Iran’s foreign minister calls actions of French diplomats ‘unacceptable’ Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Tuesday in a call to his French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot that the conduct of two French diplomats in Tehran was “unconventional”, “unprofessional” and “unacceptable”. This comes after Barrot warned of “consequences” for Iranian security services detaining two of their diplomats on Monday.
US announces trade deal with Jordan The US announced on Tuesday that they will be entering a trade deal with Jordan which would remove barriers for US exporters and provide new access for critical US industries. According to a statement from the White House, Jordan will remove non-tariff trade barriers and expand market access for US goods, including agricultural products and motor vehicles, as part of the deal. This comes amid renewed Iranian strikes on Jordan, which killed two US military personnel on Friday.
Trump: Iran ‘desperate to meet’ for talks Speaking to reporters in the White House on Tuesday, Trump claimed that the Iranians “want to meet desperately to try and end [the war] because they’re getting decimated”, adding that “until they’re ready to meet in a meaningful way, we have no interest”. He said that the US military is “degrading” Iran’s military capabilities “at levels that nobody thought was possible”, but admitted that Iran “did slip something through in Jordan” after an Iranian strike on the country killed two US service members. Trump also claimed that if the US strikes hadn’t knocked out Iran’s nuclear sites last year, Iran “would have a nuclear weapon, and you wouldn’t have Israel”.
Ed Miliband, the new UK foreign secretary, on Israel, Iraq, Syria and Iran Submitted by Rayhan Uddin on Tue, 07/21/2026 - 14:55 Middle East Eye breaks down former Labour leader's views on key foreign policy issues Britain's Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband leaves 10 Downing Street in London on 20 July 2026 (AFP/Henry Nicholls) Off Having initially been tipped for the role of chancellor, former Labour leader Ed Miliband has been appointed foreign secretary by Andy Burnham, the UK 's new prime minister. Accepting the role, Miliband said that it was an “honour and privilege” to take up the position. “My parents came to Britain as Jewish refugees from the Nazis,” he said.
Aoun seeks Trump backing for Israel pullback as south Lebanon ‘pilot zones’ begin Submitted by Adam Chamseddine on Tue, 07/21/2026 - 13:34 Beirut touts the Lebanese president’s Washington trip as proof direct talks work, but critics fear the agreement with Israel could draw the army into confrontation with Hezbollah A Lebanese army vehicle drives past first responders near the entrance to the southern village of Zawtar al-Gharbiya as troops deploy to the village on 21 July 2026 (Fadel Itani/AFP) Off Lebanese President Joseph Aoun is in Washington for a high-stakes meeting with US President Donald Trump, as the first “pilot zone” operations under a US-brokered framework agreement with Israel began in southern Lebanon . The visit, which includes meetings with senior US officials, Lebanese diaspora figures and Washington-based think tanks, is being viewed in Beirut as one of the most consequential foreign trips of Aoun’s presidency. It is the first visit by a Lebanese head of state to the White House in nearly two decades, and follows the highest-level Lebanese meetings with a US president since former Prime Minister Saad Hariri met Barack Obama in 2011.
Pakistan PM urges all sides to ‘exercise restraint’ during talks with Iranian minister Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held a meeting on Tuesday with Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni in which he called for restraint from all warring sides amid escalating regional tensions in the US war on Iran. In a statement to X, Sharif’s office said that the prime minister “urged all sides to exercise restraint and refrain from actions that could further destabilise the region,” as well as adding that Pakistan would continue to act as mediator between the US and Iran. ISLAMABAD: 21 July 2026.
Iran's president says communication with the supreme leader is increasing, state media reports Iran's president Masoud Pezeshkian said in a statement delivered today that his communication with the supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei is increasing day by day, according to state media.
General Ghalibaf's gamble: An IRGC veteran takes on Iran’s hardliners to pursue diplomacy Submitted by MEE correspondent on Tue, 07/21/2026 - 09:35 Mohammad Ghalibaf has undergone a striking evolution, the infamous 'jihadist manager' now championing talks with the US despite his own conservative camp’s opposition Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, dressed in an IRGC uniform, chairs a session in Tehran on 1 February 2026 (Islamic Consultative Assembly News Agency/AFP/HO) Off Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran 's parliament speaker and chief negotiator in talks with the United States , is facing perhaps the greatest political test of his career. A lifelong conservative and former Revolutionary Guard commander, he is trying to steer the Islamic Republic out of its confrontation with Washington through diplomacy, while fending off fierce attacks from hardliners who accuse him of abandoning Iran's strategic leverage. A senior political source who spoke to Middle East Eye on condition of anonymity described Ghalibaf as a conservative pragmatist who favours repairing relations with the West while preserving Iran's strategic partnership with China .
Exclusive: President of ICC oversight body confirms no finding of retaliation by Khan Submitted by Sondos Asem on Mon, 07/20/2026 - 14:01 In a letter to court member states, Paivi Kaukoranta reiterates ASP bureau has not upheld allegations of misconduct against prosecutor raised by staff in his own office ASP President Paivi Kaukoranta at a Hague meeting in December 2025 (ICC/Flickr) Off The president of the International Criminal Court’s oversight body, the Assembly of States Parties, wrote to member states last week to confirm that no retaliation allegations made against Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan have been established by members of the executive bureau. Paivi Kaukoranta confirmed in a letter dated 17 July that the 21-member bureau had failed to reach the required majority to confirm any finding of misconduct in relation to retaliation allegations brought by two members of Khan’s office staff during the UN-led investigation. Kaukoranta, a Finnish diplomat, made a decision to outsource the misconduct probe into Khan to the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) in November 2024.
'You can neither threaten us, nor bribe us', Iran's Araghchi tells US, Israel Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said during an interview that was released on Sunday that he resisted attempts by the United States and Israel to bribe his country. “In the negotiations before the 12-day war, they had come to bribe, not to bribe me, to bribe the Islamic Republic, saying we will do this and that, we will build this and that. I told them there that our enrichment is not for sale … I said there: no bribes and no threats.
Iran's Araghchi congratulates Khalil al-Hayya as new head of Hamas' political bureau The Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi in a message to the newly appointed head of Hamas' political bureau, Khalil al-Hayyah, congratulated him on his position. "I sincerely congratulate you on your election as the new head of the Political Bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement - Hamas," Araghchi told Hayya according to state news agency IRNA. The Iranian foreign minister also "honoured the memory" of previous leaders within the Palestinian movement, emphasising Iran's continued support for the "legitimate struggles of the Palestinian people to be freed from the occupation, apartheid, and colonialism of the genocidal Zionist regime".
Watch: Hamas elects Khalil al-Hayya as head of its political bureau Hamas has elected Khalil al-Hayya as the new head of its political bureau, placing one of the movement’s most experienced negotiators at the centre of its leadership as Gaza continues to face what the group describes as Israel’s genocide. Middle East Eye takes a look at this development: Hamas has elected Khalil al-Hayya as the new head of its political bureau, placing one of the movement’s most experienced negotiators at the centre of its leadership as Gaza continues to face what the group describes as Israel’s genocide. pic.
Wes Streeting appointed to UK defence minister New British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has appointed former health secretary Wes Streeting to be the UK's defence minister. Wes Streeting enabled the US tech firm with links to Israel's genocide in Palestine, Palantir, to have access to NHS patient data and refused to disclose details of the contracts. Former foreign secretary Yvette Cooper, who defended the government decision to proscribe direct action group Palestine Action, will replace Streeting as health secretary.
Lebanese president to meet Trump as 'pilot zones' experiment begins Lebanese President Joseph Aoun is about to break a nearly two-decade streak in which no Lebanese head of state has been inside the White House. The former head of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) is set to meet US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, nearly a month after a trilateral framework was signed by the US, Israel, and Lebanon towards ending a war that has cost more than 4,000 Lebanese lives. The framework's first phase went into effect Monday, with the Trump administration announcing that "pilot zone operations began in the villages of Froun, Srifa, and Zawtar Al-Gharbiya...
Lebanese president to meet Trump as 'pilot zones' experiment begins Submitted by Yasmine El-Sabawi on Mon, 07/20/2026 - 20:17 The move is the first practical test for the US-negotiated military coordination group for Lebanon Lebanese President Joseph Aoun meets US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the US State Department in Washington, DC, on 19 July 2026 (Lebanese president's office handout) Off Lebanese President Joseph Aoun is about to break a nearly two-decade streak in which no Lebanese head of state has been inside the White House. The former head of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) is set to meet US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, nearly a month after a trilateral framework was signed by the US, Israel, and Lebanon towards ending a war that has cost more than 4,000 Lebanese lives. The framework's first phase went into effect Monday, with the Trump administration announcing that "pilot zone operations began in the villages of Froun, Srifa, and Zawtar Al-Gharbiya...
Opinion: Arab recognition of Israel rewards its relentless land theft One of the most intimidating aspects of modern US relations with the Arab and Muslim world is Washington's insistence that all Arab and Muslim-majority countries normalise relations with the state of Israel as a reward for its ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people. These demands have intensified since the US and Israel launched their war of aggression against Iran in February. Washington's long-standing push for Saudi normalisation continues unabated, as does its pressure on Qatar , Iraq , Libya , Tunisia , Syria , and Indonesia, among others, to follow suit.
Arab recognition of Israel rewards its relentless land theft Submitted by Joseph Massad on Mon, 07/20/2026 - 16:13 Successive normalisation agreements have accepted Israel's changing territorial claims, allowing each new conquest and annexation to become the basis for the next Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter, State Department Chief of Staff Daniel Holler and Lebanese Ambassador Nada Hamadeh sign a framework agreement in Washington, DC, 26 June 2026 (Saul Loeb/AFP) Off One of the most intimidating aspects of modern US relations with the Arab and Muslim world is Washington's insistence that all Arab and Muslim-majority countries normalise relations with the state of Israel as a reward for its ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people. These demands have intensified since the US and Israel launched their war of aggression against Iran in February. Washington's long-standing push for Saudi normalisation continues unabated, as does its pressure on Qatar , Iraq , Libya , Tunisia , Syria , and Indonesia, among others, to follow suit.
US greenlights Saudi nuclear enrichment without safeguards: Report Submitted by MEE staff on Mon, 07/20/2026 - 17:36 Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman previously said he would acquire a bomb if Iran did Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and US President Donald Trump prepare to depart the US-Saudi Investment Forum at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, on 19 November 2025 (Brendan Smialowski/AFP) Off The Trump administration has greenlit Saudi Arabia's nuclear enrichment project, but with no safeguards in place to prevent the development of a bomb, CNN reported on Friday. The draft deal, viewed by the news outlet, showed Washington's support for Riyadh’s civilian nuclear programme is still awaiting President Donald Trump’s signature, despite US-Saudi negotiations concluding in October. Unnamed officials cited in the story indicated that the documents, which include the mandatory "123 agreement" and safeguards protocols, have not yet been sent to Congress, potentially for fear of bipartisan pushback.
Ed Miliband appointed as UK foreign minister, Shabana Mahmood as interior minister New British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has appointed Ed Miliband, former leader of the Labour Party and energy secretary under Keir Starmer, as foreign minister, according to Burnham’s office on Monday. He has also appointed former Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who was behind the ban on direct action group Palestine Action and harsher immigration reform policies, to be the UK's interior minister.
Burnham appoints former Defence Secretary John Healey as UK finance minister Britain’s new prime minister, Andy Burnham, has appointed John Healey to replace Rachel Reeves as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Downing Street announced on Monday. Healey served as defence secretary under Burnham’s predecessor, Keir Starmer, and resigned in June over a military spending row, saying that the prime minister was unable to commit to a high enough defence budget.
