The US has launched a fresh round of airstrikes on Iranian cities after President Donald Trump said Tehran would "pay the price" for stalled negotiations. Iran responded with strikes on Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, saying the US action had made the existing ceasefire "practically meaningless". The US attack was more intense than a previous day's operation that Washington described as a "proportional response" to the downing of an Apache helicopter.
Trump accused Iranian negotiators of "playing us for suckers" and told reporters: "We hit them hard yesterday and we're going to hit them hard again today." Talks to turn the truce into a durable peace deal have stalled for weeks. Iran seeks the lifting of international sanctions, the unfreezing of assets and control over the Strait of Hormuz, while Trump insists any deal must prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon, which Iran denies seeking.
The president also caused surprise when, asked about inflation hitting an annual rate of 4.2%, he replied: "No, I love it, the numbers were great … I love the inflation." It was the third consecutive monthly increase since the start of the conflict.
In other developments, Bill Gates told a House committee he had never witnessed nor had any indication that Jeffrey Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct, and supported the release of all Epstein files. Footage emerged that appears to contradict the Israeli military's account of the shooting of a seven-month-old baby in the occupied West Bank. Riots continued in Belfast, while the US recorded more than 2,000 measles cases this year.
