Iran War Day 93: Trump ‘will not rush’ to act; Israel increases attacks on Lebanon | US-Israel War on Iran News

US President Donald Trump says talks with Iran are moving slowly but surely, as Israel increases operations in Lebanon.

US President Donald Trump told Fox News he is “in no rush” to deal with Iran as the Israeli army says it has seized a palace in southern Lebanon in the country’s deepest incursion in 26 years.

The comments came as US media reported that Trump had asked for several changes to the original deal with Iran during his meeting at the White House on Friday.

Here’s the latest on US-Iran talks as Israel escalates its attack on Lebanon on the 93rd day of the Iran war:

In Iran

• Iran’s military chief warned against any attack on his country. “The enemy must know that any aggression against the country will be responded to more strongly than before,” said Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, deputy commander of the army, according to Press TV.
• The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it shot down a US drone attempting to carry out an “evil operation” in its territory, according to Iran’s Fars news agency.
• Fars reported that the army unveiled its new naval weapon, the 27 Rajab, at a ceremony held in Tehran’s Enqelab Square. The agency said the ship can reach speeds of up to 100 knots (185km/h) and is equipped with long-range missiles.
• The US military says its forces have “stopped” a Gambian-flagged ship attempting to sail to an Iranian port. Iran accused the US of giving up negotiations by continuing its blockade.

Discussions of war

• Trump told Fox News that he is in no rush to deal with Iran and that the US is getting what it wants “slowly but surely” in the ongoing negotiations. “The one certainty I have to have is that there will be no nuclear weapons,” he told his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, in an interview with Fox News on Saturday night.
• The comments came as US media reported that Trump had asked for several changes to the original deal with Iran during his meeting in the White House Situation Room on Friday. The New York Times reported that Trump had “raised the tone” of the possibility. Axios reported that the president had requested “several changes” to the initial accords his delegation reached with Iran.
• Iranian media reported on Saturday that a joint memorandum with the US included an agreement to release $12bn in frozen supplies. The report cited “unauthorized” documents about the memorial, and a similar item on state TV earlier this week was dismissed by the White House as “fiction”.

In Lebanon

• The Associated Press and Reuters reported that Israeli forces captured Beaufort Castle, also known as Qalaat al-Shaqif, near the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon.
• The Israeli army issued a new warning, asking people to flee south of the Zahrani river in southern Lebanon. It also said it was taking strong action against Hezbollah in the area and told all residents south of the river to leave their homes immediately.
• Israeli airstrikes on Sunday morning targeted the southern Lebanese towns of Arnoun, Kfar Tebnit and Kfar Remman, according to our friends at Al Jazeera Arabic. Israeli shells also hit Kfarjouz area in Nabatieh district and Dbeibine town in Marjayoun district.
• Israeli military spokeswoman Ella Waweya said they had launched a “massive operation” in Beaufort Ridge and the Wadi al-Salouqi area in southern Lebanon.
• The Israeli army issued a “defensive directive” following “the recognition of the incident from Lebanon to several areas in the north of Israel”. The military told people to take cover, but Israeli media reported shortly after that no air raid sirens could be heard in the area.
• Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has accused Israel of following a “global agenda” as the Israeli army escalates its offensive and continues to advance towards the city of Nabatieh.

In Israel

• Israel’s military said on Sunday it was moving to Lebanon as part of an additional operation to bolster its forces in the south of the country, where it is battling Iran-backed Hezbollah.
• Many Israeli soldiers “started offensive operations aimed at expanding the Defense Line”, the Israeli army said in a statement, adding that the operation was progressing and troops had crossed the Litani River.
• The Israeli military said a 21-year-old soldier was killed in fighting in southern Lebanon on Saturday. They said four others were injured in the incident.

In the US

• Mr Trump said on Saturday that the US had deliberately refused to target Iran’s military, saying that previous wars had shown the dangers of undermining the country’s institutions with weapons. He pointed to Iraq as an example of what he described as the US’s failed strategy in previous conflicts. “You look at what happened with Iraq; we did it very badly, it was a stupid thing,” he told Fox News.
• Congress advanced a joint US-Israeli military plan that would bring closer cooperation between the US and Israeli forces, expanding their cooperation in weapons research, development and technology.