Iran President Says Pressure on Country at Critical, Dangerous Stage
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Friday that pressure on his country from the United States had reached a critical and dangerous stage.
Speaking in India ahead of a BRICS summit, Pezeshkian suggested that "the world today is going through a period of unprecedented complexity", adding the use of economic levers of pressure only served to exacerbate that.
"Iran has been subjected to heavy sanctions in recent years; this pressure has reached a critical and dangerous stage in recent months following the military aggression by the United States and Israel," he said.
The US and Israel sparked the Middle East war in late February with strikes on Iran, whose economy had already been weakened by decades of international sanctions.
Tehran retaliated by choking off the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for energy transit, causing global energy prices to surge.
"When a country is subjected to political and military pressure on its trade, energy, infrastructure and financial system, the repercussions extend beyond its borders," Pezeshkian said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with Pezeshkian on Friday and underscored the need to protect the freedom of navigation and commerce, and the safety and well-being of seafarers, India's foreign ministry said.
He also emphasized the need for continued efforts to ensure lasting peace and stability in the region, the ministry said in a statement.
Pentagon Picks Boeing for New US Navy Contract for Fighter Jets
The Pentagon has chosen Boeing to build the Navy's next-generation fighter jets in a contract valued at $20 billion, US officials announced Tuesday.
The contract is to produce F/A-XX aircraft or "strike fighters" under the "Next Generation Air Dominance Program," a Pentagon statement said, adding that the new jets would replace the legacy "Super Hornets" fleet beginning in the 2030s.
The announcement marks the second time Boeing has been selected by the Pentagon during the second Trump administration for a sixth-generation weapons system. In March 2025, Trump announced that the Air Force chose Boeing to build a new stealth fighter.
"Delivering two advanced fighters in parallel was always our plan, and we invested accordingly. We are ready and able to build multiple concurrent future combat aircraft franchise programs," said Steve Parker, head of Boeing Defense, Space & Security.
"The F/A-XX platform represents a crucial, non-negotiable investment in America's national security and long-term air combat capabilities," said Pentagon undersecretary Michael Duffey. "We are joining forces with Boeing to field these capabilities."
Boeing said construction was continuing at the company's "secure manufacturing" facility in St. Louis, which the company said is the largest of its kind in the United States.
"The technical and programmatic details of F/A-XX remain classified under US national security and export laws," Boeing said.
Boeing was competing for the contract with Northrop Grumman.
"For F/A-XX, Northrop Grumman offered a highly survivable, digitally advanced sixth-generation fighter to the US Navy," Northrop said Tuesday. "We look forward to receiving additional information about their selection."
At a May 2026 hearing, Admiral Daryl Caudle, chief of naval operations, told a Senate panel that the next-generation system needed to "extend the reach, survivability and lethality," expected to work with unmanned systems.
"Failure to field next-generation carrier aviation capability on schedule will introduce risk to air superiority, strike reach and the long-term viability of carrier-based operations in contested environments," Caudle said.
Shares of Boeing rose 2.4 percent in after-hours trading, while Northrop Grumman dropped 3.6 percent.
Qatari Mediators Press Peace Deal between US and Iran
Qatar said on Tuesday it hopes that shuttle diplomacy between Iran and the US can lead to a breakthrough despite US President Donald Trump's denial of media reports that he was willing to ease sanctions and release frozen funds in exchange for Iranian concessions on its nuclear program.
"We are exchanging messages between the parties, and we're working towards establishing a common ground in order to get into a deal that would save all of us from the repercussions of the conflict," Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari told reporters.
The US and Iran have failed to find an off-ramp from their war, now in its eighth month. Negotiations appeared to intensify during last week's UN General Assembly meeting in New York, but have so far not yielded any agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
US and Iranian officials spoke separately with Qatari mediators on Monday. It was unclear if another exchange took place on Tuesday.
Trump repeated his position that Iran must not obtain a nuclear weapon and that the war would be over soon.
The conflict has degraded Iran's conventional forces and damaged its already ailing economy, but Tehran has fought back with missile and drone strikes on US allies in the Gulf and by restricting oil tanker traffic in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which has pushed up world energy prices.
"I don't know if they are going to give up yet but they'll give up," Trump told reporters on Tuesday.
On Monday night, Trump took to social media to deny reports by Axios and CNN, citing unidentified US officials, that Trump was willing to give Iran sanctions relief and release frozen Iranian funds as part of a final deal on the condition that Iran showed "concrete progress" on the nuclear issue.
"This is untrue. I offered them NOTHING," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump has cited preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear bomb as a central goal of the war, along with ending its ability to attack its neighbors and creating conditions for Iranians to topple their leadership.
