Defence minister: US considering selling missiles to Malaysia after Norway missile delivery falls through

Defence minister: US considering selling missiles to Malaysia after Norway missile delivery falls through



Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin is seen here with US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. — Bernama pic

Saturday, 30 May 2026 9:12 AM MYT


SINGAPORE, May 30 — The United States (US) has assured Malaysia that it will consider selling missile as a solution to the issues facing the country regarding the acquisition of the weapon system from Norway, said Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

He said the matter was raised by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in a bilateral meeting held on the sidelines of the 23rd IISS Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD) here which took place from yesterday to Sunday.

He said he also briefed Hegseth on the issues facing Malaysia regarding the purchase of Naval Strike Missile (NSM) from Norway and sought the US's views on the matter.

"We have asked the US for its views to help find a solution to the issue at hand because, it is well known that there is a US company that manufactures the same missile as Norway.


"We have asked whether the US is willing to allow the sale of the missile to us to address the problem at hand," he told Bernama today.

The Norwegian government was previously reported to have revoked the export license of the Naval Strike Missile (NSM) anti-ship missile to Malaysia and its associated launcher system on the grounds of protecting the country's security.

According to Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace US (KDA) website, the NSM procurement was signed between the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) and KDA in April 2018 with a contract value of €124 million (RM571.9 million) to equip six new Littoral Combat Ships (LCS).


Meanwhile, Mohamed Khaled said the US also proposed sharing information related to the Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) implemented by Malaysia.

In other developments, he held a meeting with Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Richard Marles to discuss efforts to strengthen strategic cooperation between the two countries.

He said the cooperation includes the establishment of a Joint Planning Committee, expanded information sharing and preparations for the upcoming Malaysia-Australia High Level Committee (HLC) and Five-Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) meetings.

"I congratulate Australia on the implementation of the National Defence Strategy 2026 (NDS 2026) and Integrated Investment Programme 2026 (IIP 2026) as important steps in strengthening its defence capabilities and readiness," he said.

Regarding Canada, Mohamed Khaled said Malaysia and the country were ready to strengthen defence ties through more formal cooperation.

"We propose that a formal form of defence cooperation be established that is signed by both countries because currently the existing cooperation is not based on any agreement," he said.

The Shangri-La Dialogue IISS 2026 organised by The International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore brought together defence ministers, military chiefs and diplomats from dozens of countries to discuss regional and global security and defence issues. — Bernama

One of seven men rescued from Laos cave after week trapped underground

One of seven men rescued from Laos cave after week trapped underground



Rescuers pose for a photo as they work to save trapped people in a cave in Xaisomboun Province, Laos, May 29, 2026. — Reuters picc

Saturday, 30 May 2026 9:07 AM MYT


VIENTIANE (Laos), May 30 — A rescue team freed yesterday one of seven men trapped inside a semi-submerged cave in Laos for more than a week, the group working at the site said.

The seven men had been trapped in the cavern in a remote mountainous area of central Xaysomboun province since May 20, when flash floods stranded them as they searched for gold, early state media reports said.


Five of the men were located alive on Wednesday, huddling in a narrow shaft around 300 metres (984 feet) from the cave mouth.

Footage filmed by rescue divers showed them muddy and despondent, complaining of chest pains and hunger pangs, while the remaining two of their group remain unaccounted for.


“The first victim has been successfully rescued out of the cave,” a Thai rescue group said in a Facebook post late yesterday accompanied by a picture of three men guiding another bedraggled and muddy man over unsteady ground.


Rescue efforts had focused on pumping out the monsoon flood waters which trapped the men.



Rescuers pose for a photo as they work to save trapped people in a cave in Xaisomboun Province, Laos, May 29, 2026. — Reuters picc




“One person has got out of the cave safely,” Thai rescue team member Kengkard Bonggawong said in a separate Facebook post. “We will assess the other four and we will hunt for the other two tomorrow.”

Earlier in the day Thai rescue teams were rehearsing extraction procedures outside the cave with stretchers, ropes and cables, according to images shared on social media.

Laos’s meteorology office forecast thunderstorms yesterday afternoon and evening, with rainfall expected across 60 per cent of Xaysomboun province.

Meanwhile a new team of specialist divers touched down in Laos yesterday, including members from Thailand, France Indonesia and Australia, according to Thai rescuers.

The emergency echoes the 2018 case of the Thai youth football team which spent 18 days trapped in a cave in Thailand’s north before a daring international rescue saved their lives.

Two divers involved in that retrieval of 12 young footballers and their coach are working with Laotian volunteers after locals requested specialist personnel and equipment.

Finnish diver Mikko Paasi, part of the team that saved the “Wild Boars” football team in Thailand, said on Wednesday that rescuers were “racing against time” inside the cave.

Rain the following day sent more soil and water into the cave, according to a Laotian logistics staffer for a firm supplying vehicles to support the rescue operation.

The man said on Thursday the rescue operation could stretch to “a few more days” if rains continued, speaking on condition of anonymity due to fears of reprisal from his employer.

Laos local media reported several rescue workers had shown signs of exhaustion after spending seven to 10 hours at a time inside the cave system carrying oxygen tanks, rescue equipment and supplies. — AFP

Ben-Gvir Says Israel ‘Will Not Allow’ Iran Peace Deal

Consortium News
Volume 31, Number 145 — Friday, May 29, 2026


Ben-Gvir Says Israel ‘Will Not Allow’ Iran Peace Deal


As Israel continued its “Gaza model” of mass slaughter and expanding occupation in Lebanon, its security minister said the “whole cabinet” opposed ending the war on Iran, Stephen Prager reports

No War With Iran march in Washington, D.C., on April 8. (Diane Krauthamer, Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

By Stephen Prager
Common Dreams


As Israel launched a new bombardment of Lebanon, its far-right security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, suggested Tel Aviv was trying to derail ongoing peace negotiations between U.S. President Donald Trump and Iran.

The influential settler politician railed against the possibility of a deal to end the war as it neared the three-month mark and said the whole Israeli Cabinet was in agreement.

“I know that Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and all of us members of the Cabinet… as the government of Israel, cannot allow this to happen,” Ben-Gvir said in Hebrew at a press briefing Tuesday. “This is an agreement that can harm the state of Israel, and we will not allow this to happen.”

Trita Parsi

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Israeli minister Ben Gvir says Trump's deal with Iran is "bad for Israel" and that Israel will not "allow" it. Let that sink in. And remember this clip next time someone claims that a factual conversation about the Israeli government's influence in DC is off-limits... Show more

8:09 AM · May 27, 2026

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Ben-Gvir’s remarks came as Trump engaged in what he has suggested was another promising round of ceasefire talks with the Iranians — talks that did not include Israel.

Despite its Foreign Ministry condemning recent U.S. attacks as signs of “bad faith” and “definitive violations” of the ceasefire, Iran has not pulled away from the table.

Citing Iranian state TV, Reuters reported on Wednesday that Tehran has received an unofficial framework from the U.S. that would restore commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz to pre-war levels for a month in exchange for the U.S. withdrawing troops from Iran’s vicinity and lifting its naval blockade. The U.S. has disputed this account.

Trump has previously attempted to force Iran to accept major concessions on its nuclear program upfront, but nuclear-related talks appear to have been shifted to future negotiations.

While it has not been at the center of the latest round of negotiations, Iran still considers ending Israel’s assault on Lebanon to be an essential part of a durable peace.

Al Jazeera English

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At least 31 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across southern Lebanon as Israel says it is intensifying operations against Hezbollah. The group launched a series of deadly drone attacks on Israeli forces in northern Israel.

2:45 PM · May 27, 2026

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As it has during previous peace negotiations between Iran and the U.S., Israel launched another major bombardment against Lebanon on Tuesday, violating the 45-day ceasefire that went into effect last month.

Israeli forces conducted more than 120 airstrikes across southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley against what they said were Hezbollah targets, according to The Guardian, as Netanyahu said Israel would “intensify” its military campaign.

According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, 31 people were killed and 40 were wounded. In the southern town of Burj al-Shamali, 14 people were killed, including two children and three women, the ministry said.

Since Israel’s offensive began in early March, more than 3,200 people have been killed and over 9,700 wounded, according to the ministry. More than 600 people have been killed since the April truce began.

Sources also told Reuters that Israel had expanded its occupation of southern Lebanon, past its so-called security zone. Israeli forces ordered the residents of dozens of Lebanese villages not to return to their homes in the occupation zone, which Israel is trying to expand to between 5 and 10 kilometers inside Lebanon.

In what Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has described as a renewal of its “Gaza model,” Israel had demolished or damaged more than 40,000 homes in southern Lebanon before last month’s truce went into effect, though destruction has continued since then. More than 1 million people in Lebanon have been displaced as a result of forced evacuation orders and bombardments by Israel.

Hezbollah responded on Tuesday with drone attacks on Israel, which it had already been launching for weeks in response to what it said were persistent ceasefire violations.

Another far-right Israeli Cabinet member, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, said Israel should respond to each drone by destroying 10 buildings in Beirut. If there are no buildings left in Beirut, he said, Israel should expand the demolitions to other areas such as Tyre, Sidon and the Bekaa Valley.

Ben-Gvir, meanwhile, said Israel should “cut off the electricity in Lebanon,” “occupy” the area up to the Zahrani River and “return to a massive war.”

Mohamad Safa

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Israel has just committed massacres across Lebanon with 150 airstrikes in 24 hours on the first day of Eid Al Adha.

11:10 PM · May 27, 2026

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The timing of Israel’s renewed assault on Lebanon has been met with accusations that it is attempting to sabotage ceasefire talks between the U.S. and Iran.

Shaiel Ben-Ephraim, a former diplomat with the Israeli Foreign Ministry who has since become a prominent critic of the country, said that by moving deeper into Lebanon, Israel was “moving to bury not only the supposed ceasefire in Lebanon but also talks on Iran” because its policy “is an endless and wide regional war.”

Responding to Ben-Gvir’s remarks, he said, “Israel forced the U.S. into war and won’t let us end it.”


Stephen Prager is a staff writer for Common Dreams.