Reuters reports that European signatories to the JCPOA nuclear agreement have said they are “extremely concerned” by Iran’s decision to exceed its low enriched uranium limits. “We regret this decision by Iran, which calls into question an essential instrument of nuclear non-proliferation,” the foreign ministers of Germany, France and the UK said in a joint statement with the EU’s High Representative. “We urge Iran to reverse this step and to refrain from further measures that undermine the nuclear deal,” they said. Reuters reports that French President Emmanuel Macron has recalled his “attachment to the full respect of the 2015 nuclear accord and asks Iran to reverse without delay this excess, as well as to avoid all extra measures that would put into question its nuclear commitments”.

Reuters reports that Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Israel is preparing for possible military involvement in any escalation in the Gulf confrontation between Iran and the US. Katz told an international security forum that Iran might accidentally stumble out of what he termed the ‘grey zone’ of contained confrontation. “It should be taken into account that mistaken calculations by the (Iranian) regime […] are liable to bring about a shift from the ‘grey zone’ to the ‘red zone’ – that is, a military conflagration”, he said. “We must be prepared for this, and thus the State of Israel continues to devote itself to building up its military might for the event that it will have to respond to escalation scenarios”.

The Guardian reports that Syria has accused Israel of ‘heinous aggression’ after alleged Israeli airstrikes killed several civilians. Strikes south of Damascus and in Homs province near the border with Lebanon overnight on Sunday killed at least 15 people, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, including at least six civilians. “Israeli authorities are increasingly practising state terrorism,” the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “The latest heinous Israeli aggression falls within the framework of ongoing Israeli attempts to prolong the crisis in Syria”, it added.

The Times reports that Mossad Director Yossi Cohen told a security conference in Israel that Israel has opened a representative office in Oman, reflecting Israel’s growing ties with Gulf Arab states. The Omani foreign ministry said it had not agreed to full diplomatic relations with Israel. It said in a statement: “The sultanate is keen to create diplomatic conditions to restore communication between all international and regional parties to work on achieving peace between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, resulting in an independent Palestinian state.”

Reuters reports that US officials have said the Trump administration still plans to impose sanctions on Turkey and remove it from the F-35 fighter jet programme if the NATO ally acquires the Russian S-400 defence system, despite the Turkish president’s assurances to the contrary. “The United States has consistently and clearly stated that Turkey will face very real and negative consequences if it proceeds with its S-400 acquisition, including suspension of procurement and industrial participation in the F-35 program and exposure to sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA)”, a State Department spokeswoman said.

BBC News, the Guardian, Independent and Reuters report that an air strike in Tripoli has killed at least 40 migrants at a detention centre. Anti-government forces led by warlord General Khalifa Haftar have accused government forces of bombarding it. Most of the dead are believed to be Africans, attempting to reach Europe on clandestine sea crossings from Libya.

The Times reports that US President Donald Trump has vowed to keep a “very strong intelligence presence” in Afghanistan to monitor terrorist activity when US troops withdraw, modifying his campaign promise to withdraw US troops. Describing Afghanistan as a “lab for terrorists”, he said that he had been persuaded by generals to keep some boots on the ground. Trump revealed that the US presence had already been reduced this year from 16,000 to ‘about 9,000’. The 18-year deployment to Afghanistan, which began after the September 11 attacks, has become the longest in US history.

Reuters reports that Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri has postponed a cabinet meeting for 48 hours after two aides of a government minister were killed in a shooting on Sunday. Hariri said the judiciary would take all steps to hold accountable those behind the shooting which the minister, Saleh al-Gharib, has called an attempted assassination. ‘I agreed to head a national unity government, not a national disagreement government. We need 48 hours to clear the air so I decided to postpone the meeting’, Hariri said.

BBC News reports that Princess Haya Bint al-Hussein, a wife of the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum, is in hiding in London and said to be in fear for her life. Sheikh Mohammed has posted a furious poem on Instagram accusing an unidentified woman of ‘treachery and betrayal’. Princess Haya married Sheikh Mohammed in 2004, becoming his sixth and ‘junior wife’.

Reuters reports that Iranian prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for several suspects arrested last year for spying for the US in military and nuclear bodies, state media reported on Tuesday. Iran said in August 2018 it had arrested ‘tens of spies’ in state bodies. In June, Iran said it executed a former contract employee of the defence ministry aerospace body on charges of spying for the CIA.

Reuters reports that Israel will launch a long-awaited tender for 5G mobile networks within two weeks, a government spokesman has claimed. Despite its vibrant tech sector, Israel lags behind countries including South Korea, Switzerland, the UK and Spain that have already started to roll out 5G services. Israel’s Communications Ministry said late last year that it hopes to allocate frequencies by the end of 2019 with 5G networks to commercially launch between 2020 and 2023.

In the Financial Times, Andrew England examines the complex brinkmanship behind Iran’s response to the US ‘maximum pressure’ campaign: the danger is that Iran ‘pushes too hard and accelerates its nuclear activity to the point that Europeans feel they have no choice but to trigger a process that would lead to the re-imposition of UN sanctions’.

All the Israeli media report violent protests last night. Both Yediot Ahronot and Maariv describe the situation as “anarchy”, as cars were set on fire and the demonstrators closed major roads that brought the country to standstill. In the commentary in Yediot Ahronot, Nahum Barnea described the congested traffic scene in Tel Aviv, but also notes: “Over the course of more than two hours I heard just one horn get honked in protest, from deep inside the traffic jam; that says something about the sense of guilt that a lot of Israelis feel today. Perhaps embarrassment and shame are the more accurate words. And that also says something about their attitude towards the establishment. They understand why the demonstrators have no confidence in the police. They don’t have confidence in it either. Why should they? If hard-pressed, one might somehow be able to explain all of the circumstances that led up to the incident individually, but the insufferable series of events that were the circumstances of the incident that culminated in Solomon Tekah’s death says it all. ‘This wasn’t an error—it was policy,’ chanted the demonstrators.” He continues to reflect: “In coping with the absorption of the Ethiopian immigrants, veteran Israelis tend to cling to every positive story they come across: an Ethiopian Israeli IDF officer who completes his training at the top of his class; an Ethiopian Israeli activist who gets elected to Knesset; an Ethiopian Israeli rocket scientist; an Ethiopian Israeli doctor; an Ethiopian Israeli beauty queen. They—we—don’t see the bored teenagers who roam about listlessly on the fringes of the old and stifling neighbourhoods of Rishon Lezion, Kiryat Malachi, Kiryat Haim. They—we—refuse to hear the painful stories that are told by the young men and women from that community who have succeeded, but who undergo painful experiences on a daily basis. The government expects the Ethiopian immigrants to be grateful that it deigned to bring them to Israel, for them to kiss the ground that they walk on and that they vote for it on Election Day…By the nature of things, the police is the state agency that is at the focal points of friction. Police officers are supposed to be colour-blind; that is what they should be trained to be. That task, it turns out, is too much for the police. Time and time again, police officers encounter black teenagers and engage with them in a way that they would never dare to engage with white teenagers. One thing that could have been done was to enlist hundreds of young Ethiopian Israelis into the police. They aren’t any less good than the others; they aren’t any less talented. Their recruitment would have broken the black-white stereotype that police forces in American cities suffer from, and might have prevented the needless death of innocent young men and women.”

Kan news reports Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday called on European states to follow in the footsteps of the US and renew sanctions against Iran. He said that the pressure on Iran should be ramped up at present and that the sanctions needed to be firm. He made his remarks at an event in Jerusalem ahead of the US’s Independence Day.

All the media report on the Labour leadership contest. Maariv includes details from the day noting, “Colour was provided by Stav Shaffir’s supporters, who came in shiny red wigs and orange shirts and never stopped cheering. Shaffir chose to start the day on Rothschild Boulevard, the place where her career began during the large protest of the summer of 2011. But the show was stolen yesterday by Nevo, the young son of MK Itzik Shmuli and his partner Eran. Little Nevo accompanied his parents to Beit Sokolov wearing a shirt on which it said, “I believe in Labour. I believe in Shmuli.”

In other political news, Israel Hayom, Yediot Ahronot and Maariv cover fiery comments made by the head of Yisrael Beteinu, MK Avigdor Lieberman, at the Herzliya conference. Lieberman is quoted saying: “Our goal is to make Israel normal again and not to bring down Netanyahu”. He attacked the religious right-wing, saying: “As for Samotrich, when I look back, I have made quite a few agreements with the National Religious Party, but between Zevulun Hammer and Smotrich there is nothing in common. I hope it will be over and we will see the National Religious Party and not the ultra-Orthodox.” Lieberman also referred to the pre-military preparatory programmes that are run by the national religious camp, saying: “The pre-army preparatory programmes took out a lot of fighters, but today it is developing towards private militias, a sort of phalangist. When I asked students if they would accept an order and the rabbi said otherwise, most of them took 40 seconds to think about what to do. But some said they would not violate the rabbi’s instructions. When I see something like that, it’s dangerous, it cannot be.  When asked, who will be the partners to join in the next government? In order to deal with all the challenges at the same time, we must form a broad government composed of Yisrael Beiteinu, the Likud and Blue and White.” Asked about his preferred candidate for prime minister, he said: “This is a wrong question, precisely because in the State of Israel the government is coalition and there is no direct choice, the right question is which government (you want.) We think that three parties should form the next government and they will formulate the budget framework. We want a normal state and a broad government … I do not agree with anyone, I do not recommend anyone, I see a bad competition between Gantz and Netanyahu – who is more fond of the ultra-Orthodox, who are too long in the government.  It’s always good that a party occasionally sits in the opposition … I have no doubt that Netanyahu is the best speaker in the world on the Iranian issue.  doubt that he is capable of what needs to be done on the practical level, the example of which is the Gaza Strip.  The prime minister prevented any offensive initiative against Hamas, he prefers to maintain quiet at all costs. The State of Israel pays protection to a terrorist organisation.”