US president calls it ‘foolish violation’ of ceasefire agreement after drone damaged ship’s upper deck
Donald Trump on Friday blamed Iran for carrying out a drone strike on a cargo ship in the strait of Hormuz, calling it a “foolish violation” of the ceasefire agreement with the US.
One drone damaged the upper deck of the ship but the ship was able to proceed, the US president said. The US shot down three other drones aimed at the ship, he said.
Continue reading...International Maritime Organization says safety guarantees must be confirmed before ships can move again
A United Nations agency has paused the evacuation of ships through the strait of Hormuz after the British military said a vessel was hit by a projectile off the coast of Oman following the passage of several tankers that used a route backed by the UN.
The head of the UN’s International Maritime Organization said on Thursday that the plan to move stranded ships out of the Persian Gulf through the strait would be on hold until the agency could confirm safety guarantees for the ships on the evacuation list and in the region.
Continue reading...Dr Mazen Al-Rantisi, a 71-year-old physician well known for providing care to low-income Palestinians, was arrested in the occupied West Bank
Israeli forces on Sunday arrested a prominent 71-year-old Palestinian physician known as the “doctor of the poor” in a pre-dawn raid on his home in the occupied West Bank, prompting widespread condemnation.
Dr Mazen Al-Rantisi, a physician widely known for providing care to low-income Palestinians, was arrested in the al-Tira neighbourhood of Ramallah.
Continue reading...Stock markets on both sides of Atlantic up as concerns ease over prospect of another inflationary shock
Oil prices have fallen to pre-Iran war levels as more oil tankers exited the strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell to a low of $72.24 a barrel on Thursday, slightly lower than the day before the US and Israel launched missile attacks on Tehran on 28 February. Prices have fallen more than 20% this month.
Continue reading...Defence minister says troops not withdrawing though Tehran sees end to war in Lebanon as part of deal with US
The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, has said that Israeli troops would not withdraw from southern Lebanon, further complicating Iran peace talks as fighting in Lebanon continues to be an obstacle to permanent peace.
Speaking on stage in an interview in Tel Aviv, Katz said Israeli troops would remain in south Lebanon – echoing sentiments from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Continue reading...Rights activists call UK ambassador ‘morally compromised’ for accepting honour from Bahraini king in apparent breach of Foreign Office rules
The British ambassador to Bahrain has been accused of breaching government rules over accepting an award by the Gulf state’s king, a move critics suggest signals diplomats and civil servants are “up for grabs”.
This week, the ambassador, Alastair Long, received the Order of Bahrain from King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, in recognition of his diplomatic tenure, which human rights activists and politicians say is in “direct breach” of the Foreign Office’s rules on accepting foreign awards.
Continue reading...Leaked letter to PM and military demands action to stop violence against Palestinians in occupied West Bank
Dozens of Israelis from the country’s security, political and cultural elite have threatened legal action against their government over support for Jewish terrorism and an “ideology of ethnic cleansing” in the occupied West Bank, according to a leaked letter.
Two former prime ministers, former heads of all the Israeli security services, former judges, a Nobel laureate and the country’s most revered living novelist were among the signatories to a “final warning” over violence against Palestinians.
Continue reading...Independent report says by aiming at children Israel is undermining capacity of Palestinian people to exist
Israel continues to commit genocide by deliberately targeting Palestinian children in Gaza, an independent UN inquiry has found.
The report by the UN independent international commission of inquiry examined violations against Palestinian children since the start of the war in Gaza, and said about 30% of the people killed by Israeli forces have been children.
Continue reading...Iran will be allowed into US 48 hours before crucial game
Team Melli have complained about travel conditions
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says it will grant Iran extra time to prepare for their World Cup match against Egypt on Friday.
The team had planned to lodge an official complaint with Fifa about the “restrictions imposed by the organisers” at the World Cup. Iran have been training in Mexico and were only allowed to enter the United States 24 hours before their first two matches.
Continue reading...Foreign Office failed to act on warnings of genocide due to ‘pressure’ from emirates, Yale human rights investigator will tell a parliamentary select committee
The British government had received intelligence that Ethiopia appeared to be supporting a genocidal militia in Sudan’s civil war as far back as 2024 but did not go public with the news for fear of upsetting the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a parliamentary committee will hear.
In May 2024, officials from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) told Nathaniel Raymond, an American human rights investigator at Yale University, that “significant private pressure” from the UAE meant the UK would not publicly divulge information linking Ethiopia and the emirates to their support for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Continue reading...US president says Tehran has committed to ‘nuclear honesty’, while Iran’s foreign ministry says there are no plans for IAEA to inspect sites bombed by US and Israel last year
Oman and Iran said in a statement that the two countries will form a team to reach an agreement on “administration of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz” and associated costs and services, Reuters reports.
The two states will hold talks with coastal countries and other concerned parties, the statement said.
Continue reading...Objections comes as Trump threatens to renew attacks on Iran if it doesn’t rein in its proxy in Lebanon
US political figures from left and right voiced fresh objections on Sunday to Donald Trump’s provisional deal with Iran – even as the US president made new threats while Vice-President JD Vance hailed progress during the first round of direct peace talks in Switzerland.
Negotiations in Lucerne between the US and Iran have already run into difficulties, after Trump wrote on Truth Social that “Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble. “If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!”
Continue reading...Talks expected to continue for rest of the week despite disruption caused by US president’s threat to bomb Iran and kidnap negotiating team
High-stakes talks between the US and Iran are expected to continue for the rest of the week in Switzerland, after a tense start that saw Iranian negotiators walk out in protest at a stream of threats issued by Donald Trump on social media.
The US president had threatened to bomb Iran and even to kidnap the Iranian negotiating team unless the strait of Hormuz was reopened, forcing mediators Qatar and Pakistan to continue negotiations in the background.
Continue reading...Former negotiating team member gives shock interview claiming supreme leader’s instructions were not followed
A former member of Iran’s negotiating team in the previous round of talks with the US in Islamabad is facing the threat of prosecution and dismissal from parliament after he went on the main state broadcaster to reveal what he claimed were confidential letters from the country’s supreme leader.
The interview with Mahmoud Nabavian, the deputy chair of Iran’s national security council, was eventually cut off, but only after he said he had seen secret correspondence written by Mojtaba Khamenei in which the ayatollah allegedly said Iran’s negotiating team had overstepped its mandate
Continue reading...Wishah among at least 260 journalists killed since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023
Qatar-based news network Al Jazeera has said one of its journalists was killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza on Saturday, becoming one of the at least 260 Palestinian journalists to have been killed since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023.
Ahmed Wishah, a cameraman for the network, was killed in a strike targeting a house in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, the broadcaster said on its website.
Continue reading...Unclear if threat has been carried out or if move will jeopardise talks with US scheduled for Sunday
Iran has said it is closing the strait of Hormuz after waves of Israeli strikes in Lebanon in a move that threatens to derail the fragile interim peace deal with the US, signed just days ago.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned ships not to approach the strategic waterway, which before the war carried a fifth of global oil and liquid gas supplies, citing what it called Israeli crimes in Lebanon and a US violation of commitments to establish a ceasefire there.
Continue reading...Mona Khalil led decades-long effort to protect nesting site for turtles near her home in south of the country
The Lebanese marine activist Mona Khalil, who became a beloved figure in the country for a decades-long effort to protect a nesting site for turtles near her home, has died from injuries sustained in an Israeli strike.
Khalil, 76, ran a sanctuary called the Orange House Project near the Mediterranean city of Tyre. She hosted volunteers in her house to clean and monitor a mile-long beach and welcomed tourists to stay and learn about conservation.
Continue reading...Now fighting is over, the question is how Iran’s government will behave. Early clues point to more authoritarianism and prioritising relations with China
The precise ideological lessons that Iran’s new leadership draws from the 110-day war may prove to be the overriding factor in determining whether negotiations with the US culminate in an agreement that verifiably prevents the country from developing a nuclear weapon – an outcome that could usher in a new era for the Iranian economy while also reshaping the Middle East.
Does this rapidly assembled leadership team, forged in the fire of war, still represent an Islamic ideological crusade – a description coined by Henry Kissinger – or does the acceptance of the memorandum of understanding, in the words of JD Vance, denote a desire for pragmatism?
Continue reading...JD Vance pulls out of US-Iran meeting in Switzerland on implementation of peace deal after clashes in southern Lebanon
Israel and Hezbollah agreed to renew a fragile ceasefire in Lebanon on Friday after 24 hours of intense violence that posed an early challenge to the new agreement between the US and Iran to end their conflict.
A meeting that was scheduled to take place on Friday between Washington and Tehran in Switzerland to discuss implementation of the new deal was cancelled when Hezbollah killed four Israeli soldiers and Israel carried out a wave of retaliatory airstrikes in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa valley that killed at least 47 people.
Continue reading...Tanker owner trade body says centre of strait will stay shut for ‘some time’, and vessels forced to hug Omani coast risk running aground
The centre of the strait of Hormuz is blocked with about 80 mines that will need clearing for normal shipping to resume, the independent tanker owner trade body has said.
Several vessels began to exit the Gulf through the key maritime chokepoint on Thursday after the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the US and Iran.
Continue reading...