Tehran pushes for ceasefire as Trump cuts G7 trip short amid Iran-Israel crisis

Iran has turned to regional powers Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Oman to help broker a ceasefire — with a nuclear deal on the table as leverage after the conflict with Israel has entered its fifth day.According to news agency Reuters, Tehran asked Gulf leaders to urge US President Donald Trump to pressure Israel to halt its military actions. In return, Iran has signalled its readiness to show flexibility in long-stalled nuclear negotiations.advertisementGulf leaders have reportedly been in constant communication with Washington and Tehran to avoid what could become the largest military confrontation ever between the two regional archrivals.US MADE OFFER FOR ISRAEL-IRAN CEASEFIRE, SAYS MACRON
In the latest diplomatic effort, French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed on Monday that Trump had extended an offer to mediate a ceasefire. Speaking at the G7 summit in Canada, Macron said, "There is indeed an offer to meet and exchange. An offer was made especially to get a ceasefire and to then kick-start broader discussions."Macron also welcomed Trump's early departure from the G7 summit, calling it a "positive signal" in light of ceasefire efforts. "We have to see now whether the sides will follow," Macron added.TRUMP TO LEAVE G7 MEET EARLYTrump, who had earlier warned civilians to evacuate Tehran, pointed to the urgency of the situation. Speaking to reporters, he said "I have to be back as soon as I can." White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed it on X, saying, "Much was accomplished, but because of what's going on in the Middle East, President Trump will be leaving tonight after dinner with Heads of State.".@POTUS on his early departure from the G7 Summit: "I have to be back early — for obvious reasons." pic.twitter.com/vtM4wwy1r9— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 17, 2025advertisementThe G7 summit is scheduled to continue on Tuesday, when Trump has scheduled his first one-on-one meeting with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. Trump was also supposed to meet Tuesday in Canada with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also returning to Washington, DC, tonight with President Donald Trump, a State Department spokesperson said.Despite the rising tensions, the US maintains that it is not taking military action against Iran. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth clarified on Fox News that Washington remains committed to pursuing diplomacy."We are postured defensively in the region to be strong in pursuit of a peace deal. And we certainly hope that's what happens here," Hegseth said. When asked if Trump still aims for a nuclear deal with Iran, he answered, "Of course."Tune InMust Watch

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Indian Express

17 minutes ago

• Indian Express

When PM Modi went to Cyprus: A Mediterranean push, a buffer against Turkey

Written by Shairee Malhotra On June 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in the island nation of Cyprus on a two-day visit, marking the third by an Indian PM after Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2002, as a key stopover on his way to the G7 summit in Canada. This marked Modi's first foreign tour since Operation Sindoor against the backdrop of escalating tensions in the Middle East and volatile global developments. As evident in Modi's visit in February to the port city of Marseille in France, which also recently hosted the inaugural edition of Raisina MED — an extension of New Delhi's flagship Raisina Dialogue — India is keenly watching and investing in its outreach to the Mediterranean. With its strategic location in the Eastern Mediterranean at the crossroads of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, Cyprus is positioning itself as a key partner and important node towards realising the India-Middle East-Europe-Economic Corridor (IMEC) linking India to Europe. This convergent outlook on connectivity underpins the two countries' interest in expanding ties. Modi's visit focused on boosting avenues for India-Cyprus bilateral collaboration across a range of sectors from trade and investment to innovation, security and connectivity, and mobility and tourism. Referring to Cyprus as the 'gateway into Europe' for Indian companies, President Nikos Christodoulides and Modi addressed economic stakeholders at the India-Cyprus CEO Forum in Limassol, pitching greater business linkages in the areas of civil aviation, shipbuilding, startups, infrastructure and innovation. Bilateral trade in 2023-2024 was valued at $136.96 million, and a newly launched trilateral India-Greece-Cyprus (IGC) Business and Investment Council is likely to accelerate this. Already, Cyprus, with a population of only 1.3 million, is among the top 10 sources of Foreign Direct Investment into India due to its friendly taxation regime and the routing of various European investments via Cyprus. Freshly signed MoUs between NSE International Exchange Gift City and Cyprus Stock Exchange will bolster financial ties. Moreover, Cyprus may become the second European country after France to adopt India's UPI for cross-border transactions. In tandem with recent custom, Modi also interacted with the 11,000-strong Indian diaspora in Cyprus, with plans for direct air connectivity and enhanced people-to-people ties on the radar. As the India-EU entente strengthens across multiple sectors from technology and trade to security and defence, this outreach to Cyprus forms part of a robust and expanded Indian footprint in Europe, moving beyond traditional power centres and tapping new geopolitically significant geographies. In recent years, New Delhi has deepened its engagement with the Central and Eastern Europe region, the Nordics, the Baltics and now increasingly the Mediterranean. Meanwhile, Cyprus's upcoming six-month Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2026 is an opportunity to shape narratives at the EU level and progress towards concluding the India-EU Free Trade Agreement, already touted as a priority by the Cypriot government. The visit was strategically timed on the heels of rising Indian tensions with Turkey that provided overt political and military support in the form of drones, cargo planes and a warship to Pakistan during clashes following the terrorist attack in Pahalgam. Since then, India has attempted to galvanise countries to unify against terrorism and consolidate global support following Operation Sindoor and its targeting of Pakistan's terrorist infrastructure. Both India and Cyprus have historically reinforced each other's positions in their respective regional disputes on Kashmir and Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus. Considered amongst India's most 'time-trusted and dependable friends', Cyprus has supported a permanent seat for India on the United Nations Security Council, and its entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group. To counter a belligerent Turkey-Pakistan-Azerbaijan axis, India has systematically deepened relations with Greece, Cyprus and Armenia, which have their own troubled histories with this alignment. Against this backdrop, Modi's visit to the Green Line, the demilitarised buffer zone between Cyprus and the Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus, was a symbolic act of solidarity with the former. The India-Cyprus joint declaration devoted a substantial section towards counter-terrorism efforts, including dismantling of terrorist infrastructure and safe havens, coupled with strong Cypriot condemnation of the Pahalgam terrorist attack. The two countries are aiming to expand defence ties, building upon a previous MoU signed in 2022 and a Bilateral Defence Cooperation Programme (BDCP) in 2025, through greater defence industrial cooperation, new dialogues on maritime security and cybersecurity, and cooperation on crises responses and emerging technologies. Renewable energy is another area of convergence, given Cypriot efforts in gas exploration in the resource-laden Eastern Mediterranean and India's quest to diversify energy imports. As New Delhi and Nicosia upgrade their partnership and deliberate on the formation of a five-year roadmap for the future, harnessing economic and geopolitical synergies will pave the way for a promising, fresh era in Indo-Cypriot relations. The writer is Deputy Director and Europe Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation

Mint

21 minutes ago

• Mint

The bond market's biggest risk isn't the deficit, economist says. Here's what is.

Bond investors might be worried about the wrong thing. President Donald Trump's massive tax and spending bill has been the latest big headache for bond investors, but TS Lombard economist Dario Perkins says there is a much bigger threat to the market: Chaotic U.S. policymaking. As Trump's spending bill continues to move forward, some economists warn that the proposal's tax cuts might force the government to borrow more money, widening the fiscal deficit and ballooning the country's $37 trillion pile of debt. A greater supply of government debt, in turn, would lower existing bond prices and push up yields. (Yields move in opposite direction of bond prices.) Analysts have even made comparisons to the cautionary tale of British Prime Minister Liz Truss—her mini-budget's proposed unfunded tax cuts in 2022 triggered a sell-off in bonds and shortened her tenure to mere 49 days. But such jitters about fiscal crises are 'unnecessarily alarmist," according to Perkins. To him, the biggest risk is roller-coaster policymaking. 'The big risk is not fiscal deficits but U.S. policy chaos against the backdrop of a world that is already more susceptible to negative supply shocks," he writes. The rapid fluctuations in federal policy have arguably been palpable since the Trump administration placed aggressive tariffs on global trade partners, only to walk back on them days later. The U.S. is now attempting to put together trade agreements with several dozens of countries in a matter of 90 days—they typically take years—all while conducting broad-based deportations. Against this backdrop, there's now a question of U.S. involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict. A broader war would threaten to push up inflation and lead to supply-chain disruptions if Iran potentially blocks the Strait of Hormuz—a critical global shipping channel. Higher inflation is the nemesis of the bond market because it chips away at the value of returns. Unpredictable U.S. policies raise a deeper fear: They could undermine the role of U.S. Treasuries as a global risk-free asset, Perkins writes. If bonds become less valuable as a portfolio hedge, they will be less attractive to investors—regardless of the size of the U.S. budget deficit or the balance-sheet policies of central banks, he added. Taken together, these concerns suggest Trump's budget proposal may be lower in the pecking order of threats to the bond world. For now, the bond market seems to be just waiting it out as a quiet spectator. Yields have basically gone nowhere for long-dated Treasuries lately. The 1o-year yield has ranged between 4.518% to 4.359% since May 23, while the 30-year yield has closed between 5.041% and 4.848% over the same period. Write to Karishma Vanjani at

News18

21 minutes ago

• News18

Iran May Have Outmanoeuvred US, Moved 400kg Uranium From Nuclear Site Before Airstrikes

Last Updated: According to an NYT report, senior US officials—including Vice-President JD Vance—have acknowledged that they do not currently know the location of Iran's uranium stockpile In a rapidly escalating nuclear standoff between Iran and Israel, new intelligence reports suggest that Iran may have successfully relocated around 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium before a US military strike hit three of its key nuclear sites. The revelation casts doubt on US President Donald Trump 's assertion that the American-led strikes had 'completely obliterated" Iran's nuclear capabilities. On June 20, US forces, in coordination with Israeli intelligence, launched precision strikes on the Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear facilities which have long been at the center of global concern over Iran's nuclear ambitions. President Trump, who returned to office earlier this year, hailed the operation as a major success, telling supporters that 'Iran's nuclear threat has been neutralised". However, Iranian officials pushed back immediately, claiming the damage was minimal. According to Iranian state media and foreign ministry statements, the country's 'core nuclear infrastructure remains intact," and its ability to enrich uranium was not substantially affected. Two Israeli officials seemed to confirm Iran's stand as they told the New York Times that Iran had moved a significant amount of uranium— 400 kilograms, or roughly 880 pounds enriched to 60 per cent purity—and other equipment from the Fordow plant before the US strikes. This is just below the 90 per cent that is usually used in nuclear weapons. According to the report by NYT, senior US officials—including Vice-President JD Vance—have acknowledged that they do not currently know the location of Iran's uranium stockpile. Vance stated that the United States intends to address the issue directly. 'That's one of the things we're going to discuss with the Iranians," he told ABC News, emphasising the need for further diplomatic engagement. Complicating the issue further, at a Sunday press briefing, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine stopped short of endorsing President Trump's sweeping claim that the nuclear sites were entirely destroyed. Instead, they described initial assessments as indicating 'severe damage and destruction" at the three targeted facilities, which were struck by Air Force B-2 bombers and Navy-launched Tomahawk missiles. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has expressed concern over access to the affected sites and has called for transparency from Tehran. Iran, meanwhile, has limited cooperation with international inspectors and accused Western powers of 'nuclear hypocrisy." Iran's enrichment activities, while not openly violating the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), have surged in recent years following the collapse of the 2015 nuclear deal. The stockpile of 60% enriched uranium has now surpassed 140 kilograms, according to the IAEA's last public report—more than enough for multiple bombs, if further refined.