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Middle East crisis live: Oil prices hit two-week low amid optimism that US and Iran are close to peace deal

Australian members of a flotilla that tried to deliver aid to Gaza have been welcomed home in emotional airport scenes after being freed from detention in Israel. Eleven Australians were among 400 people detained by Israel last week in international waters west of Cyprus. The broader group of flotilla participants allege they suffered abuse at the hands of Israeli forces, such as broken limbs, sexual assaults, tasers to the face and being injected with unknown substances. Seven of the Australian contingent arrived in Sydney on Monday morning, while the rest were due to arrive in Melbourne and Brisbane, reports Australian Associated Press. Walking out into a Sydney airport hall, the flotilla participants returned triumphant with fists and peace signs held high. A large contingent of supporters – including family, friends and federal senators – greeted them on arrival with rapturous applause and chants of “free, free Palestine”. The Israeli ambassador to Australia, Hillel Newman, has claimed the detained flotilla members were handled with “great sensitivity”. He rejected claims of violence and sexual abuse.

K-pop androids and automated artists: welcome to South Korea’s strange and ambitious robot theme park

Four child-sized humanoid robots take the stage at an arena in eastern Seoul, and as the opening beats of a song by K-pop star G-Dragon begin, they start to dance. Arms swinging, legs stepping in sync, heads bobbing, wigs and baggy clothes swishing, until – mid-performance – one of them seemingly malfunctions and has to be removed from the stage. Welcome to Galaxy Robot Park, a new 16,500 square metre facility in Gangdong district that its creators claim is the world’s first robot theme park. It represents an ambitious – some might say audacious – vision of a future in which robots don’t just assist humans but entertain them, perform concerts across continents simultaneously, and even walk runways. Behind the project is Galaxy Corporation, an entertainment company that positions itself as an “enter-tech” firm, blending entertainment with technology. It manages megastar G-Dragon, as well as Taemin from the group Shinee and actor Song Kang-ho, known to western audiences for his role as the father in Parasite. K-pop has long served as a testing ground for experimental tech, from SM Entertainment’s Aespa, which pairs real members with virtual avatars, to fully virtual boybands like Plave. At the opening show, the robots execute their moves with surprising fluidity across a repertoire of different songs, including G-Dragon’s Home Sweet Home and Taemin’s Advice and Idea. “We’re planning three to six K-pop concerts daily, over 1,000 shows annually,” Choi Yong-ho, Galaxy’s chief executive and self-styled “chief happiness officer”, tells reporters. “By the end of this year, We’re planning to take them on a world tour.” Cha Woo-jin, a music critic and industry analyst, is wary of whether audiences will embrace the shows around the world, but sees the ambitious plan as both a cultural and economic experiment. “If you put a robot in an Elvis museum, fans would be repulsed,” he says. “But K-pop is a visual packaging model, so robots feel less alien.” A robot tour, he says, would be like a cover dance crew – the groups that replicate routines of famous K-pop performers – but without hotel bills or per diems. Beyond the arena, the park offers various robot experiences. Robot valets welcomed guests at the door. Others, including robotic dogs, roam around the outdoor areas playing with visitors. A robotic arm with a face attachment draws my portrait, chatting with me while it works. The result is highly accurate, but I feel it make me looks older than I am. Up the hill, there’s also a boxing ring where visitors can control humanoid fighters through a mirroring system, watching their movements replicated in real time as the machines battle each other. At one point a punch makes a glove fly off into the crowd. One robot falls off the stage, but recuperates and gets back into action. Galaxy also plans to stage what it calls the world’s first robot fashion show in late May, followed by the launch of a robot fashion label. Choi offers few details about how exactly robots will model clothing or what a robot fashion brand might entail. The broader vision involves deploying K-pop performing robots to places where human stars cannot easily travel, including war zones. Once choreography is programmed into one robot, all robots worldwide can instantly learn and perform it, enabling concurrent shows across multiple countries. The real question for music critic Cha, is whether robots can replicate K-pop’s essential ingredient: emotional connection with fans. “That will determine if this is a genuine cultural shift or just a novelty show.”

GPS jammed on RAF jet carrying UK defence secretary close to Russian border

An RAF jet carrying the defence secretary, John Healey, had its signal jammed for the entire three-hour flight after it flew near the Russian border. Healey had been visiting British soldiers in Estonia and was travelling back to the UK when the electronic attack happened, the Times reported. It is thought Russia was behind the incident on Thursday. Smartphones and laptops were unable to connect to the internet and pilots had to use a different navigation system as the plane’s GPS was disabled. It is unclear if Healey was deliberately targeted but the flight path was visible on aircraft tracking websites. Passengers, who included photographers and a reporter, were told the Dassault Falcon 900LX aircraft could still operate safely. Healey had met the Estonian minister of defence, Hanno Pevkur, in Tallinn to discuss long-term bilateral defence cooperation and its strategic expansion. On Wednesday the Ministry of Defence (MoD) revealed two Russian jets had “repeatedly and dangerously” intercepted an RAF spy plane above the Black Sea last month. A Russian Su-35 jet flew so close to the British reconnaissance aircraft that it triggered its emergency systems, including disabling the autopilot. A Russian Su-27 also flew six metres from the unarmed Rivet Joint’s nose and carried out six passes in front. The MoD said it was the most dangerous Russian action against a British Rivet Joint aircraft since a plane fired a missile over the Black Sea in 2022. A Rivet Joint is a spy plane, with a crew of up to 30, capable of a wide range of electronic surveillance at a ranges of about 150 miles, and would have been monitoring Russian activity as part of a Nato patrol. In March 2024, an RAF plane carrying the then-defence secretary Grant Shapps had its GPS signal jammed while flying near Russian territory. The satellite signal was interfered with for about 30 minutes while the flight was heading back to the UK from Poland. Last month, Healey revealed the UK had tracked three Russian submarines that loitered over critical undersea infrastructure in the North Atlantic for a month before they sailed away. “I would like to pay tribute to the outstanding professionalism and bravery of the RAF crew who continued with their mission despite these dangerous actions,” he said. “Let me be very clear: this incident will not deter the UK’s commitment to defend Nato, our allies and our interests from Russian aggression.”

US and Iran inch closer to peace deal as Trump faces criticism from GOP hawks

Donald Trump defended himself against criticism from fellow Republicans on Sunday as he appeared on the verge of agreeing a deal with Iran to end the war. As hawks in his party called the proposed agreement a disaster and questioned why the US president had launched the conflict in the first place, Trump claimed on social media that his deal would be “THE EXACT OPPOSITE” of the one agreed by Barack Obama, which Trump pulled out of in 2018. He added that he was not rushing into a deal, saying “both sides must take their time to get it right … There can be no mistakes!” Trump insisted “the US blockade of Iran’s ports will remain in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed”. “Nobody has seen” the deal, “or knows what it is”, the US president later added. “It isn’t even fully negotiated yet. So don’t listen to the losers, who are critical about something they know nothing about.” Facing mounting criticism from inside his own party, Trump insisted: “I don’t make bad deals!” The proposed deal reportedly offers Iran sanctions relief and the unlocking of as much as $20bn of frozen assets in return for Iran reopening the strait of Hormuz and agreeing to negotiate on its nuclear programme over the next 60 days, starting on 5 June in Pakistan. Details of the final points of dispute were not released. At least $6bn of the assets are held by Qatar. At the centre of the delay is a US demand that the unfreezing of those assets in Qatar be made conditional on progress on the handover of Iran’s enriched uranium. The deal also reportedly requires Iran and the US, and their allies, to cease fighting, and for Israel to end its offensive in Lebanon. As Trump moved to reassure those concerned about the deal’s contents, several US media outlets, citing unnamed White House officials, reported that it could take days for it to be finalised. Iran’s supreme leader and national security council still need to approve the proposed peace deal between Tehran and Washington, Iranian officials said on Sunday. One or two clauses in the proposed peace deal between the US and Iran must be clarified to Iran’s satisfaction before the memorandum of understanding can be sent to Iran’s supreme national security council and the supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, for ratification, the officials said, adding this had been conveyed to the Pakistani mediators. The Iranian government seemed to be in jubilant mood, preparing to claim a massive and historic victory over its two great foes, the US and Israel. Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said: “What has guaranteed the preservation and stability of the country is the solidarity and empathy of the people.” On Saturday, Trump spoke to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the key original advocate of the war when it began in February, to try to reassure him on the ceasefire’s terms. Netanyahu is also trying to retain his freedom to continue to attack Hezbollah in Lebanon, but Iran is insisting the ceasefire must apply on all fronts. On Sunday, Israel continued to strike south and east Lebanon, despite a supposed ceasefire there. In a social media post on Sunday, the Israeli leader said: “President Trump and I agreed that any final agreement with Iran must eliminate the nuclear danger,” and that Trump had reaffirmed Israel’s right to defend itself “on every front, including Lebanon”. In reality, Netanyahu has little option other than to accept Trump’s decision to end a war that is unpopular in the US and is crippling the world economy by increasing inflation and creating critical supply shortages. Gulf states, as well as the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, had lobbied Trump on Saturday on the phone urging him to rule out returning to a bombing campaign inside Iran that they said would only bring Iranian reprisals and not topple an entrenched regime. Trump – who said on Friday he would not attend his son’s wedding this weekend, citing Iran among the reasons for staying in Washington – wrote on his social media platform: “An agreement has been largely negotiated, subject to finalisation between the United States of America, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the various other Countries.” The US and western countries have been insistent that Iran should not be allowed to impose tolls on shipping in the strait. Iran’s Fars news agency, which is close to the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), stated that the strait would remain under Iranian control. It reported on Telegram that “the management of the strait, determining the route, time, method of passage and issuing permits, will continue to be the monopoly, and at the discretion of, the Islamic Republic of Iran”. But Iran has agreed that shipping through the strait should return to the prewar levels within 30 days. On Saturday, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson said the future governance of the strait was a matter for negotiation between Iran on the north shore of the strait and Oman on the south, and not an issue in which the US could be involved. Iran also said it had merely committed to negotiate all nuclear-related issues in talks lasting as long as 60 days, taking the timetable to late summer. No commitments on the outcome of those talks has been made, only the topics, meaning the US has largely reverted to the prewar position that held in Geneva on 26 February, two days before the war started. The deal will reportedly allow Iran to resume the sale of oil and petrochemicals during the negotiation period without the risk of sanctions. The US will also then lift its counter-blockade of Iranian ports. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, speaking in India, said: “We have made some progress over the last 48 hours working with our partners in the Gulf region on an outline that could ultimately – if it succeeds – leave us not just with a completely open strait … [but also address] some of the key things that underpin what have been Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions in the past.” Challenging the mounting domestic criticism of a deal that in no way meets the US original objectives, Rubio said: “The idea that somehow this president, given everything he has already proven he is willing to do, is going to somehow agree to a deal that ultimately winds up putting Iran in a stronger position when it comes to nuclear ambitions is absurd. “That is just not going to happen. But our preference is to address this through a diplomatic means and that is what we are endeavouring to do here.” News of the potential deal triggered dismay among Republican hawks, who had spent years calling for US military action against Iran, and deriding the 2015 deal to limit Iran’s nuclear enrichment in return for sanctions relief negotiated during the Obama administration. Trump withdrew from that international deal, known as the joint comprehensive plan of action (JCPOA), in 2018. Mike Pompeo, who served as CIA director and secretary of state during Trump’s first term, denounced the current proposed agreement as too close to what Barack Obama’s negotiators had achieved and a boon to the IRGC. “The deal being floated with Iran seems straight out of the Wendy Sherman-Robert Malley-Ben Rhodes playbook: pay the IRGC to build a WMD programme and terrorise the world,” Pompeo wrote on social media, referring to Obama’s chief negotiators. The alternative, Pompeo added, is “straightforward: open the damned strait. Deny Iran access to money. Take out enough Iranian capability so it cannot threaten our allies in the region.” Malley responded: “Not quite the path Wendy, Ben or I would have taken. But if this deal brings an end to an unlawful, unjustifiable war, to the senseless loss of life and destruction and to the cascading global economic fallout, I am quite sure we’d willingly accept it over the alternative.” The White House director of communications, Steven Cheung, was somewhat less diplomatic in his response to the former secretary of state. “Mike Pompeo has no idea what the fuck he’s talking about,” Cheung wrote on X. “He should shut his stupid mouth and leave the real work to the professionals. He’s not read into anything that’s happening, so how would he know.” After the Republican senator Roger Wicker wrote the “rumoured 60-day ceasefire – with the belief that Iran will ever engage in good faith – would be a disaster. Everything accomplished by Operation Epic Fury would be for naught!” Rhodes replied: “Nothing was accomplished by Operation Epic Fury except putting the IRGC in charge of Iran and the strait of Hormuz.” Ted Cruz, the Republican senator for Texas, warned that if the war’s conclusion “is to be an Iranian regime – still run by Islamists who chant “death to America” – now receiving billions of dollars, being able to enrich uranium and develop nuclear weapons, and having effective control over the strait of Hormuz, then that outcome would be a disastrous mistake”. Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Trump, warned: “If a deal is struck to end the Iranian conflict because it is believed that the strait of Hormuz cannot be protected from Iranian terrorism and Iran still possesses the capability to destroy major Gulf oil infrastructure, then Iran will be perceived as being a dominate force requiring a diplomatic solution.” Additional reporting by Lucy Campbell and Robert Mackey

Trump says he does not make bad deals, but even Republican hawks doubt that now

On 24 May each year, Iranians celebrate a historic victory in the war with Iraq: the liberation of Khorramshahr in 1982. This year, some were hoping a peace deal looking likely to be signed with the US might mark a similar turning point in their country’s history. Last minute disagreements meant it looked unlikely a final Pakistani memorandum would be signed as hoped for on Sunday, but what seems clear is that the US has accepted it cannot achieve through war what it set out to do when it began the conflict on 28 February in terms of forcing Iran to make concessions over its nuclear programme. Instead, the US has apparently had to promise to unfreeze billions of Iranian assets upfront, handing them over to a regime that is more hardline than the one that entered the war. In return, the strait of Hormuz will gradually be reopened and commercial traffic will return to prewar levels, releasing the chokehold on the world economy. So, Iran receives its assets in return for restoring the prewar status quo. The amount of assets and the timing of their dispersal may turn on the concessions it gives on the nuclear file, especially its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. It was disagreement on this that triggered one of the last-minute hitches that held up a deal on Sunday, since Iran is insisting the nuclear talks cannot start with such inbuilt commitments. Donald Trump insists he does not make bad deals, and says this is not one. But both Democrats and Republican hawks have spent 48 hours challenging that assessment. Ben Rhodes, the Obama-era foreign policy adviser, put it pithily: “Nothing was accomplished by Operation Epic Fury [the US-Israeli war on Iran] except putting the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] in charge of Iran and the strait of Hormuz”. Ali Vaez, director of the Iran Project at the Crisis Group, said: “DC’s Iran hawks got two wars, nearly every conceivable sanction designation, a blockade, threw a wrench in the global economy and will still claim that just a little more pressure and a touch more bombing will magically yield the concessions they still won’t be satisfied with.” Trita Parsi from the Quincy thinktank argued Trump has merely managed to negotiate his way back to the position that was supposed to hold when the original ceasefire was announced, before that ceasefire was then upended by his decision on 13 April to impose a US blockade of Iran’s ports, leading Iran to reimpose its own de facto blockade. In short, Trump, expending billions of dollars, has so far progressed no further on the nuclear issues than where he was at the last round of talks in Geneva on 26 February before the war was started. Little wonder Republican hawks such as Ted Cruz warned of a disaster. Iran, in a statement issued by the foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, rejected claims in the US media that Iran had agreed to send enriched uranium abroad or to accept a cap on enrichment for 10 years. He said Iran was only willing to discuss these issues within a 60-day time frame, hardly an advance on the position in Geneva. That does not mean Iran rules out concessions in this area, as Trump assured a nervous Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in talks on Saturday, but that this goal will now have to be achieved through diplomacy, not military force. Similarly, Israel’s agenda about Iran’s missiles, drones and proxies has been deferred. Indeed, the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, insisted the talks will show Iran is willing to prove to the west it is not seeking a nuclear weapon. The process of reaching agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme is laborious and technical, but it is achievable, especially if Iran does not believe it is negotiating under military duress. But the abandonment of the military route at least for now would be a blow to Netanyahu in an election year. It also comes at a time when support for Israel within the US has eroded severely across nearly every demographic group except older Republican voters. Israel is nevertheless resisting aspects of the memorandum, especially the Lebanon ceasefire framework. Israel is pushing Washington to include language allowing it to carry out military operations in Lebanon under the justification of responding to “any threat”.” Iran is rejecting that formulation and insisting on a sustainable and lasting ceasefire. Nor is every aspect of the future governance of the strait of Hormuz agreed. Iran and Oman are in discussions about the role of a Persian Gulf strait authority, but Oman is unlikely to back the idea of tolls, and Iran may find its newfound weapon is a diminishing asset.

Republican lawmakers warn of ‘disastrous mistake’ as Trump nears deal with Iran

Republican hawks have issued a rare rebuke of Donald Trump over his planned peace deal with Iran, describing it as a “disaster” and questioning why the US president launched the war in the first place. Allies of Trump who strongly backed his controversial decision to order war on Iran alongside Israel urged him to “hold the line” this weekend, despite mounting economic costs and no sign of progress on many of the the initial objectives set out by his administration. With the Iranian government apparently in jubilant mood, members of Trump’s own party responded furiously to reports that a proposed deal contained major concessions from Washington. Roger Wicker, who chairs the Senate armed services committee, said the “rumored 60-day ceasefire” would be a “disaster” in a post on social media. “Everything accomplished by Operation Epic Fury would be for naught,” he added. After suggesting on Saturday that a deal was within reach, Trump seemed to row back on Sunday morning, after the angry response from some corners of his party. Talks were progressing in an “orderly and constructive” manner, the president insisted, adding: “I have informed my representatives not to rush into a deal in that time is on our side.” Stressing that a “good and proper” deal was on the way, he later claimed “nobody has seen it” in a bid to quell criticism. “It isn’t even fully negotiated yet,” he said. “So don’t listen to the losers, who are critical about something they know nothing about.” Trump had claimed on Saturday that a memorandum of understanding to end the war had been “largely negotiated” and was waiting to be finalized. The US president said on his Truth Social platform that the agreement would include opening of the strait of Hormuz, a crucial chokepoint for global trade, which Iran has effectively shut since the US and Israel started the war in February. But the US president did not mention Iran’s nuclear program and highly enriched uranium, despite repeatedly insisting that Tehran renounce any nuclear ambitions was a “red line” in negotiations to end the war. Iranian officials have sought to negotiate those matters at a later date. The peace draft includes a 60-day ceasefire extension, during which the strait of Hormuz would be reopened, according to Axios. Iran would agree to clear mines it deployed in the strait and allow ships to pass freely, and in exchange, the US would lift its naval blockade on Iranian ports. During that time Iran would also be able to freely sell oil and negotiations would be held on the nuclear issue. The apparent concessions from Washington have triggered alarm among several Republican foreign policy hawks. Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Trump, warned: “If a deal is struck to end the Iranian conflict because it is believed that the strait of Hormuz cannot be protected from Iranian terrorism and Iran still possesses the capability to destroy major Gulf oil infrastructure, then Iran will be perceived as being a dominate force requiring a diplomatic solution.” The perception of Iran being able to “terrorize” the strait of Hormuz, and its ability to damage oil infrastructure across the Gulf, amounts to a “major shift of the balance of power in the region and over time will be a nightmare for Israel”, Graham argued. “Also, it makes one wonder why the war started to begin with if these perceptions are accurate,” he added, stressing the need for the US to “get this right”. Tom Cotton, who chairs the Senate intelligence committee reposted Graham’s comments, while Texas senator Ted Cruz said he was “deeply concerned” by reports about the emerging agreement. “If the result of all that is to be an Iranian regime – still run by Islamists who chant ‘death to America’ – now receiving billions of dollars, being able to enrich uranium & develop nuclear weapons, and having effective control over the Strait of Hormuz, then that outcome would be a disastrous mistake,” Cruz wrote on X. Trump, he said, “should continue to hold the line, defend America & enforce the red lines he has repeatedly drawn”. Responding to a Trump supporter who criticized his position, and said “no one asked” for his opinion, Cruz replied that “young political grifters pushing Iran appeasement are not remotely helping the President.” Criticizing Trump’s agenda often prompts a swift backlash from the president and his senior officials. In a second statement on Sunday, Senator Graham hailed a “brilliant proposal by President Trump”, suggesting that several countries in the Middle East could join the Abraham accords, diplomatic agreements brokered in 2020 in which several Arab nations agreed to recognize Israel. “It is a brilliant move by President Trump,” declared Graham, publicly warning countries including Saudi Arabia that failure to join the accords would be a “major miscalculation”. Mike Pompeo, who served as secretary state and CIA director under the first Trump administration, sharply criticized the deal being floated as “not remotely America First”. In a harsh post on X, he compared the terms to the those of the 2015 nuclear agreement negotiated by the Obama administration, which Trump later abandoned, and has long chastised. “It’s straightforward,” Pompeo claimed. “Open the damned strait. Deny Iran access to money. Take out enough Iranian capability so it cannot threaten our allies in the region. Overdue. Let’s go.” Trump’s current secretary of state, Marco Rubio, hailed “significant” progress on Sunday. “I do think perhaps there is the possibility that in the next few hours the world will get some good news,” Rubio told reporters during a diplomatic visit to India.

Lion’s aid: blood ice lollies keep big cats cool at London zoo

A hot bank holiday weekend might see humans flock to the beach, don summer hats and crack open a cold beer, but when it comes to keeping big cats cool, zoos turn to a rather different treat: blood lollies. While experts note habitats within zoos are carefully tuned to their inhabitants’ needs, with areas of shade, water, sun and mud as appropriate, animals have tactics of their own to cope with the heat. Chester zoo says miniature wallabies called dusky pademelons use evaporative cooling by licking their wrists – as the saliva evaporates, the blood within the vessels close to the skin is cooled. Meanwhile, aardvarks and African crested porcupines opt for subterranean shelter from the heat. “As temperatures soar, many of the animals find their own ways of keeping cool in the sunshine,” said Dr Nick Davis, the mammals general manager at Chester zoo. “The likes of the eastern black rhinos and capybaras will cool off by submerging themselves in mud wallows, while big cats such as Sumatran tigers and jaguars, and other species like Asian elephants and Humboldt penguins, might beat the heat by taking a dip in their pools,” said Davis. Indeed, while such birds might be expected to struggle in the heat, Humboldt penguins – which originate from coastal regions of Peru and Chile – are actually well equipped for warm climes, with body adaptations including bare patches around their face and a bill through which heat can escape. But they also receive a little help: as well as boasting the largest penguin pool in England, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) notes the habitat at London zoo includes misting systems and fans that can be used to cool the surrounding air as temperatures soar. Lions and Sumatran tigers might also be expected to cope well as the mercury rises – but that doesn’t mean they don’t get some special attention. Among the treats they can expect at London zoo are frozen blood-based ice blocks, which are often spiced or contain an edible treat. According to ZSL, the approach not only cools the big cats but encourages natural investigative and hunting behaviours. Other species can also look forward to a cooling snack. “Sometimes our keepers deliver special fruit and vegetable ice lollies to the chimps, bears and red pandas, while animals including the greater one-horned rhinos may be given a refreshing shower,” said Davis, while ZSL noted gorillas at London zoo receive ice blocks made from sugar-free fruit teas. Angela Ryan, ZSL’s head of zoological operations, said the key thing is to make sure every animal can choose what works for them. “Some will head straight for pools or shaded spots, while others really enjoy things like misting or frozen treats as a way to cool down,” she said. “A lot of our species are actually built for warm weather anyway, so it’s not about over-intervening – it’s about making sure they’ve got the right options, and we’re watching closely so they stay comfortable.”