Closing summary
-
Two months of final negotiations will begin immediately after the initial deal between the US and Iran is signed on Friday. Negotiations will continue for a 60-day window after the ceremony, officials told AFP, leading to a plan for the lifting of economic sanctions and decisions on the fate of Iran’s nuclear programme.
-
A US-Iran deal aimed at ending the Middle East war will be signed at Switzerland’s mountainside Burgenstock resort on Friday, the Swiss foreign ministry confirmed to AFP. The site, located near Lucerne in central Switzerland, is difficult to access and therefore easily secured. It “was proposed by the Pakistani and Qatari mediators, as well as by the US and Iran”, Switzerland’s foreign ministry said.
-
Trump said that he would send the deal with Iran to the US Congress for a review. “I like the idea, send it to Congress please,” he said at the start of a meeting with the UAE president Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the sidelines of the G7 summit. “I mean who wouldn’t approve it.”
-
Speaking at the G7, US president Donald Trump has said the strait of Hormuz will be open by Friday and that the full text of the peace deal will be released in a “formal setting”. Trump also said he expects the “second stage” of the deal “to go quickly”.
-
The US will allow Iran to immediately start selling oil and fuel again as part of the deal to end the war, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. Iran can only sell oil if they keep to the terms of the deal, as US official told Reuters. It includes the free flow of navigation in the strait of Hormuz and not obtaining an nuclear weapon.
-
An Iranian deputy foreign minister on Tuesday said the two-month US naval blockade on Iranian ports had been lifted ahead of the planned formal signing of a deal ending the war. “The lifting of the blockade was something we had emphasised from the outset. It has now begun, and the blockade has been lifted prior to the formal signing” scheduled for Friday, said Iranian deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi, according to the government’s website.
-
John Thune, the US Senate majority leader, has reportedly asked the Trump administration for the text of the MOU with Iran. However, he says he has had no response so far, Punchbowl News’s Andrew Desiderio.
-
Hezbollah believes Iran will not sign a nuclear deal with Washington unless Israel pulls its troops from southern Lebanon and told Reuters it understands that Tehran will push for Israel’s withdrawal in its next phase of talks with Washington. Hezbollah’s media office said such a withdrawal would be the result of, and not a precondition for, the next set of talks between Iran and the US, set to begin after the two formally sign their memorandum of understanding this coming Friday.
-
The US must uphold every clause of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Iran and US, particularly when it comes to ending the war in Lebanon, Ebrahim Azizi, the head of the Iranian parliament’s national security commission, posted on X on Tuesday. “Iranian resilience forced a strategic pivot: the US came to the table on Iran’s terms,” Azizi wrote. “Now, Washington must prove its commitment by ending the war against Lebanon and upholding every clause of the MOU. Any breach will be met with a decisive, crushing response.”
-
Israeli drone strikes targeted three vehicles in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, killing at least four people and wounding others, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported. Two people were killed in a double-tap strike, with a drone hitting a car in the village of Mayfadoun followed by a second strike after people had gathered at the scene. Iran’s Top Joint Military Command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said in a statement that Israel should expect a hard response from the Iranian armed forces if it did not stop its attacks on southern Lebanon, days after Tehran and Washington announced a MoU to end the regional war.
-
Qatar, a key mediator between the US and Iran, said it believed the framework peace agreement could deliver security to the Middle East. “We are cautiously optimistic that the signing of the memorandum of understanding will lead to the next phase of regional security through the talks that will take place on the nuclear programme and on other issues,” foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari told reporters in Doha, as he praised Pakistan’s mediation efforts.
Updated
Hundreds of anti-regime protesters gathered outside Los Angeles stadium before the Iran match against New Zealand, waving pre-Islamic revolution lion-and-sun flags and calling for change in Tehran.
Reuters has a rundown on the toll that these past 15 weeks have had on Lebanon. The country was pulled into the conflict on 2 March, when the Iran-backed Hezbollah fired on Israel in support of Tehran, triggering weeks of airstrikes and an Israeli ground campaign.
Casualties
At least 3,826 people were killed and 11,851 wounded in Lebanon, according to the country’s health ministry.
The ministry’s figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but the death toll includes 247 children, 363 women and 133 healthcare workers, according to Reuters.
At least 28 Israeli soldiers were killed in this latest round of fighting, according to a Reuters tally of Israeli military announcements, while four civilians have been killed in Hezbollah attacks.
Destruction
More than 68,000 housing units across the country have been damaged or destroyed, according to the latest figures from Lebanon’s National Council for Scientific Research, which cover the period from 2 March to 17 May.
More than 8,000 of those destroyed units were in Beirut and its southern suburbs, while nearly 30,000 were in the three southernmost districts of Lebanon.
Beirut and its southern suburbs is thought to ahve sustained at least $365m in damages, according to a report published by the United Nations Development Programme.
Displacement
More than 1.2 million people have been displaced by Israeli airstrikes and evacuation warnings, according to Lebanese authorities. Hundreds of thousands had fled Beirut’s southern suburbs, which Israel’s military ordered entirely evacuated for the first time during this war.
Economic Impact
Lebanon’s economy could contract by at least 7% this year because of the war, finance minister Yassine Jaber told Reuters in May.
The 2024 war, which cost Lebanon at least $8.5 billion in physical damage and economic losses, led to Lebanon’s real GDP contracting by 7.1%, the World Bank said, leading to a cumulative GDP decline of nearly 40% since 2019.
Report: Two months of talks for final settlement to begin immediately after deal signing
Talks on a final settlement between the US and Iran will begin immediately after the deal signing ceremony in Switzerland on Friday, AFP reports.
Negotiations will continue for a 60-day window after the ceremony, officials told AFP.
“Likely on Friday... a new round of negotiations between Iran and the United States to reach a final agreement will begin,” Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said. “In the final agreement, decisions will be made on the nuclear issues and the lifting of sanctions.”
Updated
Pope Leo on Tuesday praised the interim deal between the US and Iran to end the war in the Middle East, saying “thanks be to God” that the two powers are set to formalise their accord on Friday.
Leo said: “There will still be several points to settle, but it is always better to do so through dialogue, through negotiations, and not by returning to war.
“I hope that it truly is a solution to the war, that the war really is over, and that we can move forward.”
It took more than a day after news of Donald Trump’s deal with Iran went public for Benjamin Netanyahu to speak out.
When he finally appeared at a press conference on Monday evening, the Israeli prime minister skirted a cornerstone of his past public appearances: his excellent relationship with the US president.
“There are cases in which President Trump and I do not see eye to eye,” he said when asked about that. “I am responsible for Israel’s security interests, and it needs to be done wisely.”
As to the deal, he told its many critics not to pass judgement yet: “We do not know what the agreement will be.”
Iran’s Top Joint Military Command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said in a statement that Israel should expect a hard response from the Iranian armed forces if it did not stop its attacks on southern Lebanon, days after Tehran and Washington announced a MoU to end the regional war.
Here are some images coming out of Lebanon today:
'Washington must prove its commitment' by ending war in Lebanon, Iranian official says
Ebrahim Azizi, the head of the Iranian parliament’s national security commission, posted on X on Tuesday that the US must uphold every clause of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Iran and US, particularly when it comes to ending the war in Lebanon.
“Iranian resilience forced a strategic pivot: the US came to the table on Iran’s terms,” Azizi wrote. “Now, Washington must prove its commitment by ending the war against Lebanon and upholding every clause of the MOU.”
“Any breach will be met with a decisive, crushing response.”
Scepticism in Iran as peace deal nears
In the rural town of Sirik, in southern Iran, temperatures over the past week have climbed to 45C (113F), and residents were still queueing to fill buckets of water days after US strikes reportedly damaged two drinking water facilities serving nearby villages.
Amid the water shortages and the looming fear of war came news of a possible deal between Washington and Tehran. But for those struggling to pick up the pieces in the aftermath, the announcement brought little relief.
“I fear the uncertainty surrounding [the peace deal],” said Nahid*, a mother in Sirik, who described how villagers were queueing for water in the punishing heat, worried the water shortages could last far longer. Although the water supply was restored after 12 hours, the amount reaching households remained nowhere near enough for drinking and daily chores.
“My four-year-old woke up crying from dehydration and pain between her legs caused by chafing and the lack of water for basic hygiene,” she said.
Updated
Donald Trump appeared to acknowledge today that Israel has been killing many civilians in its attacks in Lebanon, while claiming to only target Hezbollah.
Here is video of his remarks:
The day so far
-
A US-Iran deal aimed at ending the Middle East war will be signed at Switzerland’s mountainside Burgenstock resort on Friday, the Swiss foreign ministry confirmed to AFP. The site, located near Lucerne in central Switzerland, is difficult to access and therefore easily secured. It “was proposed by the Pakistani and Qatari mediators, as well as by the US and Iran”, Switzerland’s foreign ministry said.
-
Trump said that he would send the deal with Iran to the US Congress for a review. “I like the idea, send it to Congress please,” he said at the start of a meeting with the UAE president Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the sidelines of the G7 summit. “I mean who wouldn’t approve it.”
-
Speaking at the G7, US president Donald Trump has said the strait of Hormuz will be open by Friday and that the full text of the peace deal will be released in a “formal setting”. Trump also said he expects the “second stage” of the deal “to go quickly”.
-
The US will allow Iran to immediately start selling oil and fuel again as part of the deal to end the war, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. Iran can only sell oil if they keep to the terms of the deal, as US official told Reuters. It includes the free flow of navigation in the strait of Hormuz and not obtaining an nuclear weapon.
-
An Iranian deputy foreign minister on Tuesday said the two-month US naval blockade on Iranian ports had been lifted ahead of the planned formal signing of a deal ending the war. “The lifting of the blockade was something we had emphasised from the outset. It has now begun, and the blockade has been lifted prior to the formal signing” scheduled for Friday, said Iranian deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi, according to the government’s website.
-
John Thune, the US Senate majority leader, has reportedly asked the Trump administration for the text of the MOU with Iran. However, he says he has had no response so far, Punchbowl News’s Andrew Desiderio.
-
China’s top diplomat told his Pakistani counterpart on Tuesday that the next phase of negotiations between the United States and Iran – which Pakistan has helped mediate – will be “more difficult”. In a phone conversation ahead of the planned signing on Friday of a US-Iran memorandum of understanding to end their war, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi told Pakistan’s Ishaq Dar that “it is foreseeable that, compared with the first stage, the second stage of negotiations will be more difficult”.
-
Hezbollah believes Iran will not sign a nuclear deal with Washington unless Israel pulls its troops from southern Lebanon and told Reuters it understands that Tehran will push for Israel’s withdrawal in its next phase of talks with Washington. Hezbollah’s media office said such a withdrawal would be the result of, and not a precondition for, the next set of talks between Iran and the US, set to begin after the two formally sign their memorandum of understanding this coming Friday.
-
Israeli drone strikes targeted three vehicles in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, killing at least four people and wounding others, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported. Two people were killed in a double-tap strike, with a drone hitting a car in the village of Mayfadoun followed by a second strike after people had gathered at the scene.
-
Qatar, a key mediator between the US and Iran, said it believed the framework peace agreement could deliver security to the Middle East. “We are cautiously optimistic that the signing of the memorandum of understanding will lead to the next phase of regional security through the talks that will take place on the nuclear programme and on other issues,” foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari told reporters in Doha, as he praised Pakistan’s mediation efforts.
Hezbollah believes Iran will not sign a nuclear deal with Washington unless Israel pulls its troops from southern Lebanon and told Reuters it understands that Tehran will push for Israel’s withdrawal in its next phase of talks with Washington.
Hezbollah’s media office said such a withdrawal would be the result of, and not a precondition for, the next set of talks between Iran and the US, set to begin after the two formally sign their memorandum of understanding this coming Friday.
The media office said the group has received Iranian assurances that any Israeli breach of the Lebanon ceasefire would affect its upcoming negotiations with the US.
US to allow Iran to immediately start selling oil and fuel again
The US will allow Iran to immediately start selling oil and fuel again as part of the deal to end the war, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Iran can only sell oil if they keep to the terms of the deal, as US official told Reuters. It includes the free flow of navigation in the strait of Hormuz and not obtaining an nuclear weapon.
Such a move is likely to be controversial with many politicians and lawmakers opposed to offering Iran financial relief.
It comes as oil prices sunk again on Tuesday, pulling back to $80 per barrel for the first time since early March, while the US stock market drifts near its all-time high.
Updated
Israeli drone strikes targeted three vehicles in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, killing at least four people and wounding others, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.
Two people were killed in a double-tap strike, with a drone hitting a car in the village of Mayfadoun followed by a second strike after people had gathered at the scene.
Another drone strike on the town of Shoukin killed two other people, the agency said.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the reported strikes.
John Thune, the US Senate majority leader, has reportedly asked the Trump administration for the text of the MOU with Iran.
However, he says he has had no response so far, Punchbowl News’s Andrew Desiderio.
Thune also asked for a briefing.
China’s top diplomat told his Pakistani counterpart on Tuesday that the next phase of negotiations between the United States and Iran – which Pakistan has helped mediate – will be “more difficult”.
In a phone conversation ahead of the planned signing on Friday of a US-Iran memorandum of understanding to end their war, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi told Pakistan’s Ishaq Dar that “it is foreseeable that, compared with the first stage, the second stage of negotiations will be more difficult”.
Wang added that the United Nations Security Council “should also play a greater role” in supporting these talks, according to a statement from Beijing’s foreign ministry.
“The current consensus is far from the final destination, rather it is a new starting point,” Wang said.
“Achieving lasting peace in the Middle East and Gulf region still requires unremitting efforts from all parties,” Wang said, adding that China was willing to work with Pakistan to promote peace.
US-Iran deal to be signed in Burgenstock, Switzerland on Friday
A US-Iran deal aimed at ending the Middle East war will be signed at Switzerland’s mountainside Burgenstock resort on Friday, the Swiss foreign ministry confirmed to AFP.
The site, located near Lucerne in central Switzerland, is difficult to access and therefore easily secured. It “was proposed by the Pakistani and Qatari mediators, as well as by the US and Iran”, Switzerland’s foreign ministry said.
It had previously been reported that the signing would take place in Geneva.
Updated
An Iranian deputy foreign minister on Tuesday said the two-month US naval blockade on Iranian ports had been lifted ahead of the planned formal signing of a deal ending the war.
“The lifting of the blockade was something we had emphasised from the outset. It has now begun, and the blockade has been lifted prior to the formal signing” scheduled for Friday, said Iranian deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi, according to the government’s website.
Yesterday’s bilateral talks between Donald Trump and French president Emmanuel Macron were “a bit tense”, a European Union official has told NBC News.
“Trump is being his usual self, nice sometimes and not so nice sometimes,” the official said, adding that the US president was dismissive of EU support following the Iran framework agreement - saying he didn’t need Europe’s help.
Trump and Macron are due to dine tomorrow at the Palace of Versailles. This was the “‘shiny’ object he needed to come to France”, the EU official said of Trump, but “whether this will keep him happy remains to be seen”.
Iran won't sign final nuclear deal if Israel doesn't withdraw from Lebanon, Hezbollah says
Hezbollah, the Iranian backed Lebanese militant group and political party, said it has received assurances from Iran that Tehran will not sign a final nuclear deal with the US unless Israel withdraws from Lebanon, Hezbollah’s media relations office has told the Reuters news agency.
Updated
Trump says he’d send Iran deal to Congress for review
Trump said that he would send the deal with Iran to the US Congress for a review. “I like the idea, send it to Congress please,” he said at the start of a meeting with the UAE president Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the sidelines of the G7 summit. “I mean who wouldn’t approve it.”
The absence of the details of the memorandum of understanding with Iran has led to bipartisan scrutiny on Capitol Hill about what the agreement might contain and how favourable the terms are to the US.
Republicans on Capitol Hill say they want Trump to provide more information, with some expressing skepticism that the deal can deter Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon. James Lankford, a Republican senator, said: “If you want a deal to last, it can’t be an executive agreement.” “We’ve got to have a vote of Congress to be able to solidify (it) long term.”
“I think it’s going to go pretty quickly,” Trump told reporters about the next phase of negotiations with Iran, stipulated with a 60-day deadline.
“Iran wants to get it done. They have to get back to business, and the relationship is now normalised, so I think it’s going to go pretty quickly,” Trump told reporters during his meeting with Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the United Arab Emirates, on the sidelines of the G7.
“Could go faster, could take longer too, but it could go fast.“
Donald Trump claims the strait of Hormuz will be open by Friday
Speaking at the G7, US president Donald Trump has said the strait of Hormuz will be open by Friday and that the full text of the peace deal will be released in a “formal setting”.
Trump also said he expects the “second stage” of the deal “to go quickly”.
He added that the main outcome from the MOU is that Iran will “never have a nucelar weapon” and that he will go over the deal with the media “in a couple of days”.
He earlier told reporters this morning that he had a “great relationship” with Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, but said he “has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon”.
“Without me there would be no Israel, because no other president was willing to do what I did,” he told reporters.
Updated
Iran state media says Iranian oil tankers resumed shipping after US deal
Iranian state television said that Iranian oil tankers and other vessels had resumed shipping following a deal with Washington, in what appeared to be an easing of a US naval blockade.
“Three Iranian oil tankers are currently sailing in the northern Indian Ocean, and two others carrying essential goods and livestock feed are en route and sailing towards southern ports,” said a state television reporter from a site in the strait of Hormuz.
He added that “the operation to lift the naval blockade has been implemented”, in reference to the US measure in place since April.
Here are some of the latest images being sent to us over the newswires from Lebanon, where some people displaced by the Israeli assault on the country are cautiously making their way home after news of the initial US-Iran deal:
Updated
Qatar, a key mediator between the US and Iran, said it believed the framework peace agreement could deliver security to the Middle East.
“We are cautiously optimistic that the signing of the memorandum of understanding will lead to the next phase of regional security through the talks that will take place on the nuclear programme and on other issues,” foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari told reporters in Doha, as he praised Pakistan’s mediation efforts.
“We are on the right track now towards regional security. Obviously, there are a lot of challenges coming ahead, but let’s take this as a moment to enjoy some optimism,” he said.
“We are talking about various issues: the strait of Hormuz, regional security and non-aggression, and good neighbourly relations between this region and Iran,” he added.
“We’re talking about, of course, the nuclear program but also other issues regarding proxies and missiles and other issues that have played prominent in the region for decades. These will not be resolved in mere days.”
According to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA), Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, and the country’s prime minister, Nawaf Salam, stressed the need for a permanent ceasefire in Lebanon, the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from territory in the south, the return of Lebanese prisoners and the deployment of the Lebanese army to “internationally recognised borders”.
Aoun and Salam described the US–Iran memorandum of understanding as a “positive step” toward de-escalation across the region.
Their meeting, at Baabda Palace, also focused on “preparations” for the next round of talks between Israel and Lebanon due to take place in Washington next week, according to the NNA. Hezbollah is not party to these negotiations.
The militant group, which has been funded and supported by Iran for decades, has welcomed the US-Iran agreement but warned that it would not accept any attacks that violated Lebanon’s sovereignty or targeted its people.
Updated
Trump says that Iran has “rational” leadership now because of the US-Israeli attacks on the country that killed senior Iranian figures. This is untrue because Iran’s powerful hardliners are now energised by a three-month confrontation they feel Tehran has won.
Despite his obvious irritation with Netanyahu, Trump said his relationship with the Israeli leader is a “very effective” one. He said their relationship is “unbelievable” – but made a point of saying that Israel would not exist without his support.
The US president said Lebanon has been “treated the worst” out of “all countries” as they “can’t defend themselves” and they are having to deal with Hezbollah, which he said is a “problem for them”.
Trump told reporters:
No, I am not happy with the way Israel has handled themselves with Lebanon and with Hezbollah. They should have been able to do the job faster. It just goes on forever and when that happens it throws a negative light on the big deal – and that is the deal with Iran.
Updated
Trump thinks Syria will do a 'better job' of 'taking care of Hezbollah' than Israel
In unusually frank remarks, Trump seems to acknowledge the fact that Israel has been killing many civilians in its attacks on Lebanon that it claims are only targeting Hezbollah. He told reporters:
Israel’s fighting Hezbollah too long and too many people are being killed. And you don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you are looking for somebody, because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses and they are not all Hezbollah, that I can tell you.
And I suggested to Israel to let Syria take care of Hezbollah because to be honest with you I think they will do a better job of doing it.
Trump said he didn’t “like” that Israel attacked the Lebanese capital of Beirut – not the “southern side” – shortly before the deal with Iran was signed. “I let them know that. I didn’t like it – not at all,” Trump said.
“If Israel can’t do the job, without killing everyone else, he’ll do the job, Syria will do the job,’ Trump said, referring to Syrian president, Ahmed al Sharaa, whom he has good relations with.
During Syria’s civil war that broke out in 2011, Hezbollah sent thousands of fighters to help Bashar al-Assad stay in power. They remained until Sharaa’s Islamist rebel forces toppled the longtime ruler in December 2024. Sharaa is the former leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the rebel group that led the military operation to topple Assad.
Trump said Sharaa “is very good with Hezbollah” and “does not like them”. “He’s been very good for me. He’s protected everything that I have asked for,” he said, referring to Sharaa.
Updated
Netanyahu has to be 'more responsible with respect to Lebanon', Trump says
Trump also said he had a “great relationship” with Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, but said he “has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon”.
“Without me there would be no Israel, because no other president was willing to do what I did,” he told reporters.
Trump says he considers Israel's war in Lebanon a 'minor' one
Donald Trump also said he considers Israel’s war on Lebanon a “minor” one and believes his deal with Iran can survive even if Israeli attacks continue.
“I consider that the minor war,” Trump said. “Iran’s the big one, but we have that little pinprick out there that constantly rears its head and that’s Hezbollah”.
Iran does not agree with Trump’s assessment as it is increasingly asserting that continued Israeli attacks in Lebanon will violate its agreement with the US, and has sought to characterise the US and Israel as one entity in this respect.
Iran 'will never have a nuclear weapon' and 'all hell will rain down' if it tries to get them, Trump says
In his comments to reporters, Donald Trump also warned that “all hell will rain down” on Iran if it tries to get a nuclear weapon.
“The only thing that really matters to me is Iran will never have a nuclear weapon, and it says it loud and clear,” he said, referring to the agreement with Tehran.
As my colleague Graham Russell notes in this useful explainer, Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is peaceful and has not publicly committed to giving up the enriched uranium, which is believed to be buried under three nuclear sites that were badly damaged by US strikes last year.
Trump faces significant political pressure to secure a better deal on this issue than the one he scuppered during his first term. He withdrew the US from a 2015 multilateral Iran deal, negotiated by Barack Obama, that lifted sanctions on Tehran in exchange for limits on its nuclear program, including international inspections.
Iran responded by ramping up its enrichment of uranium, producing more than 400kg of material at close to bomb-grade purity. The eventual fate of that uranium is likely to be a key negotiating point during the upcoming broader talks.
Updated
Trump says US-Iran deal going to a 'second stage'
We have some comments from Donald Trump who has been speaking to reporters at the G7 summit.
According to the Reuters news agency, the US president said the deal with Iran was going to a “second stage” and said Washington was not investing any money in Iran as part of the agreement.
“We have our deal done with Iran, and it should be successful, it goes to a second stage, which I think would be actually easier,” he told journalists.
You can follow all the latest developments from the G7 summit in our Europe live blog:
We will be including any Iran-related news from the summit in our Middle East crisis live blog.
Updated
The US president, Donald Trump, who is at the G7 summit in France, is scheduled to host one-on-one talks with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, and UAE president, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in the morning.
The Gulf nations are not part of the G7, but the French president, Emmanuel Macron, extended invitations to the leaders to take part in the summit during what is a fraught time across the region.
G7 leaders will convene a working lunch to discuss Iran and the wider security situation in the Middle East this afternoon, with the framework peace deal and the reopening of the strait of Hormuz likely to dominate discussions.
Updated
Reports of continued Israeli shelling in Lebanon despite US-Iran agreement
Despite Iran warning that continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon will violate the agreement with the US, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli artillery shelling targeting the outskirts of al-Rayhan in Jezzine, a district in southern Lebanon, this morning.
The NNA also reported that a drone targeted a van in the Bint Jbeil district, also in southern Lebanon. There were no immediate reports of any casualties in both cases and we have not yet been able to independently verify these reports.
Overnight, Hezbollah reportedly claimed responsibility for attacking Israeli soldiers advancing towards Kfar Tebnit, a town around four miles north of the Litani river and close to the city of Nabatieh in the south.
Gaza’s health ministry said in its latest update that at least five people were killed and eight others injured in Israeli attacks across the territory over the past day.
The health ministry says 997 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since the ‘ceasefire’ between Israel and Hamas came into effect in October 2025.
It says that 73,008 people, many of whom were women and children, have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since October 2023, when Israel launched its assault on the territory following the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.
The Guardian’s international security correspondent, Jason Burke, has written an interesting piece of analysis about how the interim US-Iran deal doesn’t address any of the region’s deeper issues, leaving analysts predicting instability and war could soon return. Here is an extract from his article:
The interim deal now agreed does little more than commit both sides to further talks, while obliging Washington to lift its naval blockade of Iran and making Tehran allow free passage to all shipping in the strait of Hormuz, which usually carries a fifth of the world’s oil and liquid gas supplies but was blocked by Iran early in the war.
To the great displeasure of Israel, a ceasefire has been imposed once again in Lebanon as part of the interim deal and appears for the moment to be holding.
But such ceasefires count for little these days, said several experts, pointing to Gaza as an example, where almost 1,000 Palestinians have been killed since Donald Trump brokered an end to the war there last year. Israel has occupied more than 60% of the territory, Hamas has not given up its weapons, and there has been almost no progress towards a projected second phase of the deal, let alone the third, which was to have brought a massive reconstruction effort.
“Gaza is a case in point. The deal there didn’t contend with the past: the war crimes that had been committed. Nor the present: how to disarm Hamas. Nor the future: a pathway to a viable Palestinian state and a resolution of the conflict,” said Alia Brahimi at the Atlantic Council in Washington. “It’s almost as if … you can use the cover of a ceasefire to continue to achieve your aims, including military ones.”
Updated
The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said the first round of talks with the US will cover issues including the status of the strait of Hormuz, the US’s naval blockade and reconstruction.
Then, at a later stage, he said negotiations will focus on issues such as Iran’s nuclear programme and sanctions relief that are hoped to be resolved in a final agreement.
Iranian foreign minister says ending Israel's war on Lebanon 'most important issue' in US deal
Speaking to diplomats in Tehran, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, warned that any Israeli attack on Lebanon or continued presence on the country’s territory constituted a violation of the agreement with the US.
“The important point I want to emphasise here is that in our view, there are two parties to this memorandum – one side is America and Israel, and the other side is Iran and Hezbollah,” Araghchi said.
“This is perhaps the most important issue in the memorandum – the declaration of an immediate and permanent end to the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” he said, as he confirmed that Tehran and Washington will start a new round of negotiations on Friday in Switzerland.
This is scheduled to happen after the memorandum of understanding is signed in Geneva at a ceremony attended by the US vice-president, JD Vance, and the chief Iranian negotiator, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf.
Even though the intensity of Israeli strikes on Lebanon has decreased since the announcement of the framework US-Iran deal, analysts say it is very unlikely they will stop altogether.
Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel would not leave the territory it was occupying in Lebanon despite the ceasefire agreement and has insisted on the right to protect northern Israeli communities from Hezbollah’s rockets and drones.
Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah assets and fighters but regularly kills civilians and destroys civilian infrastructure in broad attacks across southern Lebanon which have been carried out with effective impunity. But since Iran tied Lebanon to its negotiations with the US, Netanyahu, who is reliant on Washington for military and diplomatic support, has been forced to listen to Trump, at least somewhat.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, credited Iran with a “major achievement” in reaching the agreement, which it said could lead to “the full liberation of our land” and the “return of our prisoners to their homeland and families”.
Along with praising the deal, the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group said it was committed to resisting Israel “until full withdrawal is achieved”.
Updated
An estimated total of $24bn (£17.9bn) in frozen Iranian assets are due to be released in four instalments as part of the US-Iran deal, a source has told Israeli newspaper Hareetz.
The assets will reportedly only be released if Iran allows for the toll-free reopening of the strait of Hormuz and agrees on certain “understandings” in relation to the nuclear talks set to begin.
A Pakistani source said the money could be transferred to Iran under a pretext of economic assistance such as to help fund mine clearing operations in the strait of Hormuz (in order to make it a more palatable sell to the US public and sceptical lawmakers).
Iran’s Mehr news agency reported the US would release $12bn in frozen assets to Iran before the start of negotiations.
It quoted a 14-point memorandum of understanding between the two countries, which it said stipulated “the release of 24 billion dollars in frozen Iranian assets during the 60 day negotiation period” that begins after the MoU is signed. The official text of the deal has not been made public yet and both the US and Iran are giving different versions of what has been agreed to.
The US vice president, JD Vance, denied on Monday that Iran will receive “billions of dollars of assets” as part of the deal. Vance told ‘CBS Mornings’ that while the US is “open to a lot of things that are on the table,” the $24bn figure “just doesn’t appear anywhere in any of the texts that we’ve talked about with the Iranians.”
“What we have said is that we’re willing to talk about unfreezing assets, but a much, much bigger deal is unsanctioning their economy - so long as they make the long-term commitments on the nuclear program,” Vance said.
Updated
The Guardian’s senior international correspondent, Julian Borger, gives his take on the viability of the framework peace deal, which is only the prelude of what is likely to be a fraught period of negotiations including on Iran’s much contested nuclear programme:
Updated
JD Vance admits US-Iran memorandum of understanding is a 'very general document'
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran ahead of the expected signing of the framework peace deal in a couple of days.
America’s memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Iran is “a very general document”, the US vice-president, JD Vance, has said, adding that specifics of the deal will be worked out during further negotiations.
“The MoU … is about a page and half so it is a very general document,” Vance said on CNN on Monday night, as he did the rounds of US networks to talk up the deal. “On a number of issues, we are going to have to figure this stuff out during the technical negotiation phase.”
Vance’s comments came as many Republicans on Capitol Hill said they needed more information about the agreement, with some expressing skepticism as they ask the White House for details.
“I just don’t know enough about it,” the Senate majority leader, John Thune, told reporters in the Capitol. “Even the people who follow this stuff closely up here don’t know that much about it.”
The agreement announced Sunday to end the war on Iran, set for a ceremonial signing Friday in Geneva, is centred around reopening the strait of Hormuz and lifting the US naval blockade in the region, along with financial incentives for Iran if it meets certain benchmarks.
Vance also said nuclear inspectors will return to Iran as part of the deal with Washington to end the war.
“In fact, one of the core parts of the agreement is that the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] and the United States are going to help Iran destroy the highly enriched stockpile, and that’s something that’s spelled out very clearly” in the memorandum of understanding the US and Iran had already agreed to, NBC News quoted Vance as saying.
What the deal specifies about the future of Iran’s nuclear program has not yet been made clear, as the details are still to be revealed publicly and both sides have given different accounts of what has been agreed so far.
Donald Trump has repeated that “Iran will never have a nuclear weapon” while officials from Pakistan, which mediated the deal, reportedly said talks on the nuclear issue would continue over the next 60 days under the agreement.
Trump has said the US could resume attacks on Iran if it failed to reach a nuclear deal. Here are some other key developments:
-
With a memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran signed, Trump said the strait of Hormuz “will be completely open” by Friday. A signing ceremony is scheduled to take place on Friday in Geneva, which Trump said he will probably not attend.
-
The deal included a ceasefire in Lebanon but did not provide for a withdrawal of Israeli troops from areas that they occupied. Lebanon’s prime minister Nawaf Salam has said diplomatic efforts with the US are continuing in order to achieve the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from territory in southern Lebanon.
-
However, in his first public address after the deal signing, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israeli forces will also remain in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria “for as long as necessary”. He also announced he would be running for relection.
-
Hezbollah has welcomed the memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran, saying it had resulted in a comprehensive ceasefire across all fronts, including Lebanon. In a written statement, the Tehran-backed militant group warned Israel that it would not accept any attacks that violate Lebanon’s sovereignty or targeted its people. It said Lebanon’s inclusion in the agreement reflected Iran’s commitment to ending the war.
Updated
