Closing summary
We’re wrapping up this live coverage of Middle East news for the moment but you can see our last full report here, and below is a recap of the latest developments. Thanks for joining us.
Iranian officials say they have reversed the reopening of the strait of Hormuz and reimposed restrictions on the vital shipping lane after the US said it would not end its blockade of Iranian ports. TheIslamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned in a statement published by semi-official news agency Tasnim News. “Approaching the strait of Hormuz will be considered cooperation with the enemy, and any offending vessel will be targeted,” the IRGC statement said.
Donald Trump convened a White House Situation Room meeting on Saturday morning to discuss the renewed crisis around the strait of Hormuz and negotiations with Iran, according to reporting from Axios. A senior US official said that unless there is a breakthrough in peace talks, it appears that the war could reopen within days.
After initial talks between the US and Iran last weekend in Pakistan, the Iranian deputy foreign minister, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said a second date cannot be set until both sides “have agreed on the framework”.
Iran’s supreme national security council, the country’s highest decision-making body under the supreme leader, said it is reviewing “new proposals” put forward by the US, according to Iranian media.
Hezbollah has denied it was involved in the deadly attack against UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, which killed a French soldier. A UN peacekeeper was killed and three others were injured after a patrol came under attack from “non-state actors”, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon said.
The Israeli military killed two Unicef-contracted truck drivers at a water point in the northern Gaza strip, forcing the UN agency to suspend its operations in the area, Unicef said.
Pope Leo XIV said that it is “not in my interest at all” to debate Trump about the Iran war, but that he would continue preaching the Gospel message of peace.
Trump left the White House Saturday afternoon to play golf, despite Iran’s re-closure of the strait of Hormuz in response to the US blockade of Iranian ports.
The war with the US and Israel has killed more than 3,400 people in the Islamic republic, so far, according to Iran’s state-run Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs.
Foundation head Ahmad Mousavi was quoted by the ISNA news agency on Saturday saying that 3,468 “martyrs … fell during the recent conflict”.
A previous toll from the head of the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization issued on 12 April said 3,375 people in Iran had been killed in the war.
The US-based Human Rights Activists news agency (HRANA) said on 7 April that at least 3,636 people had been killed, including 1,701 civilians – among them at least 254 children.
