Anjana Sankar

Roving reporter based in Abu Dhabi. Reports on conflicts, crises and geopolitics . IWMF 2024 Neuffer Fellow; Bylines @AFP @TheIndependent @TheBostonGlobe @NYT

[NCEMA UAE @NCEMAUAE]

الهيئة الوطنية لإدارة #الطوارئ_والأزمات والكوارث والهيئة الاتحادية للهوية والجنسية والجمارك وأمن المنافذ @UAEICP تعلنان إجراءات احترازية إضافية للقادمين من عدد من الدول في إطار تعزيز الجاهزية للتعامل مع فيروس إيبولا.

[Open Source Intel @Osint613]

Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman on why he stayed silent through the energy crisis:

“For me, to be silent is an admission, a humble admission of the fact that I don’t know what will happen.”

“Not tomorrow, or even in half an hour’s time. So if you don’t know what will happen, you might as well be humble enough to say I don’t know it.”

“If you don't know it, be silent. Being silent is a form of talking.”

[Anjana Sankar @Asankar]

We are once again trapped in the same vicious cycle of escalation.

The talks are stalled. The Strait of Hormuz remains shut. The United States is striking Iranian ports and enforcing a naval blockade. Iran is retaliating by targeting Gulf countries. Israel continues to bomb Lebanon. Hezbollah continues to attack northern Israel. Meanwhile, negotiations continue between Israel and the Lebanese government. Is the military action shaping the talks or the talks shaping the military action?

[Anjana Sankar @Asankar]

It is horrible, such brutal attacks on civilian targets.

[Joyce Karam @Joyce_Karam]

KUWAIT: Horrible scenes from Kuwait International Airport after #Iran drone and missile attack hit terminal. At least one killed, 8 injured, flights suspended

[Anjana Sankar @Asankar]

June 3, 2026: Everything you need to know about the Middle East now:

- Iran launched a major missile and drone attack on Kuwait early Wednesday, striking Kuwait International Airport. Kuwaiti authorities confirmed one person was killed and several buildings, including diplomatic facilities, were damaged.

- Kuwait's General Directorate of Civil Aviation has suspended all commercial flights "until further notice" as the airspace remains closed.

- Bahrain also came under attack overnight, with multiple explosions heard across the country as sirens sounded.

- Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB claimed strikes hit both Camp Arifjan and Ali Al-Salem Airbase in Kuwait. Iran state media also said attack targeted headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet. CENTCOM denied the claim.

- Iran also struck targets against Iranian-Kurdish opposition groups near Erbil in northern Iraq, according to reports.

- The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said American forces fired a Hellfire missile into the engine room of a Botswana-flagged commercial tanker that attempted to reach Iran’s Kharg Island.

- The US forces also struck military command centres near Iran's Qeshm Island, which the CENTCOM said were 'self-defense strikes.'

- Anwar Gargash, adviser to the United Arab Emirates president, said Gulf countries should take a firm stand against repeated Iranian aggression. “No Gulf state should be left to face these attacks alone,” Gargash wrote on X.

- In Southern Lebanon, Israel launched more deadly attacks even as US officials said on Wednesday that talks between Lebanese and Israeli delegations in Washington were progressing positively.
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[د. أنور قرقاش @AnwarGargash]

في ظل العدوان الإيراني المتكرر على دولة الكويت ومملكة البحرين الشقيقتين، لا بد من موقف خليجي صلب وموحد ومتماسك. فلا يجوز أن تُترك أي دولة خليجية تواجه الاستهداف منفردة، فيما أمن دول الخليج العربي مترابط، ومصالحها مشتركة، ومصيرها واحد.

هذا العدوان لا يستهدف دولة بعينها، بل يستهدفنا جميعا.

[Anjana Sankar @Asankar]

Trump's version suggests he pressured Netanyahu into backing down. Netanyahu's version suggests Israel's position remains unchanged and that military action against Beirut remains on the table. Both of them are telling different stories about the same call.

[Trey Yingst @TreyYingst]

Hezbollah rockets and drones are raining down on northern Israel.

[Anjana Sankar @Asankar]

Iran has suspended all diplomatic communication and messages with the United States, according to Tasnim news agency. This is in response to Israel’s military escalation in Lebanon.

That means Trump has profoundly underestimated how central Lebanon ceasefire is for Iran in any deal with the US.

[خبرگزاری تسنیم - خبر فوری @Tasnimbrk]

فوری | ایران تبادل پیام با آمریکا را در اعتراض به جنایات صهیونیست‌ها متوقف می‌کند

عزم نیروهای مسلح ایران و تمام محورهای جبهه مقاومت برای واکنش به جنایات صهیونیستها و گشودن جبهه‌های جدید

[Anjana Sankar @Asankar]

Iran is reasserting its demand that any ceasefire agreement with the US must include Lebanon. Meanwhile, Netanyahu has ordered troops to push further deep into Lebanon.
Wonder how Trump is gonna react.

[Abdulla M Alhamed @AMB_Alhamed]

الاعتداءات الإيرانية على دولة الكويت الشقيقة، إرهابية وغادرة وجبانة وتجسد نهجاً مرفوضاً، وخرقاً جسيماً للقانون الدولي وميثاق الأمم المتحدة.. تمادي عدواني مستمر يتجاوز كونه انتهاكاً سافراً لسيادة الكويت الشقيقة وضرباً بالأعراف الدولية عرض الحائط، ليصبح تهديداً مباشراً للاستقرار الإقليمي ككل.. من الإمارات، نعلنها بيقينٍ لا يهتز: نحن مع الكويت قلباً وقالباً، فأمننا نسيج واحد، ومصيرنا خط أحمر لا يقبل المساس، وسنبقى معاً درعاً لحماية السلم والبناء.

[Seyed Abbas Araghchi @araghchi]

For immediate attention:

The ceasefire between Iran and the US is unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon.

Its violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts.

The US and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any violation.

[Amena Bakr @Amena__Bakr]

Iran and Oman have the right to exercise sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and arrangements for managing shipping traffic won’t be temporary, Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi tells Iranian state TV in an interview #OOTT

[Seyed Abbas Araghchi @araghchi]

للتنبيه العاجل:
وقف إطلاق النار بين إيران والولايات المتحدة يُعدّ، من دون أي لبس، وقفاً شاملاً لإطلاق النار في جميع الجبهات، بما في ذلك لبنان.
وإن انتهاك هذا الوقف في أي من الجبهات يُعد انتهاكاً له في جميع الجبهات.
وتتحمل الولايات المتحدة وإسرائيل مسؤولية تبعات أي انتهاك للهدنة.

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

🇮🇷🇱🇧 Iran is drawing a hard line: no deal gets done without a Lebanon ceasefire.

FM spokesman Baghaei said it plainly, a Lebanon ceasefire is an inseparable part of any final agreement to end the war.

He said that both the U.S. and Israel are committing ceasefire violations in the region.

Iran "will not hesitate to take any action deemed necessary" to defend its national security.

[Anjana Sankar @Asankar]

The Middle East Brief | June 1, 2026

- Kuwait said its air defence systems intercepted hostile missiles and drones as sirens sounded across the country on Monday morning. It is the second such attack on Kuwait in a week.

-The US Central Command said it carried out "self-defence strikes" on two Iranian command-and-control sites in the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend after accusing Iran of hostile actions, including the downing of a US MQ-1 drone.

- Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it targeted a US air base used in attacks on southern Iran. Iran's Fars News Agency said the strike was in retaliation for an attack on a telecommunications tower on Sirik Island in Hormozgan province.

- Iran's military said it has reopened nearly 50 of the 69 tunnel entrances damaged in US and Israeli strikes on underground missile facilities. Satellite imagery reviewed by CNN reportedly showed bulldozers and dump trucks being used to clear and restore access to the sites.

- Iranian state-affiliated media denied reports that President Masoud Pezeshkian had submitted his resignation. The president later released a video showing him in office, apparently aimed at quashing the rumours.

- The United States has proposed a new phased de-escalation plan between Israel and Lebanon. Under the proposal, Hezbollah would halt attacks on Israel while Israel would refrain from expanding military operations in Beirut.

- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he had ordered Israeli forces to push further into Lebanon in operations against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, despite a ceasefire announced more than six weeks ago.

- More than 3,370 people have been killed and 1.2 million displaced by the conflict in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese government.

- Iran has restored gas production at three offshore platforms in the South Pars gas field after Israeli strikes disrupted operations at several onshore processing facilities, according to state media.

- Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf said Tehran does not trust the promises of its adversaries and will not approve any agreement unless it is certain that the rights of the Iranian people are protected.

- The IRGC said 28 vessels, including oil tankers, container ships and commercial cargo vessels, transited the Strait of Hormuz over the past 24 hours in coordination with the IRGC Navy.

[Anjana Sankar @Asankar]

The United Arab Emirates carried out dozens of airstrikes against Iran beginning in the early days of the war and continuing through the day after the cease-fire was announced, a deeper involvement than was previously known.

[The Wall Street Journal @WSJ]

Exclusive: The United Arab Emirates carried out dozens of airstrikes against Iran beginning in the early days of the war, a deeper involvement than was previously known https://t.co/v5bwrMLKEd

[Anjana Sankar @Asankar]

At this point, unless a signed memorandum of understanding is officially released by both Iran and the United States, any discussion about a deal remains speculative. Until there is a published text, we are dealing with possibilities, not facts.

[Anjana Sankar @Asankar]

May 29, 2026 The Middle East Brief:

- United States and Iran have reached an agreement on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to extend the ceasefire for 60 days to allow for formal negotiations, according to White House Sources. But Trump is yet to sign off on the MoU.

- Iran says the text of the MoU has not yet been finalised or confirmed.

- The potential deal would lift restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz and start a 60-day negotiation period on Iran’s nuclear program.

- Trump has threatened to “blow up” Oman if it tried to control the Strait and be part of a joint mechanism Iran said it is discussing.

- The US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that he received assurances from Oman that it does not plan to toll the Strait of Hormuz. He had earlier warned Oman that the US will aggressively target any actors directly or indirectly facilitating tolls for the Strait.

- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has directed Israel’s military to take over 70% of Gaza’s territory. Currently, Israel controls around 60 per cent of Gaza.

- The United Nations has added Israel to the blacklist of perpetrators of sexual violence in conflict zones, along with Hamas and ISIS. The Israeli mission to the UN said it will cut off ties with the UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres.

- Pakistan said its Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar will meet with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, DC on Friday to discuss regional tension.

- Lebanese and Israeli military officials will hold their first security talks later today in Washington, DC as Israel continues to bomb Southern Lebanon.

- The European Union has sanctioned extremist Israeli settlers responsible for serious human rights abuses against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

- Yemen's former president, Abdrabu Mansur Hadi, who was driven into exile after the civil war erupted during his rule, has died aged 80.

[Anjana Sankar @Asankar]

United States and Iran have an agreement to have an agreement on issues they will never have an agreement.