Al Jazeera

By Lorraine Mallinder and Mariamne Everett

    Iran’s military says it’s “likely” the US-Israel war on the country will resume and it’s “fully prepared for any new adventures or foolishness from the Americans”.

    US President Donald Trump has expressed dissatisfaction with Iran’s latest peace proposal saying it’s asking for things “I can’t agree to”.

    The US has warned shipping companies that pays tolls or other fees to Iran to transit the Strait of Hormuz risk being sanctioned by Washington.

    A new Washington Post-ABC-Ipsos poll has found 61 percent of respondents in the United States believeTrump’s use of military force against Iran was mistaken.

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

Pakistan and Kuwait FMs discuss ‘evolving regional situation’

    Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar spoke with his Kuwaiti counterpart about the “evolving regional situation” and its “wider economic implications”.

    Kuwait’s Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah “commended Pakistan’s sincere efforts aimed at fostering lasting peace and security for the Ummah, as well as the wider international community”, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on X.

    Dar underlined the “continued efforts” of his country, which has been mediating deadlocked talks between the US and Iran, to advance diplomatic efforts.

US public should hold government to account over war, Iran says

    Americans have the “undeniable right and the solemn duty” to demand accountability from the Trump administration over the US-Israeli “war of choice” on Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei says.

    The war is “a clear, unprovoked act of aggression” and the US public should challenge the government for “waging this illegal war against the nation of Iran and for all the atrocities perpetrated”, Baghaei said.

    He posted footage of US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand at a recent Senate hearing amid mounting criticism of the war, saying, “We did not have any evidence that Iran intended to imminently attack this country in any way, shape or form.”

Iran’s near-total internet shutdown continues for 64th day

    The internet watchdog NetBlocks says the near-total disruption in Iran is now “entering day 64 of near-total isolation from international networks”.

    The restrictions followed renewed antigovernment protests in early January and intensified after the start of the US-Israel war on Iran at the end of February.

    The heavily restricted internet has affected jobs and businesses across the country.

US and Iran remain far apart as war appears ‘likely’ to resume

By Resul Serdar Atas

Reporting from Tehran, Iran

    Iran’s military headquarters has released a statement saying the resumption of the war between Iran and the US is “likely as evidence shows the US is not committed” to any agreement or treaty.

    That is the assessment and reaction in Tehran. The Iranians believe they have shown enough flexibility before the war during the negotiations, the talks held in Islamabad, and then during the ceasefire.

    But they’re saying they haven’t seen the same approach from the US, as each time Iran has eased its demands, while the Americans have become more aggressive.

    There are some unconfirmed reports that Iran has dropped its demands in this proposal that President Trump rejected, which include lifting the blockade.

    Instead, Iranians are saying the status of the Strait of Hormuz and sanctions relief need to be discussed before we can move on to other major issues such as the nuclear file.

    But for now, both sides remain far apart from each other, and Iranians are saying the American demands are not for the negotiations, but simply they’re asking for a surrender, which is not an option.

    Basically, the assessment now in Tehran is that another round of the war is highly likely and so they’re preparing accordingly.

Germany says US troop withdrawal was ‘foreseeable’ amid Iran spat

    German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius says it was “foreseeable” that the United States would withdraw its troops from Europe, including from Germany.

    The US military said it’s planning to pull 5,000 troops out of Germany amid ongoing tensions with the key European ally over the US war on Iran.

    German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said Iran is humiliating the United States during negotiations to end the conflict.

    Pistorius said Europeans ⁠must ⁠take greater responsibility for their own security. Germany is “on the right track”, pointing ⁠to the expansion ⁠of its Bundeswehr armed forces and greater and faster ⁠procurement of equipment.

    Germany will coordinate closely with allies, in particular Britain, France, Poland and Italy, he added.

Several injured in Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon

    Israel has launched multiple strikes across southern Lebanon as ceasefire violations continue.

    It carried out an air strike targeting the vicinity of al-Saada Bakery near al-Quds roundabout in the city of Nabatieh, reported the National News Agency, adding warplanes also struck the town of Siddiqine in the Tyre district.

    Several people were wounded in an Israeli drone attack targeting Shoukine on Nabatieh road, it said.

    There was an Israeli air raid between the towns of Kafra and Yater in the Bint Jbeil district, while a separate air strike hit the town of al-Smaaiyah in Tyre. The town of Shaaitiyeh, also in Tyre, was also targeted.

    Earlier, we reported the Israeli military launched a drone attack on a car on the Kfardjal-Nabatieh road. Two people were killed in the strike.

Ceasefire in Lebanon a ‘diplomatic construct’

By Rory Challands

Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon

    This ceasefire is holding in name only. Essentially, it’s a diplomatic construct. The reality is that, certainly down in the south, the war continues, and, in fact, it is expanding.

    Now that is not the picture in Beirut, which hasn’t actually been struck by Israel for about three weeks now, but certainly down towards the Israeli border, there’s a very different situation.

    Israel has just given forced evacuation orders for nine villages in the Nabatieh district, saying it’s about to hit what it calls Hezbollah positions in the area.

    Now these villages, they’re all outside of the “Yellow Line” – that’s this strip of territory in Lebanon, about 10km (6 miles) deep, inside the Lebanese-Israeli border – which Israel has essentially self-declared as a depopulated, open-fire demolition zone.

    Some of these villages haven’t had evacuation orders before, though one of them, Habboush, was actually hit on Friday, killing six people.

    Elsewhere in the area, Israel also hit at least two other settlements. These were inside the “Yellow Line”, but they are not front-line border communities.

    What this shows is that Israeli military operations are pushing deeper and deeper into Lebanese territory.

Iran executes 2 people on espionage charges

    Two people were executed for allegedly spying for the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad during the US-Israel war on Iran.

    The pair were identified by Fars news agency, which is close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as Yaqoub Karimpour and Nasser Bekerzadeh.

    The latter was charged with collecting details of “important government, religious, and provincial figures” and providing information on “important centres” in the Natanz region, where a major nuclear site is located.

    Karimpour allegedly ⁠passed sensitive information ⁠to a Mossad officer.

Israeli attack on southern Lebanon kills 2, injures several

    At least two people have been killed and several others wounded in an Israeli air strike on the southern Lebanese town of Shoukin.

    Among the injured was Shoukin’s Mayor Hussein Ali Ahmad, reported the National News Agency adding “the attack destroyed a number of residential buildings and caused massive damage to an entire neighbourhood”.

    The towns of Zoutar al-Sharqiya and Zoutar al-Gharbiya, and the river area between Zoutar and Deir Siryan were also targeted in overnight strikes, it said.

    The town of Harouf, in the al-Qalaa area, was also targeted during a dawn raid.

US low-cost airline goes out of business as fuel prices soar

    US air carrier Spirit Airlines says it’s going out of business after 34 years and is ending operations immediately.

    A victim of soaring jet fuel prices caused by the Iran war, the airline filed for bankruptcy twice in less than two years. Efforts to secure a government bailout failed with about 17,000 jobs being lost.

    US-Israeli strikes on Iran have sent oil prices soaring above $100 a barrel as the war continues to disrupt global energy supplies and cause economic mayhem.

Iran nuclear deal won’t come to fruition in a ‘few hours or days’

    Mohamad Elmasry, of the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, says US-Iran talks remain in a “holding pattern” because Washington is misjudging the pain it is inflicting on the Iranian regime.

    “Part of the problem here is that the US administration seems to believe that the Iranians are kind of on their last legs, that they’re almost ready to surrender, that they are perhaps on the verge of an oil storage crisis,” he told Al Jazeera.

    “Trump keeps talking about how everything’s just going to explode within a matter of days. My sense is that that’s not accurate, that Iran could actually hold out for some time, and they believe at least that they have time on their side.”

    Elmasry said Iran is pushing for a short-term agreement to start with because it has a more realistic view of how difficult negotiations over its nuclear programme can be.

    “The reasons why the Iranians are saying, let’s make this sort of patchwork agreement and then we’ll hold off on the nuclear file, is because I think they recognise that the nuclear negotiation is going to be very time-consuming and very complicated,” he said.

    “The Iranians have a lot of experience in this arena, unlike the Trump administration, which is very inexperienced on the nuclear file. It’s not something that can come together in just a few hours or just a few days.”

Iran says war with US will ‘likely’ resume

    Iran’s armed forces say it is “likely” the US-Israel war on the country will resume as “evidence shows the US is not committed to any agreements or treaties”.

    “The actions and statements of US officials are primarily media-driven aimed first at preventing a drop in oil prices and second at extricating themselves from the mess they have created,” Mohammad Jafar Asadi, deputy of the military headquarters, said in a statement carried by Iran’s Fars news agency.

    “The armed forces are fully prepared for any new adventures or foolishness from the Americans.”

Trump ally-turned-foe Taylor Greene slams funding of Israeli ‘atrocities’

    Former US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene lambasted US President Donald Trump’s funding of Israeli “atrocities”.

    “American Christians speak out!!!” said the former Trump ally, reposting criticism of Israel’s demolition of Christian sites in the Lebanese village of Yaroun. “America can’t be silent and must stop funding Israel to do such atrocities!!!”

    Greene, still an influential voice among conservatives despite stepping down from Congress in January, was once one of Trump’s staunchest backers, but their relationship broke down over the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and his backing of Israeli military action in the Middle East.

    Her criticism of Trump reflects wider unease over his aggressive foreign policy in the MAGA movement. Recently, US Christians expressed outrage over a photo of an Israeli soldier smashing a statue of Jesus Christ in south Lebanon.

Israel launches strikes on southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh district

    Israel attacked the town of Adshit in southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh district, reports the National News Agency (NNA).

    The Israeli military also launched a drone targeting a car in a strike on the Kfardjal–Nabatieh road.

    The highway, which serves as a key transit point, has been repeatedly targeted by Israeli drone strikes often targeting vehicles, which the Israeli army alleges carry Hezbollah members.

    “Hostile artillery shelling has also resumed on the outskirts of the towns of Froun, Ghandoorieh, and Wadi al-Slouqi,” said NNA.

Israel launches new attacks on southern Lebanon

    Lebanon’s National News Agency reports more dawn attacks on southern Lebanon.

    The Israeli army “opened fire with heavy machine guns” on the towns of Ramya and Qouzah. Earlier, the town of Froun was “subjected to hostile artillery shelling”, it said.

    Israel’s military continues its forced displacement of residents in the south, warning people to flee despite an ongoing ceasefire.

UK PM Starmer says some pro-Palestinian marches could be banned

    Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer says banning some pro-Palestinian marches could be justified.

    Starmer is under pressure to act after a spate of anti-Jewish incidents, including this week’s stabbing of two men in the north London suburb of Golders Green, which is home to a large Jewish community.

    Starmer, a former human rights lawyer and chief public prosecutor whose wife is of Jewish origin, said many Jewish people told him they were affected by “the repeat nature” of the protests.

    “I’m a big defender of freedom of expression, peaceful protests,” he told the BBC. “But when there are chants like ‘globalise the intifada’, that’s completely off limits. Clearly, there should be tougher action in relation to that.”

    The intifada refers to the Palestinian civilian uprisings against Israel from 1987 to 1993 and the early 2000s.

    Starmer said he wanted to police the language used in marches more strongly, and there are “instances” when some protests should be stopped altogether.

    In December last year, police in London and the northwest city of Manchester said they would arrest anyone chanting “globalise the intifada”.

    The Jewish community in the UK views the chant as “very, very dangerous”, said Starmer.

Information, fuel prices key to US opinion on Trump’s Iran war: Analyst

    After 60 days into its war with Iran, the US has essentially not met any of the goals the Trump administration had laid out, said David Sedney, a former US deputy assistant secretary of defence.

    “Across the board, those goals have really not been achieved,” Sedney told Al Jazeera.

    Despite the Trump administration’s claim of “regime change” in Tehran, Sedney said the leadership remains in place and its military forces are likely being rebuilt during the ceasefire.

    “So, I would say across the board, President Trump has lost the facts,” he said.

    “The problem for the American people is President Trump doesn’t need to have the facts. He has been able to pull the wool over the eyes of the American people on many issues,” Sedney added.

    “He may declare a victory even if he’s lost. And then it becomes a matter of who controls the information to the American people. Do the American people believe what’s actually happening, or do they believe what President Trump, the ultimate salesman, is going to try and tell them ”

    Petrol prices, though, will break through the rhetoric and may decide the US midterm elections in November, Sedney said.

    “What is really important to Americans is the price of gasoline. And if that price of gasoline stays high … President Trump is going to lose the midterms,” he said.

    US President Donald Trump says he’s not happy about new proposals for talks offered by Iran.

    Trump said he has been asked for things by negotiators that he could not give.

    He also claimed that the leadership in Tehran is now fractured into three or four groups.

What are unilateral sanctions

    The US has announced new sanctions on several Chinese “entities, an individual, and a vessel involved in the trade of Iranian petroleum, petroleum products, and petrochemical products”.

    Historically, other countries have only been bound to follow sanctions if they were imposed by the UN Security Council.

    Here’s what we know about “unilateral” sanctions:

    Under the UN Charter, signed by UN member states in 1945, the UN Security Council may call on member states to impose a “partial interruption of economic relations” on other countries, also known as sanctions.

    Sanctions that are imposed “without or beyond authorisation of the Security Council” are considered “unilateral”, whether they are imposed by individual states, a group of states, or a regional organisation.

    In July 2006, the UN Security Council warned Iran that if it failed to suspend nuclear enrichment-related activities, it could face economic sanctions.

    By December that year, the council had voted to impose sanctions “against both the state of Iran and Iranian individuals and entities deemed to be providing support for Iran’s proliferation-related activities”.

    In 2018, the US also widened its own sanctions to include “major Iranian banks, oil exporters, and shipping companies”.

    Recently, the Trump administration has expanded these to include other countries trading with Iran.

    Some member states have said that some of these additional US measures may be “unilateral”, suggesting they go beyond the UN Security Council sanctions focused on Iran’s nuclear programme.

If you’re just joining us

    Hezbollah said its fighters launched multiple artillery and drone strikes on Israeli troop gatherings and military vehicles across several front-line towns in southern Lebanon on Friday, including attacks near Bint Jbeil, Hula and Biyyada.

    China’s UN ambassador Fu Cong has called on the UN Security Council to reconsider its decision to withdraw UNIFIL peacekeepers from southern Lebanon, saying the issue needs to be revisited.

    The Chinese ambassador also said there is no real ceasefire in Lebanon, only a “lesser fire”, and called on Israel to stop its bombardment of the country.

    The UN’s telecoms agency has condemned Iran’s attacks on regional telecommunications infrastructure and will produce a report on the disruptions.

    The US State Department announced new sanctions targeting China-based Qingdao Haiye oil terminal and other entities involved in Iranian oil trade, while Beijing rejected what it called Washington’s “unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction”, which has no basis in international law.

    Iran’s Fars News Agency reported that 14 members of the IRGC were killed after unexploded ordnance detonated in the northwestern province of Zanjan.

    The ⁠US State Department said it ⁠was approving military sales ⁠worth more than $8.6bn to Middle Eastern ‌allies Israel, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.