BBC News, the Guardian, Telegraph, Times, Independent and Financial Times report that White House senior adviser Jared Kushner has set out the economic component of the Trump administration’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan at the Bahrain workshop that he says offers the Palestinians a “more prosperous future”. He described the proposals which envisage $50bn (£39bn) being invested in the region over 10 years as “the opportunity of the century”. Kushner confirmed that the US was withdrawing support for the longstanding Arab Peace Initiative: “I think we all have to recognise that if there ever is a deal, it’s not going to be along the lines of the Arab Peace Initiative. It will be somewhere between the initiative and the Israeli position.” Palestinian leaders have rejected the plan and are boycotting the event. President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas has insisted that, before anything else, there has to be a political agreement. The Trump administration is not expected to release the political part of the plan until November, once Israel holds a general election. BBC News and Reuters present an overview of the plan.

BBC News, the Guardian, Telegraph, Independent, Financial Times and Reuters report that US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order imposing fresh sanctions targeting Iranian officials including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in response to recent “aggressive behaviour” by Iran. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has responded by stating that the US is lying about wanting dialogue and that the measures showed the White House was “mentally retarded”.  Trump has lashed out at this “ignorant and insulting statement”, stating that it showed Iran’s leaders “do not understand reality” and once again threatened Iran with “obliteration”. The exchange of insults came as the UK ruled itself out of a war between the two sides. The Independent reports that Trump has claimed he has no “exit strategy” if the US goes to war with Iran.

The Independent reports that Iranian Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, has confirmed that Iran will abandon more JCPOA commitments on 7 July. He said that European signatories to the nuclear deal had not done enough to save it. Reuters reports that French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has warned Iran that a violation of its JCPOA commitments would be a serious mistake and that France, the UK and Germany were making it clear to Tehran that it was not in its interest to do so.

The Guardian reports that Iran’s Foreign Minister has stated that Iran will never pursue a nuclear weapon, saying Islam prevented the country from doing so. Iran has previously said it is ideologically opposed to acquiring nuclear weapons and seeks nuclear power only for civilian purposes.

Reuters reports that US Defence Secretary Mark Esper has stated that he aimed to recruit support from NATO allies for US efforts to deter conflict with Iran and “open the door to diplomacy,” as he made his international debut as Pentagon chief. “We need to internationalise this issue and have our allies and partners work with us to get Iran to come back to the negotiating table,” Esper said shortly before landing in Brussels.

Reuters reports that the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ aerospace division Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh has stated that the US would ‘not dare violate Iranian soil’, according to the semi-official Mehr news agency.

Reuters reports that US Energy Secretary Rick Perry has stated that Saudi Arabia must commit to a broad international monitoring programme of nuclear power facilities if it develops nuclear power reactors with technology from the US.

Reuters reports that MSCI Inc said on Tuesday it would upgrade Kuwaiti equities to its main emerging markets index in 2020, a move that could trigger billions of dollars of inflows from passive funds. The index compiler will include the MSCI Kuwait index in the emerging market index in the May 2020 semi-annual index review.

Reuters presents an overview of the plans and initiatives to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict undertaken since the 1967 Middle East war.

The Guardian editorial argues that the derisive reception for the first stage of the US “peace plan” for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is deserved: “it is clear that the Trump administration hopes to substitute economic incentives for basic rights”.

In the Times, Richard Spencer argues that the economic component of the Trump administration’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan robs Palestinians of their longstanding dream of sovereignty:  ‘whether the five to six million Palestinians living in the West Bank, Gaza and Israel can be ignored so easily is another matter, one often decided on the streets’.

In the Guardian, Martin Chulov argues that the economic component of the Trump administration’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan leaves an agreement seeming further away than ever. The plan does not recognise that a central factor in the slow growth of the Palestinian economy has been the Israeli occupation.

In the Guardian, Ian Black argues that the economic component of the Trump administration’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan is ‘nonsense’ and that Palestinian officials are right to boycott it: ‘the Trump administration is biased toward Israel and economic plan pointedly avoids land rights’.

In the Financial Times, Roula Khalaf argues that starting a diplomatic process between the US and Iran is the only sensible path to de-escalation.

All the Israeli media reports the latest bizarre twist in Israeli politics with Haaretz claiming that Prime Minister Netanyahu wants to call off September’s elections, but the Blue and White party is opposed. According to Israel Hayom, Likud sources suggest that Likud could form a government with Gantz, but without Lapid. Yediot Ahronot reports that Prime Minister Netanyahu was seriously examining Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein’s idea to cancel elections and said that he would examine the proposal in the next few days. Some reports say Netanyahu is behind the dramatic initiative after several internal polls showed that the Likud would be weakened significantly in the next elections and that it would lose seats to Yisrael Beiteinu. Kan news reports a senior Likud source saying Benny Gantz has been offered to alternate with Netanyahu as prime minister to persuade him to agree to cancel elections. The Likud source said that the ball was now in Blue and White’s court. Prime Minister Netanyahu said last night that in the next few days he would examine Knesset Speaker Edelstein’s proposal to repeal the law to dissolve the Knesset.  Edelstein said that the most superfluous elections in the history of the State of Israel must be called off and that dozens of MKs, from all the parties, had spoken to him about that. Blue and White MKs said this was all media spin designed to get the public to forget the fact that Netanyahu failed to form a government and that he then dragged the entire country into unnecessary elections. He is now looking for magic solutions because he realises that he is liable to lose the elections.

Sima Kadmon in Yediot Ahronot says: “Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein has a good sense of humour. When I asked him yesterday whether Netanyahu supported his initiative to repeal the law that dissolved the Knesset, he said: ‘For some reason he didn’t say that he would rule that out,’ and I could hear him smiling on the other end of the phone line. Or, more simply put: who has a greater interest than Netanyahu in having the elections called off? Indeed, not long afterwards, people in Netanyahu’s inner circle began to say that he was seriously weighing Edelstein’s proposal. The problem is that even if Netanyahu has a clear interest in seeing that initiative through,  that doesn’t necessarily mean that the initiative is viable. The opposite might actually be true. There are some people who, when they see Netanyahu pushing for something, immediately deduce with good reason that that wouldn’t be good for them…. Lieberman rushed to say last night that Netanyahu isn’t motivated by what is best for Israel, but by his fear of falling from power. It’s hard to see Lieberman voting in favour of a bill to repeal the Knesset’s dissolution after he was the one who paved the way to the Knesset’s dissolution—an action that polls that he’s commissioned prove was good for him. Add the Labour Party and Meretz, and you’re left with less than the majority needed (80 MKs) to get that bill passed into legislation.”

In Maariv, Ben Caspit writes: “Netanyahu will balk at nothing in his flight from prosecution… He and the family photographer, Natan Eshel, have continued to plot and scheme. This is no longer an effort to preserve the right-wing government; this isn’t even an attempt to entrench the Likud’s hold on power. This is a mission that is solely designed to protect the leader’s freedom and his family’s welfare. Anyone who is prepared to raise a hand and vote in favour of immunity or an override clause that will help him dodge prosecution is kosher.”

Haaretz reports from the Bahrain conference and says the festive event opened with a reception and an alcohol-free “cocktail party,” – But: “Even without alcohol, dozens of businesspeople from Arab countries were at ease chatting with Israeli counterparts – openly and in the presence of journalists.”  The paper notes, despite earlier reports, “about 15 Palestinians attended, including Ashraf Jabari from Hebron, the only Palestinian scheduled to speak at the conference. They told Haaretz that they came from all parts of the West Bank and Jerusalem, and Jabari may be representing them as a speaker, but they support the conference, too. At one point, the former IDF Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, reserve general Yoav Mordechai, sat with them on the sofas in the hotel lobby. Mordechai attended the conference as a private businessman… Other Palestinians at the event who were not part of Jabari’s group – but they asked to remain anonymous.”  Kan news this morning highlights Jared Kushner’s opening speech that an agreement on an economic plan that would improve the situation of the Palestinians was essential to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He also said that the Palestinians would not be able to prosper without a fair political resolution of the conflict. He said that President Trump and the US have not given up on the Palestinians and that for too long, the Palestinians had been shackled to the past. In addition, sources in the Bahraini government said that if there if any progress were to be made between Israel and the Palestinians, Bahrain would be the first to form relations with Israel.

Israel Hayom reports that the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has criticised the Chilean government after President Sebastian Pinera toured the Temple Mount with senior Palestinian officials, a move that Israel said undermined its sovereignty over the eastern part of the city. The MFA said Pinera’s visit to the Temple Mount was in violation of diplomatic procedures and a previous agreement between the two countries.