Middle East

NPR - In another whiplash decision, President Trump announced yesterday that he canceled new attacks in Iran, after announcing earlier in the day that more strikes were coming if the country didn't agree to a peace deal. The president signaled that the two countries had "conceptually" secured an agreement on nuclear issues and could sign a peace deal in the next few days, but Iran's foreign ministry says a deal hasn't been finalized.  Trump wants this war to end, NPR's Aya Batrawy tells Up First. It's unpopular among Americans, who saw inflation surge to its highest level in several years. Arab Gulf countries are also hurting as the war drags on. Batrawy says a call between Trump and Qatar's emir yesterday, in which messages from Iran were exchanged, could have led Trump to call off more attacks. The United Arab Emirates has also shifted its tone from being hawkish on Iran to aligning more with Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt about ending the war. That leaves Israel as the only country railing against a diplomatic approach.

The Guardian  - Military strikes on 10 June that damaged two water storage facilities in southern Iran may constitute a war crime, legal and military experts say. The attack on the Bemani district destroyed a key reservoir serving about 20,000 people, raising critical legal questions over whether the strike hit a valid military objective or unlawfully targeted a civilian object.