- Iran dismisses Kuwait claims -

Iran labelled as "absolutely baseless" an accusation made by Kuwait that four Iranian officers attempted to infiltrate Bubiyan, the Gulf country's largest island, saying they entered Kuwaiti waters because of disruption to navigational systems.

The foreign ministry said it strongly condemned the "improper action" of the Kuwaiti government in exploiting the case for propaganda.

- Trump on Xi -

US President Donald Trump insisted he does not need help from China on ending the war with Iran but said he would talk at length with Xi Jinping when they meet this week.

He told reporters before leaving for Beijing: "We're going to have a long talk about it."

But he added: "We have a lot of things to discuss. I wouldn't say Iran is one of them, to be honest with you, because we have Iran very much under control."

- US inflation spikes -

Consumer inflation in the US hit a three-year high in April, with the economic fallout of Trump's Iran war rippling through the world's largest economy.

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.8 percent year-on-year, up from March's 3.3 percent figure, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said.

- Pentagon ups cost estimate -

The Pentagon said the cost of the war with Iran had climbed to nearly $29 billion, as Trump faced mounting scrutiny over the conflict.

The new figure, revealed by the defence ministry during a budget hearing on Capitol Hill, is about $4 billion higher than the estimate offered by Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth two weeks ago.

- Israel kills two -

Lebanon's civil defence agency said two of its personnel were killed in an Israeli strike "while they were carrying out a rescue mission" after a previous strike in the southern city of Nabatieh.

Before the announcement, Lebanon's Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine told a press conference that 108 emergency and health workers had been killed and 249 others wounded in Israeli strikes since war erupted between Hezbollah and Israel on March 2.

- Israel in Litani -

The Israeli military said its troops had conducted a days-long raid in the area of the Litani river in south Lebanon, where exchanges of fire with Hezbollah persist despite a ceasefire.

In a statement, the military said that over the past week, troops had conducted a "special operation to clear terrorist infrastructure from the Litani area and establish operational control in the area".

- US must accept deal: Iran -

Iran's chief negotiator said the US must accept Tehran's latest peace plan or face failure, a day after Trump said the ceasefire was on "life support".

"There is no alternative but to accept the rights of the Iranian people as laid out in the 14-point proposal. Any other approach will be completely inconclusive; nothing but one failure after another," Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on X.

- Oil prices climb -

Oil prices climbed over the impasse in US-Iran talks that has left the Strait of Hormuz mostly closed to oil tanker traffic.

The price of international benchmark Brent North Sea crude and the main US contract, West Texas Intermediate, both rose nearly four percent, to $108.1 and $101.8 a barrel respectively.

- Qatar warns against 'blackmail' -

Qatar's prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani warned Iran not to use the Strait of Hormuz "as a weapon to pressure or to blackmail the Gulf countries".

- Hezbollah-Israel talks -

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said his Iran-backed group's weapons were not part of forthcoming ceasefire negotiations between Lebanon and Israel.

"This is an internal Lebanese matter and not part of negotiations with the enemy," he said ahead of the third round of Lebanon-Israel talks scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

burs-sbk/jxb

ADNOC Gas

Saudi Aramco