Israel's foreign minister said Thursday he was severing all contact with the European Union's top diplomat over reported remarks in which she allegedly compared Israel to apartheid-era South Africa.

Diplomatic relations between Israel and the EU have come under heavy strain since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023, with violence by Israeli settlers towards Palestinians in the occupied West Bank another point of contention.

On Thursday, Israel's Gideon Saar accused EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas of "acting obsessively and with blatant unfairness" towards his country.

By Samia Nakhoul

BEIRUT, June 18 (Reuters) - The U.S.-Iran agreement — the first signed by an American and an Iranian president since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution — is being hailed by its backers as the deal of the century.

But for Tehran's adversaries across the Middle East — from Israel to Gulf states and factions in Lebanon — it looks more like the curse of the century: an accord that could leave Iran more secure, more legitimate and ultimately more influential.

WASHINGTON, June 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Thursday announced sanctions against several Lebanese officials it said were aligned with Hezbollah and members of the sanctioned Alaa Hassan Hamieh business network for obstructing Lebanon’s peace process and delaying the disarmament of Hezbollah.

The U.S. Treasury Department said its Office of Foreign Assets Control was also designating individuals in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Oman who it said were raising funds and operating front companies to generate revenue for Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group.

US Vice President JD Vance on Thursday issued an extraordinary rebuke to Israeli critics of the Iran deal, warning them not to alienate their "only powerful ally" left in the world.

Vance told members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet to "wake up and smell the reality," amid growing tensions between Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump.

LONDON, June 18 (Reuters) - The interim deal to end the Iran war will include a waiver on sanctioned oil sales but the country still faces a complex web of international restrictions on its activities and trade.

Sanctions, trade embargoes and asset freezes have been imposed by the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and other countries for decades over its nuclear programme, rights record and support for groups around the region.

Iran hopes to gain further sanctions relief through talks on its nuclear programme as the next phase of the interim deal unfolds.

WASHINGTON, June 18 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President JD Vance said the 60-day window laid out in a memorandum of understanding approved by President Donald Trump and Iranian leaders begins on Thursday.

"I would say the 60-day period officially started today," Vance told reporters at a White House briefing.

Asked what happens after the 60-day period in terms of governance of the Strait of Hormuz, Vance repeated the U.S. view that the major supply route for oil and gas shipments should be free of tolls. Iran effectively closed the waterway during the war.

The Iran war was cast as a catalyst for the Islamic republic's collapse, but months of fighting failed to dislodge the clerical leadership and left its opponents out in the cold.

US President Donald Trump said in launching the war with Israel on February 28 that it would pave the way for Iranians to rise up, having pledged support to anti-government protests that peaked in January and were the most serious challenge to the Islamic republic in years.

By Doina Chiacu

WASHINGTON, June 18 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President JD Vance criticized Israel for a "weird panic" and "freakout" over the agreement struck between the U.S. and Iran, in an interview released on Thursday as the Trump administration sought to tamp down criticism of the deal.

By Olivia Le Poidevin

GENEVA, June 18 (Reuters) - Dozens of countries including Britain, France and Germany raised the alarm at the U.N. Human Rights Council on Thursday that Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces could imminently escalate an assault on the central Sudanese city of al-Obeid, possibly resulting in large-scale atrocities.

By Jihed Abidellaoui and Zohra Bensemra

NABATIEH, Lebanon, June 18 (Reuters) - Rescue workers in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh said they believed their headquarters, clearly identified as a civil defence centre, would be safe from Israeli bombardment - until it was destroyed by an airstrike last month.

Picking through the debris, they were salvaging whatever they could when Reuters visited this week.