A drone strike hit the UAE Consulate in Erbil, injuring two security personnel and damaging the building.

It is the second drone-related incident targeting the consulate within a week.

The UAE called it a “cowardly terrorist drone attack.”

Iranian newspaper Farhikhtegan reports that Ali Shamkhani, former secretary of Iran’s National Security Council, was buried at Imamzadeh Saleh shrine, and witnesses said his body was without a head.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi:

Last night, they have attacked Kharg Island and Abu Musa Island with the artillery rocket system, HIMARS as they call it, which is a low-range rocket system.

And they have done it from the soil of our neighbors. This is crystal clear that they are using the territory of our neighbors to attack us by this kind of rockets, and this is absolutely unacceptable.

These attacks were tracked by our forces, and now it is clear that they are fired from the UAE — from two locations in the UAE — from Ras Al Khaimah and from a location very close to the city of Dubai.

And it is very dangerous that they use highly populated areas to launch rockets against us.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi:

The Strait of Hormuz is open.

It is only closed to the tankers and ships belonging to our enemies, to those who are attacking us and their allies.

Others are free to pass.

Of course, many of them prefer not to because of their security concerns. This has nothing to do with us.

There are many tankers and ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, and I can say that the Strait is not closed, but it is only closed to American and Israeli ships and tankers, not to others.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says 826 people have been killed and 2,009 wounded during 12 days of Israeli attacks.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi:

They will see soon that there is no problem with the new Supreme Leader. He sent his message yesterday and he will perform his duties.

He is performing his duties according to the constitution and he will continue to do that.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi:

I think by now it should have been clear and known for everybody that our system is very well rooted in the society.

The Islamic Republic is a system which is not dependent on any individual or any group of people. It is well established.

It's a very well-established political structure and the state is doing its functions. Everything is in place.

They shouldn't have any hope that something happening to individuals will affect the system. It worked properly after the assassination and martyrdom of our Supreme Leader.

You saw that nothing happened and everything remained in order, and still it is under control.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi:

Russia and China are our strategic partners. And we have had close cooperation in the past, which is still continuous. And that includes military cooperation as well.

I'm not going into any details of that. We have good cooperation with these two countries politically, economically, even militarily.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi:

How is it possible that the Security Council condemns us for defending ourselves and is not condemning the United States and Israel who started this aggression?

If they want to have a just decision or resolution which can work, they should consider all aspects of any event. We are under attack.

It was the United States and Israel who started this war. They deserve to be condemned, not us.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi:

What we are doing is only the principle of an eye for an eye, which is very well known.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi:

I never said that we are going to make bombs.

I said that we have 440 kilos of 60 percent enriched material, and that was not a secret. That is what is mentioned in the reports of the IAEA.

If enriched more, it could be enough for 10 bombs according to your own experts’ claims. So we are ready to give them up, to dilute them, to downblend them into lower degrees.

By saying that, I wanted to say that the concession that we were making was really big.

But how they have interpreted that, I don’t know. Maybe because of lack of knowledge, maybe because of their intentions to justify, as I said, the act of aggression which cannot be justified.

Greece is launching a pilot voluntary military service program for women aged 20–26, aiming to recruit 200 volunteers for 12 months of service starting this summer.

BIG: Trump has rejected efforts by Middle Eastern allies to start Iran ceasefire talks.

A White House official said:

“He’s not interested in that right now… we’re going to continue with the mission unabated.”

Iran also refuses talks until U.S. and Israeli strikes stop.

Mediation attempts by Oman and Egypt have stalled.

Source: Reuters

France proposed a plan to end the Israel-Lebanon War that would require Lebanon to recognize Israel for the first time.

In return, Israel would withdraw from southern Lebanon and negotiations would begin on a non-aggression agreement to end the state of war between the countries.

The plan also calls for disarming Hezbollah, redeploying the Lebanese Army south of the Litani River, and international monitoring.

Israel and the U.S. are reviewing the proposal, and Lebanon has accepted it as a basis for talks, but success likely depends on strong U.S. mediation.

Source: Axios

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi:

Touted US security umbrella has proven to be full of holes and inviting rather than deterring trouble.

US is now begging others, even China, to help it make Hormuz safe.

Iran calls on brotherly neighbors to expel foreign aggressors, especially as their only concern is Israel.

Trump:

Countries that receive oil through the Strait of Hormuz must take care of that passage, and the U.S. will help — a lot.

This should have always been a team effort.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to AP:

Our primary objective is to stay out of this war.

I know that we are being provoked and we will be provoked, but we want to stay out of this war.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to AP on Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei:

What we know is that he is alive and functioning.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to AP:

As long as Netanyahu is there, Israel will always identify somebody as an enemy. Because they need it to advance their own agenda.

If not Türkiye, they would name some other country in the region.

They are after not security, they are after more land.

So as long as they don’t give up this idea, there will always be a war in the Middle East.