Reuters reports that Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has confirmed that Israel will attend a US-led conference in Bahrain next week on proposals for the Palestinian economy. The US has billed the gathering as a workshop to boost the Palestinian economy and part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel will send a business delegation but no government officials to the workshop, which is being boycotted by the Palestinian leadership.

BBC News, Reuters and the Guardian report that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has unveiled a new settlement in the occupied Golan Heights, named after US President Donald Trump. At a naming ceremony on Sunday, Netanyahu said ‘Trump Heights’ honoured Trump for his decision to recognise Israeli sovereignty over the territory. Building work has yet to begin but a sign bearing Trump’s name and US and Israeli flags was unveiled. Critics called the move a publicity stunt with no legal authority. US Ambassador David Friedman, who attended the ceremony, called the settlement “well deserved, but much appreciated”.

BBC News, the Independent and Reuters report that Sara Netanyahu has admitted to misuse of state funds and will pay $15,000 (£11,910). Netanyahu was accused of spending $99,300 on outside catering while falsely declaring there were no cooks available at the Prime Minister’s residence. She was charged with fraud and breach of trust last year. Her lawyer said the case was an attempt to bring down her husband. She will have a criminal record though the charges she faced were reduced, the Jerusalem Post reported. Prosecutor Erez Padan said that the prosecution had made “significant concessions” that led to a “balanced and right plea deal.”

BBC News, the Guardian, Independent, Financial Times and Reuters report that Saudi Arabia has blamed Iran for the Gulf of Oman incident which has raised fears of a broader confrontation in the region and called for swift action to secure Gulf energy supplies. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman says his country “won’t hesitate” to tackle any threats. “We do not want a war in the region… but we won’t hesitate to deal with any threat to our people, our sovereignty, our territorial integrity and our vital interests,” bin Salman told the pan-Arab daily newspaper Asharq al-Awsat.

The Guardian and Reuters report that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has stated that the US does not want to go to war with Iran following the Gulf of Oman incident. Pompeo reiterated that the US believes it was “unmistakable” that Iran was responsible for the attacks, in an interview with Fox News on Sunday. He stressed a need for diplomacy and said American officials are reaching out to their foreign counterparts. Pompeo said intelligence officials have “lots of data, lots of evidence” tying Iran to alleged attacks on two oil tankers traveling near the Strait of Hormuz, a transit route for Arab oil shipments to Asia. He said that Washington will guarantee free navigation through vital shipping areas: “The United States is going make sure that we take all the actions necessary, diplomatic and otherwise that achieve that outcome”.

The Telegraph and Reuters report that Iran has vowed to scale back its nuclear commitments following the Gulf of Oman incident. The semi-official Tasneem news agency said Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation would on Monday announce the measures Tehran has taken to dial back its international obligations under the terms of the now-crumbling 2015 nuclear deal. Those measures include moves to increase both stocks of enriched uranium and the production of heavy water at the Arak nuclear complex, a site Iran has barred international watchdogs from visiting since 2008. Both measures would nullify some of the key tenets of the nuclear accord, which offered economic incentives in exchange for the cessation of activities that might lead Tehran to build a nuclear weapons capability.

BBC News and the Independent report that Iran has protested to UK ambassador to Iran Rob Macaire after being accused of involvement in the Gulf of Oman incident. Macaire denied reports that the meeting with a senior Iranian foreign ministry official was a formal diplomatic summons.

The Independent reports that Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned that there is a “great risk” of a drift towards war in the Middle East following the Gulf of Oman incident. The Foreign Secretary said that the government was “almost certain” that Iran was behind last week’s attacks on two oil ships in Gulf of Oman after an assessment by British intelligence services. Hunt claimed the US wanted the dispute to “end in negotiations”. Hunt said: “This is the great risk … Both sides in this dispute think that the other side wouldn’t want a war. We are urging all sides to de-escalate.” He added that the UK had done its ”own intelligence assessment and the phrase we used is almost certain … We don’t believe anyone else could have done this.”

Reuters reports that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has stated that he expected Russian S-400 missile defence systems to start arriving in Turkey in the first half of July, a development set to fuel tensions with NATO ally Washington. The S-400s are not compatible with NATO’s systems and have been a growing source of discord between Turkey and the United States in recent months.

The Financial Times reports that there are increasing divisions within the Trump administration about the US ‘maximum pressure’ campaign with Iran and whether the policy will reduce tensions or potentially lead to military conflict.

Reuters reports that the two oil tankers attacked during the Gulf of Oman incident are being assessed off the UAE coast before their cargos are unloaded. Damage assessment on Japan’s Kokuka Courageous and preparation for ship-to-ship transfer of its methanol cargo would start after authorities in Sharjah, one of the UAE’s seven emirates, complete security checks, Bernhard Schulte Ship management said.

Reuters reports that Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih has stated that OPEC will probably meet in the first week in July in Vienna and that he hoped it would reach consensus on extending its agreement to cut oil output. Falih said earlier this month that OPEC was close to agreeing to extend the agreement beyond June, although more talks were still needed with non-OPEC countries that were part of the production deal. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries plus Russia and other producers, an alliance known as OPEC+, have a deal to cut output by 1.2 million barrels per day. The pact ends this month and the group meets in coming weeks to decide their next move.

In the Financial Times, Nick Butler argues that Iran could attempt to destabilise the oil market and that maintaining the relative stability in oil prices will only be possible if Iranian production remains heavily constrained.

Reuters reports that Intel Corp has launched a project to help start-ups in Israel develop technologies in artificial intelligence and autonomous systems, and said it planned to bring the scheme to other countries as well. The 20-week program, called Ignite, will offer business and technical support to up to 15 start-ups, the California-based company said, adding it would not take equity stakes in the start-ups now, but might do so eventually. Intel is one of the biggest employers and exporters in Israel, where many of its new technologies are developed, and this year said it was investing 40 billion shekels ($11 billion) to expand its manufacturing operations there.

Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post report that US special envoy Jason Greenblatt told the Jerusalem Post conference that the administration may delay the publication of its peace plan to November 2019. Greenblatt said they may have published the blueprint this summer had Israel not called an election. He added that there is a limit to how far Arab states will go with Israel, since they don’t want to sell out the Palestinians. “We are not going to push any country to go further than they are comfortable”

Maariv and Haaretz report the ‘inauguration’ of Trump Heights. Haaretz describes the scene: “In huge gilded letters (what else?), on a piece of synthetic lawn (of course), a large sign was erected in the Golan Heights, as if taken directly from the best of comedy sketches. Ramat Trump, or Trump Heights, will be built here. Even the strong gusts, which made it difficult to put up the scenery, gave this ridiculous event the atmosphere of an Israeli satire – a moment before a variety of government ministers began their comically dramatic march toward the ceremony. We’ll begin at the end. No new community named for US President Donald Trump was actually established on Sunday in the Golan Heights. As even the founder of the Knesset caucus for the Golan, Kahol Lavan MK Zvi Hauser, observed: “Anyone who reads the fine print of the ‘historic’ decision understands that this is a conceptual decision. There is no funding. There is no planning. There is no location and there is really no committed decision. That’s what the ‘Israbluff’” – to borrow a term from Israeli comedy, avoiding a problem with a fictional solution – “of establishing of a new community in the Golan Heights looks like. Salah Shabati at his best,” he added, referring to a 1964 Israeli comedy.

Yediot Ahronoth leads with the report that a few days ago Israel began upgrading the water pipeline to Gaza, unrelated to the security situation, at a cost of several million shekels. The heavy machinery has begun to dig ditches and new pipes have been laid in proximity to the old pipeline. The price for the project is several million shekels; it is being carried out by Mekorot and the Israel Water Authority. After the pipes have been installed, over the next few days, the pipeline will be connected to Gaza’s water system, and from there to faucets in the homes of the Gaza residents.

Maariv leads with Sara Netanyahu’s confession and conviction in a plea bargain agreement. Ben Caspit writes that: “One minute after criminal Sara Netanyahu was convicted of ‘deliberately taking unfair advantage of a mistake without fraud,’ her husband, Benjamin Netanyahu, also took unfair advantage: the Prime Minister exploited the major error of the State Attorney’s Office in serving a diluted indictment against his wife and its consent to a plea bargain agreement to ignore the fact that the Missus had just confessed to a criminal offence, and to attack the justice system of the state that he heads. And this was two days after he deigned to inform us that “all the court’s rulings must be upheld” in wake of the uproar elicited by the comments of his justice minister.” Yossi Verter in Haaretz also slams the Netanyahu family: “Instead of holding his tongue, and thanking the good Lord and the exhausted, hesitant, merciful prosecution for the VIP criminal procedure it granted his wife, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chose the second option, the one close to his heart: Slandering law enforcement and baseless, ridiculous self-pity. ‘Today the hunting season has ended,’ said the Prime Minister about the revelation of the criminal, embarrassing acts by “my Sara,” and her trial that ended with a light punishment.’

Kan Radio reports that Prime Minister Netanyahu is expected to appoint United Right leader Rafi Peretz and MK Bezalel Smotrich as ministers today. They were summoned to a meeting with the Prime Minister this afternoon. Peretz will likely be appointed education minister and Smotrich will be appointed transport minister and minister for strategic affairs. Maariv reports that Netanyahu is prepared to put the transportation portfolio in the hands of Smotrich on condition that the new minister does not cause any commotion with regard to the essential infrastructure work performed by the Transport Ministry on the Sabbath. This type of commotion arises from time to time in the Haredi parties. This time, Netanyahu also wants to ensure quiet from the Union Right. Over the coming few months, a great deal of essential infrastructure work on the Israeli trains is planned, including excavating for the light rail and additional sites. Netanyahu is worried that Smotrich will order a cessation of the work and will generate a public commotion for political reasons at a very inconvenient time for Netanyahu, and this commotion will aid Avigdor Lieberman in continuing to steal voters by means of his anti-Haredi agenda, as long as Netanyahu is regarded as caving in to their demands. As of now, Smotrich has yet to agree to Netanyahu’s terms. Contact between them continues.