Trump blasts ‘very disappointing’ NATO in fresh attack: Live updates

Writing on Truth Social in the last few minutes, Donald Trump said: ‘None of these people, including our own, very disappointing, NATO, understood anything unless they have pressure placed upon them!!!’

He has long scrutinised NATO and its relationship with the US, which has only soured since the outbreak of war in late February.

Iran’s president has claimed Israel’s incursion into Lebanon is a ‘blatant violation’ of the ceasefire.

In a post on X, Masoud Pezeshkian also claimed Iran will ‘never abandon’ Lebanon and their ‘fingers remain on the trigger’.

He wrote: ‘Israel’s renewed incursion into Lebanon is a blatant violation of the initial ceasefire agreement.

‘This is a dangerous sign of deception and lack of commitment to potential agreements. The continuation of these actions will render negotiations meaningless.

‘Our fingers remain on the trigger. Iran will never abandon its Lebanese sisters and brothers.’

Iran’s deputy foreign minister has confirmed that an Iranian delegation will travel to Pakistan for talks with the US.

But Saeed Khatibzadeh warned that a ceasefire must include Lebanon, adding: ‘The coming hours are very critical.’

The IMF’s managing director has today said the conflict in the Middle East has led to a sharp reversal in its outlook on the world’s economy.’

In prepared remarks, Kristalina Georgieva said: ‘Had it not been for this shock, we would have been upgrading global growth. But now, even our most hopeful scenario involves a growth downgrade.

‘Why? Because of infrastructure damage, supply disruptions, losses of confidence, and other scarring effects.’

She warned that even in the best case, ‘there will be no neat and clean return’ to the status quo.’

Georgieva said: ‘We don’t truly know what the future holds for transits through the Strait of Hormuz… What we do know is that growth will be slower – even if the new peace is durable.’

Lebanon’s social affairs minister told the BBC that her nation needs a ‘seat at the table’ to be able to negotiate a ceasefire.

Haneen Sayed said her government considers Lebanon to have been ‘included in terms of the ceasefire’ between Iran and the US.

She added that a formal complaint will be sent to the UN’s Security Council about Israel’s ‘grave violations’ of the ceasefire.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned Israel’s ‘ongoing aggression against Lebanon’ today, ahead of expected US-Iran talks in Islamabad.

‘The prime minister said that Pakistan was engaged in sincere efforts for regional peace and it was in this spirit that the peace talks between Iran and the US were being convened,’ Sharif’s office said in a statement.

Pakistan’s prime minister today said the nation ‘appreciated the restraint demonstrated by all sides’, ahead of this weekend’s talks in its capital city.

‘The two leaders expressed satisfaction over the de-escalation achieved so far and stressed upon the need for maintaining peace and ceasefire by all parties,’ the office of prime minister Shehbaz Sharif said.

The head of Russia’s state-owned nuclear giant Rosatom said he has not cancelled plans to evacuate more staff from Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant, despite the ceasefire.

Alexei Likhachev, Rosatom’s CEO, told reporters: ‘We are not cancelling the evacuation yet… it is not yet time to return our comrades there.

‘The situation remains unchanged. Of course, things have eased a bit since the ceasefire was announced. We don’t understand how this ceasefire will end, for obvious reasons.’

Al Jazeera reported that of the 639 Rosatom staff originally staffed there, 611 have been evacuated via Armenia.

Around 50 currently remain at the power plant, which Israel and the US have hit four times since the start of the war.

Turkey’s energy minister Alparslan Bayraktar told Al Jazeera that the shortage of fuel around the world is the ‘mother of all crises.’

Bayraktar said: ‘The world is now beginning to feel the economic impact of the crisis. While there doesn’t seem to be a supply problem in the West at the moment, rising prices have affected everyone.’

Hezbollah says its fighters are engaging in point-blank clashes with Israeli forces in the south Lebanon town of Bint Jbeil, famous for a fierce battle between the two sides in 2006.

Bint Jbeil, three miles from the border, holds symbolic significance for Hezbollah.

It is where its slain chief Hassan Nasrallah delivered a landmark speech in 2000 marking the Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon after two decades of occupation. The group’s fighters also successfully fended off Israeli forces there during the 2006 war.