doubled down on his stance once more when he reposted his message early Saturday morning.

Israel’s victory over the Islamic Republic of Iran opened opportunities for a “dramatic expansion” of Jerusalem’s regional peace agreements, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Thursday night.

Israel’s military “fought with strength against Iran and achieved a great victory,” Netanyahu said in remarks posted to X. “That victory opens an opportunity for a dramatic expansion of the peace agreements.”

The Israeli government, headed by Netanyahu, is “working vigorously” on expanding the circle of peace, according to the leader of the Jewish state.

The Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on Friday flatly denied claims published in Israel Hayom that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a high-level conversation with President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer about establishing a Palestinian state.

The PMO stated: “The conversation described in the article in [Israel Hayom on Thursday] did not take place. Israel was not presented with the political proposal supposedly described in the article, and it obviously did not agree to it.”

The Israel Hayom report, citing anonymous sources, claimed that the four leaders spoke by phone shortly after the American airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities on June 22, codenamed “Operation Midnight Hammer.”

US President Donald Trump is reportedly pushing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to conclude the 20-month-old war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip following the success of the 12-day war against Iran, several Hebrew media outlets reported Thursday, amid calls in Israel for the same.

Meanwhile, the Israel Hayom newspaper reported that as part of the American president’s plan to end the war, new countries would join the Abraham Accords, and Israel would be required to commit to supporting a future Palestinian state.

Citing an unnamed source familiar with the conversation, the newspaper reported that during the phone call, the two leaders agreed to wrap up the war in Gaza within two weeks, requiring Israel to halt its military offensive and Hamas to release the remaining 50 hostages.

The Palestinian terror group’s leadership would then be exiled, and four Arab states, including the UAE and Egypt, would be tasked with jointly governing the war-torn enclave in its place, the report said. It did not identify the other two Arab states that would supposedly govern the territory.

A four-way telephone conversation between United States President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer occurred directly after the American assault on Iran's nuclear installations.

[Side note: Netanyahu's office has denied some of the information in the article.]

"Exploratory talks and initial discussions" have taken place between the Prime Minister's Office and the White House to arrange a meeting between Benjamin Netanyahu and President Trump, two sources familiar with the matter told The Jerusalem Post.

They added that no official meeting had been set yet.

"There is no doubt that both sides have a shared interest in holding a 'victory party' after the war with Iran," a senior Israeli official told Walla.

Iranians are experiencing internal turmoil as authorities intensify a domestic security crackdown following the 12-day war in which three major nuclear sites were effectively destroyed. There have been reports of mass arrests and executions in the country.

Authorities in Iran began the crackdown following Israel’s June 13 airstrikes. It started with widespread arrests and an intensified street presence, according to Reuters, which cited activists and officials.

The harsh measures have dampened hopes—among some in Israel as well as Iranian dissidents—that the country could see an uprising and regime change. However, no significant demonstrations have taken place yet, Reuters reported. The outlet also noted that some on the ground expressed frustration with the Islamic Republic’s policies, which they believe led to the war against the U.S. and Israel.

(photo: AP)

The Iranian Parliament voted on Wednesday to suspend all cooperation with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). 

The bill, passed by a majority of lawmakers, now awaits final approval from Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

The move comes just days after the United States launched airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, entering the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict. 

Tehran has accused the IAEA of failing to protect its nuclear infrastructure...

In a video statement on Tuesday summing up the war against Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel “achieved a historic victory” that would “abide for generations” following the US-brokered ceasefire to end the 12-day conflict.

He said Israel removed “two existential threats — the threat of destruction via nuclear weapons and the threat of destruction via 20,000 ballistic missiles” that Iran was moving to build. Israel would have faced destruction in the near future “if we hadn’t acted now.”

US President Donald Trump acted “in an unprecedented fashion,” the prime minister said, thanking him for “his part in defending Israel, and removing the Iranian nuclear threat.”

The U.S. would strike Iran again if the country attempts to rebuild its nuclear program, President Donald Trump said Wednesday.

Trump made the statement during an exchange with reporters while attending a NATO summit in the Netherlands on Wednesday. The U.S. has touted a report from Israel stating that the strikes on three of Iran's nuclear facilities set back the country's program "many years."

A reporter asked Trump whether he would strike Iran again if it were to rebuild its nuclear facilities.

As he departed Washington for the NATO summit in The Hague on Tuesday, Trump said both countries had violated the cease-fire. This was just hours after Trump had announced that the cease-fire had gone into effect. Trump was enraged that the truce was seemingly crumbling so quickly. “We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fu** they’re doing. Do you understand that?” Trump told reporters.

In a subsequent post on Truth Social, Trump said, “ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!”

14:48 - Netanyahu told Trump Israeli planes were already conducting strikes

According to reports in Hebrew media, during their phone call, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. President Donald Trump that IAF planes were already conducting retaliatory strikes and that it was too late to recall them. 

The report comes just after reports of explosions north of Tehran. 

14:39 - Explosions reported north of Tehran

According to Iran International, Iranian media reported that two explosions were heard in Chamestan, north of Tehran. 

14:20 - Netanyahu and Trump reportedly holding phone call over Iranian ceasefire violation

Ynet news reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently speaking with US President Donald Trump over the Iranian ceasefire violation, following Trump's instruction to return the pilots and not attack Iran. 

Most Israeli government officials reportedly support carrying out a retaliatory strike.