politics

Starmer and Macron to host summit on reopening strait of Hormuz

UK prime minister Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron will co-host a summit in Paris on Friday focused on efforts to reopen the strait of Hormuz, Downing Street said.

A spokesperson said: “The summit will advance work towards a coordinated, independent, multinational plan to safeguard international shipping once the conflict ends.”

Macron has previously said the countries participating in the initiative would work on a “strictly defensive mission, separate from the warring parties to the conflict” which “is intended to be deployed as soon as circumstances permit”.

The UK chancellor, Rachel Reeves has said she was “very frustrated and angry” over what she said was the United States’ failure to have a clear exit plan or objectives for the war in Iran, according to the Mirror newspaper.

“This is a war that we did not start. It was a war that we did not want. I feel very frustrated and angry that the US went into this war without a clear exit plan, without a clear idea of what they were trying to achieve,” the British finance minister told the newspaper.

“And as a result the strait of Hormuz is now blocked,” she added.

Marco Rubio to attend Lebanon-Israel talks in Washington

As the Iranian-linked militia Hezbollah urges Lebanon to pull out of talks with Israel later today, Reuters has some more details, including the news that US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will attend.

Talks will be held in Washington at 11am ET (3pm GMT, 4pm BST) between the Israeli ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, and his Lebanese counterpart, Nada Hamadeh Moawad, officials say.

As well as Rubio, the US ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, and the state department’s counsellor, Michael Needham, would attend, a department official said.

Lebanon, Israel and the US have issued conflicting statements on what the talks would cover.

Lebanon’s presidency has said the talks would focus on announcing a ceasefire and setting a start date for bilateral talks. A ceasefire was the only substantive issue Moawad is authorised to discuss, Lebanese Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh said on Sunday.

Israel would not discuss a ceasefire during the talks, which would focus on disarming Hezbollah and establishing peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon, Israeli government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian said on Monday.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said it expects the steepest quarterly decline in demand for crude oil since the Covid-19 pandemic slashed fuel consumption.

The IEA noted that its forecasts assume a “base case” of oil shipments resuming in May through the strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively closed since the start of the war on 28 February.

This would lead to a decline in demand of 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in the second quarter, “the sharpest since Covid-19 slashed fuel consumption”, the IEA said.

Overall demand is forecast to have contracted by 800,000 bpd in March and is seen dropping by 2.3 million bpd in April.

Further to its earlier news alert on the possible second round of US-Iran talks in Islamabad (see post at 08:06), Reuters is now citing an Iranian embassy in Pakistan as saying negotiations could take place this week or early next week.

“No firm date has been set, with the delegations keeping ⁠Friday through Sunday open,” a senior Iranian source said, according to the news agency.

Three Iran-linked tankers pass through strait of Hormuz – Reuters

Three Iran-linked tankers have passed through the strait of Hormuz on the first full day of the US blockade of Iranian ports, Reuters has reported, citing shipping data.

The news agency reported that the three vessels were not heading to Iranian ports, and so they were not covered by the blockade.

They were:

Panama-flagged Peace Gulf, a medium-range tanker that was heading to Hamriyah port in the UAE. The vessel typically moves Iranian naphtha, an oil product that is used for making plastics and chemicals.
US-sanctioned tanker, Murlikishan, that was sailing to Iraq to load fuel oil. The vessel, formerly known as MKA, has transported Russian and Iranian oil.
Rich Starry, a US sanctioned and Chinese flagged vessel, which would be the first to pass the strait of Hormuz. It is carrying about 250,000 barrels of methanol, which it loaded at its last port of call, the UAE’s Hamriyah. The New York Times reported the vessel picked up the methanol from an unspecified port in the Arabian Gulf and was bound for China.

US-sanctioned Chinese tanker passes Strait of Hormuz despite US blockade

In further comments, Guo said the US blockade of Iranian ports “further jeopardises safety of passage through the strait [of Hormuz]”, calling it “dangerous and irresponsible behaviour”.

China said it will impose “countermeasures” after Donald Trump threatened new tariffs on its goods entering the US if Beijing provided military assistance to Iran.

“If the US insists on using this as an excuse to impose additional tariffs on China, China will definitely take resolute countermeasures,” the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Guo Jiakun, told a news conference, according to AFP news agency.

The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has put forward a four-point proposal for peace and stability in the Middle East, as he called for the world not to be allowed to “revert to the law of the jungle”.

In the most significant remarks he’s made so far about the crisis in the Middle East, Xi said China would play a “constructive role” in promoting peace talks in the Middle East.

He made the comments during a meeting with Khaled bin Mohamed, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, in Beijing today, where the two sides exchanged views on the current situation in the Middle East and the Gulf region, according to a readout by the Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

On his four-point proposal, Xi called for:

Upholding a “principle of peaceful coexistence” and to “promote the building of a common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security architecture for the Middle East and the Gulf region”.
Upholding state sovereignty, including the protection of personnel, facilities and institutions.
Upholding international rule of law that should not be “used it when it is convenient and abandoned when it is not … we cannot allow the world to revert to the law of the jungle”.
All countries to “integrate development and security” and “create a favourable environment and inject positive energy into the development of the Gulf states in the Middle East”.

Reuters has reported that the US and Iran will return to Pakistan for peace talks. Citing four sources, the news agency said the negotiating teams from both sides will be in Islamabad for a second round of talks later this week.

We will bring you more updates as we get it.

Saudi Arabia is urging the US to end its blockade of the strait of Hormuz over fears Iran could retaliate and target other shipping routes, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing Arab officials.

The officials raised concerns that Iran could close the Bab al-Mandab, a major global chokepoint between Yemen and the Horn of Africa which has been vulnerable to Houthi attacks. Saudi Arabia has been relying on its Red Sea port at Yanbu to export oil, but if the Bab el-Mandeb closes, the kingdom could lose its last remaining export route.

The day so far

It’s 9.30am in Tehran, 9am in Tel Aviv and 2am in Washington DC – and if you’re just joining today’s live coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran, here’s a summary of the latest to bring you up to speed.

The US blockade of ships using Iranian ports in the Gulf began on Monday, turning the six-week-old conflict between the US-Israeli coalition and Iran into a test of economic endurance.
Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, warned that any threat to the strait of Hormuz would have “widespread consequences for the world”, according to Iranian media. Pezeshkian reportedly told French president Emmanuel Macron yesterday that the US’s “excessive demands” had thwarted an agreement during the weekend talks in Pakistan.
US Central Command said the blockade would apply to any ships entering or departing Iranian ports or coastal areas, while ships using non-Iranian ports would not be impeded.
Donald Trump claimed at the White House that “we’ve been called by the other side”, which would “like to make a deal very badly”. He insisted the US would not agree to any deal that would permit Iran to have a nuclear weapon, saying: “We can’t let a country blackmail or extort the world.” News reports indicated US officials were continuing talks with Tehran.
Oil prices plunged and stocks rose on Tuesday on hopes for a deal to end the war.

The Guardian

politics

Iran remains in peace talks despite US bombings of Iranian targets

A proposed peace agreement between Iran and the US seemed to remain on the table on Tuesday despite US bombings of Iranian targets.

The Iranian foreign ministry denounced the US attack – aimed at missile launchers and efforts to lay fresh mines in the strait of Hormuz – as “an act of bad faith” and “a definitive violation of the ceasefire” and said it would not leave aggression unanswered. But it did not pull out of the talks that were continuing under the joint mediation of Pakistan and Qatar.

The Iranian military announced no specific reprisals, suggesting it did not want the attack – which killed four Iranian soldiers – to disrupt the delicate last steps towards an agreement that it intends to hail as one of the great milestones in Iran’s history of resistance. Brent oil futures climbed 4% after news of the renewed fighting.

In a sign that Donald Trump recognises the conflict has reached a decisive point, he had been due to convene a rare cabinet meeting at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, but on Tuesday he said on Truth Social that this had been postponed due to bad weather.

As Trump continued to face questions about how a planned peace deal would achieve the objectives he set out at the start of the war, he appeared to copy and paste a rambling social media post from last week that claimed Democrats and the media would proclaim an Iranian victory even if Tehran “surrenders, admits their Navy is gone and resting at the bottom of the sea, and their Air Force is no longer with us, and if their entire Military walks out of Tehran, weapons dropped and hands held high, each shouting ‘I surrender, I surrender’ while wildly waving the representative White Flag”.

Iran’s parliamentary speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, remained in Doha for a second day on Tuesday trying to agree the means by which more than $12bn (£9bn) in frozen Iranian assets could be unlocked and sent to an Iranian account. He is also seeking sanctions relief for Iran’s oil and petrochemical exports for the 60-day period set aside to negotiate fresh constraints on Iran’s nuclear programme.

A separate 30-day timeframe has been allocated in the agreement for the US to lift the blockade of Iranian oil ports and for Iran to allow commercial shipping through the strait of Hormuz, restoring maritime traffic to levels from before Israel and the US started the war on 28 February.

The brief agreement, which would end the war but not delineate the peace, is fraught with political sensitivity as all sides know they must try to emerge with one they can exhibit to their respective constituencies as proof that the sacrifice was worthwhile.

Hardliners in Washington, Tehran and Jerusalem are all putting pressure on their negotiators not to make more concessions. Mahmoud Nabavian, a member of Iran’s parliamentary national security and foreign policy commission, insisted no agreement should relinquish Iranian control of the strait.

But Ghalibaf, overwhelmingly re-elected as speaker this week, can for the moment marginalise this opposition. Reports said he was focused on the method of accessing frozen Iranian assets, described as the last serious dispute between Tehran and Washington.

Owing to the accumulated lack of trust, no further negotiations over the future of the strait or the nuclear programme can take place without the prior transfer of frozen Iranian funds, his allies said.

The consultations in Qatar have resulted in progress towards resolving the issue of frozen Iranian assets, but one Iranian MP, Ahmad Bakhshayesh Ardestani, claimed a plan for $12bn to be transferred from Qatar to a Russian account before being sent to Iran had been thwarted by the US at the last minute.

He warned that if the war restarted, Iran knew the whereabouts of the hotels in Doha and Dubai used by Trump’s lead negotiators, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, and “next time they would be hit”.

Apart from the issue of Iran’s frozen assets, Tehran is trying to strengthen the section committing Israel to a ceasefire in Lebanon. With Israel admitting it was launching operations north of the yellow line to hit Hezbollah’s missiles, the war appeared to be escalating, not winding down.

On Tuesday evening the Israeli military issued two new evacuation warnings for residents of 19 villages across southern Lebanon, as it expanded its ground operations deeper inside Lebanese territory.

A few hours later, the Lebanese health ministry said Israeli strikes in recent hours had killed 31 people and wounded 40.

Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded his father after he was killed by US-Israeli strikes on the opening day of the war, claimed the tide of history was moving in Iran’s favour and called for unity among Muslim countries, in a statement that marked the start of the hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.

Khamenei, who has not been seen in public or issued any recorded audio since his elevation in March, projected confidence as he predicted the elimination of Israel by 2040.

He said: “What is certain is that the hands of time will not turn backwards and the nations and lands of the region will no longer serve as shields for American bases. The United States not only will no longer have a safe haven for its mischief and for establishing military bases in the region but, day by day, it is growing more distant from its former status.”

He added: “The shaken Zionist regime and the cancerous tumour of Israel are approaching the final stages of their wretched existence.” His remarks put into perspective Trump’s much-derided claim that Arab states, as well as Turkey and Iran, should normalise relations with Israel.

The Guardian

politics

Trump won’t rush Iran deal, US blockade stays until agreement signed

US President Donald Trump defended Iran negotiations Sunday, saying critics “don’t know deal details” and declaring: “I don’t make bad deals.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio cautioned a nuclear agreement cannot be achieved “in 72 hours on the back of a napkin.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he and Trump agree any final agreement must eliminate Iran’s “nuclear threat entirely.” Hezbollah’s Naim Qassem expressed hope for a deal that could include Lebanon, while Iranian media warned talks could still collapse. Follow our live coverage for the latest updates.

01:21 AM, 25 May 2026

Relationship with Iran ‘more professional, productive’ — Trump

US President Donald J. Trump defended ongoing negotiations with Iran, calling it more professional and productive — sharply contrasting them with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal negotiated under former President Barack Obama.

He also insisted the current talks are proceeding deliberately with the US maintaining leverage through a naval blockade.

11:10 PM, 24 May 2026

Rubio accuses Hezbollah of trying to ‘drag Lebanon back into chaos’

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Hezbollah in a statement Sunday of trying to plunge Lebanon “back into chaos.”

Rubio denounced what he called Hezbollah’s “reckless call to overthrow Lebanon’s democratically elected government” and said the pro-Iran armed group was “actively trying to drag Lebanon back into chaos and destruction.”

10:40 PM, 24 May 2026

Lebanon says Israeli strikes kill 2 including paramedic

Lebanon’s health ministry said two people including a paramedic from the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee were killed Sunday in Israeli strikes on the south that also wounded six other rescuers.

“Successive Israeli enemy strikes on the town of Arab Salim in the Nabatieh district killed two people including a paramedic from the Health Committee and wounded 10, including two Committee paramedics and four others from the Risala association,” a ministry statement said, condemning an “ongoing series of attacks on the health and emergency sector in south Lebanon”.

The Risala Scouts association rescuers are affiliated with the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement.

10:30 PM, 24 May 2026

Trump defends Iran talks, says critics ‘don’t know deal details’

US President Donald Trump has posted on Truth Social that any potential deal with Iran would be ‘good and proper,’ contrasting it with what he described as the Obama-era agreement, which he said gave Iran ‘massive amounts of cash’ and a ‘clear and open path to a Nuclear Weapon.’

Trump said the current negotiations are ‘the exact opposite,’ adding that the agreement is not yet fully negotiated and warning critics not to speculate on details that have not been finalised.

He also said past leaders “should have solved this problem many years ago,” adding: ‘I don’t make bad deals.’

10:15 PM, 24 May 2026

Iran nuclear deal can’t be done ‘in 72 hours,’ Rubio tells NYT

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told The New York Times on Sunday that an agreement with Iran had garnered regional support but a nuclear deal couldn’t be achieved “in 72 hours on the back of a napkin.”

His comments came after US President Donald Trump told his negotiators “not to rush into a deal” with Iran to end the three-month war.

“So right now, we have seven or eight countries in the region that are endorsing this approach, and we’re prepared to move forward on this approach,” he said.

09:15 PM, 24 May 2026

US media reports no US-Iran agreement expected today

CNN is reporting that no US–Iran deal is expected to be signed today, citing a senior administration official who said key details of a potential deal are still being negotiated.

Another official told the network that Iran has committed to reopening the Strait of Hormuz and disposing of its stockpile of enriched uranium, although final terms have yet to be confirmed.

09:01 PM, 24 May 2026

Hezbollah chief says hopes for Iran-US deal and that it includes Lebanon

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem expressed hope on Sunday for an agreement between his group’s backer Iran and the United States and that Lebanon would be part of its terms.

“God willing, this agreement will be finalised and there are signs of its completion, and accordingly that we too will be among those included in this agreement – an agreement of a full cessation of hostilities,” he said in a televised address.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that “a memorandum of understanding (MOU) would first be announced, stressing an end to fighting on all fronts, including in Lebanon”, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said US President Donald Trump had reaffirmed his support for Israel’s right to defend itself against threats, including from Hezbollah.

08:52 PM, 24 May 2026

Hezbollah chief urges Lebanon govt to abandon direct talks with Israel

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem on Sunday again urged Lebanese authorities to abandon direct talks with Israel, ahead of a fourth round of such discussions in Washington early next month.

“Direct negotiations are completely unacceptable and are a pure gain for Israel,” he said. Addressing Lebanese authorities, he added: “Abandon the direct negotiations and do not give to America so that it gives to Israel… don’t be with them and stab us in the back.”

10:02 PM, 24 May 2026

US-Iran deal could still collapse amid ‘obstruction’ claims

The United States is obstructing certain clauses of a potential agreement, including provisions related to the release of Iran’s frozen assets according to Iran’s semi-official news agency Tasnim.

The report said this means there is still a possibility the agreement could be “cancelled,” as negotiations remain ongoing and key issues remain unresolved.

08:19 PM, 24 May 2026

Hezbollah chief says group’s disarmament unacceptable

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said Sunday that his group’s disarmament was unacceptable and amounted to “annihilation”, as Lebanon prepares for a new round of direct talks with Israel in Washington early next month.

“Disarmament means stripping Lebanon of its defensive capability and the capability of the resistance (Hezbollah) and this people, paving the way for annihilation,” he said in a televised address, adding: “Disarmament is annihilation and we cannot accept it.”

A state monopoly on weapons demanded by Lebanese authorities “at this stage is aimed at targeting the resistance and is an Israeli project”, he added.

07:42 PM, 24 May 2026

Netanyahu says Trump agrees Israel has right to defence

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that US President Donald Trump had reaffirmed his support for Israel’s right to defend itself against threats on all fronts, including from Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“President Trump reiterated Israel’s right to defend itself against threats on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” Netanyahu said in a statement following a conversation between the two leaders on Saturday night.

07:28 PM, 24 May 2026

Oman, Iran discuss navigation security and US-Iran talks

Oman’s Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi has received a verbal message from Iranian Foreign Minister Dr. Seyed Abbas Araghchi during a meeting with visiting Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi and a diplomatic delegation in Muscat.

According to details, the message was delivered within the framework of ongoing consultations between the two neighbouring countries and focused on developments in Iranian-US talks mediated by Pakistan, as well as efforts to support their success.

The Foreign Minister receives a verbal message from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The message, delivered by the Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran for Legal and International Affairs, touched upon the ongoing Iranian-US talks mediated by Pakistan… pic.twitter.com/dmhqagEUq9

— Oman News Agency (@ONA_eng) May 24, 2026

Discussions also covered the resumption of safe and sustainable freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, with both sides stressing the importance of strengthening maritime security and protecting trade and supply chains in line with international law.

07:25 PM, 24 May 2026

Israel PM says he and Trump agreed any final Iran deal must end ‘nuclear threat entirely’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he and US President Donald Trump had agreed that any final deal with Iran must fully end the Islamic republic’s “nuclear threat”.

“President Trump and I agreed that any final agreement with Iran must eliminate the nuclear threat entirely. This means dismantling Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities and removing enriched nuclear material from its territory,” Netanyahu said in a statement, referring to a conversation between the two leaders on Saturday night.

I spoke last night with President @realDonaldTrump about the memorandum of understanding to reopen the Straits of Hormuz and the upcoming negotiations toward a final agreement on Iran’s nuclear program.

06:35 PM, 24 May 2026

Trump says US will not ‘rush into a deal’ with Iran

President Donald Trump said Sunday that he had told US negotiators “not to rush into a deal” with Iran, amid anticipation that an agreement to end the war in the Middle East was close.

“The negotiations are proceeding in an orderly and constructive manner, and I have informed my representatives not to rush into a deal in that time is on our side,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.

“The Blockade will remain in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed.”

politics

Iran ‘blinking’ over Strait of Hormuz tensions

Iran appears to be in the process of “blinking” over the Strait of Hormuz, according to ex-CIA director David Petraeus.

Speaking to CNBC’s Lisa Kim at the UBS Asian Investment Conference, Petraeus, chairman of the KKR Global Institute, said that an initial successful peace deal with Tehran would see the Strait opened without any conditions.

Iran also must not be able to control traffic, charge tolls through it, or make threats of future closure, and “it appears that that may be in the offing,” he added.

This comes come after U.S. President Donald Trump said over the weekend that talks to end the war with Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz are proceeding, but urged his negotiating team not to rush into a deal.

Peace talks face a key hurdle in Tehran’s insistence on keeping an enriched uranium stockpile within the country and levying tolls for passage via the Strait.

Petraeus, a retired U.S. general who had combat commands in both Iraq and Afghanistan, said if Iran is allowed to have some control over the critical waterway, Iran may be “strategically strengthened” despite being militarily weakened from U.S. and Israeli strikes.

“Their whole navy is largely sunk, except for fast boats, their missile capacity has been substantially reduced, headquarters, military facilities, no air force, and so forth,” he said.

However, Iran still could threaten to shut the Strait by either mining the waterway or by using drones, missiles and fast boats to hit commercial shipping, and they can prevent the strait from being restored to its pre-war state.

While the Strait is an important part of the deal in the region, Petraeus said that other issues need to be dealt with as well, including Tehran’s nuclear program and its funding for proxy groups like Hezbollah.

“They should be addressed, but it’s not at all clear to me that that’s going to be in the near future,” he said.

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly said in New Delhi that a deal could happen today, according to France 24.

A Reuters report also said that Rubio told reporters that the U.S. ⁠will give diplomacy every chance to succeed before exploring “alternatives.”

CNBC