Benjamin Netanyahu will seek re-election this year, his party announced on Wednesday, after U.S. President Donald Trump said he wasn't sure if the Israeli prime minister would stand again.

In a brief statement, Netanyahu's Likud Party said he would run in the election and, God willing, he would win. The election has not yet been formally announced but must be held by October.

Earlier, ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl posted on X that Trump had told him he did not know if Netanyahu would stand.

"I don't know, he's had an amazing career. Does he want to continue?" the journalist quoted Trump as saying.

The Israeli election will be the first since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, the country's worst security failure, which precipitated Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu has faced a tumultuous term since returning to power in December 2022 at the helm of the most right-wing coalition in Israeli history. He faced mass anti-government protests before the wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.

America's position was not this weak until recently; in fact, it was riding high. Then it chose to make all the wrong choices, and turned into a 'superpower' no one takes seriously anymore.

Gold fell to an 11-week low on Wednesday, as oil prices rose on renewed hostilities between the US and Iran, fuelling concerns about inflation and interest rate hikes.

Spot gold was down 1.3% at $4,206.08 per ounce by 0558 GMT, after hitting its lowest level since March 23. US gold futures for August delivery shed 1.4% to $4,228.

"We're seeing a kind of readjustment broadly in what global central banks are going to do, and there's been a major hawkish shift," said Ilya Spivak, head of global macro at Tastylive. 

The United States on Tuesday launched strikes against Iran after President Donald Trump said Tehran had shot down a US Apache helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they retaliated with attacks against a U.S. base in Jordan and 21 other targets in the Gulf on Wednesday.

Vibhav Altekar is a highly accomplished perception engineer with expertise in the field of autonomous systems and maritime technology.

Two crew members of the US Army’s Apache helicopter, which was downed near the Strait of Hormuz, were rescued by a drone boat developed by a Texas-based company with Indian-American Vibhav Altekar as a co-founder.

The rescue operation by the drone boat Corsair, developed by Saronic Technologies, was the first of its kind mission to be carried out by the US Armed Forces, which have been using aerial unmanned vehicles for quite some time.

It was the first US rescue carried out by an autonomous surface vessel, remotely piloted by a human operator, the Central Command spokesman, Captain Tim Hawkins, said on Tuesday.

The 24-foot-long Corsair runs on diesel fuel and can travel at speeds of up to 35 knots. It can carry a load of up to 1,000 pounds and has a range of more than 1,000 nautical miles.

According to Iran’s IRNA news agency, the Islamic Republic's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, held separate phone calls with his counterparts in Saudi Arabia and Türkiye.

He, according to the report, informed them about the latest regional developments following the US attacks on areas in southern Iran.

During these conversations, Araghchi condemned the US military aggression and the violation of Iran’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Inflows into India's equity mutual funds moderated to the lowest in a year in May as uncertainty over a U.S.-Iran peace deal prompted investors to reduce allocations across segments.

Equity mutual fund inflows declined 40% month-on-month to 229.08 billion rupees ($2.40 billion) in May, data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India showed on Wednesday. Inflows into small-cap, mid-cap and large-cap funds fell 28.2%, 33.2% and 36.9%, respectively.

"The lower inflows is due to extreme volatility in the markets as crude hovers around $100 a barrel, which has prompted near-term caution among investors," said Venkat Chalasani, chief executive of AMFI.

The United Arab Emirates has allied with multiple Western and regional nations to voice serious apprehensions regarding Iran's nuclear programme and its compliance failures with international inspectors.

Detailing the joint diplomatic action in a post on X, the UAE Mission to the UN stated that the country "joined Bahrain, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Latvia, the UK, US and EU in a press stakeout that underscored their longstanding and serious concerns regarding Iran's nuclear programme, as well as its persistent failure to comply with its safeguards obligations and fully cooperate with the IAEA."

This joint diplomatic manifestation preceded a crucial session of the United Nations Security Council's oversight body.

The meeting was notably convened against the backdrop of direct military actions initiated by Tehran across the region.

Elaborating on the critical timing of the session, the UAE Mission noted in its post that the "meeting of the Security Council's 1737 sanctions committee takes place following Iran's egregious attacks against its neighbours with thousands of drones and ballistic missiles."

If Iran accepts this demand, along with the other three conditions being discussed, it would be a much stricter arrangement than the nuclear deal reached in 2015.

The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah's rocket launcher sites in southern Lebanon’s Tyre region and several other locations. It also said that it destroyed “infrastructure” necessary for the launch of attack drones.

Six sites were attacked by the military in Tyre while “loaded and ready-to-launch launchers” were struck elsewhere in the south, it said.

The House of Representatives voted in favor of a war powers resolution on June 4 and the Senate advanced a separate, but similar, resolution in a procedural vote on May 19 as a handful of Republicans broke with party leadership to vote with almost every Democrat.

The Jordanian military has said its air defence systems have intercepted five Iranian missiles that were targeting the Al-Azraq area in the country’s Zarqa province.

According to the statement, the midair interceptions resulted in falling debris but caused no casualties or property damage.

Iran has said that overnight US strikes on its territory hit two water storage tanks in the coastal town of Sirik, disrupting water access for residents across the coastal city.

Iran's proxy force Hezbollah has said it launched a series of drone, missile, and rocket attacks targeting Israeli military personnel, armoured vehicles, and command posts across southern Lebanon.

According to Hezbollah's statement, the group targeted gatherings of Israeli soldiers and armour in the Lebanese towns of Biyyada, Rachaf, al-Qawzah, and Qantara.

Following the new wave of attacks, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the US had chosen to "test" Tehran's "determination" and the Iranian armed forces would "leave no attack or threat unanswered".

Iran War: Iranian Foreign Minister said Iran's armed forces would respond to any attack or threat and added that "intruding outsiders" in the Persian Gulf have faced dire consequences in history.

The sea drone - a 24-foot Saronic Corsair autonomous surface vessel - is reportedly powered by artificial intelligence (AI).

Bahrain’s Interior Ministry alerted its people, for the second time in the past hour, to “remain calm and head to the nearest safe place”.

Iran’s IRGC has announced that its Aerospace Force launched long-range, solid-fuel missiles at an airbase in Jordan, which hosts US military personnel. According to the IRGC, its missiles hit and destroyed four critical targets at the base, including F-35 fighter jet hangars and a primary command and control centre.

The IRGC claim it hit 21 targets at various US air and naval bases across the region, as well as the downing of a US MQ-9 drone over Iranian airspace.

The IRGC also warned that its forces remain fully prepared to deliver a “crushing and decisive” response to any subsequent US military actions and that Washington would bear full responsibility for the consequences of further escalation.

Kuwaiti air defences opened fire Wednesday as the small Middle East nation came under attack from Iran. Iran had said it targeted the nation to retaliate over American airstrikes earlier Wednesday morning.

Iran also claimed attacks targeting Bahrain and Jordan. Tehran had vowed to respond after the U.S. launched airstrikes on Iran following the crash of an Army helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump said earlier on social media that Iran had shot down the aircraft while it was on patrol over the strait.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Wednesday they had struck four targets at a US base in Jordan, as Tehran pressed its attack in response to fresh US strikes over the downing of a helicopter.

Iranian forces "targeted and destroyed four major targets, including F35 fighter nests at an air base and the US child-killing military control command centre in Al-Azraq, Jordan", the Guards said in a statement quoted by state-run IRNA, adding that they were carried out by "long-range missiles". (AFP)

The Palau-flagged tanker was hit by a missile after it tried to evade the US blockade of Iranian ports on Monday.

Following the new wave of attacks, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the US had chosen to "test" Tehran's "determination" and the Iranian armed forces would "leave no attack or threat unanswered".