Iran's Armed Forces have launched retaliatory operations against American military targets in the region after fresh American aggression struck several locations in the country's southern Hormozgan Province. | On Wednesday, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) noted how the "warmongering American regime" had attacked several locations in Jask, Sirik, and Qeshm in the province earlier in the day under the "false pretext" of an American helicopter's crash.According to the IRGC, the American strikes had damaged a telecommunications tower in Sirik and destroyed two water reservoirs in the Bemani district of the county. US Fifth Fleet, al-Azraq base hit in reprisal | The Corps said its Navy responded to the attacks by carrying out a retaliatory drone strike against the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. The force later announced that it had also launched a missile strike against Washington's al-Azraq base in Jordan. According to another IRGC statement, four major targets, including F-35 warplane shelters and the command-and-control center of the "child-killing American army" at al-Azraq, were struck and destroyed.

■ Iran MP blasts US for quick blame on copter crash, silence on school massacre (Press TV)
■ US bombs Iran’s water facilities: Why that’s so significant (Al Jazeera)
■ IRGC downs MQ-9 near Strait of Hormuz as Iran responds to US aggression (Press TV)
■ MQ-9 Drone Intercepted and Destroyed Over Bushehr Province (WANA)
■ Iran launches retaliatory missile strikes on US targets (VIDEO) (RT)
■ US Completes Strikes on Iran; Iran Retaliates With Attacks on Bahrain, Jordan Bases (Sputnik)
■ US carries out strikes in Iran over helicopter incident (RT)

Finnish lawmakers have criticized officials for withholding key details about a UAV alert that affected 1.8 million people last month | Ukraine launched explosive-laden drones towards Finland, triggering an alert that affected 1.8 million people, Helsingin Sanomat reported on Monday, citing sources familiar with the matter. ● The incident took place on May 15 and set off a major security alert in the southern Finnish region of Uusimaa, which includes the country’s capital, Helsinki. The warning halted air traffic at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport and triggered a lockdown order by the authorities. ● Finnish officials did not initially disclose details of the alert, stating only that the drones could be approaching from Russia, creating the impression that the threat was linked to Moscow.

■ Kaliningrad’s Khrabrovo Airport closed in first drone-danger alert for the exclave (AeroTime)(May 27, 2026)
■ Baltics on alert over Ukrainian drones and Russian electronic warfare (El País) (MAY 21, 2026)
■ Ukraine war crosses borders and brings Nato-Russia conflict closer (05/22/26)
■ Ukraine preparing strikes on Russia from NATO country – Moscow (05/19/26)
■ Latvia and Estonia "Leased" Their Air Space to Ukraine for Russia Attacks! (05/11/26)
■ Russian security chief issues warning to four NATO states (04/16/26)
■ This is what we now know about the drones that fell in Finland (04/12/26)
■ Latvian President Calls for 'Drone Wall' on NATO's Border with Russia (Novinite)(May 30, 2024)

🔺 NATO should ‘direct’ Ukrainian drones against Russia – Swedish PM (RT) | Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has said NATO states should help Kiev “direct” its drone attacks “in the right directions,” blaming a string of Ukrainian UAV incursions into the airspace of the US-led bloc on Moscow. [...] Ukraine “must be more precise” with its drones, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Thursday, echoing similar warnings from Estonia and Finland. Asked about the comment at a joint press briefing with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, the Swedish prime minister accused Russia of trying to “give the impression that other countries are kind of doing things that are not legitimate.” [...] Rutte also sought to place responsibility for the incidents on Moscow while answering a loaded question involving the claim that Russia jammed or redirected the UAVs.

The purpose of a system is what it does...

blueapples | The proposed Sazan Island Resort highlights how Affinity Partners uses private investment to push the Trump administration's foreign policy. | Transforming the Gaza Strip into oceanside luxury properties built atop a mass grave isn’t the only real estate development project proposed by Jared Kushner that has embroiled him in controversy. Across the Mediterranean Sea, Albanian authorities have opened an anti-corruption investigation into a company led by Kushner that hopes to transform an island off of the country’s coast into a luxury resort. While Kushner contends that his vision for the island is rooted in transforming it into a paradisaical resort, that picturesque image hides how the project serves as a vehicle for him to advance his ulterior political motives. The probe into his latest development project is the second major anti-corruption investigation in as many years that has exposed a strategy executed by Kushner to use the massive amount of private investment capital at his disposal to advance the interests of the State of Israel and expand the Zionist World Order he continues to fight in the vanguard of.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, the fanatic Israeli minister for security affairs, says the Lebanese women and youth must be kidnapped as a means of exerting pressure on the resistance movement Hezbollah. | He made his proposal during a security cabinet meeting on Tuesday, urging officials to adopt more aggressive measures against the Lebanese group as discussions focused on expanding Israel's military invasion in Lebanon.

On Monday, the US military said it had disabled the Marivex oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman after the vessel “violated the ongoing blockade against Iran by attempting to sail to an Iranian port.” [sic] | India’s Shipping Ministry confirmed the incident and acknowledged the 24 crew on board were its citizens. The Indian Embassy in Oman said all crew members have been rescued. The Palau-flagged vessel, which was heading to Oman’s Duqm from Karwar in India, was not carrying any cargo, NDTV reported. The report said the All India Seafarers Union had received a distress call from a Marivex crew member.

Iran has launched multiple waves of missiles towards Israel in response to Israeli attacks, as fears of a return to a full-fledged war across the region rise.

🔴 Follow our LIVE coverage: https://t.co/tn0Aji6E4B pic.twitter.com/9T78DRARzA

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) June 8, 2026

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is poised to stay in office, potentially causing a breakup with key partner Russia | The Civil Contract party of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan won 49.81% of the vote in Sunday’s parliamentary election, according to the Central Election Commission’s (CEC) complete count. Pashinyan claimed victory while the counting was still underway, when his party’s advantage was even wider, saying his party would be able to form a new government without having to form a coalition.

✅ Armenia risking it all over EU fairytale – Russian expert (Farhad Ibragimov)

Iran has claimed responsibility for a missile strike targeting one of Israel's key military aviation facilities amid rapidly escalating regional tensions. According to a statement carried by Iran's Tasnim News Agency, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said ballistic missiles were launched at Ramat David Air Base in northern Israel, located near Haifa. The IRGC described the facility as a source of military operations against southern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs and said the strike was part of its latest retaliatory wave. Videos circulating online appear to show large explosions near the area, though the extent of any damage has not been independently verified.

■ Iran will deliver 'decisive, painful response' to Israeli strike on Beirut: MP (Press TV)
■ Iran pounds occupied territories with missiles, warns of 'more crushing blows' if Lebanon attacks persist (Press TV)
✅ Iran Keeps Striking Tel Aviv! Mossad HQ Destroyed, Israel Declares Emergency (Scott Ritter)(VIDEO)

The vote comes amid pressure on the opposition as Yerevan drifts toward the EU and away from Moscow | Polls have closed across Armenia in parliamentary elections that could determine the future course of the South Caucasus nation. ● More than 2.4 million people were eligible to vote on Sunday as 18 political groups – including 16 parties and two alliances – battled for seats in parliament. The voters have shown active interest in the polls, with the voter turnout reaching nearly 49% three hours before the stations’ closure compared to slightly over 38% during the previous elections back in 2021, according to official figures. ● Parties must secure at least 4% of the vote to enter parliament, while alliances of two or three parties face an 8% threshold and larger coalitions 10%. A minimum voter turnout is not required for the election to be valid. Polling stations are only open in Armenia, as the country’s electoral laws do not provide for overseas voting in parliamentary elections. ● The measure excludes the diaspora, which by far outnumbers the country’s population. Between five to seven million Armenians live abroad, mainly in Russia, the US, and France. Armenia’s domestic population is roughly three million.

■ Armenia arrests six opposition candidates on the eve of key elections (RT)
■ The EU just bought Armenia for €50 million. Lock Stock & Barrel (06/05/26)
■ Armenian ambassador summoned to Moscow for consultations (05/30/26)(in Russian)
✅ Pashinyan...again (Marina Akhmedova)
✅ Armenia against the entire EAEU – now official (Elena Panina)

■ Killing Palestinians is ‘pleasure’: Shocking testimonies from Israeli soldiers in Gaza (Anadolu Ajansi)

Moon of Alabama | The colonial expansion of Israel is openly subsidized by the U.S. with currently $3.5 billion per year. Most of that money is bound to Israel’s purchase of U.S. made weapons. The stipend is controlled by Congress and must pass the yearly budget review. | The Israeli government is trying to change the stipend into a more lucrative racket. It has suggested to replace the yearly subsidy by a ‘deeper military cooperation’ which is code for the guaranteed U.S. purchases of Israeli made weapons and continuous profits for Israel’s weapon manufacturers. To institute the new scheme Congress will pass a law that will integrate Israel’s military-industrial complex into U.S. procurement and production lines. [...] In future the Pentagon will have to spend, by law, a part of its budget on purchases from Israel. Given the $1.5 trillion war budget proposed by Trump the profits from such an alliance for Israel will be a multiple of its current stipend. Congress is currently in the process of passing the proposal.

📌 Congress quietly moves to integrate US and Israeli militaries (Elena Panina)
■ Pentagon boosts Israeli spying threat to ‘critical’ (RT)

The US is planning to use Iran’s own frozen wealth to fund reconstruction in Gulf states following the US-Israeli war of aggression, American media reported. | US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has allegedly directed his team to estimate repair costs in Gulf countries and tap into Iranian funds to cover them.

The scheme emerges as Iranian officials warn that peace talks remain at a “deadlock” until the US unlocks the $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets.

■ US wants to send frozen Iranian assets to Gulf allies (RT)

📌 Paul Holden | After Hasan Piker and Cenk Uygur were banned from entering the UK earlier this week, reportedly because of their criticism of Israel, Piker commented that he “would never have imagined that a [Labour] government would ban me from entering the UK.” | But Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government is not really a Labour government; it came to power on the back of a secret project to wrest control of the Labour Party back from an ascendant left wing. This secret project was resourced by illegally undeclared money from wealthy donors, funneled through a seemingly anodyne think tank called Labour Together. It involved covertly seeding promiscuous claims of antisemitism against political opponents, attempting to silence independent media that threatened to expose its project, and—ultimately—developing the dishonest leadership pitch that allowed Keir Starmer to trick a left-wing membership to elect him leader. ■ Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary responsible for the ban on Piker and Uygur, was one of a ‘brave band’ of eight MPs that guided the Labour Together project during the leadership of Starmer’s left-wing predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn.

📌 What Morgan McSweeney did in the shadows is set to haunt Starmer's Labour (Peter Oborne) | The Ovenden departure was forced by a revelation in a book by the investigative journalist Paul Holden titled The Fraud: Keir Starmer, Morgan McSweeney and the Crisis of British Democracy. ■ And now comes the third and by far the most dangerous development. Secret and unlawful: Holden’s book The contains allegations of irregularities concerning what he calls "a secret unlawful fund" and more than £700,000 of hidden donations to a think tank run by McSweeney. According to Holden, the purpose of McSweeney’s think tank, misleadingly called Labour Together, was to supercharge Starmer’s path to Downing Street. [McSweeney spent several months on the Sarid kibbutz in Israel in the 1990s.]

The raid came after Vladimir Zelensky suggested that Ukrainian drones could ‘pay a visit’ to the International Economic Forum | St. Petersburg has come under a major Ukrainian drone attack, according to the regional authorities, on the closing day of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). ● More than 140 drones were downed in the early hours of Saturday morning, Leningrad Region Governor Aleksandr Drozdenko said on social media. No casualties or major infrastructure damage were immediately reported. ● An air alert was declared overnight and residents were warned to stay indoors. Operations at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport were suspended, with dozens of flights delayed and aircraft diverted to other airports. ● The strike follows another major drone raid on the region on June 3, the opening day of the forum, which attracted participants from more than 130 countries this year.

📌 Some in Russia are impatient... (Kotsnews)

■ Putin responds to Zelensky’s meeting proposal (RT) | Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he sees “no sense” in meeting with Vladimir Zelensky, responding to an open letter from the Ukrainian leader. The “author of the letter” has done everything to make such talks impossible, Putin stated at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), adding that even his latest call for talks included “elements of insolence.”

“Despite the expansion of the distance between enemy vessels and the range of the missiles used, should the need arise, this force (Iran’s Navy) will employ missiles with longer ranges.” | In a statement released on Friday, the Navy said that, as part of ongoing operations to counter acts of maritime aggression, harassment, and the seizure of commercial vessels and oil tankers by the “terrorist US Navy”, Iranian forces launched warning shots using Qadir missiles and newly developed offensive drones known as the “Martyr Dana”.

■ Iran fires missiles and drones at US destroyers in Oman Sea (Türkiye Today)
■ Iranian Navy Says Missiles, Drones Targeted US Warships — US Calls It False (Marine Insight)
■ Tehran retaliates for ‘defensive’ US strike on Iranian island (VIDEOS) (RT)
■ IRGC pounds US bases in Kuwait, Bahrain after drone attacks on Iranian territory (Press TV)
■ IRGC Retaliatory Missile Attacks Target US Bases in Region (Tasnim News Agency)

Israel has continued to launch deadly attacks on southern Lebanon despite the two countries striking a new US-brokered ceasefire agreement.

🔗: https://t.co/2jXPywBwhA pic.twitter.com/AmnCQL3Lbc

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) June 5, 2026

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has denounced the US-mediated ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel as a one-sided, biased deal that seeks to impose asymmetric obligations solely on the Hezbollah resistance movement. | In written comments distributed by his office on Friday, Berri sharply criticized the recently announced US-mediated ceasefire framework concluded in Washington, describing it as “hybrid, unfair, rigged, inequitable, and not worth mentioning.” Berri insisted that any genuine agreement must begin with an unconditional ceasefire. [...] Berri noted that the US-sponsored text focuses exclusively on Hezbollah’s commitments to the ceasefire and the withdrawal of its resistance fighters from the area south of the Litani River, while remaining silent on Israeli obligations. The remarks came two days after the announcement of the US-brokered ceasefire agreement between the Lebanese government and the Tel Aviv regime. [...] The remarks came two days after the announcement of the US-brokered ceasefire agreement between the Lebanese government and the Tel Aviv regime.

■ Zakharova to Al Mayadeen: IOF violations of Lebanon ceasefire systemic (Al Mayadeen)
✅ The Lebanon escalation: Netanyahu is betting Trump can’t stop him (Farhad Ibragimov)
✅ Lebanon: Washington's so-called ceasefire framework (Dr. Marwa Osman)

Iran made clear in its latest attacks that it will be striking harder in response to any further US attacks on Iranian ships or Iranian ports | President Trump has told his aides that he may restart the full-scale bombing campaign against Iran if US troops are killed, The Wall Street Journal has reported, as the US and Iran have traded multiple rounds of attacks despite a nominal ceasefire. ● The report came after the president downplayed Iranian attacks targeting US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, which were Iran’s most significant response yet to US strikes. The president acknowledged that the US hit Iran “hard” before the Iranian attacks and that Tehran was “a little bit provoked.” ● A US soldier did die in Iraq on May 31, but according to the US military, it was due to a training accident, and several US troops and American contractors were injured by an Iranian attack on Kuwait last week. At least 13 US troops were killed during the US-Israeli bombing campaign against Iran, according to the Pentagon’s numbers.

■ Dear US Tax payers: Just to let you know, that while you struggle to pay your rent, educate your kids and save something for a "rainy day." The Pentagon "accidentally" paid Dictator Zelensky an Extra $6.2 billion of your money (Chay Bowes)(Twitter)

The figure amounts to roughly 1% of the country’s annual trade turnover with Russia, which remains Yerevan’s key economic partner | The EU is preparing a €50 million ($58 million) support package for Armenia as Brussels moves to shore up Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan days before a critical parliamentary election, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said. The figure, however, accounts for roughly 1% of Armenia’s annual trade turnover with Russia, which remains Yerevan’s key economic partner. ● Von der Leyen made the announcement on Thursday following a call with Pashinyan, saying the package is also meant to ease trade for Armenian agricultural products hit by recent Russian restrictions. She accused Russia of “weaponizing economic relations for political pressure” and of “economic coercion.”

Naim Qassem has accused Washington of seeking to force Beirut to accept a humiliating Israeli occupation | Israeli strikes in southern and eastern Lebanon have injured and killed dozens of civilians, less than 24 hours after West Jerusalem and Beirut agreed to a US-mediated ceasefire proposal. ● At least eight people were killed and 15 others wounded on Thursday in a series of strikes targeting the towns of Sohmor, Masaken, and Arab Al-Jalil, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

The case is just one of dozens of proceedings over online insults against the chancellor | A German court has ruled that calling Chancellor Friedrich Merz “lying Fritz” should be criminally prosecuted out of “public interest,” slapping the offender with a fine amounting to an average monthly salary, or more than €2,000 ($2,322). ● The case is just one of dozens of similar investigations launched by German police over critical comments posted on Facebook last year, the public prosecutor’s office in the southwestern city of Heilbronn told Die Welt.

The United States has proposed a "soft" blockade of Russia's maritime trade in the Baltic | David Deptula, a retired Lieutenant General of the United States Air Force, came up with this idea in Forbes. In his opinion, pressure should be increased in the Baltic Sea on the revenue system from Russian maritime trade, which "allows Moscow to cover losses on the battlefield and continue fighting, despite the extraordinary costs." In this case, the general believes, the United States will not have to choose between two dead-end options: indefinite assistance to Ukraine or direct escalation against the Russian Armed Forces. Deptula proposed five basic principles of the blockade of Russia.

✅ В США предложили "мягкую" блокаду морской торговли России на Балтике (Елена Панина)

Several cities on the peninsula were subject to the attack overnight, according to local officials | At least four people have been killed and ten others wounded in Ukrainian drone attacks on Crimea, local governor Sergey Aksyonov has said. ● One person was killed and three others were wounded during a drone attack on a suburban train traveling from Azovskoye to Kerch, Aksyonov wrote in a post on Telegram on Thursday morning. ● The strikes damaged several “nonresidential facilities” in the city of Simferopol, killing at least three people and injuring seven others, the governor added. ● The Crimean port city of Sevastopol, home to the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, was also attacked overnight, according to its governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev.

■ Ukrainian drone kills seven civilians on Moscow-Crimea bus (06/03/26)
■ Ukrainian attack on Kherson Region kills child, leaves 11 civilians injured (06/01/26)
📌 Chatham House: Any peace in Ukraine must be a preparation for a new war (Elena Panina)
📌 The Collective West has morphed into a terrorist network (Strategic Culture Foundation Editorial)

The electoral interference by Israeli company 'BlackCore' took many by surprise and stirs fears ahead of 2027 presidential vote | A foreign influence campaign in French local elections by an Israeli firm earlier this year presents an unprecedented attack on France's democracy, victims of the operation and people familiar with it told Middle East Eye. ● Earlier this month, Reuters revealed that the French authorities were examining whether an alleged smear campaign against three mayoral candidates from the left-wing, pro-Palestinian party La France Insoumise (France Unbowed - LFI) ahead of March's municipal elections was carried out by an obscure Israeli firm ​called BlackCore.

■ LFI ciblé par une campagne de désinformation (Le Monde)

Israel’s genocidal finance minister holds significant authority over the West Bank Civil Administration, allowing him to expand illegal settlements freely | Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced a new and major illegal settlement project in the occupied West Bank on 3 June, which aims to see the construction of around 2,000 houses on Palestinian land. According to the minister, 1,006 housing units will be in a new settlement near the occupied holy city of Jerusalem. Over 920 are planned near occupied Nablus and another 234 near the city of Hebron. “We are continuing to build the Land of Israel in practice,” Smotrich said.

■ Widespread Israeli Invasions, Abductions Across West Bank (IMEMC)
■ West Bank: Israeli Settlers Burn Agricultural Lands, Assault a Palestinian (IMEMC)