South Korean minister says Trump appears to be pressuring Seoul over Iran, investment

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said on Wednesday that US President Donald Trump's order to curb joint military drills appeared aimed in part at pressuring Seoul to support US efforts in the Iran war, alongside other unresolved issues such as investment. "I think President Trump's message includes pressure over several pending issues concerning the South Korean government, as well as a message to North Korea and an intention by the United States to break a stalemate in the Iran war," Cho said. One potential source of friction could be South Korea's pledge to invest $350 billion in the United States under a trade deal signed last year, Cho said. Seoul has yet to announce details of the investment plan, although Cho said Washington had sent Seoul a proposal outlining projects that could be considered. "We could not move faster on the investment plan as we had to consider factors such as commercial viability and take legal procedures," Cho said. He cited other unexpected problems, without elaborating. South Korea and the United States announced on Wednesday that they will shorten annual military drills to five days from 11 and scale back some field training, following Trump's order on a substantial reduction in US participation. South Korea's Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, who attended the same hearing, said he believes Trump was moving closer to potentially arranging a new meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by curtailing exercises that have long angered Pyongyang. UAE says two missiles detected earlier launched from Iran  The United Arab Emirates' defence ministry said on Tuesday that it had detected two ballistic missiles launched from Iran, the first such incident reported since a May 4 strike on the Fujairah port. In a statement later, the ministry said the missiles targeted "maritime traffic" based on its assessments. Both missiles fell into the sea, it said. Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei rejected early on Wednesday the statement by the UAE, describing it as "baseless." In a statement issued after the missile threat, the UAE said it had suspended all trade activities, commercial exchanges and financial transactions with Iran until further notice, citing an escalation that it said undermined regional and international peace and security. Read: Tehran accuses US of 'squeezing Iran' in effort to wrest concessions The missile launch comes as a 60-day window for US-Iranian peace talks expired on Monday without a breakthrough, raising fears of a new escalation in the conflict that has disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz since February. "The defence ministry affirms its full readiness to deal with any threats and firmly confront anything that aims to destabilise the state's security," it said in a statement. The UAE's interior ministry sent a phone alert earlier on Tuesday to residents stating that the situation was safe and people should resume normal activities after an earlier alert warning of a missile threat. The UAE had accused Iran recently of attacking its state-owned ADNOC vessels while transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has not claimed responsibility for the attacks on ADNOC vessels. Iran's Revolutionary Guards have previously ​threatened action against vessels transiting the strait if they are linked to Tehran's adversaries ​or fail to comply with Iranian directives. Iranian parliament speaker arrives in Baghdad for regional, bilateral talks Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf arrived in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Wednesday at the head of a high-level delegation, according to the Iraqi News Agency (INA). Iraq’s parliament media office said First Deputy Speaker Adnan Fayhan received Qalibaf and his delegation at Baghdad International Airport. Before departing Tehran, Ghalibaf said the visit, made at the invitation of his Iraqi counterpart, would focus on expanding cooperation between Tehran and Baghdad in economic, political, cultural, social and security fields, according to his official Telegram channel. He said he was also scheduled to meet senior Iraqi officials, including the president, as well as economic and cultural figures. Ghalibaf described relations between Iran and Iraq as “very important and fundamental” to regional developments, saying the region would witness a “new order” in the future. US, UAE discuss regional security, Strait of Hormuz US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by phone Tuesday with United Arab Emirates (UAE) National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan about regional security, the State Department said. "The two discussed several regional security issues, including Lebanon, as well as continued US-UAE coordination to hold Iran and its terrorist proxies accountable for ongoing attacks," the department said in a statement. During the call, Rubio underscored the importance of freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, the statement said. Read more: Iran threatens to go on offensive in Strait of Hormuz if diplomacy with US fails Earlier on Tuesday, the UAE suspended all trade exchanges and financial transactions with Iran "until further notice" after saying that Iran fired two ballistic missiles towards the Gulf state. Cargo ship hit by multiple projectiles off Yemen’s west coast: UKMTO A cargo ship was struck by multiple unidentified projectiles off Yemen’s western coast, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) centre said Tuesday. UKMTO said it received a report of the incident about 40 nautical miles (74 kilometres) southeast of Mokha. The vessel was unmanned at the time of the incident, but the damage resulted in a “complete constructive loss,” it said. Authorities are investigating the incident. UKMTO urged vessels transiting the area to exercise caution and report any suspicious activity.

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