US pauses 'Project Freedom' as ceasefire holds and Gulf tensions remain fragile
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Iran is reviewing a new US proposal aimed at ending the conflict that erupted earlier this year, with officials on both sides signaling cautious optimism that negotiations may soon produce a memorandum of understanding to halt hostilities and reopen broader diplomatic talks.
According to Reuters and Axios, negotiators are discussing a short framework document — reportedly a one-page memorandum containing around 14 points — that could serve as the basis for a ceasefire, sanctions relief, and future negotiations over Iran’s nuclear activities and regional security issues.
China has pressed Iran against resuming war, and urges the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz ahead of Trump-Xi summit China.
The Xi government has called for a "prompt resumption of shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz," though that point was absent in Iran's statement.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had called for an "immediate and full ceasefire" over the situation in West Asia involving Iran and the US while urging all sides to prioritise dialogue and avoid any further escalation in the region, as reported by Xinhua.
Addressing Israelis from a cabinet meeting today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has been in constant communication with Trump - and plans to speak with him again tonight, CNN reported.
"We are maintaining continuous contact with our friends in the US. I speak with President Trump on an almost daily basis," he said.
He adds that the two countries have "full coordination".
"There are no surprises," he said. "We share common goals."
US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that a deal with Iran to end the Middle East war was "very possible" following "very good talks" over the past day.
"We've had very good talks over the last 24 hours, and it's very possible that we'll make a deal," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
A senior Iranian parliament member said on Wednesday that a reported US proposal aimed at reaching an agreement with Iran to end the war was “more of a wish list than a reality”, dismissing an Axios report that published the alleged text of the proposal. Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesperson for parliament’s foreign policy and national security committee, said in a post on X that the United States would not achieve through war what it had failed to secure during direct negotiations, adding that Washington was “losing” the conflict.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military struck Beirut on Wednesday, targeting a top Hezbollah commander.
"The Israeli army has struck in Beirut to target the commander of Hezbollah's Radwan force, in an attempt to neutralise him," a joint statement issued by Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said.
"Radwan operatives, under his command, were responsible for firing at Israeli communities and for attacks on Israeli soldiers," the statement said, without naming the commander.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah sources confirmed to AFP that a senior Hezbollah commander was killed by Israel in Beirut suburbs. "Malek Ballout, the operations commander in the Radwan force" was killed, the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his military had targeted "the commander of Hezbollah's Radwan force".
Israel launched air strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Wednesday, Lebanese state media said, marking the first such attack on the capital since a ceasefire brokered by the United States last month.
Israel said the attack on Beirut's southern suburb targeted Hezbollah Radwan Force commander.
The strikes come amid renewed hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, despite the April truce, with both sides accused of repeated violations. Israeli forces have intensified operations in southern Lebanon, including air raids that have killed civilians and triggered displacement orders, while Hezbollah has continued cross-border attacks.
France's President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday told his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian that attacks on Emirati civilian infrastructure and ships near the Strait of Hormuz were "unjustified", he said.
"I expressed my deep concern about the ongoing escalation and condemned the unjustified strikes against Emirati civilian infrastructure and several ships," he said on X after the discussion.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday his country was "prepared for all scenarios" in dealing with Iran, in a video statement released by his office.
"We are... prepared for all scenarios, and those are the instructions I have given to the army and our security services," Netanyahu said in the video released at the start of a security cabinet meeting.
A US Navy warplane fired on and disabled the rudder of an oil tanker that tried to break Washington's blockade of Iranian ports, the US military said on Wednesday.
US forces warned the Iranian-flagged ship that it was in violation of the blockade but its crew "failed to comply," so a US F/A-18 Super Hornet "disabled the tanker's rudder by firing several rounds from (its) 20mm cannon gun," Central Command said in a post on X.
US President Donald Trump told PBS News today that the terms of a potential deal with Iran would include Tehran shipping its enriched uranium stockpile to the United States and pledging not to operate its underground facilities, reported CNN.
Iran's top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Wednesday that Washington was seeking Tehran's surrender through various means, including a naval blockade.
"The enemy, in its new design, is seeking, through a naval blockade, economic pressure and media manipulation, to destroy the country's cohesion in order to force us to surrender," Ghalibaf said in a voice message published on his official Telegram channel.
