The Times of Israel is liveblogging Sunday’s events as they unfold.

Iranian parliament speaker touts ‘progress’ in talks with US but says ‘big distance’ still remains

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf tells state television that there has been “progress” in negotiations with the United States for a permanent end to the US-Israeli war with Iran.

He cautions, however, that there is still a “big distance” between the two sides regarding the proposed details of any agreement to end the fighting.

According to reports, the main areas of dispute remain the matter of Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the Strait of Hormuz.

Still, Ghalibaf says “the American and Iranian negotiating teams now have a more realistic understanding of each other,” according to an English translation of his remarks carried by Turkish outlet TRT World.

His comments come after US President Donald Trump told reporters that dialogue with Iran, mediated by Pakistan, was “working out really well.”

Pakistan is expected to host the second round of talks between Iran and the United States in the coming days.

Shin Bet chief Zini said to have changed background on all agency PCs to Temple Mount photo on first day at the job

Days after David Zini entered his post as head of the Shin Bet, the backgrounds on all computers at the agency were changed from logo of the internal security service to a photo of the Temple Mount, Channel 12 reveals.

Sources who disclosed the development to the network say it was an indicator of Zini’s plans to take the agency in a more religious messianic direction — one in line with his own religious background, as a student at the ultra-conservative Har Hamor yeshiva in Jerusalem.

Zini’s views were seen as so extremist in the past that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly refrained from appointing him as his military secretary because he was “too messianic.”

After enough Shin Bet agents pushed back on the change to the computer backgrounds, they were changed back to the agency’s logo, Channel 12 says.

Shin Bet employees were told that Zini had asked to change his own screen background to an image of the Temple Mount, and a technician accidentally changed the backgrounds for the entire agency, Channel 12 says.

This was one of a series of controversies surrounding Zini who is marking six months as head of the agency.

The network says that upon entering his role in the Shin Bet, Zini changed the agency’s priorities to downgrade the importance of combatting Jewish terror. The phenomenon was reclassified as “skirmishes.”

A former senior official in the Shin Bet reveals to Channel 12 that Zini’s own son was involved in racially-motivated attacks against Druze towns near where the family lives in the Golan Heights.

An agent from the Shin Bet department responsible for combatting Jewish terror phoned Zini shortly after he entered his post warning him that his son was a target of the agency and that he should keep an eye on him.

The agency declined Channel 12’s request for comment on the matter.

Report: Iran still able to access around 70% of its pre-war missile stocks, 60% of launchers

US intelligence assessments have suggested that Iran likely still has access to around 70 percent of its pre-war ballistic missile stockpiles, and around 60 percent of its missile launchers, The New York Times reports.

It also still retains around 40% of its drone arsenal, the report says, citing US intelligence and military officials.

According to the Times, when a two-week ceasefire came into effect between Iran and the US on April 8, Tehran had access to around half of its ballistic missile launchers. Since then, the report says it has managed to dig out another 100 launchers from under the ground, bringing the total of operational missile launchers to around 60% of the pre-war total.

Along with the launchers, the report says Iran is also working to dig out any missile stocks that became buried under the rubble of the US and Israeli strikes. Once complete, the US intelligence officials believe Tehran will have missile stockpiles amounting to around 70% of its pre-war stockpiles.

UN chief condemns killing of French soldier in Lebanon, assesses Hezbollah responsible

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemns an attack on UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon that left a French soldier dead and three wounded.

France blamed the attack on Hezbollah and Guterres says, in a statement issued by his spokesman, that an initial assessment by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was that it was carried out by the Iranian-backed terror group.

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