Closing summary
We’re wrapping up this live coverage now but our full report can be seen here, and below is a recap of the latest developments. Thanks for following along.
Donald Trump said he is extending the ceasefire with Iran at Pakistan’s request while awaiting a “unified proposal” from Tehran, even as the US military maintains its blockade of Iranian ports.
The move comes as the White House put on hold vice-president JD Vance’s planned trip to Pakistan for a second round of truce talks with Iran, which has balked at further discussions.
The US Treasury’s Scott Bessent said that as a result of the US blockade, “in a matter of days, Kharg Island storage will be full and the fragile Iranian oil wells will be shut in”. In a statement posted on X, Bessent said the US “will continue to apply maximum pressure through Economic Fury to systematically degrade Tehran’s ability to generate, move, and repatriate funds”.
Since the war started, fighting has killed at least 3,375 people in Iran and more than 2,290 in Lebanon, the Associated Press reports. Additionally, 23 people have died in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 13 US service members throughout the region have been killed.
Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah traded some fire on Tuesday. Hezbollah said it had fired rockets and drones at Israeli forces maintaining a buffer zone in southern Lebanon. In response, Israel said it had struck the launcher, calling Hezbollah’s strikes a blatant violation of the ceasefire.
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, will be part of the US delegation for upcoming direct talks between Israel and Lebanon, according to CNN. Israel and Lebanon, will hold fresh talks in Washington on Thursday, a state department official said.
Lebanon’s prime minister Nawaf Salam said the country would need 500m euros ($587m) over the next six months to deal with the humanitarian crisis that has seen 1.2m people displaced from Lebanon’s south, east and the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Israel’s military said Tuesday it has sentenced two soldiers to 30 days in jail and removed them from combat duty for smashing a statue of Jesus Christ in Lebanon. Images of an Israeli soldier with a sledgehammer smashing the statue’s head emerged over the weekend, bringing widespread condemnation, AP reported.
The Pentagon says US forces boarded the sanctioned M/T Tifani tanker overnight “without incident” in the Asia Pacific region. “As we have made clear, we will pursue global maritime enforcement efforts to disrupt illicit networks and interdict sanctioned vessels providing material support to Iran – anywhere they operate,” the US Department of Defense wrote in a post on X.
Gen Majid Mousavi, the aerospace chief for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, said oil facilities across the region would be harmed if neighbouring countries allow the US to carry out attacks. “If southern neighbours allow the enemy to use their facilities to attack Iran, they should say goodbye to oil production in the Middle East region,” he told Iranian state media.
Britain will host military planners from over 30 countries for two days of talks starting Wednesday on a multinational mission led by the UK and France to protect navigation in the strait of Hormuz, the defence ministry said.
Updated
Blockade to keep pressure on Iran, White House special meeting decides
Donald Trump convened his core national security team at the White House on Tuesday afternoon to discuss a path forward on Iran and what to do about their failure to confirm participation in more negotiations, according to two people briefed on the matter.
The meeting was attended by JD Vance, secretary of state Marco Rubio, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, joint chiefs chairman Dan Caine, CIA director John Ratcliffe, as well as special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who both flew in from Florida to attend in person. Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, was not included.
Ultimately, Trump and his team decided in the meeting that they would keep up the pressure on Iran by maintaining the blockade – reducing Iran’s perceived leverage after they closed the strait – to either offer terms that could (1) lead to more talks or (2) lead to strikes, the people said.
Updated
Donald Trump is considering extending the Jones Act waiver, which allows foreign-flagged cargo ships to move fuel and other goods between domestic ports, Axios has reported, citing US officials.
Trump waived Jones Act limitations for 60 days starting 17 March, hoping the move would help tame the surge in fuel prices caused by the Iran war by increasing shipments from the US Gulf Coast to other coastal markets in the country.
Updated
More than 5,500 people killed in war: report
Since the war started, fighting has killed at least 3,375 people in Iran and more than 2,290 in Lebanon, the Associated Press reports. Additionally, 23 people have died in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 13 US service members throughout the region have been killed.
Updated
The world’s top condom producer, Malaysia’s Karex Bhd, plans to raise prices by 20% to 30% and possibly further if supply chain disruptions drag on due to the Iran war, its chief executive has said.
Karex is also seeing a surge in condom demand as rising freight costs and shipping delays have left many of its customers with lower stockpiles than usual, CEO Goh Miah Kiat told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.
The condom maker joins a growing list of companies, including medical glove makers, bracing for supply chain bottlenecks as the Iran war strains energy and petrochemical flows from the Middle East, disrupting procurement of raw materials.
Since the conflict began in late February, Karex has seen costs increase for everything from synthetic rubber and nitrile used in manufacturing condoms to packaging materials and lubricants such as aluminium foils and silicone oil, Goh said.
The US has failed to bomb Iran into submission. Now, from the strait of Hormuz to nuclear concessions, Tehran senses its position strengthening, writes Sina Toossi.
Our picture desk has noted these images from the Middle East coming in today.
Bessent’s statement about the blockade seems to somewhat contradict what Iran’s envoy to the UN said on Tuesday: that Tehran has “received some sign” that the US is ready to stop its blockade of Iranian ports.
Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said that ending the blockade remains a condition for Iran to rejoin peace talks. He said when that happens, “I think the next round of the negotiations will take place”.
The US imposed the blockade to pressure Tehran into ending its stranglehold on the strait of Hormuz.
Updated
Bessent says blockaded Kharg Island will be 'full' of oil in days
Taking another look at the continuing US Navy blockade of Iranian ports, about two hours ago the US Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, posted this statement on X:
In a matter of days, Kharg Island storage will be full and the fragile Iranian oil wells will be shut in. Constraining Iran’s maritime trade directly targets the regime’s primary revenue lifelines.
Bessent said the US Treasury “will continue to apply maximum pressure through Economic Fury to systematically degrade Tehran’s ability to generate, move, and repatriate funds”.
He warned that any person or vessel facilitating these flows, through covert trade and finance, risked “exposure to US sanctions”.
Updated
Strait of Hormuz military talks to be led by UK and France
Britain will host military planners from over 30 countries for two days of talks starting Wednesday on a multinational mission led by the UK and France to protect navigation in the strait of Hormuz, the defence ministry said.
The ministry said the meeting would “advance detailed planning” on reopening the strait when conditions allow, following “progress” at talks in Paris last week.
“The task today and tomorrow is to translate diplomatic consensus into a joint plan to safeguard freedom of navigation in the Strait and support a lasting ceasefire,” the defence minister, John Healey, said in a statement.
He said he was confident “real progress can be made”.
Looking back on Wall Street trading today, the S+P 500 erased an early rise to fall 0.6% after the JD Vance called off his trip to Pakistan for negotiations with Iran.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 293 points, or 0.6%, after erasing an earlier gain of 400 points, while the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.6%.
Huckabee will join Israel-Lebanon talks on Thursday: report
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, will be part of the US delegation for upcoming direct talks between Israel and Lebanon, CNN is reporting.
Israel and Lebanon, which have no diplomatic relations, will hold fresh talks in Washington on Thursday, a state department official told Agence France-Presse.
A 10-day ceasefire was agreed between the two nations on Friday; it included Hezbollah.
Illustrating the butterfly effect of the strait of Hormuz closure, the Iran war has boosted demand to move vital cargo through the Panama canal to such an extent that one vessel carrying liquefied natural gas (LNGpaid $4m to skip the line and avoid a wait that can take up to five days, according to an official report.
A surge in such payments has been recorded since the US-Israeli attacks on Iran began 28 February. To meet fuel demand, Asia’s refineries are choosing to buy oil or gas from the US and ship it through the transoceanic waterway instead of purchasing from Gulf countries who rely on the strait of Hormuz, according to reports from the Panama Canal Authority.
Ships transiting the canal book their passage well in advance, and ships without bookings wait an average of five days to get through, but there is an auction where last-minute transits can be purchased.
The most recent auction included a $4m bid for an LNG vessel, and in recent weeks two oil tankers exceeded bids of $3m, the authority said.
Past average auction prices between October and February stood at around $130,000, and rose to $385,000 in March and April.
We’ll watch oil price movements, and how markets across Asia, due to open over the next couple of hours, react to Trump’s ceasefire extension.
To recap, shipping traffic through the strait of Hormuz remained broadly halted on Tuesday. Only three ships passed through the strait in the past 24 hours, shipping data showed.
Updated
Interim summary
Donald Trump unilaterally announced an extension of the two-week ceasefire with Iran on Tuesday amid frantic efforts to bring the two sides back to the negotiating table. Hours after announcing that he “expected to be bombing”, the US president adopted a starkly different tone in a post on his Truth Social platform, saying he would extend the ceasefire until Iranian negotiators submitted a proposal for peace.
The declaration came the same day an expected trip to Islamabad by JD Vance, the vice-president, had been put on hold. The delay came after Tehran failed to respond to the latest US negotiating positions. Vance’s trip will not be happening on Tuesday, per Reuters.
Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked US president Donald Trump for accepting the country’s request to extend the ceasefire and “allow ongoing diplomatic efforts to take their course.”
General Majid Mousavi, aerospace chief for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, threatened to end oil production in the Middle East if the Islamic republic faced attacks launched from its Gulf neighbours’ territory. “The southern neighbours should know that if their geography and facilities are used in the service of the enemies to attack the Iranian nation, they should bid farewell to oil production in the Middle East,” said Mousavi.
Hezbollah said it launched an attack on northern Israel on Tuesday in retaliation for what it said were Israeli violations of a 10-day ceasefire. The Iran-backed group said in a statement that its fighters launched rockets and attack drones at a site in northern Israel that it said was the source of artillery shelling towards a south Lebanon town.
Lebanon’s prime minister Nawaf Salam said the country would need 500m euros ($587m) over the next six months to deal with the humanitarian crisis that has seen 1.2m people displaced from Lebanon’s south, east and the southern suburbs of Beirut.
After Donald Trump announced an extension of the two-week ceasefire with Iran, Treasury secretary Scott Bessent reaffirmed on Tuesday that the US Navy will continue the blockade of Iranian ports.
“In a matter of days, Kharg Island storage will be full and the fragile Iranian oil wells will be shut in,” Bessent said in a post on X. “Constraining Iran’s maritime trade directly targets the regime’s primary revenue lifelines.”
He added that the US Treasury will “continue to apply maximum pressure through Economic Fury to systematically degrade Tehran’s ability to generate, move, and repatriate funds.”
“Any person or vessel facilitating these flows—through covert trade and finance—risks exposure to U.S. sanctions,” Bessent said.
The US last week imposed a blockade on Iranian ports to pressure Tehran into reopening the strait, and on Sunday it seized an Iranian cargo vessel.
Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked US president Donald Trump for accepting the country’s request to extend the ceasefire and “allow ongoing diplomatic efforts to take their course.”
“I sincerely hope that both sides will continue to observe the ceasefire and be able to conclude a comprehensive ’Peace Deal’ during the second round of talks scheduled at Islamabad for a permanent end to the conflict,” Sharif said in a post on X.
An advisor to Iran’s parliament speaker and top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said that US president Donald Trump’s ceasefire extension is a “ploy to buy time” for a surprise strike.
In a post on X, Qalibaf’s advisor, Mahdi Mohammadi, said that the continuation of the US blockade on Iranian ports was “no different from bombardment and must be met with a military response.”
Oil prices wavered just before US president Donald Trump announced he would extend the ceasefire to give Iran time to submit a proposal to end the war.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude went from less than $95 to roughly $100 during the day. It settled at $98.48, up 3.1%.
The S&P 500 erased an early rise to fall 0.6% after vice-president JD Vance called off a trip to Pakistan, where he was expected to lead US negotiators in talks with Iran to extend the ceasefire.
Trump says US extending ceasefire with Iran at Pakistan's request
US president Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the US is extending the ceasefire with Iran at Pakistan’s request as he waits for a unified proposal from Iran.
“Based on the fact that the Government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so and, upon the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of Pakistan, we have been asked to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“I have therefore directed our Military to continue the Blockade and, in all other respects, remain ready and able, and will therefore extend the Ceasefire until such time as their proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, one way or the other,” he added.
Hugo Lowell and Joseph Gedeon have the full report:
Updated
Iran threatens to end Gulf countries’ oil production if attacked from their territory
General Majid Mousavi, aerospace chief for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, threatened to end oil production in the Middle East if the Islamic republic faced attacks launched from its Gulf neighbours’ territory.
“The southern neighbours should know that if their geography and facilities are used in the service of the enemies to attack the Iranian nation, they should bid farewell to oil production in the Middle East,” said Mousavi, Reuters reports.
US president Donald Trump said that the United States was considering helping the United Arab Emirates financially, and a currency swap with the Middle East nation was under consideration as the war with Iran disrupts the Gulf state’s economy, according to an interview with CNBC.
“If I could help them, I would,” the president said, referring to the currency swap. “It’s been a good country. It’s been a good ally of ours.”
“They’re really led by incredible people... I mean, I’m surprised, because they are really rich,” Trump said.
“If I could help them, I would, I mean, we’re helping them much more with what we’re doing with the war,” Trump said, referring to the US and Israel’s war with Iran.
Israel’s military has accused Hezbollah of a “blatant violation” of the Lebanon ceasefire agreement.
The Israel Defence Forces said Hezbollah fired several rockets towards its troops in southern Lebanon and in retaliation it struck the launcher from which the rockets were launched.
Hezbollah said it fired at an artillery position of the Israeli army in Kfar Giladi, northern Israel, on Tuesday in response to ceasefire breaches, Reuters reports.
The US imposed new sanctions on Tuesday targeting 14 people and companies that help Iran obtain weapons as Tehran works to rebuild its ballistic missile inventories after U.S.-Israeli attacks, the Treasury Department said.
The targets, which also include aircraft, are based in Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates and were cited for their involvement in procuring or transporting weapons or components on Iran’s behalf, the Treasury said in a statement.
In the UK, prime minister Keir Starmer held talks with ministers and officials on the government’s work to ease pressures on the public caused by the conflict.
The Middle East Response Committee discussed ongoing contingency planning such as work with fuel suppliers, airlines and international counterparts, a government spokesperson said.
They also talked about diplomacy to support negotiations between the US and Iran, military planning as part of the post-war mission to keep the Strait of Hormuz open co-led with France, and wider measures such as efforts to weaken the link between gas and electricity prices.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said the US blockade of Iranian ports was an “act of war” and thus a violation of the ceasefire.
“Iran knows how to neutralize restrictions, how to defend its interests, and how to resist bullying,” he said in a post on X on Tuesday.
US military officials are asking to triple spending on drones and related technology, which have been a key part of fighting the Iran war, to more than $74b in the next budget year.
The Pentagon also called on Tuesday to invest over $30b into more critical munitions, including missile interceptors, whose stockpiles have become critically low during the Iran war.
According to military officials, the spending blueprint was developed before the conflict in the Middle East. It was unclear how much they will request in additional funds for the war.
“The overlap, you’ll see, is the request for munitions, which is something we always need,” Jules Hurst III, acting undersecretary of defense and the Pentagon’s comptroller, told reporters at a briefing. “We always need to increase our magazine depth. But outside of that, there aren’t any operational costs in here from Iran.”
During a news conference alongside France’s president Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, Lebanon’s prime minister Nawaf Salam said his government was not seeking confrontation with Iran-backed Hezbollah, but it would not allow itself to be intimidated as it continues direct talks with Israel to end the conflict.
Salam said he would need all Lebanon’s partners to help as direct talks at the ambassador level continue later this week in Washington.
“We are continuing along this path, convinced that diplomacy is not a sign of weakness, but a responsible act to leave no avenue unexplored in restoring my country’s sovereignty and protecting its people,” Salam said.
JD Vance’s trip to Islamabad on hold after Iran failed to meet terms - report
The New York Times is reporting that vice-president JD Vance’s trip to Islamabad has been halted after Tehran failed to respond to American negotiating positions.
A US official told the news outlet that Vance’s trip, which was expected to start on Tuesday, was placed on hold after Iran failed to meet US terms.
The visit could resume if Iran meets these terms, but the White House is waiting for a signal that Iran’s negotiators are willing to sign a deal.
In a post on X, the Israeli army said Hezbollah launched several rockets towards its soldiers in southern Lebanon.
The Israeli army retaliated by striking “the launcher from which the rockets were launched.”
The move follows on the heels of a ceasefire that took effect in Lebanon, where Israel has been conducting devastating airstrikes aimed at wiping out the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia. A 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah mediated by Washington came into effect last Thursday.
Updated
AFP is reporting that Iran’s judiciary denied that eight women were at risk of execution after president Donald Trump had requested clemency on their behalf.
The remarks come after, earlier today, Trump said on Truth Social that the women’s release “would be a great start to our negotiations!!!,” attaching a post by pro-Israel activist Eyal Yakoby, who claimed Iran was preparing to execute the women.
“Trump was misled once again by fake news,” the judiciary’s official Mizan Online website said. “The women who were claimed to be on the verge of execution, some of them have been released, while others face charges that, if convictions are upheld, would at most result in imprisonment.”
The day so far
US president Donald Trump told broadcaster CNBC in an interview on Tuesday that he did not want to extend a ceasefire with Iran, adding the US was in a strong negotiating position and would end up with what he called a great deal. “I don’t want to do that. We don’t have that much time,” Trump said when asked about the possibility of extending the ceasefire.
The US vice-president JD Vance has not yet departed Washington for talks on Iran and is participating in additional policy meetings, a White House official said on Tuesday afternoon. It comes as president Donald Trump said earlier in the day that the US is in a strong position for talks with Iran during a second round of negotiations in Pakistan.
In an extremely brief Truth Social post, the US president, Donald Trump, said that “Iran has violated the ceasefire numerous times”, without specifying what these breaches were. His comments come amid continuing uncertainty over whether a second round of peace talks between Iran and the US will take place in Pakistan today.
Pakistan has yet to receive a formal response from Iran on whether it would send a delegation for a second round of talks with the United States, Islamabad’s information minister has said. “Formal response from Iranian side about confirmation of delegation to attend Islamabad Peace Talks is still awaited,” minister Attaullah Tarar posted on X, saying that a decision was “critical” as just hours remained until the two-week ceasefire struck between the warring sides expires.
Lebanon on Tuesday raised the toll from six weeks of war between Israel and Hezbollah to 2,454 dead as a fragile 10-day ceasefire holds. The government’s disaster risk management unit in a statement also said 7,658 people had been wounded in the conflict, which began on 2 March, days after the broader Middle East war erupted.
Israel’s military said Tuesday it has sentenced two soldiers to 30 days in jail and removed them from combat duty for smashing a statue of Jesus Christ in Lebanon. Images of an Israeli soldier with a sledgehammer smashing the statue’s head emerged over the weekend, bringing widespread condemnation, AP reported.
Iranian authorities have arrested more than 3,600 people on charges related to the US-Israeli war ranging from sharing videos with media outlets based overseas to possessing Starlink internet terminals, an NGO said on Tuesday. Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) said the figure, based on state media reports and its own research, represented a minimum given the current internet restrictions in the Islamic republic, and that the actual number of arrests was “likely much higher”.
Lebanon’s prime minister and French president Emmanuel Macron will discuss on Tuesday how to strengthen the country’s hand in possible direct negotiations with Israel in the United States later this week, as Beirut turns to a trusted European ally. The US will host ambassador-level talks with Israel and Lebanon on Thursday, although it remains unclear whether the objective is to extend a fragile 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah or pave the way for deeper negotiations.
The Pentagon says US forces boarded the sanctioned M/T Tifani tanker overnight “without incident” in the Asia Pacific region. “As we have made clear, we will pursue global maritime enforcement efforts to disrupt illicit networks and interdict sanctioned vessels providing material support to Iran – anywhere they operate,” the US Department of Defense wrote in a post on X.
Germany and Italy on Tuesday rebuffed calls to suspend an EU cooperation deal with Israel, despite rising anger over the war in Lebanon and the situation in the West Bank. Spain and Ireland had put the issue of halting the June 2000 agreement back on the table at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
At least 26 Iranian “shadow fleet” vessels have bypassed the US naval blockade of the strait of Hormuz, according to Lloyd’s List. Since the US blockade took effect on 13 April, as many as 26 vessels have continued moving in and out of Iranian ports and have exported Iranian-origin cargo, maritime data shows. Lloyd’s List said 11 tankers laden with Iranian cargo have left the Gulf of Oman or the Middle East Gulf since 13 April.
Israel is continuing its attacks on Gaza, where the humanitarian situation remains dire despite a ceasefire. At least four Palestinian people have been killed by Israeli attacks in the southern and northern parts of the Gaza Strip so far today, Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting.
The US-Israel war on Iran is creating the worst energy crisis ever faced by the world, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), which advises 32 member countries on energy supply and security, said. “This is indeed the biggest crisis in history,” Fatih Birol told France Inter radio in an interview broadcast this morning.
Updated
Vance still in Washington, says White House
The US vice-president JD Vance has not yet departed Washington for talks on Iran and is participating in additional policy meetings, a White House official said on Tuesday afternoon.
It comes as president Donald Trump said earlier in the day that the US is in a strong position for talks with Iran during a second round of negotiations in Pakistan.
“We’re going to end up with a great deal. I think they have no choice...We’re in a very, very strong negotiating position,” Trump told broadcaster CNBC.
A US delegation led by Vance had been expected to leave shortly from Washington for Islamabad, which earlier this month hosted a first round of talks, ending without progress.
Updated
Germany and Italy on Tuesday rebuffed calls to suspend an EU cooperation deal with Israel, despite rising anger over the war in Lebanon and the situation in the West Bank.
Spain and Ireland had put the issue of halting the June 2000 agreement back on the table at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
German foreign minister Johann Wadephul called the proposal “inappropriate”.
“We have to talk with Israel about the critical issues,” he said, adding: “That has to be done in a critical, constructive dialogue with Israel.”
Trump says US likely to resume bombing Iran as ceasefire nears end
Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he expects to resume bombing Iran, as a fragile 14-day ceasefire approaches its deadline Wednesday with no deal in sight.
“I expect to be bombing because I think that’s a better attitude to go in with,” Trump told CNBC’s Squawk Box. “We’re ready to go. The military is raring to go.”
When asked if he would extend the ceasefire, he replied: “I don’t want to do that. We don’t have that much time.”
He added that the US was in a strong negotiating position and would ultimately secure what he called a great deal – though on what timeline, and at what cost, remained unclear.
The remarks came alongside a Truth Social post in which Trump accused Tehran of having “Violated the Cease Fire numerous times!” – an allegation that appeared to lay the groundwork for justifying resumed strikes.
Despite his sharp tongue, Trump at the same time indicated that a fresh round of negotiations was still on the table, with JD Vance and Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, expected to arrive in Islamabad for a second round of talks on Tuesday.
Lebanon on Tuesday raised the toll from six weeks of war between Israel and Hezbollah to 2,454 dead as a fragile 10-day ceasefire holds.
The government’s disaster risk management unit in a statement also said 7,658 people had been wounded in the conflict, which began on 2 March, days after the broader Middle East war erupted.
Authorities and rescuers in Lebanon have been continuing to recover and identify bodies in areas that were subjected to heavy Israeli strikes.
Pakistan says it is waiting for Iran's formal response on US talks
Pakistan has yet to receive a formal response from Iran on whether it would send a delegation for a second round of talks with the United States, Islamabad’s information minister has said.
“Formal response from Iranian side about confirmation of delegation to attend Islamabad Peace Talks is still awaited,” minister Attaullah Tarar posted on X, saying that a decision was “critical” as just hours remained until the two-week ceasefire struck between the warring sides expires.
He wrote:
The situation as it stands at 1930 PST
1. Formal response from Iranian side about confirmation of delegation to attend Islamabad Peace Talks is still awaited.
2. Pakistan as the mediator is in constant touch with Iranians and pursuing the path of diplomacy and dialogue.
3. Ceasefire ends at 4:50 am PST, 22 April. Decision from Iran to attend the talks before the end of two weeks ceasefire is critical.
4. Pakistan has made sincere efforts to convince the Iranian leadership to participate in the second round of talks and these efforts continue.
Iranian authorities have arrested more than 3,600 people on charges related to the US-Israeli war ranging from sharing videos with media outlets based overseas to possessing Starlink internet terminals, an NGO said on Tuesday.
Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) said the figure, based on state media reports and its own research, represented a minimum given the current internet restrictions in the Islamic republic, and that the actual number of arrests was “likely much higher”.
It said at least 3,646 people had been arrested since the war broke out on 28 February, with at least 767 of the cases reported after the start of a ceasefire on 8 April.
Israel jails two soldiers for attack on Jesus statue
Israel’s military said Tuesday it has sentenced two soldiers to 30 days in jail and removed them from combat duty for smashing a statue of Jesus Christ in Lebanon.
Images of an Israeli soldier with a sledgehammer smashing the statue’s head emerged over the weekend, bringing widespread condemnation, AP reported.
Israel said one of the soldiers being punished hammered the statue to the ground. The other filmed the destruction.
Updated
Trump says Iranian leaders will 'soon be in negotiations' with US
In another Truth Social post, Donald Trump said Iranian “leaders” will soon be in negotiations with his “representatives” – presumably the vice president, JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Attaching his post with unverified news alleging that Iran is planning to hang eight women, Trump said: “I would greatly appreciate the release of these women. I am sure that they will respect the fact that you did so. Please do them no harm! Would be a great start to our negotiations!!!”
Iranian officials have not publicly confirmed that a delegation will attend a new round of peace talks, although the Associated Press reports that JD Vance and Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, will arrive in Islamabad tomorrow morning to lead their teams in negotiations.
Earlier, Ghalibaf said Tehran is preparing “new cards on the battlefield” if the war with the US resumes after the ceasefire expires tomorrow. Trump has expressed his reluctance to extend the Wednesday deadline.
Updated
US 'much more powerful than five weeks ago', claims Trump in CNBC interview
Some more from the CNBC interview now. When asked about his threats to bomb Iranian bridges and the country’s electrical grid, Trump, without providing any evidence to support his comments, said: “It’s not my choice but it would also hurt them, it would hurt them militarily. They use the bridges for their weapons, for their missile movements.”
“They are trying to move the missiles because we have obliterated most of their missiles and they are trying to move their missiles around even during the ceasefire.”
“We are totally loaded up. We have so much ammo, we have so much of everything… Much more powerful than it was four or five weeks ago. So we have used this to restock and they probably have done a little bit of restocking.”
The US president previously threatened to bomb Iran’s water treatment facilities as well as its power plants and bridges if Tehran did not agree to abandon its nuclear weapons programme – a key sticking point between the two sides. Many legal experts agree that mass bombing of civilian infrastructure in Iran would constitute a war crime.
Trump goes on to suggest that he suspects China may have helped Iran during the US- Israeli war against the country.
“We caught a ship yesterday that had some things on it, which wasn’t very nice, a gift from China perhaps,” he said. “I don’t know, but I’m sort of surprised, but because I have a very good relationship, and I thought I had an understanding with President Xi, but that’s all right. That’s the way war goes, right?”
Updated
Trump says he does not want to extend ceasefire with Iran
President Donald Trump told CNBC in an interview on Tuesday that he did not want to extend a ceasefire with Iran, adding the US was in a strong negotiating position and would end up with what he called a great deal.
“I don’t want to do that. We don’t have that much time,” Trump said when asked about the possibility of extending the ceasefire.
Trump also said that the US was in a strong negotiating position with Iran and would end up with a “great deal”.
He said there is not “much time” to reach a deal, adding that Tehran can get themselves on “a very good footing” if they settle on one with Washington.
“I expect to be bombing ‘cause that would be a better attitude,” the president later told CNBC.
Updated
Lebanon’s prime minister and French president Emmanuel Macron will discuss on Tuesday how to strengthen the country’s hand in possible direct negotiations with Israel in the United States later this week, as Beirut turns to a trusted European ally.
The US will host ambassador-level talks with Israel and Lebanon on Thursday, although it remains unclear whether the objective is to extend a fragile 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah or pave the way for deeper negotiations.
Israeli troops occupy territory deep in the south, aiming to create a buffer zone to shield northern Israel from Hezbollah attack, while the group says it maintains the “right to resist” Israeli occupation.
“France’s role is not to insert itself between the parties in discussions that are, by nature, bilateral and direct,” a French presidency official said ahead of prime minister Nawaf Salam’s meeting with Macron.
“France is one of the countries capable of playing a very concrete role in strengthening the Lebanese government’s hand and supporting its action in practical terms.“
Well, it looks like there was some miscommunication with our video service and there is in fact no Pete Hegseth press conference today.
We will all have to wait a little while longer to hear his latest pearls of wisdom and unique take on the US-Israeli war on Iran.
The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, is due to give a war briefing at the Pentagon alongside Gen Dan Caine, the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, in about five minutes.
Stay with us as we will be covering it live and will attach a feed of the briefing at the top of the blog.
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The Pentagon says US forces boarded the sanctioned M/T Tifani tanker overnight “without incident” in the Asia Pacific region.
“As we have made clear, we will pursue global maritime enforcement efforts to disrupt illicit networks and interdict sanctioned vessels providing material support to Iran – anywhere they operate,” the US Department of Defense wrote in a post on X.
US and Iran signal they will return to Pakistan for ceasefire talks - report
The Associated Press is reporting that two regional officials have said the US and Iran have indicated they will hold a new round of the ceasefire talks in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital.
Officials told the news agency that “Pakistan-led mediators” received confirmation that the US vice-president JD Vance and Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf will arrive in Islamabad tomorrow morning to lead their teams in the talks.
We have not been able to independently verify this report. Iran, which has sent mixed messages about the talks, has said speculation about them sending a delegation to Pakistan should not be believed.
Iran’s state broadcaster earlier dismissed “rumours” about the departure or arrival (times) of the delegation being spread by unnamed “international outlets and regional sources”.
Yesterday evening, Ghalibaf said in a social media post that his country would not attend negotiations while under threat – and warned they were “prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield”.
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Trump claims Iran has 'violated' ceasefire agreement 'numerous times'
In an extremely brief Truth Social post, the US president, Donald Trump, has said that “Iran has violated the ceasefire numerous times”, without specifying what these breaches were.
His comments come amid continuing uncertainty over whether a second round of peace talks between Iran and the US will take place in Pakistan today.
On Sunday, Trump accused Iran of firing on ships passing through the strait of Hormuz in what he claimed was in violation of the ceasefire agreement due to expire tomorrow.
A spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry, however, said it was Washington’s blockade of the waterway that was a violation of the agreement. Trump said on Friday that the naval blockade of Iranian ports would continue until a deal was reached.
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At least 26 Iranian 'shadow fleet' vessels have slipped through US blockade of strait of Hormuz
At least 26 Iranian “shadow fleet” vessels have bypassed the US naval blockade of the strait of Hormuz, according to Lloyd’s List.
Since the US blockade took effect on 13 April, as many as 26 vessels have continued moving in and out of Iranian ports and have exported Iranian-origin cargo, maritime data shows. Lloyd’s List said 11 tankers laden with Iranian cargo have left the Gulf of Oman or the Middle East Gulf since 13 April.
Iran officially closed the strait – to “hostile” countries - on 4 March in response to US-Israeli airstrikes on the country, and briefly declared it back open on Friday after a 10-day ceasefire deal was agreed between Israel and Lebanon.
But Iranian officials said over the weekend they were effectively closing the vital waterway again after the US said it would not end its blockade of Iranian ports.
Since the blockade began, the US has directed 27 vessels to turn around or return to an Iranian port, according to a social media post published by Centcom yesterday.
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China’s ambassador to Pakistan, Jiang Zaidong, has expressed his “full support” of Pakistan’s mediation efforts between the US and Iran.
In a post on X, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said talks between the country’s deputy prime minister Ishaq Dar, who also serves as foreign minister, and Zaidong focused on the “latest regional developments”.
“Amb Zaidong conveyed China’s full support for and appreciation of Pakistan’s continued efforts to facilitate engagement between US and Iran for sustained peace and stability in the region and beyond,” the ministry said.
During a phone call with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that “normal traffic” through the strait of Hormuz “should be maintained” and, according to state media, said China “advocates for an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire”.
China is widely seen to have benefited from the US-Israel war on Iran as it has enabled Beijing to boost its diplomatic power and the country’s fossil fuel stockpiles and diversified energy mix insulated it from the worst of the oil shock, as my colleague notes in this analysis piece.
The Chinese yuan has also been used by ships that have paid tolls to Iran for safe transit across the strait of Hormuz, according to reports.
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The internet blackout in Iran has entered its 53rd day, according to internet monitoring group NetBlocks. It said in a post on its website:
The Iran internet blackout is now in its 53rd day after 1248 hours of disconnection from global networks.
As authorities work to develop tiered access for select users and businesses, the human impacts and economic harms of this digital censorship measure continue to spiral.
A select number of officials are still able to use the internet and post regularly on social media about the war. There was an earlier internet shutdown in January during nationwide protests, which helped obscure extreme violence against Iran’s population.
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Belgium’s foreign minister Maxime Prevot has described Israel’s military actions in Lebanon as “totally unacceptable”.
“Israel’s conduct is completely unacceptable. Of course, we must firmly condemn Hezbollah’s initial attacks, which, in seeking to show solidarity with Iran, dragged Lebanon into a war it did not want, as well as Israel’s disproportionate and indiscriminate response,” Prevot said ahead of a meeting with EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
He also said Belgium is calling for at least a partial suspension of the EU’s Association’s Agreement with Israel, adding that Belgium is “aware that a full suspension is probably out of reach given the positions of the various European countries” ( see post at 09.19 for more details).
Israel started a war on Lebanon on 2 March when Hezbollah, the Iranian backed Lebanese militant group and political party, launched rocket fire at Israel after US-Israeli airstrikes killed former Iranian supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, in Tehran.
The IDF responded with a wave of intense strikes across Lebanon, targeting what it claimed was Hezbollah infrastructure, though many civilians were killed (over 2,290, according to the health ministry), homes destroyed and over 1.2 million people displaced across the country.
During the war, Israel also launched a ground invasion several kilometres into Lebanese territory, with a stated goal to push Hezbollah back from the border in order to stop the ability of the group to fire rockets into communities in northern Israel. Israeli officials now say Israel will stay in control of dozens of towns and villages as part of what it describes as a security buffer zone – but from the ground this looks like a prelude to long term occupation.
The US state department will host new talks on Thursday between Israel and Lebanon, an American official told the AFP news agency, after a previous meeting saw the start of a 10-day ceasefire that took effect on 16 April.
Hezbollah is of the view that direct peace talks are a form of national humiliation and are about trying to pressure the group into laying down its weapons. The Lebanese president, Joseph Aoun, who wants to end the Israeli occupation of southern areas of his country and stop future Israeli attacks, is in favour of engaging in the talks.
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No Iranian delegation has departed for Pakistan yet - state TV
Iranian state TV is reporting that no Iranian delegation has yet departed for Pakistan to attend peace talks with the US. It is not clear yet if they will attend the talks today despite pressure from mediators to do so.
The country’s state broadcaster wrote in a post on Telegram that “no delegation from Iran has travelled to Islamabad, neither a primary nor a secondary, neither initial nor follow-up.”
Axios, meanwhile, is reporting that the US vice-president JD Vance is due to leave for Islamabad by Tuesday morning for talks with Iran, a day before the ceasefire expires.
Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s special envoy who often acts like a de facto secretary of state, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and adviser, are also expected to travel to the Pakistani capital for the talks.
Iran has been stalling because of possible pressure from the Revolutionary Guards on the negotiators to adopt a firmer line and insist there cannot be diplomacy while the US is blockading the strait of Hormuz, according to the Axios report.
Iran holds a deep mistrust of the US as it has been attacked before during previous negotiations.
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You can keep up with the latest developments on the EU and from around the continent in our Europe live blog:
Spain’s foreign minister José Manuel Albares has just confirmed that Spain, Slovenia and Ireland have requested a discussion on suspending the EU’s association treaty with Israel at today’s meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers.
He said the process was about the EU’s “credibility” on all other issues, as the bloc is expected to stand “for the same principles” everywhere.
He said that if the EU is “not capable to say today to Israel” that it is expected to respect human rights and international law, and not make war a foreign policy tool, “we are going to lose that credibility.”
“We have to say the same thing that we say to Russia concerning Ukraine, and that we say in other scenarios, and since the last time we brought this same position, things have worsened,” he said.
European Union has to say today very clearly to Israel that that change is needed. That’s not the right path, and that while Israel continues in that path of a permanent perpetual war, we will not be able to [run our relations] in the same way.
He said that if suspending the association treaty in full is unacceptable for some members, the bloc should consider suspending at least the trade element of the deal.
Israel is continuing its attacks on Gaza, where the humanitarian situation remains dire despite a ceasefire.
At least four Palestinian people have been killed by Israeli attacks in the southern and northern parts of the Gaza Strip so far today, Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting.
In its latest update, Gaza’s health ministry said at least 72,560 Palestinian people have been killed and 172,317 others injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023.
At least 784 Palestinian people have been killed in Israeli attacks since a ceasefire came into effect in October 2025, according to the ministry, whose figures the UN generally find reliable.
Most of the people killed have been civilians and the true death toll is likely much higher given the number of people still buried under rubble across the territory.
Aid groups say broken infrastructure and inconsistent electricity have turned untreated sewage into a growing public health risk, and there is a view that the US and Israeli war on Iran has resulted in even higher prices for food and other essentials.
Iran will respond decisively to any renewed hostile action, senior commander warns
Iran’s armed forces are ready to deliver an “immediate and decisive response” to any renewed hostile action by its adversaries, Ali Abdollahi, commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, was quoted by the Tasnim news agency as having said.
He said Tehran had the upper hand militarily, including in the management of the strait of Hormuz, and would not allow Donald Trump to “create false narratives over the situation on the ground.”
Though Iran had briefly opened the strait of Hormuz on Friday, it closed it again (to “hostile” countries at least) on Saturday because the US would not lift its counter-blockade.
The commander’s comments come after the Iranian parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who is expected to head the Iranian delegation if peace talks take place in Pakistan, said yesterday evening that his country would not attend negotiations while under threat – and warned they were “prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield”.
Trump, who sees the resumption of shipping levels in the strait of Hormuz to pre-war levels as a priority, has threatened to resume bombing if an agreement is not reached by Wednesday’s deadline.
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The US-Israel war on Iran is creating the worst energy crisis ever faced by the world, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), which advises 32 member countries on energy supply and security, said.
“This is indeed the biggest crisis in history,” Fatih Birol told France Inter radio in an interview broadcast this morning.
“The crisis is already huge, if you combine the effects of the petrol crisis and the gas crisis with Russia.”
Birol has said it will take about two years to recover the energy output lost in the Middle East from the war there.
In response to US-Israeli attacks on Iran in late February, Tehran effectively closed the strait of Hormuz to vessels, only allowing a relatively small number of ships from “friendly” countries like China, Malaysia and Pakistan through.
The effective closure of the strait, via which about 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas is usually transported through, and damage to regional infrastructure have produced the largest disruption to the global oil market in its history, the IEA said.
It has lead to fears of a global recession and sent global energy prices soaring, prompting countries to implement fuel rationing and restrictions on electricity consumption.
The US continues to blockade the strait after seizing an Iranian-flagged cargo ship on Sunday, only prolonging the economic pain felt around the world, especially for poorer countries that rely on energy imports.
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The UN security council has condemned the killing of a French peacekeeper and the injuring of three others in an attack in southern Lebanon.
The UN interim force in Lebanon (Unifil) said on the weekend that a patrol clearing explosive ordnance along a road in Ghanduriyah village to re-establish links with isolated Unifil positions came under “small-arms fire from non-state-actors”.
The UN statement on Monday said:
The members of the security council condemned in the strongest terms the attack ... [and] reaffirmed their full support for Unifil.
France has blamed Hezbollah for the attack on Saturday, but the Lebanese militant group and political party denied involvement.
Hezbollah called for “caution in making judgements and assigning blame regarding the incident, pending the Lebanese army’s investigation to determine the full circumstances”.
Here are some of the latest images coming in from around the Middle East in the ninth week since the US-Israel war on Iran began.
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Continued from last post:
The Iranian side had sought to portray the talks as simply a first step. However, actions taken by Trump in the aftermath – including a US naval blockade on the strait of Hormuz and inflammatory claims made in social media posts – had led the Iranians to push back from suggestions of further negotiations under the threat of “force”.
Last week, Pakistan’s army chief spent three days in Tehran, in an attempt to salvage the negotiations and get a second round of Islamabad talks back on track.
While both sides initially agreed to returning to negotiations this week, the Iranians then reversed their decision over the weekend after the US navy seized an Iranian ship, an act they called “piracy” that would have “grave consequences”. By Wednesday morning, it was still unclear if Iran would be sending their team back to Islamabad as hoped.
Speaking on Tuesday night, Trump said Iran would have to negotiate or “face problems like they’ve never seen”.
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For Pakistan, much is riding on the success of this second round of talks.
Pakistan’s government and military have been intricately involved and invested in bringing about a ceasefire between the US and Iran for weeks, and have been credited with pushing both sides to the table.
It was efforts led by Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, that helped finalise a temporary ceasefire on 8 April, bringing US president Donald Trump back from the brink after his threat to annihilate Iran’s entire civilisation.
It was seen as a diplomatic triumph for Pakistan when both sides turned up for the first round of talks in Islamabad on 11 April, even as mistrust ran high between their negotiating teams. Iran sent two planeloads of senior officials to attend, which was seen as a sign of their seriousness to bring about a permanent end to the war.
The talks started indirectly through Pakistani mediators, and then moved to face-to-face talks, led by US vice-president JD Vance on the US side and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on the Iranian side.
The negotiations took place over 21 hours, during which time Vance was said to have phoned president Donald Trump more than a dozen times.
But as Vance boarded a flight back to Washington on 12 April, it was empty handed, having claimed the Iranians would not reach a deal on their nuclear programme.
Continued next post
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Tehran denounces US seizure of Iranian ship
Iran has condemned what it labelled the “maritime piracy” of the US seizing an Iranian-flagged container ship and says it is a “further complication” of the Middle East situation.
The US military attacked the ship on Sunday as it attempted to get past an American blockade near the strait of Hormuz – the first such interception since the blockade of Iranian ports began last week.
Iran’s foreign affairs ministry called for the immediate release of the vessel and its sailors, crew and their families, saying the seizure not only violated international law but was another “clear violation” of the ceasefire agreement with the US.
The ministry’s statement on Tuesday – which Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency posted on X – said Iran had drawn the UN’s attention to the incident and called for a “serious condemnation and response from international institutions and responsible governments”.
US Central Command said marines had departed the USS Tripoli assault ship by helicopter and rappelled on to the Touska on Sunday.
The weekend news threw into question Donald Trump’s announcement that US negotiators would head to Pakistan for another round of talks amid the expiry of the US-Iran ceasefire on Wednesday.
Trump said the ship was under US treasury sanctions because of a “prior history of illegal activity”.
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Trump says recovering Iran's uranium will be 'long and difficult'
Donald Trump has said retrieving uranium from Iran will be a “long and difficult” process in the wake of the US bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities last year.
“Operation Midnight Hammer was a complete and total obliteration of the Nuclear Dust sites in Iran,” the president posted on his Truth Social platform overnight to Tuesday.
Therefore, digging it out will be a long and difficult process.”
Trump has used nuclear dust to refer to Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium but also to nuclear materials left from the June strikes.
The US president claimed after the bombardment that it had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program, but as Peter Beaumont reported, it soon became apparent this was not true. The bombs had wreaked extensive damage but deep underground sites – burrowed beneath mountains in two sites in particular, Isfahan and Natanz – could not be destroyed.
In Trump’s latest post he also hit out at news outlets, saying:
Fake News CNN, and other corrupt Media Networks and Platforms, fail to give our great aviators the credit they deserve - Always trying to demean and belittle - LOSERS!!!”
The future of Iran’s nuclear material has become a key sticking point between the US and Iran in their ongoing standoff. Trump last week claimed Iran had agreed to hand over its enriched uranium to the US, prompting Iran to say it hadn’t.
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On Tuesday morning, Islamabad sat poised and ready to host a second round of talks – even as uncertainty reigned over whether both sides would even turn up.
Pakistani officials remained optimistic that the second round of negotiations would happen, even as Iranian ministers said they would refuse to come to the table under the threat of “force” and it remained unclear exactly when US vice-president JD Vance planned to depart Washington for Islamabad.
Roads were shut down around Islamabad’s five-star Serena hotel, where the first round of negotiations took place over a tense 21 hours, but failed to strike any deal.
Over the past few days, Islamabad and other major cities have been grappling with blackouts lasting more than seven hours, as the country faces a grave energy shortage due to the ongoing blockade of the strait of Hormuz – bringing home the economic gravity of these talks for south Asian countries.
Neighbouring Bangladesh warned this week that its mobile network would soon face a shutdown as they were running out of fuel to run the power stations.
Islamabad’s electricity board released a statement on Monday night making assurances there would be enough electricity to ensure that US and Iranian negotiators were not plunged into darkness for the duration of their meeting.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East.
Iran is considering attending peace talks with the US in Pakistan, a senior Iranian official said on Monday, after moves by Islamabad to end a US blockade of Iran’s ports – a key obstacle to Tehran rejoining peace efforts as the end of a two-week ceasefire nears.
But the official also stressed to the Reuters news agency that no decision had been made, while Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said “continued violations of the ceasefire” by the US were a major obstacle to continuing the diplomatic process.
On Monday night, Iranian chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf accused Donald Trump on social media of increasing pressure on Tehran through the blockade and ceasefire violations, saying Iran rejected negotiating under threat and warning that “we have prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield”.
The two-week ceasefire – set to expire on Wednesday – had appeared to be in jeopardy after the US said it seized an Iranian cargo ship on Sunday that tried to run its blockade and Tehran vowed to retaliate.
In other developments:
Trump said a deal with Iran would happen “relatively quickly”. He also said on Truth Social the US would not lift its blockade until Iran had agreed to a deal and that he believed the nuclear deal the US was negotiating with Tehran would be better than a 2015 international agreement to curb Tehran’s nuclear program.
US vice-president JD Vance remained in the US on Monday, a source told Reuters, denying reports he was already on his way to Pakistan, in comments adding to the uncertainty over a second round of talks. In Islamabad, however, preparations for the talks appeared to be going ahead.
Oil prices fell on Tuesday while most stocks rose on lingering hopes for a deal to end the US-Iran war and reopen the strait of Hormuz, despite Tehran not saying if it would attend.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov discussed the conflict by phone. Lavrov reportedly reiterated the need to uphold the ceasefire and continue diplomatic efforts, while Araghchi said Tehran would to try to ensure the uninterrupted passage of Russian ships and cargo through the Hormuz strait.
The toll of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza on Monday has risen to at least five, according to Palestinian health officials, while witnesses said Hamas fighters clashed with gunmen from an Israeli-backed militia.
