CENTCOM says US forces down two Iranian drones near Strait of Hormuz

Israeli journalist Yossi Melman on Saturday said that recent reports about Israeli intelligence activity against the United States should be viewed in the context of internal US political dynamics surrounding the war with Iran.

“Israel’s intelligence agencies, to my knowledge, stopped targeting US soil and American individuals after the Jonathan Pollard affair,” he posted on X.

Melman rejected the idea that recent reporting reflects a shift in Israeli intelligence behavior, arguing instead that the claims are being shaped by competing narratives within Washington. He framed the issue as part of a broader political dispute over responsibility for and fallout from the Iran conflict.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry on Saturday "strongly condemned" what it described as Iranian attacks targeting Kuwait and Bahrain, according to Kuwait’s state news agency KUNA.

These actions constitute a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of both countries and a departure from the UN Charter, international law, and established international norms, it added.

Iran's national soccer team departed from Turkey for its training base in Mexico on Saturday ahead of the 2026 World Cup, while several federation officials and support staff were reportedly still awaiting US visas, according to the Associated Press.

Iranian state television said 14 backroom staff and officials, including Iranian Football Federation Secretary-General Hedayat Mombeini and Vice President Mehdi Mohammad Nabi, had not received visas ahead of Iran's group-stage matches in Los Angeles and Seattle later this month.

AP reported that visa processing issues had previously prompted Iran to move its training base from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana, Mexico, near the US border, amid complications stemming from the ongoing conflict involving Iran.

Recent US intelligence reports raised concerns that Israeli spy agencies were allegedly eavesdropping on American officials involved in negotiations with Iran, The New York Times reported, citing US officials familiar with the assessments.

The report said Israel had allegedly intensified efforts to gather information on US positions in the talks, including by targeting senior officials such as President Donald Trump's top negotiator Steve Witkoff, the Pentagon's top policy official Elbridge Colby, and deputy assistant secretary Michael DiMino.

The report said a Defense Intelligence Agency assessment increased the counterintelligence threat level posed by Israel from "high" to "critical" in recent weeks, citing concerns over alleged efforts to spy on US military personnel and government officials. The report said American defense personnel in Israel had detected software installed on their phones that could intercept communications.

A White House official disputed the account and said it was false, while a spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in Washington denied that Israel spies on American officials or entities, the newspaper said.

Reza Mohammadhosseini, a monarchist political prisoner held in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Iran’s Alborz province, thanked exiled Iranian princess Noor Pahlavi for her human rights advocacy and for carrying Iranians’ voices to the world.

“From behind the cold, high walls of Ghezel Hesar Prison — where for years I have watched the sky through the bars — the words of Princess Noor Pahlavi reached me from thousands of kilometers away; yet they were so bound to the pain, the suffering, and the aspirations of the people of Iran that it was as if they had risen from these very cells,” Mohammadhosseini wrote, according to the statement by exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi’s office.

Mohammadhosseini cited Noor Pahlavi’s speech in Oslo as a reminder that “the voice of the people of Iran is still being heard” and said the struggle for freedom, justice and human rights had no borders.

He called for the release of political prisoners and said many people in Iran were held “solely for the crime of thinking, writing, protesting, and demanding their human rights.”

"Today, more than ever, Iran needs global solidarity in defense of human dignity,” he wrote.