Al Jazeera

By Zsombor Peter, Mariamne Everett and Edna Mohamed

    US President Donald Trump has cancelled his envoys’ visit to Pakistan for negotiations, saying Iran did not make a satisfactory offer for a peace deal.

    Trump’s announcement followed the departure of Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi from Pakistan, where he presented mediators with a potential framework for ending the conflict.

    Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has told Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that Tehran will not enter into negotiations with the US under pressure, threats or siege.

    Israel has carried out more attacks in southern Lebanon after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders “forceful” strikes, accusing Hezbollah of sabotaging peace efforts.

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

Iran executes man convicted for attacking security forces

    Iran has executed a man convicted of being a member of the Sunni armed group, Jaish al-Adl, and carrying out attacks on Iranian security forces, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reports.

    Authorities identified the man as Amer Ramesh, saying he had been arrested in a counterterrorism operation in southeastern Iran and charged with armed rebellion, including being involved in bombings and ambushes targeting military personnel.

    Jaish al-Adl is a hardline Sunni Muslim armed group active in Iran’s poorest region, Sistan-Baluchestan.

What is the latest on the prospect of talks between US and Iran

Reporting from Tehran, Iran

    There is a certain level of secrecy when it comes to these negotiations.

    We know that both sides have decided not to spill the beans when it comes to the details and technicalities.

    However, we know that there are a couple points of contention, most important of which is the blockade by the Americans. The Iranians are demanding that this blockade should be removed. Meanwhile, there is a related matter and that is the closure of the Strait of Hormuz by the Iranian side.

    This is not the only area in which we see points of contention. There are controversies when it comes to Iran’s nuclear dossier, specifically the issue of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. There are other issues such as war reparations, security, assurances, sanctions and frozen assets.

    We’ve also heard Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian say that breaches of commitments [by the US] and lack of trust are among the main obstacles to this diplomatic engagement. We are also hearing the American side talking about being loaded locked and loaded, and the Iranian side talking about fingers on triggers and being ready for any round of confrontation should negotiations fail.

    Abbas Araghchi meanwhile said on his X account that he had a very fruitful trip to Pakistan, “whose good offices and brotherly efforts to bring back peace to our region, we very much value”.

    So it seems that at this point, what tops the list of priorities for Iran is a diplomatic engagement. But given the fragile nature of the situation, there is a possibility that diplomacy cannot work and we may see another scenario, such as another round of confrontation.

    We are now back with our live coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran, and the ongoing efforts to end the conflict. Stay with us as we bring you the latest updates.

    We are briefly pausing our live coverage of the war on Iran to take in developments at the White House correspondents’ dinner.

    We will resume our coverage in a while.

What are the sticking points in the US-Iran talks

    Let’s look at some of the main sticking points that remain in any deal being discussed between the US and Iran.

    Iran’s nuclear programme: The US wants Iran to halt its nuclear programme altogether, but Tehran says any such restrictions must be for a limited number of years.

    Iran’s uranium stockpile: Trump says the US wants to take custody of Iran’s stockpile of 400kg (880lbs) of highly-enriched uranium. Tehran has rejected the demand.

    Strait of Hormuz: Iran insists it will maintain restrictions on shipping in the waterway until the US lifts its blockade on Iranian ports. But Trump says the blockade will remain in place until a deal is reached.

    Frozen assets: Iranian officials are demanding sanctions relief and the unfreezing of assets worth $20bn as part of any lasting agreement.

    War reparations: Iran is also demanding compensation for damages caused by US and Israeli attacks, amounting to about $270bn.

Araghchi holds calls with his Egyptian and Turkish counterparts

    The IRNA news agency is reporting that Araghchi and his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty, “discussed and exchanged views on issues related to diplomacy and ceasefire, as well as the latest regional developments”.

    It said Araghchi also held a call with Turkiye’s Hakan Fidan, but did not provide further details.

    Turkiye’s Anadolu news agency, meanwhile, reported that the talks between Fidan and Araghchi “focused on the latest developments in the negotiation process between Iran and the US”.

    It said Fidan also held a call with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on the same matter.

What’s next after Trump cancels envoys’ trip to Pakistan

By Manuel Rapalo

Reporting from Wahington DC

    President Trump did hint at the potential for something happening on Tuesday, but he did not provide any concrete details as to what exactly that might be.

    If we want to talk about what we can expect without speculating too much regarding these negotiations, I believe that the burden, really, will fall on third-party mediators like Pakistan, who will be having to relay messages between Iran and Washington moving forward.

    Militarily, the US is also going to continue to enforce its naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and… targeting of all maritime activity by Iran to continue to pressure Tehran militarily.

    Economically, for now, there’s still no timeline, exactly, for when we can expect these talks to resume. We can expect mediators to be employing different diplomatic tools to encourage both sides to remain at the negotiating table and to continue the dialogue.

    More than anything, right now, the focus, at least from US diplomats, is going to be to take advantage of this ongoing ceasefire to prevent anything that could threaten this delicate truce and that would lead these two countries to once again fall into open conflict.

Israel claims to kill 3 more Hamas fighters

    The Israeli military says the fighters included a commander who had infiltrated Israel during the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023.

    It said the others were a Hamas platoon commander, who “led numerous attacks” against Israeli forces in Gaza, and the third was an operative in the group’s military intelligence unit.

    The statement did not specify where or when the men were killed.

    There was no immediate comment from Hamas.

    Israeli forces have killed at least 72,585 Palestinians in Gaza since launching their genocidal war on the territory in October 2023. The vast majority of the victims were women and children. Since the “ceasefire” agreement in October last year, at least 809 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza.

Iran calls for rebuilding of trust, end to blockade ahead of any talks with US

By Almigdad Alruhaid

Reporting from Tehran, Iran

    President Masoud Pezeshkian and the foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, handed what was described as a workable framework to the mediator in Islamabad this morning, but we don’t know the details of the document yet.

    But if we step back and look at the phone call between the president and the prime minister of Pakistan, we can see the stance of the Iranian officials.

    Pezeshkian, in his fifth call with Shehbaz Sharif, said that the main issue right now is trust. He is also stressing that this blockade and pressure over the Strait of Hormuz and this military presence in the Sea of Oman is one of the main obstacles.

    Actually, in the past few days, he described it as an act of war, as an act of violation of the last ceasefire, before it was extended again by Trump.

    So there is a huge gap between the Iranians and Americans.