ROVINJ, Croatia (AP) — A month-old pony named Mile is the newest resident of an apartment building in the northern Croatian coastal town of Rovinj.
Mile has moved in temporarily to his owners' fourth-floor flat because his mother rejected him at birth. He also needs round-the-clock care after undergoing an operation for a life-threatening infection in neighboring Slovenia, where people donated to cover the costs of his treatment.
Click to Gallery
A pony named Mile rests on a mattress in an apartment in Rovinj, Croatia, on June 13, 2026. (AP Photo)
Owner Andjelka Josipovic wipes the snout of a pony named Mile after feeding him milk inside her apartment in Rovinj, Croatia, on June 13, 2026. (AP Photo)
Kristijan Jelenic, ranch owner, carries a pony named Mile at the ranch in Bale, Croatia, on June 13, 2026. (AP Photo)
Owner Andjelka Josipovic feeds a pony named Mile at a ranch in Bale, Croatia, on June 13, 2026. (AP Photo)
Owner Andjelka Josipovic poses with a pony named Mile at a ranch in Bale, Croatia, on June 13, 2026. (AP Photo)
“Every two hours, we warm up his milk and feed him," owner Andjelka Josipovic said. "If we forget to feed him, he wakes up, comes to us and rouses us up.”
Josipovic lives in a one-bedroom flat with her partner Kristijan Jelenic, her two sons, a dog and now Mile.
The unusual newcomer has drawn attention in the neighborhood, but no one has complained.
Josipovic is hopeful Mile will recover fully as he now eats well and has gained a kilogram (2.2 pounds). He seems cheerful with a "strong desire to suckle, eat, and fight," she said.
“The first night, the vet thought there was no hope and wanted to put him down,” she recalled. “I said, let’s try until the morning.”
The family runs a small ranch and a playroom for children in Bale, some 15 kilometers (9 miles) from Rovinj, with llamas, pigs, horses, and sheep.
Mile spends his days with the other animals at the ranch, but he returns to Rovinj — one of Croatia’s most popular tourist resorts — in the evening. The pony rides in the back seat of the family car. At the apartment, he sleeps on either a mattress or a sofa.
The family lives in a residential part of Rovinj, away from the main tourist zone in the old town, which is famous for its winding, Mediterranean-style stone streets dominated by a church.
Jelenic said having Mile at home at the moment is no different from having a dog or any other pet because he is still relatively small, weighing just 16 kilograms (35 pounds).
“In about twenty days, this probably will no longer be possible," Jelenic said. "I hope he will be strong enough by then to be able to stay at the ranch.”
A pony named Mile rests on a mattress in an apartment in Rovinj, Croatia, on June 13, 2026. (AP Photo)
Owner Andjelka Josipovic wipes the snout of a pony named Mile after feeding him milk inside her apartment in Rovinj, Croatia, on June 13, 2026. (AP Photo)
Kristijan Jelenic, ranch owner, carries a pony named Mile at the ranch in Bale, Croatia, on June 13, 2026. (AP Photo)
Owner Andjelka Josipovic feeds a pony named Mile at a ranch in Bale, Croatia, on June 13, 2026. (AP Photo)
Owner Andjelka Josipovic poses with a pony named Mile at a ranch in Bale, Croatia, on June 13, 2026. (AP Photo)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s top diplomat said Tuesday that the tentative deal to end the war with the United States would require Israel to withdraw from Lebanon — a condition Israel has already rejected and that could sink the agreement, leading to the resumption of all-out war.
The deal, which is between the U.S. and Iran, has not been made public, and officials have sometimes offered contradictory interpretations of what is in it. While Israel is not party to the agreement, it is part of the war: It joined the U.S. in launching strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, and has since fought the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon and seized large swaths of that country.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Israel’s continued occupation of southern Lebanon would violate the deal.
“Without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they occupied during this war, the war has not fully come to an end,” Araghchi said.
A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss outlines of the agreement, has said the deal did not call for an Israeli withdrawal. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel would remain in Lebanon “as long as necessary.”
The negotiations to end the war have been plagued by such disagreements before — leading to a prolonged but uneasy ceasefire that has failed to develop into a permanent end to hostilities and that has left the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for the world’s energy supplies, effectively shut.
In other developments, Switzerland’s foreign ministry said the signing ceremony for the deal will take place Friday at the Bürgenstock resort near the city of Luzern. Ministry officials said Tuesday that the location was proposed by Pakistani and Qatari mediators, along with the U.S. and Iran.
Pakistan, a key mediator, has said the deal called for an end to military operations, including in Lebanon, as Iran long insisted. But Araghchi’s call for an Israeli withdrawal adds a new wrinkle.
It puts Israel into a dilemma as it juggles trying to degrade Hezbollah’s military capabilities and restore deterrence without undermining an agreement championed by its most important ally, the United States. Israel invaded southern Lebanon after Hezbollah fired missiles across the border during the first week of the war. Since then, it has expanded its military footprint to levels unseen in decades and struck targets deep inside Beirut.
Though Hezbollah has been weakened, it retains the ability to strike Israel, leaving open questions about the effectiveness of Israel’s campaign.
The extent of Israel’s strikes have at times opened a public fracture between its leaders and U.S. President Donald Trump, who told reporters Tuesday that he was “not happy with the way Israel has handled themselves with Lebanon and with Hezbollah.”
“It just goes on forever,” he said of Israel’s strategy. Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed nearly 4,000 people, including hundreds of civilians, and displaced more than 1 million. “And when that happens, it throws a negative light on the big deal. And that’s the deal with Iran.”
Trump said he’s open to sending the emerging agreement to the U.S. Congress for review.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in the French Alps, Trump said, “I like the idea, send it to Congress please." He added, “I mean who wouldn’t approve it.”
Republicans on Capitol Hill say they want Trump to provide more information about the agreement, with some expressing skepticism that the deal can deter Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon.
Israel and the Lebanese government have entered into their own U.S.-mediated direct negotiations, of which Hezbollah was not a part. Those talks have yielded several announced ceasefires that were never implemented on the ground. Lebanese officials initially tried to keep Lebanon separate from the U.S.-Iran negotiations, not wanting to be seen as beholden to Iran, but they have since welcomed the announcement that the deal to end the U.S.-Iran war would include a ceasefire in Lebanon.
Araghchi’s comments Tuesday appear to match the understanding of two regional officials with direct knowledge of the interim deal. The officials, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations, said it would require Israel to leave nearly all the territory it occupies in Lebanon, minus a few hilltop points along the border seized earlier.
The officials say Iran insisted the accord include Lebanon in the last days of the negotiations.
Lebanon is only one of several major questions hanging over the ceasefire ahead of the planned ceremonial signing.
The agreement is meant to provide a meaningful truce in a monthslong war that has killed thousands across the Middle East, including the top leaders of Iran’s theocracy, and raised the prices of fuel, food and other basic goods far beyond the region.
The unpublished agreement provides for the “immediate” opening of the Strait of Hormuz and lifting of the blockade, according to a senior U.S. official who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss outlines of the agreement on Monday.
It starts with the simultaneous lifting of Iran’s closure of the strait and the U.S. blockade of Iran’s ports, according to Pakistani officials who helped broker the agreement. The United States and Iran will then begin 60 days of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program and the potential lifting of sanctions, Pakistani officials who helped broker the interim deal said, speaking on condition of anonymity about the unpublished text.
It also includes the possibility of releasing Iran’s frozen funds and a $300 billion fund to help rebuild Iran if Tehran meets certain benchmarks, senior U.S. officials told reporters Monday. Trump later said the United States would not “invest” funds in Iran.
Regarding the timeline, regional officials who spoke to AP about the deal said the release of frozen Iranian assets would be tied to Tehran implementing the deal. Gulf Arab states also have pledged to inject billions of dollars in Iran’s economy, they added, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations.
Iran's nuclear program, specifically the fate of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, would be subject to the 60-day clock. Iran has agreed to discuss ways to possibly “dilute or remove” it, the officials said. However, it remains unclear whether Tehran would agree to that, particularly with hard-liners opposing to giving it up.
U.S. officials have not yet explained how they see the agreement addressing Iran’s nuclear program, including who will be in charge of verifying that Iran is in compliance and who will destroy or remove highly enriched uranium believed to be buried under nuclear sites that were badly damaged by U.S. strikes last summer.
Still, world leaders gathering in France for the first full day of the G7 summit insisted the agreement needed to succeed, even as key questions remained unanswered.
Some had clashed with Trump over not consulting them before going to war. But the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement congratulating the United States, the Iranian government and the mediators on what they called a “diplomatic breakthrough" before the summit kicked off, saying it was vital for the deal to be quickly implemented.
French President Emmanuel Macron said France and other Western nations were “ready to take action very quickly” to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz peacefully.
People walk along Tajrish square in northern Tehran, Monday, June 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A woman waves an Iranian flag during a pro-government campaign as a portrait of the slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in U.S. and Israeli strikes on Feb. 28, is displayed at right, in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, June 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
