The United States and Iran remain poles apart on key issues but there have been developments in diplomatic conversations between heads of government.
The key things you need to know:
• White House meetings: President Donald Trump on Tuesday hosted two closed-door meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described both meetings as “positive and productive,” while Netanyahu hailed “one of the best conversations” he and Trump have had, citing close coordination on Iran and other security issues. All the leaders later attended the funeral of Sen. Lindsey Graham at the National Cathedral.
• Ukraine-Iran tensions: Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said he stressed the need to avoid “unnecessary escalation” in a “frank” call with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi. Iranian officials have ramped up threats toward Kyiv after a recent attack by Ukraine on what Tehran said was an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea.
• Iran’s energy consumption: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the US has been preventing Israel from striking Iranian energy infrastructure due to economic and energy concerns. Meanwhile, Iranian officials are urging the public to reduce their energy use and warning of possible power outages as Iran has lost around 230 million cubic meters per day of natural gas production capacity since the start of the war, Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.
• Weapons production: Iran’s defense industry is expanding production and prioritizing air- and sea-based capabilities, a senior Iranian defense official claimed on Tuesday. That’s in contrast to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s statement in March that Iran’s defense industrial base was nearing “complete destruction” and that its ballistic missile production capacity had been “functionally defeated.” CNN reported in May that Iran was rebuilding its damaged military industrial base faster than expected.
• Strait of Hormuz: Iran’s military warned that any ships belonging to a country or company using frozen Iranian assets will be blocked from transiting the strategic waterway, according to the state-run broadcaster. The warning came after Trump said last week that any damage to ships or cargo “will be paid for by Iranian money that the US has in its possession, and controls.”
CNN’s Aida Karimi, Victoria Butenko, Billy Stockwell, Aileen Graef, Tal Shalev, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Mustafa Qadri, Svitlana Vlasova and Dana Karni contributed to this report.
