Just 24% of American’s believe that the Trump administration’s decision to go to war with Iran has been worth it.
A poll conducted by Ipsos after the ceasefire came into effect found that, when weighing both the costs and the benefits of the conflict, 51% say it has not been worth it.
54% say U.S. military action in Iran has had a mostly negative impact on their personal financial situation. This view is expressed by majorities of Democrats (65%) and independents (56%), as well as 40% of Republicans.”
In terms of the impact the conflict could have on America’s long term security, 41% believe the military action will leave US security worse off, compared to 26% who think it will improve security.
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent has said the underlying US economy remains strong and that growth could still exceed 3% or 3.5% this year despite the impact of the US-Israel war on Iran.
Earlier on Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its growth forecasts for 2026 based on the impact of the war and said any further escalation in the conflict could trigger a global recession
Bessent however cast cuts in global growth forecasts and higher inflation projections by the IMF and World Bank as an overreaction.
I think the underlying economy remains strong … I do think that the growth could easily exceed 3%, 3.5% this year, still.”
The war has raised oil prices and shaken markets globally. It has led to the blockade of the strait of Hormuz through which roughly 20% of global oil and natural gas exports were shipped before the war.
Bessent also commented on US tariffs on other nations, saying they could be back in place to previous levels by July after the US supreme court ruled in February that Donald Trump overstepped his authority in imposing sweeping global duties under an emergency law.
The World Bank could mobilise $80bn to $100bn in funding for countries hit hard by the war in the Middle East in about 15 months, the multilateral development bank’s president, Ajay Banga, has said.
That would include $20bn to $25bn that countries could tap through a crisis response window that allows them to tap up to 10% of funding approved under existing programs, while another $30bn to $40bn could come from repurposing existing programs, Banga said.
If the war continued beyond that, the bank would have to turn to its balance sheet and headroom to find additional funding to reach the $80bn to $100bn, he told an event hosted by the Bretton Woods Committee.
Earlier on Tuesday the International Monetary Fund said further escalation in the Iran war could trigger a global recession.
More than two-thirds of American farmers say they cannot afford to purchase enough fertiliser to get through the year, according to a new survey from the American Farm Bureau Federation.
Of the more than 5,700 farmers who took the survey, representing every US state and Puerto Rico, 70% said fertiliser has become so expensive they will not be able to buy enough for the year. Farmers in the south have been hit hardest, followed by the north-east, west and then midwest.
“Spring planting decisions depend heavily on access to fertiliser and diesel fuel, both of which have been impacted by geopolitical risks that have disrupted global markets,” the Market Intel states. “Since the escalation of tensions in the Middle East, nitrogen fertiliser prices have risen more than 30%, while combined fuel and fertiliser costs have increased roughly 20% to 40%.”
Ninety-four percent of farmers said their financial situation has worsened or remained the same since last year.
Speaking at the Turning Points USA event in Georgia, JD Vance acknowledged that “a lot of young voters don’t love the policy we have in the Middle East.”
Rather than offering a full-throated defence for the war, the vice-president has urged conservative activists who disagree with the Trump administration on top issues to avoid becoming “disengaged.”
Vance said Trump is pushing to make sure Iran never has a nuclear weapon, but added, “I’m not saying you have to agree with me on every issue.”
“What I’m saying is, don’t get disengaged because you disagree with the administration on one issue,” Vance said. He added of conservatives staying united, “that’s ultimately how we take the country back.”
Trump wants to make a 'grand bargain' with Iran, says JD Vance
At a Turning Point USA event in Georgia US vice-president, JD Vance, discussed the 20-plus hours of negotiations with Iran in which he led the US delegation, telling the audience Donald Trump “doesn’t want to make, like, a small deal. He wants to make the grand bargain.”
Vance added, “That’s the trade that he’s offering,” and that Trump is telling Iran, “If you guys commit to not having a nuclear weapon, we are going to make Iran thrive.”
We’re going to make it economically prosperous, and we’re going to invite the Iranian people into the world economy in a way they haven’t been in my entire life.”
Vance said there was a lot of mistrust between Washington and Tehran that cannot be resolved overnight, but added that Iranian negotiators wanted to make a deal and that he felt “very good about where we are.”
Talks to end the Iran war could resume in Pakistan over the next two days, Trump said on Tuesday, after the collapse of weekend negotiations prompted Washington to impose a blockade on Iranian ports. The fragile two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran still has a week to run.
Lebanon’s top envoy to the US says the first high-level diplomatic engagement between her country and Israel was “constructive,” but urged an end to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants that has displaced thousands of Lebanese.
After participating in Tuesday’s talks with US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Israel’s ambassador to the US, Nada Hamadeh Moawad said she had “underscored the need to preserve our territorial integrity and state sovereignty”.
“I called for a ceasefire and the return of displaced persons to their homes,” she said in brief comments released by the Lebanese embassy in Washington.
Pakistan finance minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has told the Associated Press that “our leadership is not giving up” on efforts to help the US and Iran negotiate.
“We would very much like to see if we can continue to pursue the dialogue,” he said, speaking on the sidelines of the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. “We’ll keep at it, and our leadership is at it.”
Aurangzeb said he also this week met with US officials including trade representative Jamieson Greer and commerce secretary Howard Lutnick to discuss trade and finance concerns. He plans to meet treasury secretary Scott Bessent on Friday.
Summary of key events of the day so far
US president Donald Trump has said that talks with Iran could resume in Pakistan over next two days, according to an interview with the New York Post. “You should stay there, really, because something could be happening over the next two days, and we’re more inclined to go there,” Trump was quoted as saying.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said Israel-Lebanon talks in Washington were a “historic opportunity”.He said that while every complexity would not be resolved in coming hours, he hoped the parties would begin to move forward.
Lebanon’s president expressed hope that direct talks would lead to an end of his country’s suffering after war erupted again between Israel and Hezbollah last month. “I hope that the meeting in Washington... will mark the beginning of the end of the suffering of the Lebanese people in general, and those in the south in particular,” president Joseph Aoun said in a statement, adding that “stability will not return to the south if Israel continues to occupy its lands”. The Israeli ambassador to the US said on Tuesday that Lebanese officials said the government “will no longer be occupied by Hezbollah”, according to Reuters.
More than 20 commercial ships have passed through the strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing US officials. Earlier on Tuesday, the US military’s Central Command said no ships have made it past a US naval blockade of Iran’s ports and coastal areas, and six merchant ships have followed orders to turn back.
The US will not renew a 30-day waiver of sanctions on Iranian oil at sea that expires this week officials told Reuters, as the US imposes a blockade on shipments from Iranian ports.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron will co-host a summit in Paris on Friday focused on efforts to reopen the strait of Hormuz, Downing Street said. A spokesperson said: “The summit will advance work towards a coordinated, independent, multinational plan to safeguard international shipping once the conflict ends.”
Foreign ministers from 17 countries, including the UK, Tuesday urged Israel and Lebanon to “seize this opportunity” ahead of talks between the two nations in Washington. Britain’s foreign ministry posted the ministers’ joint statement saying “direct negotiations can pave the way to bring lasting security for Lebanon and Israel as well as the region”.
Trump criticised Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni, a political ally, in an interview published on Tuesday for her unwillingness to help in the Iran war. “I’m shocked at her. I thought she had courage, but I was wrong,” he told Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
Foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt will meet Turkey’s top diplomat this week in Turkey for talks on regional matters, a ministry source told AFP on Tuesday. “This is the third meeting of the four countries to discuss regional affairs, not specifically Hormuz,” said the source, who wished to remain anonymous.
Hezbollah said it targeted 13 northern Israeli towns with rockets shortly after the start of Lebanese-Israeli talks in Washington. In a statement, the group said it targeted Kiryat Shmona, Metula and 11 other towns “with simultaneous rocket salvos” at 6.15pm.
US warships blocked six vessels departing Iranian ports and forced them to turn back, the US military said Tuesday, as the second day of the US’s blockade continues.
The US blockade, which took effect Monday, involves thousands of troops, more than one dozen US ships and dozens of aircraft.
“US forces are supporting freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports,” US Central Command, which oversees US military operations in the region, said on social media.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and International Energy Agency will likely be having calls every two weeks to discuss the US-Israel war on Iran and its disruption of the global energy markets, the IMF chief said on Tuesday.
Reuters reports that Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF chief, announced today that the three global bodies will be having the regular calls to discuss the markets on the sidelines of a meeting in Washington.
Georgieva also urged countries to avoid building up their own oil reserves and blocking exports of oil products.
“Don’t make the supply shocks worse,” she said.
US senator Chuck Schumer further criticized the war in Iran, in response to news that Russian oil revenues have increased.
It was reported on Tuesday that Russian oil revenues nearly doubled in March, allowing for a windfall of cash for the country. The spike in revenue is resulting from instability resulting from the US-Israel war on Iran.
“Putin and his oligarch buddies are laughing all the way to the bank thanks to Trump’s war,” Schumer said on X.
Russian oil revenues nearly doubled in March, according to a report from the International Energy Agency. The US-Israel war on Iran has raised the price of Russian crude oil, allowing for a windfall of cash for Russia.
Previously, Russian crude oil was at $46 per barrel. In March, it clocked in at $78 per barrel. This led to $19 billion worth of Russian crude exports in March, up from $9.7 billion in February.
This came at a good time for Russia, which reported a budget deficit exceeding $60 billion in early 2026.
The Russian economy had grown due to its war in Ukraine, which increased military spending and industrial production. But it later entered a period of stagnation.
Commercial ship traffic increases in strait of Hormuz
More than 20 commercial ships have passed through the strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing US officials.
Earlier on Tuesday, the US military’s Central Command said no ships have made it past a US naval blockade of Iran’s ports and coastal areas, and six merchant ships have followed orders to turn back.
Updated
Sanctions on Iranian oil at sea slated to resume as US says it won't renew waiver
The US will not renew a 30-day waiver of sanctions on Iranian oil at sea that expires this week officials told Reuters, as the U.S. imposes a blockade on shipments from Iranian ports.
Tuesday’s move signals that “Treasury is going full force on Economic Fury” on Iran, an apparent reference to Operation Epic Fury, the US-led military campaign against the country, one of the officials said.
The waiver, which the Treasury Department issued on March 20, allowed some 140 million barrels of oil to reach global markets and helped relieve pressure on energy supply during the war on Iran, treasury secretary Scott Bessent said last month. The waiver is set to expire on Sunday.
Updated
European countries are putting together a plan for a coalition of countries to help free up shipping through the Strait of Hormuz after the conflict, including sending mine - clearing and other military vessels, the Wall Street Journal reported.
French president Emmanuel Macron said the plan is for an international defensive mission that doesn’t include the “belligerent” parties which sources said could include the US, Israel and Iran.
Updated
The US state department said Tuesday that Israel and Lebanon have agreed to launch direct negotiations at a mutually agreed-upon time and place, following today’s meeting in Washington.
The US state department “expressed hope” that the talks between Israel and Lebanon would “lead to peace agreement”.
Israel and Lebanon concluded their first direct diplomatic talks in Washington today, hosted by US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
“This is about bringing a permanent end to 20 or 30 years of Hezbollah’s influence in this part of the world and the – not just the damage that it’s inflicted on Israel, the damage that it’s inflicted on the Lebanese people,” Rubio said today.
According to a statement from the US state department, Israel affirmed its commitment to working with Lebanon to “disarm” non-state “terror” groups and their infrastructure, Reuters reports.
Lebanon also reportedly called for a ceasefire and measures to address the humanitarian crisis. Israel also “expressed commitment” to direct negotiations to “resolve outstanding issues.”
Germany’s finance minister said on Tuesday that the country must brace for prolonged energy price shaekups, due to the US-Israel war on Iran.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut Germany’s growth forecasts for 2026 and 2027, leading finance minister Lars Klingbeil to say on Tuesday that the country should assume the energy price shock will persist.
“This crisis once again shows that we must become more independent, more crisis-proof and more resilient,” Klingbeil said.
The Israeli ambassador to the US said on Tuesday that the Lebanese government made it clear it “will no longer be occupied by Hezbollah”, Reuters reports.
The comments follow the preliminary round of talks between Lebanon and Israel in Washington, hosted by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The purported statement from the Lebanese government has not been confirmed by Lebanese officials.
The ambassador added that Israel is working with Lebanon on “security and civilian front”, Reuters added.
Updated
A preliminary round of talks between Lebanon and Israel have concluded, according to a Lebanese state news agency.
The two countries began talks on Tuesday in Washington, hosted by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The two nations have not directly negotiated since 1983.
'Blockade is never the answer', European Council president reportedly says
European Council president António Costa criticized the US naval blockade of Iranian ports in an interview with CNN on Tuesday.
“Blockade is never the answer,” Costa said.
Costa pointed instead at the French and British-led video conference of a coalition of countries this week regarding the Strait of Hormuz. The conference is discussing whether to participate in “defensive actions” as a path forward, including possible financial sanctions on Iran.
Russia and China last week blocked a UN Security Council resolution that would have authorized this type of a coalition.
“In the ideal world we would have this mandate from the UN Security Council, but it’s not impossible to act in a different framework, not as a part of this war, but as a part of a peace solution,” Costa said.
Updated
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on Kuwait to release international journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin on Tuesday.
Kuwaiti-American journalist Shihab-Eldin seems to have been arrested on 3 March during a brief visit to Kuwait.
“It is understood that authorities have charged him with spreading false information, harming national security, and misusing his mobile phone – vague and overly broad accusations that are routinely used to silence independent journalists,” CPJ said.
Shihab-Eldin had published footage of a US air force aircraft crashing in al Jahra, west of Kuwait city. Three US planes were shot down by Kuwait air defenses in a friendly fire incident on 2 March. None of the pilots were killed.
Shihab-Eldin’s detention came amid escalations during the US-Israel war on Iran, with Gulf countries imposing increasingly tight censorship over the press, CPJ reports.
The day so far
US president Donald Trump has said that talks with Iran could resume in Pakistan over next two days, according to an interview with the New York Post. “You should stay there, really, because something could be happening over the next two days, and we’re more inclined to go there,” Trump was quoted as saying.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said Israel-Lebanon talks in Washington were a “historic opportunity”.He said that while every complexity would not be resolved in coming hours, he hoped the parties would begin to move forward.
Lebanon’s president expressed hope that direct talks would lead to an end of his country’s suffering after war erupted again between Israel and Hezbollah last month. “I hope that the meeting in Washington... will mark the beginning of the end of the suffering of the Lebanese people in general, and those in the south in particular,” president Joseph Aoun said in a statement, adding that “stability will not return to the south if Israel continues to occupy its lands”.
Three Iran-linked tankers have passed through the strait of Hormuz on the first full day of the US blockade of Iranian ports, Reuters has reported, citing shipping data. The news agency reported that the three vessels were not heading to Iranian ports, and so they were not covered by the blockade.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron will co-host a summit in Paris on Friday focused on efforts to reopen the strait of Hormuz, Downing Street said. A spokesperson said: “The summit will advance work towards a coordinated, independent, multinational plan to safeguard international shipping once the conflict ends.”
Foreign ministers from 17 countries, including the UK, Tuesday urged Israel and Lebanon to “seize this opportunity” ahead of talks between the two nations in Washington. Britain’s foreign ministry posted the ministers’ joint statement saying “direct negotiations can pave the way to bring lasting security for Lebanon and Israel as well as the region”.
Macron said on Tuesday he had spoken with Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian and Trump on Monday and called for talks to restart between Washington and Iran and for a halt of any possible escalation. He added in a post on social media platform X that the strait of Hormuz must be reopened unconditionally as soon as possible.
As the Iranian-linked militia Hezbollah urges Lebanon to pull out of talks with Israel later today, Reuters has some more details, including the news that US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will attend. Talks will be held in Washington at 11am ET (3pm GMT, 4pm BST) between the Israeli ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, and his Lebanese counterpart, Nada Hamadeh Moawad, officials say.
Trump criticised Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni, a political ally, in an interview published on Tuesday for her unwillingness to help in the Iran war. “I’m shocked at her. I thought she had courage, but I was wrong,” he told Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
The marine intelligence platform Windward has detected a “new potential blockade breaker” in the strait of Hormuz. In a post on X, Windward said a Comoros-flagged bulk carrier has appeared in the waterway after being “dark” – had its communications turned off to hide its exact location – since the start of the war on 28 February.
Foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt will meet Turkey’s top diplomat this week in Turkey for talks on regional matters, a ministry source told AFP on Tuesday. “This is the third meeting of the four countries to discuss regional affairs, not specifically Hormuz,” said the source, who wished to remain anonymous.
Hezbollah said it targeted 13 northern Israeli towns with rockets shortly after the start of Lebanese-Israeli talks in Washington. In a statement, the group said it targeted Kiryat Shmona, Metula and 11 other towns “with simultaneous rocket salvos” at 6.15pm.
Updated
UN secretary-general António Guterres has said it is “highly probable” that talks between the US and Iran will resume.
He added that while “nobody expects today’s talks between Israel and Lebanon to resolve the conflict, it is very important to create the conditions for change”.
Updated
The US blockade of ships using Iranian ports has come into force but several Iran-linked tankers have passed through the strait of Hormuz since it began.
The blockade is designed to put pressure on Iran, whose economy is dependent on oil and gas exports.
It comes after peace talks between Washington and Tehran at the weekend ended without a deal.
Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour…
Foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt will meet Turkey’s top diplomat this week in Turkey for talks on regional matters, a ministry source told AFP on Tuesday.
“This is the third meeting of the four countries to discuss regional affairs, not specifically Hormuz,” said the source, who wished to remain anonymous. The top diplomats are due to hold talks on the margins of an annual diplomacy forum in southern Turkey that opens on Friday.
Hezbollah said it targeted 13 northern Israeli towns with rockets shortly after the start of Lebanese-Israeli talks in Washington.
In a statement, the group said it targeted Kiryat Shmona, Metula and 11 other towns “with simultaneous rocket salvos” at 6.15pm.
The Israeli military had warned it expected a rise in Hezbollah attacks as Washington hosted Israeli and Lebanese officials for their first direct talks in decades.
Israel’s envoy to Germany has criticised a far-right Israeli cabinet member who made historically charged accusations against the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, saying the attack “[eroded] the memory of the Holocaust”.
In a rare rebuke of a top Israeli official by an active ambassador, Ron Prosor said he wished to “unequivocally condemn” Bezalel Smotrich’s tirade against Merz, in which he made reference to the Nazi regime and said: “You will not force us into ghettos again.”
The row, which erupted after the chancellor raised objections to settlements in the occupied West Bank, marks the latest clash between Berlin, seen as Israel’s closest ally in Europe, and Benjamin Netanyahu’s government over its actions toward Palestinians.
Merz’s office released a statement late on Monday after telephone talks with Netanyahu, saying he had urged Israel to stop military attacks on southern Lebanon and expressed “deep concern about developments in the Palestinian territories”. A “de facto annexation” of the West Bank must not be allowed, he added.
In response, Smotrich, the Israeli finance minister, invoked the Nazis’ murder of 6 million Jews during the second world war.
“On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day [on Tuesday], the German Chancellor should bow his head and apologize a thousand times on behalf of Germany, rather than daring to preach morality to us on how to conduct ourselves against the Nazis of our generation,” he said on X, apparently equating the Hamas-led attackers of 7 October 2023 with all Palestinians.
Direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon have just begun in Washington DC, marking the first time the two countries have had direct diplomatic contact since the 1990s.
Both countries’ ambassadors to the US are meeting in the US capital in the presence of US secretary of state Marco Rubio for what is being described as a ‘preparatory’ meeting for further talks.
As the meeting began, Israel bombed Tyre, one of the largest cities in south Lebanon. Despite the peace talks, fighting did not stop between Hezbollah and Israel. Israeli troops were on the verge of completely taking Bint Jbeil – a key city in south Lebanon – while Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel at a higher rate than usual on Tuesday. Israeli strikes killed 35 people in Lebanon on Tuesday alone.
Expectations for the talks were low. Lebanon came to the table with little leverage, as it cannot control the actions of Hezbollah and has few cards to offer Israel. It is also unclear how much space the Lebanese government has to negotiate as the country is sharply divided over whether to speak directly with Israel.
Much of Lebanon’s population is deeply skeptical of the talks as they see little guarantee that a diplomatic agreement will stop Israeli strikes on the country, which have been virtually continuous since 8 October 2023. Similarly, many Lebanese do not see a scenario in which Hezbollah agrees to give up its arms.
Hezbollah’s secretary general Naim Qassem called on the Lebanese government to stop negotiations on Monday night, while Wafiq Safa, a high-ranking official, told the Associated Press that the armed group would not respect the outcome of the negotiations.
Despite its lack of leverage, the Lebanese government will likely ask for an immediate ceasefire as a preconditions for further peace talks. Its ultimate demand will include the withdrawal of Israeli troops, which claim to control territory up to six miles in Lebanese territory.
Israel is coming to the table with two demands: The complete disarmament of Hezbollah and a ‘lasting’ peace with Lebanon. It is unlikely to agree to an immediate ceasefire in the short term absent immense US pressure, and is similarly not likely to accept withdrawal of the territory it now occupies in south Lebanon.
Talks would continue for now, as Iran forced Hezbollah to allow the Lebanese government to participate in them and the US forced Israel to negotiate. The atmosphere for negotiations, however, were not positive.
Updated
A drone struck an Iranian Kurdish group on Tuesday wounding three people, a party official told AFP, in the first such attack in northern Iraq since a fragile ceasefire took effect in the region.
Commander Mohammed Hakimi from the exiled Komala party blamed the attack on “Iran and its affiliated militias.”
“A drone struck at 4.45pm Camp Sordash” which belongs to the Komala party, Hakimi told AFP.
“Three Iranian Kurdish refugees were wounded, including a woman who is in a critical condition,” Hakimi added.
The camp is located 40 kilometres west of the city of Sulaimaniyah.
Another opposition group, the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), told AFP that a drone attack targeted its camp in the Koysinjaq district near Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region, with no casualties reported.
Lebanon president hopes Israel talks 'beginning of the end' of country's suffering
Lebanon’s president expressed hope that direct talks on Tuesday in Washington with Israel would lead to an end of his country’s suffering after war erupted again between Israel and Hezbollah last month.
“I hope that the meeting in Washington... will mark the beginning of the end of the suffering of the Lebanese people in general, and those in the south in particular,” president Joseph Aoun said in a statement, adding that “stability will not return to the south if Israel continues to occupy its lands”.
“The only solution lies in the Lebanese army re-deploying up to the internationally recognised border, and so being solely responsible for the security of the area and the safety of its residents, without the partnership of any other party,” Aoun added.
Meanwhile, US secretary of state Marco Rubio said Israel-Lebanon talks in Washington were a “historic opportunity”.
He said that while every complexity would not be resolved in coming hours, he hoped the parties would begin to move forward.
“This is a historic opportunity. We understand we’re working against decades of history and the complexities that have led us to this unique moment and the opportunity here,” Rubio said at the state department as he welcomed the ambassadors of the two countries.
“The hope today is that we can outline a framework upon which a current and lasting peace can be developed,” he added.
Updated
Trump says Iran talks could resume over next two days, NY Post reports
US president Donald Trump has said that talks with Iran could resume in Pakistan over next two days, according to an interview with the New York Post.
“You should stay there, really, because something could be happening over the next two days, and we’re more inclined to go there,” Trump was quoted as saying.
Trump also said Pakistan’s army chief, field marshal Asim Munir, was doing a “great job” on the talks.
“He’s fantastic, and therefore it’s more likely that we go back there,” Trump said.
Updated
The US blockade of Iranian ports involves more than 10,000 US military personnel, more than a dozen warships and dozens of aircraft, US Central Command said on Tuesday.
No ships have made it past the the blockade, while six merchant ships have complied with direction from US forces, it added.
Updated
Serbia will jointly make combat drones with Israel, populist president Aleksandar Vučić was reported as saying, as the Balkan country seeks to boost its military and weapons production.
Vučić said that “we will have the best drones in this part of the world,” according to the Tanjug news agency.
He added that the drones won’t be cheap but will be highly efficient in destroying armored vehicles the report said.
Vučić didn’t specify details of the future production, according to the report.
“We don’t know how to make drones as Israel does,” he said. “I am proud of that [plan] we will do it together, it will be half-half, 50-50.”
Foreign ministers from 17 countries, including the UK, Tuesday urged Israel and Lebanon to “seize this opportunity” ahead of talks between the two nations in Washington.
Britain’s foreign ministry posted the ministers’ joint statement saying “direct negotiations can pave the way to bring lasting security for Lebanon and Israel as well as the region”.
US president Donald Trump criticised Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni, a political ally, in an interview published on Tuesday for her unwillingness to help in the Iran war.
“I’m shocked at her. I thought she had courage, but I was wrong,” he told Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
Trump said she did not want Italy to be involved in the war, which began with Israeli-US attacks on Iran, even though it gets much of its oil from the region.
The interview was published less than 24 hours after Meloni condemned as “unacceptable” Trump’s criticism of Pope Leo, after the pontiff’s repeated calls for an end to the war in the Middle East.
He told Corriere that it was she who was “unacceptable”, alleging she did not care if Iran had a nuclear weapon.
Updated
Iran war escalation could trigger global recession, IMF warns
A further escalation in the Iran war could trigger a global recession, spiralling inflation and a sharp backlash in financial markets, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned.
Against an increasingly volatile backdrop, the Washington-based fund said the economic damage from the Middle East conflict was steadily rising as it cut its growth forecasts for 2026 based on the impact from the war so far.
In its half-yearly update, the IMF said the UK would suffer the sharpest growth downgrade and joint highest inflation rate in the G7 this year, even if the fallout from soaring energy costs can be contained by the middle of 2026.
However, under a worst-case “severe scenario”, involving a drawn-out war and persistently higher energy prices, it said the world would face “a close call for a global recession” for only the fifth time since 1980.
Read the full report here:
In today’s episode of Today in Focus, Beirut-based journalist William Christou reports on the historic talks between Lebanon and Israel and whether it could help steer the Middle East towards peace.
Christou says it is hard to overstate how surprising the talks are. “Lebanon and Israel have been at war in some form since the early 1980s. You’re not allowed to enter Lebanon if you have an Israeli stamp in your passport. The two don’t have diplomatic relations. So the fact that these talks are happening directly between the two governments is something that’s really astonishing,” he tells Nosheen Iqbal.
You can listen to the episode here:
The Israeli foreign ministry has sought to downplay Italy’s decision to suspend the defence agreement between the two countries (see post at 11:38), saying it “will not affect Israel’s security”.
“We have no security agreement with Italy,” the ministry told the Times of Israel. “We have a memorandum of understanding from many years ago that has never contained any substantive content.”
Here are some of the latest images from across the Middle East:
What will the UK’s role be in the strait of Hormuz when the Iran war ends?
The UK will co-host an international summit of more than 40 nations this week to discuss how to safeguard shipping through the strait of Hormuz when the Iran conflict finally comes to an end.
Keir Starmer has said the continuing closure of the waterway is “deeply damaging” and that getting global shipping moving is crucial to ease cost of living pressures.
Iran is believed to have laid at least a dozen mines to prevent oil tankers and other vessels from passing through the strait, through which about 20% of global oil flows.
But Tehran has thousands of naval mines in its arsenal, and while the US bombing campaign may have destroyed much of Iran’s naval capacity, mines can be dropped from relatively small boats.
With a depleted Royal Navy, the UK is likely to play a more limited role in keeping the strait safe and open for commercial shipping once hostilities do cease.
Read the full report here:
The day so far
Three Iran-linked tankers have passed through the strait of Hormuz on the first full day of the US blockade of Iranian ports, Reuters has reported, citing shipping data. The news agency reported that the three vessels were not heading to Iranian ports, and so they were not covered by the blockade.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron will co-host a summit in Paris on Friday focused on efforts to reopen the strait of Hormuz, Downing Street said. A spokesperson said: “The summit will advance work towards a coordinated, independent, multinational plan to safeguard international shipping once the conflict ends.”
Macron said on Tuesday he had spoken with Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian and US president Donald Trump on Monday and called for talks to restart between Washington and Iran and for a halt of any possible escalation. He added in a post on social media platform X that the strait of Hormuz must be reopened unconditionally as soon as possible.
As the Iranian-linked militia Hezbollah urges Lebanon to pull out of talks with Israel later today, Reuters has some more details, including the news that US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will attend. Talks will be held in Washington at 11am ET (3pm GMT, 4pm BST) between the Israeli ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, and his Lebanese counterpart, Nada Hamadeh Moawad, officials say.
The marine intelligence platform Windward has detected a “new potential blockade breaker” in the strait of Hormuz. In a post on X, Windward said a Comoros-flagged bulk carrier has appeared in the waterway after being “dark” – had its communications turned off to hide its exact location – since the start of the war on 28 February.
International humanitarian groups said they had sent emergency relief through overland routes to Iran, some of their first deliveries of aid since US-Israeli strikes began in late February. Aid workers say needs are high in the wake of six weeks of strikes, but stocks of emergency humanitarian supplies became stuck in Dubai warehouses as shipping and air routes were blocked by the expanding conflict.
The Egyptian foreign minister, Badr Abdelatty, is heading to Washington to meet US secretary of state Marco Rubio to discuss the latest developments in the Middle East, the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement on its website. Egypt joined Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to form a four-nation bloc that seeks to de-escalate the US-Israel war on Iran.
The Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, announced she was suspending Italy’s defence agreement with Israel. “In light of the current situation, the government has decided to suspend the automatic renewal of the defence agreement with Israel,” she said on the sidelines of an event in Verona, according to Italy’s Ansa news agency, without giving further details.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) said it expects the steepest quarterly decline in demand for crude oil since the Covid-19 pandemic slashed fuel consumption. The IEA noted that its forecasts assume a “base case” of oil shipments resuming in May through the strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively closed since the start of the war on 28 February.
The UK chancellor, Rachel Reeves has said she was “very frustrated and angry” over what she said was the United States’ failure to have a clear exit plan or objectives for the war in Iran, according to the Mirror newspaper. “This is a war that we did not start. It was a war that we did not want. I feel very frustrated and angry that the US went into this war without a clear exit plan, without a clear idea of what they were trying to achieve,” the British finance minister told the newspaper.
China said it will impose “countermeasures” after Donald Trump threatened new tariffs on its goods entering the US if Beijing provided military assistance to Iran. “If the US insists on using this as an excuse to impose additional tariffs on China, China will definitely take resolute countermeasures,” the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Guo Jiakun, told a news conference, according to AFP news agency.
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International humanitarian groups said they had sent emergency relief through overland routes to Iran, some of their first deliveries of aid since US-Israeli strikes began in late February.
Aid workers say needs are high in the wake of six weeks of strikes, but stocks of emergency humanitarian supplies became stuck in Dubai warehouses as shipping and air routes were blocked by the expanding conflict.
Iranian authorities say more than 3,000 people have been killed in Iran during the war and the UN refugee agency says up to 3.2 million have been displaced, Reuters reported.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it had delivered some 200 trauma kits as well as tents and blankets on trucks sent along a new route from Turkey.
The trucks crossed the Iranian border on Sunday and are set to arrive in the capital Tehran on Tuesday, said IFRC spokesperson Tommaso Della Longa.
“For us it’s very important as it represents a new route for getting aid into Iran and we’re very optimistic to scale up,” he told a Geneva press briefing.
“Before it was very easy to take a flight or a boat and bring aid directly to Iran in a couple of hours.“
French president Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday he had spoken with Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian and US president Donald Trump on Monday and called for talks to restart between Washington and Iran and for a halt of any possible escalation.
He added in a post on social media platform X that the strait of Hormuz must be reopened unconditionally as soon as possible.
“Under these circumstances, negotiations should be able to resume quickly, with the support of the key stakeholders,” he said.
'Potential blockade breaker' in strait of Hormuz as some ships transit waterway - Windward
The marine intelligence platform Windward has detected a “new potential blockade breaker” in the strait of Hormuz.
In a post on X, Windward said a Comoros-flagged bulk carrier has appeared in the waterway after being “dark” – had its communications turned off to hide its exact location – since the start of the war on 28 February.
“Its last traceable port call was Bandar Imam Khomeini (BIK), Iran, and its recent history includes transporting grain from Russia-occupied Ukrainian ports to Iran and Syria,” Windward said.
“Despite the current blockade, this vessel is back on the grid and navigating this high-stakes corridor.”
The US Central Command said yesterday that it would seek to stop only vessels transiting to or from Iranian ports, but how it will enforce the blockade remains to be seen.
News agencies reported a handful of ships have transited the strait towards the Gulf of Oman today (see post at 09:02), but they noted that, as the vessels were not heading to Iranian ports, they were not covered by the blockade. Windward said their movements “provide a critical test of blockade enforcement and corridor dynamics”.
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The Egyptian foreign minister, Badr Abdelatty, is heading to Washington to meet US secretary of state Marco Rubio to discuss the latest developments in the Middle East, the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement on its website.
Egypt joined Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to form a four-nation bloc that seeks to de-escalate the US-Israel war on Iran. Their coordinated efforts in recent weeks led to Saturday’s meeting between US and Iranian negotiators in Islamabad.
Abdelatty’s trip to the US coincides with rare talks between Israel and Lebanon, which is expected to be held in Washington today. Israel has already stated it will not negotiate a ceasefire with the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, which in turn said it will not follow any agreements that come as a result of the talks.
In a since-deleted post, Trump uploaded an AI-generated image of himself as a Jesus-like figure, appearing to “cure” a man. Commenting on the image, the UK’s Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch said it was “preposterous”.
“It should have been, at best, a funny joke that somebody else had done,” she told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“It was very bizarre seeing the president tweet it himself.”
You can head over to our UK politics blog to get the latest UK reaction to the Iran war and other news here:
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Italy suspends defence agreement with Israel
The Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, announced she was suspending Italy’s defence agreement with Israel.
“In light of the current situation, the government has decided to suspend the automatic renewal of the defence agreement with Israel,” she said on the sidelines of an event in Verona, according to Italy’s Ansa news agency, without giving further details.
The Italian Corriere della Sera newspaper reported that the agreement, first launched in 2005 and automatically renewed every five years, was designed to promote trade deals between Italy and Israel, particularly in the defence sector, and to facilitate military research and development.
In further comments, Meloni responded to Donald Trump’s lengthy tirade on his Truth Social app against Pope Leo XIV, in which he accused him of being “weak on crime”. Meloni said such statements were “unacceptable”, adding: “I have expressed and continue to express my solidarity with Pope Leo.”
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Starmer and Macron to host summit on reopening strait of Hormuz
UK prime minister Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron will co-host a summit in Paris on Friday focused on efforts to reopen the strait of Hormuz, Downing Street said.
A spokesperson said: “The summit will advance work towards a coordinated, independent, multinational plan to safeguard international shipping once the conflict ends.”
Macron has previously said the countries participating in the initiative would work on a “strictly defensive mission, separate from the warring parties to the conflict” which “is intended to be deployed as soon as circumstances permit”.
The announcement came as the US began its naval blockade of Iranian ports, with White House officials defending it as a just response to Iran effectively shutting the strait of Hormuz.
Still, reports suggest there could be a path for a second round of negotiations between the warring parties, with Reuters news agency citing Iranian sources as saying talks could resume in Pakistan later this week or early next week. Associated Press also reported the same, quoting US officials as saying discussions were still underway about a new round of talks, which could happen on Thursday.
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The UK chancellor, Rachel Reeves has said she was “very frustrated and angry” over what she said was the United States’ failure to have a clear exit plan or objectives for the war in Iran, according to the Mirror newspaper.
“This is a war that we did not start. It was a war that we did not want. I feel very frustrated and angry that the US went into this war without a clear exit plan, without a clear idea of what they were trying to achieve,” the British finance minister told the newspaper.
“And as a result the strait of Hormuz is now blocked,” she added.
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Marco Rubio to attend Lebanon-Israel talks in Washington
As the Iranian-linked militia Hezbollah urges Lebanon to pull out of talks with Israel later today, Reuters has some more details, including the news that US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will attend.
Talks will be held in Washington at 11am ET (3pm GMT, 4pm BST) between the Israeli ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, and his Lebanese counterpart, Nada Hamadeh Moawad, officials say.
As well as Rubio, the US ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, and the state department’s counsellor, Michael Needham, would attend, a department official said.
Lebanon, Israel and the US have issued conflicting statements on what the talks would cover.
Lebanon’s presidency has said the talks would focus on announcing a ceasefire and setting a start date for bilateral talks. A ceasefire was the only substantive issue Moawad is authorised to discuss, Lebanese Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh said on Sunday.
Israel would not discuss a ceasefire during the talks, which would focus on disarming Hezbollah and establishing peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon, Israeli government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian said on Monday.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) said it expects the steepest quarterly decline in demand for crude oil since the Covid-19 pandemic slashed fuel consumption.
The IEA noted that its forecasts assume a “base case” of oil shipments resuming in May through the strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively closed since the start of the war on 28 February.
This would lead to a decline in demand of 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in the second quarter, “the sharpest since Covid-19 slashed fuel consumption”, the IEA said.
Overall demand is forecast to have contracted by 800,000 bpd in March and is seen dropping by 2.3 million bpd in April.
Updated
Further to its earlier news alert on the possible second round of US-Iran talks in Islamabad (see post at 08:06), Reuters is now citing an Iranian embassy in Pakistan as saying negotiations could take place this week or early next week.
“No firm date has been set, with the delegations keeping Friday through Sunday open,” a senior Iranian source said, according to the news agency.
Three Iran-linked tankers pass through strait of Hormuz - Reuters
Three Iran-linked tankers have passed through the strait of Hormuz on the first full day of the US blockade of Iranian ports, Reuters has reported, citing shipping data.
The news agency reported that the three vessels were not heading to Iranian ports, and so they were not covered by the blockade.
They were:
Panama-flagged Peace Gulf, a medium-range tanker that was heading to Hamriyah port in the UAE. The vessel typically moves Iranian naphtha, an oil product that is used for making plastics and chemicals.
US-sanctioned tanker, Murlikishan, that was sailing to Iraq to load fuel oil. The vessel, formerly known as MKA, has transported Russian and Iranian oil.
Rich Starry, a US sanctioned and Chinese flagged vessel, which would be the first to pass the strait of Hormuz. It is carrying about 250,000 barrels of methanol, which it loaded at its last port of call, the UAE’s Hamriyah. The New York Times reported the vessel picked up the methanol from an unspecified port in the Persian Gulf and was bound for China.
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In further comments, Guo said the US blockade of Iranian ports “further jeopardises safety of passage through the strait [of Hormuz]”, calling it “dangerous and irresponsible behaviour”.
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China said it will impose “countermeasures” after Donald Trump threatened new tariffs on its goods entering the US if Beijing provided military assistance to Iran.
“If the US insists on using this as an excuse to impose additional tariffs on China, China will definitely take resolute countermeasures,” the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Guo Jiakun, told a news conference, according to AFP news agency.
Guo added that reports China was providing weapons to Iran “are completely fabricated”.
Updated
The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has put forward a four-point proposal for peace and stability in the Middle East, as he called for the world not to be allowed to “revert to the law of the jungle”.
In the most significant remarks he’s made so far about the crisis in the Middle East, Xi said China would play a “constructive role” in promoting peace talks in the Middle East.
He made the comments during a meeting with Khaled bin Mohamed, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, in Beijing today, where the two sides exchanged views on the current situation in the Middle East and the Gulf region, according to a readout by the Chinese state news agency Xinhua.
On his four-point proposal, Xi called for:
Upholding a “principle of peaceful coexistence” and to “promote the building of a common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security architecture for the Middle East and the Gulf region”.
Upholding state sovereignty, including the protection of personnel, facilities and institutions.
Upholding international rule of law that should not be “used it when it is convenient and abandoned when it is not … we cannot allow the world to revert to the law of the jungle”.
All countries to “integrate development and security” and “create a favourable environment and inject positive energy into the development of the Gulf states in the Middle East”.
Reuters has reported that the US and Iran will return to Pakistan for peace talks. Citing four sources, the news agency said the negotiating teams from both sides will be in Islamabad for a second round of talks later this week.
We will bring you more updates as we get it.
Saudi Arabia is urging the US to end its blockade of the strait of Hormuz over fears Iran could retaliate and target other shipping routes, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing Arab officials.
The officials raised concerns that Iran could close the Bab al-Mandab, a major global chokepoint between Yemen and the Horn of Africa which has been vulnerable to Houthi attacks. Saudi Arabia has been relying on its Red Sea port at Yanbu to export oil, but if the Bab el-Mandeb closes, the kingdom could lose its last remaining export route.
The day so far
It’s 9.30am in Tehran, 9am in Tel Aviv and 2am in Washington DC – and if you’re just joining today’s live coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran, here’s a summary of the latest to bring you up to speed.
The US blockade of ships using Iranian ports in the Gulf began on Monday, turning the six-week-old conflict between the US-Israeli coalition and Iran into a test of economic endurance.
Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, warned that any threat to the strait of Hormuz would have “widespread consequences for the world”, according to Iranian media. Pezeshkian reportedly told French president Emmanuel Macron yesterday that the US’s “excessive demands” had thwarted an agreement during the weekend talks in Pakistan.
US Central Command said the blockade would apply to any ships entering or departing Iranian ports or coastal areas, while ships using non-Iranian ports would not be impeded.
Donald Trump claimed at the White House that “we’ve been called by the other side”, which would “like to make a deal very badly”. He insisted the US would not agree to any deal that would permit Iran to have a nuclear weapon, saying: “We can’t let a country blackmail or extort the world.” News reports indicated US officials were continuing talks with Tehran.
Oil prices plunged and stocks rose on Tuesday on hopes for a deal to end the war.
Iran criticised the US blockade around its ports on Monday as a “grave violation” of its sovereignty amid the fragile ceasefire. The “unlawful” blockade also “constitutes a serious violation of the fundamental principles of the international law of the sea”, Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani, wrote to UN secretary general António Guterres in a letter.
US vice-president JD Vance accused the Iranian government of engaging in an “act of economic terrorism” by blocking traffic through the Hormuz strait.
Talks are expected in Washington between Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the US. It will be the first time in decades that envoys from Lebanon and Israel, which do not have diplomatic relations, will meet face-to-face in direct talks. Lebanese officials are looking to broker a ceasefire with Israel.
Hezbollah would not abide by any agreements that may result from the Lebanon-Israel talks – negotiations the Lebanese militant group firmly opposes, senior Hezbollah official Wafiq Safa said. Hezbollah’s leader, Naim Qassem, urged Lebanon to pull out of the talks.
The Israeli military said one of its soldiers was killed in combat in southern Lebanon and three others injured.
Iran proposed suspending its uranium enrichment for up to five years after the US sought 20 years at the talks in Pakistan, the New York Times reported, saying the Trump administration rejected the five-year offer.
A tanker sanctioned by the US travelled through the strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, shipping data on LSEG showed, testing the US naval blockade. The tanker Rich Starry is Chinese-owned and has Chinese crew onboard, Reuters cited the data as showing.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images coming in from the Middle East in the seventh week since the war began and amid a fragile US-Iran ceasefire.
Iran’s representative to the UN has demanded compensation from countries it says participated in the US and Israeli war effort against Iran.
Iran’s state media reports the nations include Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.
Iran’s official news agency, Irna – cited by the AP – said the country’s representative to the UN, Amir-Saeid Iravani, claimed the countries had violated international law and had to “make full compensation for the damages caused to the Islamic Republic of Iran, including payment of compensation for all material and moral damages resulting from their international violations”.
As reported earlier, Iravani denounced the US blockade around its ports on Monday as a “grave violation” of its sovereignty.
Oil prices plunged and stocks rose on Tuesday on hopes for a deal to end the war, with Donald Trump saying Tehran had called to seek an agreement, even as the US blockade of Iranian ports came into force.
While the weekend peace talks in Pakistan ended with no breakthrough, investors took heart from the two sides finding some areas of agreement, with the Islamic republic saying they had been “inches away” at one point, AFP reports.
Meanwhile, April could shape up to be a tougher month than March for energy markets and the economy, the head of the International Energy Agency said.
Fatih Birol said March saw delivery of cargo loaded before the crisis in the Middle East, but “during the month of April, nothing has been loaded”.
“The longer the disruption is, the more severe the problem becomes,” he told reporters after a meeting at the International Monetary Fund in Washington on Monday.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has touched down in Beijing and hopes to boost cooperation on issues including the war in the Middle East.
China welcomed a string of leaders of countries that have been impacted by the war and its economic fallout on Tuesday, including Vietnam’s To Lam and Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Lavrov will hold talks with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi, with Russia’s foreign ministry saying they would discuss the war in Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East.
Wang held a call with Lavrov on 5 April, when the pair agreed Beijing and Moscow would work together to deescalate tensions in the Middle East, AFP reports.
Chinese premier Li Qiang, meanwhile, told the UAE leader that Beijing was ready to help restore “peace and tranquility in the Gulf region”.
Updated
In a move designed to increase pressure on the US to make compromises in its conflict with his country, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has been briefing European capitals on the nature of the offer Iran had been willing to make about its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and future stewardship of the strait of Hormuz during the weekend talks in Islamabad.
After the inconclusive talks, Araghchi held phone briefings with the French and German foreign ministers, Jean-Noël Barrot and Johann Wadephul, as well as the Saudi, Omani and Qatari foreign ministers.
It is understood he stressed that Iran did not regard the Pakistan-led process as exhausted, even after 21 hours of intensive talks.
Europe has been sidelined on the Iran file by Donald Trump for more than a year, as the US president focused on working with Israel, while Tehran has largely dismissed European governments, seeing them as inveterate creatures of America. But the signs of the deepening transatlantic split, and the intense pressure being applied to European economies, has led Iran to review its stance on Europe as a potential lever on Trump.
See the full story here:
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The Israeli military says one of its soldiers has been killed in combat in southern Lebanon and three others injured.
“In the incident in which Sergeant Major (Res.) Ayal Uriel Bianco fell, a reservist was moderately injured, and two additional reservists were lightly injured,” the IDF posted on X.
It added the soldiers were evacuated to receive medical treatment at a hospital and that their families had been notified.
Israeli strikes on Beirut and its southern suburbs have reportedly stopped since last Wednesday but intense fighting has continued in southern Lebanon, where ground troops have invaded and Israel says it is creating a buffer zone for security.
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South Korean president Lee Jae Myung has said rising tensions around the strait of Hormuz make it hard to be optimistic about the fallout from the Iran war, warning that high oil prices and supply-chain strains are likely to persist for some time.
Lee told a cabinet meeting on Tuesday the government should treat prolonged disruption in global energy and raw materials markets as a given and reinforce its emergency response system.
For the time being, difficulties in global energy and raw materials supply chains and high oil prices will continue … I ask that we pursue the development of alternative supply chains, medium- to long-term industrial restructuring, and the transition to a post-plastic economy as top-priority national strategic projects.”
Industry minister Kim Jung-kwan said disruptions to shipping through the Hormuz strait were still affecting supplies and that even if the passage normalised, it could take about 20 days for Middle Eastern cargoes to reach South Korea.
Lebanon and Israel have not talked directly in decades – but the Iran war has upended the way we understand Middle East politics, as a new Guardian podcast explains, and on Tuesday the two countries are due to begin talks that could help steer the region towards peace.
The negotiations come less than a week after Israeli attacks in Lebanon that killed 357 people – and strained the US-Iran truce that had just been announced. Yet the talks in Washington will not include Hezbollah, which Israel wants to remove from Lebanon.
William Christou reports for the Guardian from Beirut and says it is hard to overstate how surprising the talks are.
Lebanon and Israel have been at war in some form since the early 1980s. You’re not allowed to enter Lebanon if you have an Israeli stamp in your passport. The two don’t have diplomatic relations. So the fact that these talks are happening directly between the two governments is something that’s really astonishing.
So why, asks Nosheen Iqbal, are these talks taking place? Because the US is putting pressure on Israel and Iran also wants a ceasefire so Hezbollah is allowing them to happen.
Yet, Iqbal hears, if the talks result in the Lebanese government and Israel working together to neutralise the Iran-backed militant group, that is also a worry for the Lebanese people because it could lead to civil unrest. “Tensions are ratcheting up,” says Christou.
The podcast is here:
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US-sanctioned tanker passes through Hormuz strait
A tanker sanctioned by the US travelled through the strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, shipping data on LSEG showed, testing the US naval blockade.
The tanker Rich Starry is Chinese-owned and has Chinese crew onboard, Reuters cites the data as showing.
Bloomberg reported earlier in the day that the medium-range tanker – earlier known as Full Star – was blacklisted by Washington in 2023 for helping Tehran evade energy sanctions. It was not clear on this occasion whether it visited Iranian ports before its transit or was carrying cargo.
The report continued:
This exit from the Persian Gulf is a second attempt for the carrier in less than 24 hours. Just as the blockade came into effect, Rich Starry was making its way into the narrow waterway near Iran’s Qeshm Island and turned back – only to restart its exit just hours later, broadcasting that it has a Chinese owner and crew. This is a safety mechanism frequently used by vessels, but will test US resolve to challenge vessels tied to the world’s largest oil importer.
The global shipping community and energy traders have been on edge since Trump announced a naval blockade of Iran beginning on Monday at 10 a.m. New York time, leaving them scrambling to understand the fine print. Most of those reached by Bloomberg across the Middle East and Asia said they would pause moves until the detail of the US blockade – intended to restrict Iran’s capacity to sell its oil – was clear.
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Earlier today US vice-president JD Vance said negotiations with Iran “did make some progress”, specifically on the US insistence that nuclear material is removed from Iran, as well as on a mechanism to ensure uranium cannot be enriched in the future.
“They moved in our direction,” Vance said in the interview with Fox News. He said he thought Iranian negotiators were “unable to cut a deal” and needed to get approval from others in Tehran.
Vance also said US negotiators made clear that Trump “would be very happy if Iran was treated like a normal country, if it had a normal economy”, but he did not go into details about what he meant.
There really is, I think, a grand deal to be had here. But it’s up to the Iranians, I think, to take the next step.”
Pakistan has reportedly proposed hosting a second round of talks between the United States and Iran in Islamabad in the coming days, before the end of the ceasefire, the Associated Press has reported.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the matter with the press, said the proposal would depend on whether the parties request a different location.
One of the officials said that, despite ending without an agreement, the first talks were part of an ongoing diplomatic process rather than a one-off effort.
The White House has not responded directly to queries about whether new talks were being weighed.
“President Trump, Vice President Vance and the negotiating team have made the US red lines very clear. The Iranians desperation for a deal will only increase with President Trump’s highly effective Naval blockade now in effect,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Iran proposes suspending nuclear activities for up to five years – report
Iran has proposed suspending its uranium enrichment for up to five years after the US sought 20 years at the weekend talks in Pakistan, the New York Times is reporting.
It said the Trump administration rejected the five-year offer, citing Iranian and US officials.
The report could not be immediately verified.
The Times said that while the US and Iran traded proposals for suspending Iranian nuclear activities during the weekend negotiations, the countries remained far apart on the length of any agreement, according to the officials.
But it said the discussions “suggested that there may be a path to a peace deal”, even as the US began blockading Iranian ports.
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Iran condemns US blockade as ‘grave violation of sovereignty’
Iran criticised the US blockade around its ports on Monday as a “grave violation” of its sovereignty amid the fragile ceasefire.
“The imposition of a maritime blockade constitutes a grave violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani, wrote to UN secretary general António Guterres.
The “unlawful” blockade also “constitutes a serious violation of the fundamental principles of the international law of the sea”, Iravani added in the letter, seen by Agence France-Presse.
Donald Trump ordered a blockade of ships entering or leaving Iranian ports and coastal areas in the Gulf that came into force at 1400 GMT Monday, despite the US and Iran agreeing last week to a two-week ceasefire.
Trump warned that any Iranian attack boats that challenged the blockade would be destroyed.
Guterres on Monday called on “all parties” to respect freedom of navigation in the Hormuz strait.
Mediator Pakistan and the gulf state Qatar have continued calls for the truce to be respected as diplomatic efforts continue.
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Australia’s PM will seek further assurances on the country’s fuel supply amid the Middle East war during the first prime ministerial visit to Brunei in more than a decade.
Anthony Albanese departed Sydney on Tuesday for a four-day visit to Brunei and Malaysia for talks aimed at safeguarding the flow of petrol and diesel.
Both nations play important roles in Australia’s fuel supply chains, and the trip will build on Albanese’s recent visit to Singapore, another vital exporter.
He will meet with Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah on Wednesday, where fuel will be high on the agenda, reports Australian Associated Press.
Swinburne University engineering expert Prof Hussein Dia described the trip as part of regional “fuel diplomacy” efforts aimed at ensuring long-term supply.
Brunei ships about 9% of Australia’s diesel while Malaysia is the third-biggest supplier, according to the government.
“I don’t think it’s a sign of immediate shortage or to say ‘give us priority’, it’s really to maintain flow,” Dia said, adding the government was likely “planning for a prolonged period of uncertainty”.
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Hezbollah says it will not abide by agreements from Lebanon-Israel talks
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah will not abide by any agreements that may result from direct Lebanon-Israel talks in the US, negotiations it firmly opposes, a senior Hezbollah official has said.
Wafiq Safa, a high-ranking member of Hezbollah’s political council, spoke on the eve of talks expected in Washington between Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the US.
It will be the first time in decades that envoys from Lebanon and Israel, which do not have diplomatic relations, meet face-to-face in direct talks.
“As for the outcomes of this negotiation between Lebanon and the Israeli enemy, we are not interested in or concerned with them at all,” Safa told the Associated Press.
Separately, the leader of Hezbollah urged Lebanon to pull out of the talks with Israel. Naim Kassem spoke in a televised address on the eve of the scheduled meeting.
The latest round of fighting was sparked by Hezbollah firing rockets into northern Israel on 2 March, after the US and Israel attacked Iran.
At least 2,055 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon, the health ,inistry says, among them 252 women, 165 children and 87 medical workers, while 6,588 others were wounded. More than 1 million people have been displaced.
Lebanon’s government – which says it is committed to disarming Hezbollah – had called for direct talks early on in the war. Last week, Israel announced its approval of talks.
Updated
Opening summary
Welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.
The US blockade of ships using Iranian ports in the Gulf began on Monday, turning the six-week-old conflict between the US-Israeli coalition and Iran into a test of economic endurance.
US Central Command (Centcom) made no formal announcement of the start of the blockade but had said it would take effect at 5.30pm Iranian time on Monday, and would apply to any ships entering or departing Iranian ports or coastal areas. Ships using non-Iranian ports would not be impeded.
Donald Trump claimed that 34 ships had passed on Sunday through the strait of Hormuz, the gateway to the Gulf, but gave no supporting evidence. Speaking to reporters at the White House, the president also claimed: “We’ve been called by the other side,” who he said would “like to make a deal very badly”.
In other key developments:
Trump said the blockade would be on all Iranian ports along the strait from Monday onward. About 20% of the global oil and gas supply moved through the waterway before the war. Seafarers as well as the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations received advisories indicating Trump’s blockade would apply to all ship traffic, regardless of the vessel’s flag.
Trump claimed that Iran wanted to reach a deal. He insisted the US would not agree to any deal that would permit Iran to have a nuclear weapon. “We can’t let a country blackmail or extort the world,” he said at a last-minute press conference at the White House on Monday.
After receiving a McDonald’s delivery at the beginning of the presser, Trump invoked bellicose language in discussing Iran. “Iran will not have a nuclear weapon, and we’re going to get the dust back. We’ll get it back, either we’ll get it back from them, or we’ll take it,” he said. At one point, when questioned about some sort of prior ultimatum regarding Iran, Trump said: “I don’t want to comment on that but it won’t be pleasant.”
Talks are expected in Washington between Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the US. It will be the first time in decades that envoys from Lebanon and Israel, which do not have diplomatic relations, will meet face-to-face in direct talks. Lebanese officials are looking to broker a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
There were reports indicating US officials were continuing talks with Tehran. One official told CNN: “There is continued engagement between the US and Iran and forward motion on trying to get an agreement.” Meanwhile, some administration officials were having internal talks about how a second sit-down with Iranian officials might look should the opportunity arise, the network reported.
Trump blasted Pope Leo XIV on social media in response to the pontiff’s call for an end to the war. The president claimed the pope was trying to appease the “radical left”. The pope said he had “no intention to debate” Trump over Iran but would continue to advocate for peace. US vice-president JD Vance urged the Vatican to “stick to matters of morality”.
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