May 26: Leader urges Muslim unity as Iran reports US truce violations and downs MQ-9

By Press TV Website Staff

In his Hajj message on Tuesday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei called on Muslim nations to deepen cooperation in shaping a new regional and global order, declaring the end of the American era.

Meanwhile, Iran strongly condemned new ceasefire violations by the United States, as the country's armed forces warned of heavier retaliation following fresh American strikes near Bandar Abbas and the downing of a US MQ-9 drone by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps' (IRGC) air defense systems.

Separately, Iranian officials outlined the required steps for any agreement to end the US-led war of aggression against the Islamic Republic, even as Israeli attacks continued in southern Lebanon on Tuesday. 

Key developments on day 88 of the war, the forty-eighth day of the ceasefire:

• In his Hajj message, Leader of the Islamic Revolution urged Muslim countries to deepen cooperation and shape a new regional and global order away from American dominance that has now ended.
• President Masoud Pezeshkian called for greater unity and cooperation among Muslim countries, saying solidarity across the Islamic world is essential to confronting threats and crises in West Asia.
• Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi, a senior spokesperson for the country's armed forces, warned of “heavier and more severe” counterattacks in the event of a new aggression by the United States and the Israeli regime, saying the country has renewed its target bank and is ready for war
• Iran's foreign ministry condemned in the strongest terms "flagrant and unjustified" ceasefire violations by the United States in the Strait of Hormuz. The foreign ministry warned that Washington's true behaviour has been exposed once again and that no act of aggression will go unanswered.
• US forces launched unprovoked strikes on sites in southern Iran late on Monday, targeting areas near the strategic port city of Bandar Abbas, according to reports from American media outlets that even the aggressors themselves were forced to acknowledge.
• The IRGC said its air defense units intercepted and shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Persian Gulf, warning that any violation of the ceasefire by the United States will be met with a severe response.
• According to a statement released by the IRGC Navy Public Relations Department on Tuesday, 25 ships, including oil tankers, container ships and other commercial vessels, successfully transited the Strait of Hormuz during the past 24 hours after obtaining permission and receiving comprehensive security coordination and protection from the IRGC Navy.
• Brigadier General Seyed Majid Ibn Reza, Iran’s acting Defence Minister, said the country made breakthroughs in air defence technology during the joint US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran, enabling its armed forces to target more than 200 enemy aircraft.
• Chairman of Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Ebrahim Azizi said the United States must take five necessary confidence-building steps before it can reach any agreement with Iran, emphasising that there will be no deal without such measures.
• The steps include an end to the war on all fronts, particularly in Lebanon, with guarantees that the war will not be repeated; the lifting of the naval blockade; acceptance of Iranian arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz; the suspension of oil sanctions; and the release of Iran’s blocked assets.
• A new report stated the issue of Iran's frozen assets remains a key sticking point in the talks between Tehran and Washington, and that negotiations cannot proceed without the release of these funds. 
• A ringleader of a Mossad spy network convicted of collaborating with the Israeli intelligence service and carrying out multiple sabotage and terrorist operations inside and outside the country was executed, the Iranian judiciary announced.
• Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) chief Aleksandr Bortnikov warned that Western intelligence agencies are planning to use Daesh-affiliated Takfiri militants in Syria as a proxy force against Iran.
• The Israeli occupation military expanded its attacks in southern Lebanon, stepping up air and ground operations across the region.
• At least 17 civilians were killed in a series of Israeli artillery and aerial strikes against multiple locations in southern Lebanon, as the regime’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, ordered the military to intensify offensives against the Arab country.
• Two Israeli cabinet ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, openly called for cutting electricity supplies to Lebanon, seizing the Zahrani River, and demolishing dozens of buildings in Beirut, in a brazen display of the illegal entity’s inherent aggression and desperation.
• The Lebanese Islamic resistance movement Hezbollah fighters destroyed two Israeli army Merkava tanks and struck multiple enemy positions and troop gatherings in southern Lebanon in a series of military operations.
• Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif asserted opposition to his country's normalising relations with the Israeli regime after US President Donald Trump called on regional states to enter rapprochement deals with Tel Aviv.

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