Al Jazeera

By Nils Adler, Federica Marsi, Caolán Magee and Faisal Ali

    Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has insisted the Strait of Hormuz is open for civilian vessels, but says that military ships “will be dealt with severely”.

    The statement came in response to US President Donald Trump’s declaration that the US Navy would immediately start blockading the strait, and interdict every vessel in international waters that had ⁠paid a toll to Iran.

    Iran’s Parliamentary ⁠Speaker Mohammad ⁠Baqer Ghalibaf has blamed the US for the failure of the ceasefire negotiations in Pakistan, saying the US officials failed to gain the ‌trust of the Iranian delegation.

    US Vice President JD Vance said talks with Iran ended without a deal, claiming he had put forward a “final and best offer”.

    Iran has denied US claims that two of its ships transited the Strait of Hormuz, warning that any attempt by military vessels to pass through the waterway would be met with a “strong response”.

    Visit our live tracker for the latest casualty figures from across the region.

Pezeshkian: US must abandon ‘totalitarianism’ for deal to be reached

    The Iranian president has issued a brief statement on X, commenting on ongoing negotiations for a permanent end to the US-Iran conflict.

    “If the American government abandons its totalitarianism and respects the rights of the Iranian nation, ways to reach an agreement will certainly be found”, he said.

    “I commend the members of the negotiating team, especially my dear brother Mr. Dr. Qalibaf, and say ‘God gives you strength'”, he added, referring to Iran’s parliament speaker and head of the negotiating team.

Polls show waning US approval for Iran war

    A new CBS and YouGov poll on American attitudes toward the US’s war on Iran shows a slight shift since late March, with support declining from 38 percent to 36 percent.

    Those who disapprove of the war have risen from 62 percent to 64 percent, showing that the war was already very unpopular.

    With inflation also surging in the US, according to the latest Consumer Price Index figures released last week, a problem linked to the Iran war, public confidence in Trump’s ability to handle the issue has fallen to its lowest point in his presidency.

Ben Gvir, settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque compound

    Far-right Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir stormed the Al Aqsa Mosque compound earlier today, along with Israeli settlers and under the protection of Israeli forces, Wafa reports.

    Settlers are Israeli citizens living illegally on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

    Al-Aqsa has become a regular target of visits by right-wing Israeli politicians and settlers, who storm the compound and perform religious rituals under the protection of Israeli forces.

    Under the decades-old status quo maintained by Israeli authorities, Jews and other non-Muslims are allowed to visit the compound during specified hours, but they are not permitted to pray there or display religious symbols.

Trump’s ‘bombast and bluster’ on Hormuz won’t force the Iranians into submission

    Mushahid Hussain Syed, a former Pakistani information minister and defence analyst, told Al Jazeera that Iran has effectively taken control of the Strait of Hormuz and hasn’t necessarily closed it.

    He said the situation is being managed “like a toll plaza” similar to those on motorways in Britain, Pakistan or the US, where access is regulated and a form of payment is required, “not in petrodollars, but in petro-yuan,” he said, referring to Iran’s reported preference for being paid in China’s currency.

    Syed also suggested that threats by Donald Trump to blockade the Strait of Hormuz were likely bluster.

    He told Al Jazeera that the strait remained open even before the joint Israeli-US attack and that Iran retains a military advantage in the region.

    “He feels that through this bombast and bluster, he can bully or browbeat the Iranians into submission, that won’t happen. It hasn’t happened in 43 days, it won’t happen in the foreseeable future,” he added.

    Trump has said on his Truth Social platform that the US military will “finish up” Iran at the “appropriate moment”, after Tehran was unwilling to give up on its nuclear ambitions during talks in Pakistan.

    The US president also said he would blockade the Strait of Hormuz until all ships are allowed to go through. In an interview to Fox News, Trump added that he could “take out Iran in one day.”

    Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has warned that “any miscalculated move will trap the enemy in the deadly whirlpools in the Strait”. It added in a separate statement that military vessels approaching it “will be dealt with severely”, but that the strait was open for civilian use.

    Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said he held a phone call with his Russian counterpart President Vladimir Putin to discuss the outcome of the Pakistan talks, after Putin expressed his readiness to facilitate the search for a political and diplomatic settlement to the conflict.

    Israel continues to pound Lebanon as it continues to push a ground invasion of the southern part of the country.

Israeli tank rams UN peacekeeper vehicles in south Lebanon

    On two occasions today, Israeli soldiers rammed UNIFIL vehicles with a Merkava tank, in one case causing significant damage, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon has said in a statement.

    “Over the past week, Israeli soldiers have fired ‘warning shots’ in the area, striking and damaging clearly identifiable UNIFIL vehicles. In one case, a ‘warning shot’ landed a metre away from a peacekeeper who had dismounted his vehicle”, it said.

    Israeli forces “have continually blocked peacekeepers’ movements on this road in recent days”, it said, adding, “since early April, Israeli soldiers have also destroyed force protection cameras in UNIFIL’s Naqoura headquarters and five other positions on the Blue Line from Ras Naqoura to Maroun ar Ras”.

    On Saturday, UNIFIL said Israeli forces also spray-painted the windows of the headquarters’ pedestrian access gate, “denying visibility to the external perimeter”.

    UNIFIL said these actions are “inconsistent with Israel’s obligations under Security Council resolution 1701 and the requirement to ensure the safety and security of peacekeepers, as well as their freedom of movement at all times”.

Trump’s threats ‘have no effect on the Iranian nation’, says Ghalibaf

    Iran had ⁠very ⁠good initiatives to show goodwill in ⁠talks with the United States, which led to progress, the country’s top ‌negotiator, Iran’s parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has said in comments carried by state media.

    Ghalibaf said Trump’s recent threats “have no effect on the Iranian nation” and issued a warning to the US president, saying “if you fight, we will fight, and if you come forward with logic, we will deal with logic”.

    “We will not bow to any threats; let them test our will once again so that we can teach them a bigger lesson”, he said.

‘US–Iran conflict risk persists after Islamabad talks fail to yield agreement’

    Zeidon Alkinani, the founding director of Arab Perspectives think tank, tells Al Jazeera that the risk of a renewed US–Iran conflict remains a real possibility after talks in Islamabad ended without an agreement.

    US officials returned from Islamabad insisting on guarantees that Iran would not be able to develop a nuclear weapon or seek the capability to rapidly develop them, one of the key sticking points in the talks.

    Alkinani added that the JCPOA, the nuclear agreement between Tehran and Washington brokered under Barack Obama and later abandoned by Donald Trump, “took years to negotiate.”

    He argued that it is only one of several complex issues, including arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz, that the US appeared to believe could be resolved in a matter of days.

Sideline talks may continue as US rhetoric casts doubt on ceasefire

By Kimberly Halkett

Reporting from Islamabad

    Despite the fact that the US president has used strong language to discourage diplomacy, it does not mean diplomacy is not happening.

    Key delegations have gone home, but we do know people often linger. There is support staff just leaving Islamabad, which gives the opportunity for technical teams and subject matter experts – who are all staying in the same hotel – to have sideline discussions. That could lead to the potential drafting or exchanging of notes.

    So, yes, that is continuing – a process that can last for 48 to 72 hours. But it becomes increasingly challenging when you have the language used by the US president on Truth Social, essentially suggesting they are going to take the next steps militarily.

Diplomacy channel open between US and Iran despite outstanding differences

    Seyed Hossein Mousavian, who served on Iran’s nuclear diplomacy team in past negotiations, tells Al Jazeera that talks in Pakistan mean the “channel for diplomacy is open” between the United States and Iran.

    “No one expected a big deal in Pakistan after 40 days of war,” he said. “Nevertheless, it was high-level direct negotiations, and they can continue to resolve the two remaining issues.”

    Mousavian said what remained to be settled was freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear enrichment.

    “I believe there is a solution for both,” he said.

Pakistan’s top diplomat holds diplomatic calls over regional tensions

    Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar spoke with Saudi Arabia’s Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on Sunday, sharing updates on the so-called “Islamabad talks” and stressing the importance of all parties holding to their ceasefire commitments.

    Dar also spoke with Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, briefing him on Pakistan’s efforts to facilitate engagement between the parties.

    Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye have been leading efforts to stop the fighting between the US and Iran and broker a durable agreement.

    Dar underlined the need for sustained dialogue to achieve peace and stability “in the region and beyond”.

Netanyahu says visits Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has released footage showing him in what he says is southern Lebanon alongside members of the Israeli military.

    Israeli media have also reported on the visit, saying that the Israeli PM was accompanied by Defence Minister Israel Katz and army chief Eyal Zamir.

By Ali Hashem

Reporting from Tehran, Iran

    We’ve heard from the first Iranian official in reaction to Trump’s Truth Social posts, after the IRGC said any military vessels approaching the Strait of Hormuz would be “dealt with severely”.

    Elias Hazrati, the head of the Government Information Council, said Iran was “not Venezuela” and that US threats against Iran had lost credibility.

    We’ve not heard from the foreign minister or the parliament speaker yet. President Pezeshkian spoke to Russia’s Putin and said that the situation the world is in is due to American policies.

Hezbollah reports new attacks on Israeli troops

    Hezbollah says it has carried out a new series of attacks on Israeli targets along the Lebanon-Israel border, including strikes on troop positions and northern Israeli towns.

    In statements released today, the group said it targeted gatherings of Israeli soldiers and vehicles in Bint Jbeil, and near Asi Heights in Mays al-Jabal.

    Hezbollah said it launched rocket barrages towards the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona later in the day, as well as towards Nahariya. It also claimed to have targeted the headquarters of an Israeli military division in Ja’atun.

Israeli lawmaker taunts Trump: ‘Donald, if you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t quack.’

    Zvika Fogel, chair of the Israeli Knesset’s National Security Committee and a member of Itamar Ben-Gvir’s extremist Jewish Power party, part of the governing coalition led by Benjamin Netanyahu, has issued a taunting message to Donald Trump:

    “Donald, if you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t quack”.

Iraq sending aid to Lebanon after Israeli attacks

    Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has received a call from Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who offered condolences after recent Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

    According to a statement from the Lebanese presidency on X, al-Sudani condemned the strikes and expressed Iraq’s support for Lebanon and its people, backing efforts by the government to maintain security and assert state sovereignty.

    The Iraqi prime minister also informed Aoun of the provision of “urgent aid to alleviate the suffering of the fraternal Lebanese people, including fuel, food supplies, and relief materials”.

Negotiations in Pakistan achieve ‘a lot’ despite no clincher

    Defence and foreign policy specialist Mushahid Hussain Syed says negotiations between the US and Iran have yielded some positive results despite talks in Pakistan having failed to secure an end to the war.

    “There are two positives. One is that the ceasefire is holding,” Syed, who is also the former information minister of Pakistan, told Al Jazeera from Islamabad. “The second is that both parties have in their statements kept a window open.”

    He said the fact that US officials and their Iranian counterparts were “talking to each other in a reasonably cordial atmosphere” while in Islamabad was a sign of progress.

    “There was a lot that was achieved, but the clincher isn’t there yet.”

    Syed added that Netanyahu is “the real warmonger” because he has been “pushing the US into continuing this war of aggression unnecessarily”.

IRGC claims Strait of Hormuz open, military vessels to be ‘dealt with severely’

    Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has issued a statement saying the Strait of Hormuz is “open to the harmless passage of civilian vessels” in compliance with international law.

    Military vessels approaching it will be in violation of the ceasefire and “will be dealt with severely”, the statement said.

Saudi Arabia summons Iraqi ambassador over drones coming from Iraq

    Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry has summoned Iraq’s ambassador to Riyadh, Safia Taleb al-Suhail, over what it calls “continued aggressions and threats” against the kingdom and other Gulf states by drones launched from Iraqi territory.

    In a statement posted on X, the ministry’s undersecretary for political affairs, Saud Al-Sati, handed the ambassador a formal protest note condemning the attacks and demanding Iraq take responsibility for threats originating from its soil.