US Iran War News Highlights: JD Vance to travel to Pakistan on Tuesday for Iran talks

We’ve been speaking to civilians in the eastern Bekaa Valley about the devastation wrought by Israel’s bombardment.

On the outskirts of the town of Sohmar, Ali Rida was digging through the rubble of his car workshop that was destroyed in an Israeli strike. He said he found the bodies of his landlord’s children – who lived above his workshop – blasted into the street after the attack.

“The Israeli strike happened at 3:30 in the morning and there was absolutely no reason for it, but Israel’s known for this; they target civilians and, in some places, children,” Rida said.

President Donald Trump insisted Monday that Iran is “going to negotiate” ahead of anticipated talks in Pakistan.

Speaking in a short phone interview on “The John Fredericks Show,” a conservative radio program, Trump projected confidence that Tehran would come to the table, while warning of consequences if it does not.

“Well, they’re going to negotiate, and if they don’t, they’re going to see problems like they’ve never seen before,” the president said.

“Hopefully they’ll make a fair deal, and they’ll build their country back up,” Trump continued, adding that when they do so, “they will not have a nuclear weapon.”

President Joseph Aoun, in announcing Simon Karam, a former US ambassador, as Lebanon’s representative in these talks with Israel, was very careful to point out that he was the only representative for Lebanon and that there would be no substitute.

That is in reference to this attempt by Iran to tie Lebanon to the broader regional conflict. At one point, they were saying that there would be no agreement, no ceasefire between the US, Israel, and Iran, if there was not also a ceasefire here in Lebanon.

Here are 5 points summarizing the day’s main events

The US Air Force secretary extended the life of the A-10 "Warthog" attack plane until 2030, sparing the aging but beloved close air support aircraft that has played an important role in Iran from an earlier retirement deadline of 2026.

"We will EXTEND the A-10 'Warthog' platform to ⁠2030," ​Air Force Secretary Troy Meink posted on social media, adding the move "preserves combat power as the Defense Industrial Base works to increase combat aircraft production."

The decision is the latest chapter in a long-running battle over the fate of the plane, which ​first ​flew in 1976 and has been on the ⁠Pentagon's chopping block for more than two decades. The A-10 has been used in the current conflict with Iran, according to ‌US Central Command. Its powerful nose-mounted guns have been used against Iranian ships in the Strait of Hormuz, according to reports.

Donald Trump has said that a delegation will travel to Pakistan for a new round of negotiations with Iran.

In his post to social media, he said that his "representatives" would arrive in Islamabad on Monday evening.

Shortly afterwards, the White House told US Vice-President JD Vance would lead the delegation.

A White House official confirmed to the BBC the delegation would include Trump advisers Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who were both also present at the previous talks.

Meanwhile, Iranian officials say Tehran has "no plans for now to participate" in the next round of negotiations with the US, according to Iran's state TV news channel.

The US president’s job approval rating has hit a second-term low of 37 percent, driven by his handling of the war on Iran, according to a new NBC News poll.

The findings, released on Sunday, suggested that 63 percent of US adults disapproved of Trump’s job performance, with 50 percent expressing strong disapproval.

The same poll suggested 33 percent of Americans strongly or somewhat approved of the president’s handling of the war, and 67 percent strongly or somewhat disapproved.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Tehran in support of Iran’s government, with some voicing a “complete distrust” towards the US and urging Iranian officials not to back down.

“The United States has so far honoured none of the promises it made to us and none of the agreements it signed with us,” Masoumeh Alimohammadi told the Reuters news agency. “As a result, we expect that although the diplomatic track must in any case move forward, we should proceed with complete distrust toward this America that has so far fulfilled none of its commitments.”

Iran's first vice president, Mohammad Reza Aref, said global fuel prices could stabilise only if economic and military pressures on Iranian oil exports end.

"One cannot restrict Iran's oil exports while expecting free security for others," Aref wrote on X. "The choice is clear: either a free oil market for all, or the risk of significant costs for everyone." Oil prices rose in early trading Sunday as a standoff between Iran and the US prevented tankers from using the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf waterway that is crucial to global energy supplies.

Senior Iranian official Ebrahim Zolfaghari said Tehran has officially rejected all negotiations with the US, declaring that any peace deal is now cancelled and the Strait of Hormuz is fully closed again.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has repatriated the remains of Florian Montorio to France.

UNIFIL Head of Mission Major-General Diodato Abagnara paid tribute to Montorio, saying his service “lives on in what we do next as soldiers, as peacekeepers”.

“You gave everything you had for the peace in this land. You have all our respect,” he added.

According to UNIFIL, Montorio was killed by small arms fire from a non-state actor. French President Emmanuel Macron has blamed Hezbollah for the incident, but the Lebanese armed group has denied responsibility.

Montorio is the fourth peacekeeper killed since the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel resumed on March 2.

Iran’s Hazrat Khatam al-Anbiya military headquarters has confirmed a US military operation targeting an Iranian commercial ship in the Sea of Oman and warned of retaliation “soon,” according to a statement carried by semi-official Tasnim news agency.

“The aggressive America, by violating the ceasefire and committing maritime piracy, attacked one of Iran’s commercial ships in the waters of the Sea of Oman by firing upon it and disabling its navigation system by deploying several of its terrorist marines on the deck of the mentioned vessel,” the statement said, confirming the vessel’s seizure.

It added, “We warn that the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will soon respond to and retaliate against this armed piracy by the US military.”

The United States military has taken control of an Iranian-flagged container ship that tried to cross an American naval blockade near the Strait of Hormuz, according to current US President Donald Trump.

In a post on social media, Trump said the vessel, named Touska, attempted to pass through the blockade but was stopped by US forces. “An Iranian-flagged cargo ship named TOUSKA tried to get past the US naval blockade, and it did not go well for them,” he said.

Iran's military vowed a swift response to the US seizure of an Iranian-flagged tanker in the Gulf of Oman, state media reported on Sunday.

The military headquarters said the attack and subsequent boarding of the ship by US forces was a violation of the ceasefire and denounced it as piracy, Iran's state-run broadcaster said.

The United States says it fired on the ship and seized it because it had crossed the blockade line after ignoring multiple warnings.

Iran’s Hazrat Khatam al-Anbiya military headquarters confirmed an attack claimed by the US military on a ship in the Sea of Oman in a statement carried by semi-official Tasnim news agency.

“The aggressive America, by violating the ceasefire and committing maritime piracy, attacked one of Iran’s commercial ships in the waters of the Sea of Oman by firing upon it and disabling its navigation system by deploying several of its terrorist marines on the deck of the mentioned vessel”, it said, confirming that the ship had been seized.

“We warn that the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will soon respond to and retaliate against this armed piracy by the US military,” it added.

Oil prices jumped, the US dollar rose and stock futures fell today, as investors dealt with conflicting messages about the Iran war and news that the Strait of Hormuz was closed again.

In early Asian trading, oil benchmark Brent crude futures jumped about 7 percent to $96.85 a barrel and the price of US crude oil jumped 6.4 percent to $87.88 per barrel after trading resumed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry has called for accountability in the attack that killed the French peacekeeper and wounded three others.

Issuing a statement, it reaffirmed “its total rejection of targeting peacekeeping forces” and said it constituted “a violation of international law”. It also expressed “sincere condolences” to France over the loss of its citizen.

The ministry emphasised the “necessity of holding accountable those responsible for this attack, renewing its full support for UNIFIL’s efforts to maintain security and stability in southern Lebanon”, it added.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's parliamentary speaker, says that while "progress has been made" in negotiations to end the war with the US, the two sides are "far from final discussion".

One of Iran's negotiators, Ghalibaf was in Pakistan last week for peace talks with US envoys, including Vice-President JD Vance.

No date has been set for the next round of talks.

North Korea fired ballistic missiles into the sea on Sunday, accelerating its missile launches amid Iran war tensions and talk of possible meetings with the US and South Korea.

Pyongyang's intense missile activity - this was the fourth such launch this month and ⁠the ​seventh of the year - is meant to display its self-defence capabilities while gaining international leverage, some experts said.

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