US Iran War News Highlights: Lebanon seeks month-long Israel truce extension, says report

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has reportedly fired at a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO).

The British Royal Navy-led UKMTO says the incident took place 15 nautical miles northeast of Oman.

It says an IRGC "gun boat" approached the vessel, there was "no VHF challenge", meaning there was no radio warning or hail, and then the gun boat "fired upon the vessel", causing "heavy damage to the bridge".

“The United States must halt its ‘violation of the ceasefire’ before any new round of negotiations,” Ambassador Amir-Saeid Iravani told Iranian media outlet Shargh.

“As soon as they lift the blockade, the next round of negotiations will be held in Islamabad,” the ambassador to the UN said, adding, “Iran is prepared for any scenario.”

“We have not been the initiator of military aggression. If they seek a political solution, we are ready. If they seek war, Iran is ready for that as well,” he said.

Mizan news, the official media outlet of the Iranian judiciary, reports that a senior official in the country’s civil defence authority was executed after being convicted of spying for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.

Mehdi Farid, who held a management position at the government bureau devoted to civil defence, was hanged after Iran’s Supreme Court upheld his conviction, according to Mizan.

During the investigation, Farid confessed to attempting to pass sensitive information to Israeli intelligence, including organisational charts, the layout of internal buildings, security details of defence facilities and personnel records, according to the news outlet.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency said that Iran’s military enforced “maritime law” on a container ship that had “ignored repeated warning”.

The news agency posted the report on social media above an earlier post by the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which had “received a report of an incident” on a container ship 15 nautical miles (27km) northeast of Oman.

The UKMTO said “the master of a container ship reported that the vessel was approached by one IRGC gun boat” which “then fired upon the vessel” and “caused heavy damage to the bridge.”

“No fires or environmental impact reported. All Crew reported safe,” it said.

Before Donald Trump's announcement that he would be extending the ceasefire, Iran's foreign ministry told the BBC that Tehran has still not decided whether it will attend a new round of peace talks with the US later this week.

In an interview with the BBC's chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet, spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Iran had gone into the first round of Islamabad talks "with good faith and sense of seriousness, but you have a negotiating party that has shown its lack of seriousness, lack of good faith".

He also pointed to "flip flops, threats of war crimes" by the US, a reference to Trump's series of social media posts and interviews over the past two days where he again threatened to "knock out every single power plant, and every single bridge" if Iran did not accept what he called the US's offer of a "very fair and reasonable deal".

US President Donald Trump's administration has halted US dollar shipments to Iraq and frozen security cooperation programs with its military, as it presses Baghdad to dismantle Iranian-backed militias operating in the ⁠country, ​the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing Iraqi and US officials.

US Treasury Department officials recently blocked ​a delivery ​of nearly $500 million in ⁠US banknotes - the proceeds of Iraqi oil sales - from accounts ‌at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Journal said.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. The US Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve did ⁠not immediately respond ⁠to a request for comment.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Trump administration is suspending US dollar shipments to Iraq and freezing security cooperation programmes with its military, a move designed to pressure Baghdad into dismantling powerful Iranian-backed armed groups in the country.

The report follows after a recent decision by the US Treasury Department officials to block a cargo-plane delivery of nearly $500 million in US banknotes.

The funds, which represented proceeds from Iraqi oil sales held in Federal Reserve Bank of New York accounts, were withheld due to specific US concerns regarding the influence and activities of militias, the Journal said, citing US and Iraqi officials.

As President Donald Trump says he will extend the ceasefire between the US and Iran until negotiations conclude, here's a reminder of the terms of the ceasefire agreement between the two countries.

US news site Axios reports that President Donald Trump intends to maintain the waiver of a controversial maritime law.

The report notes that Trump is pushing to keep the Jones Act requirements waived for energy shipments.

Critics say the 1920s law typically inflates domestic shipping costs by mandating that oil supplies moved between US ports be carried on American-flagged vessels, which are in far shorter supply than the global fleet.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has welcomed the US announcement about a ceasefire extension.

Speaking to reporters, Grossi described the effort to end the war as a “complex process” and emphasised that it is important to allow “continuity” for that process to play out.

“I think it’s very important that an opportunity for peace is given,” he said, according to AP.

Grossi also warned both sides that any peace deal must include the IAEA from the start to enforce oversight over Iran’s nuclear programme. Otherwise, he said, “you will have an illusion of an agreement”.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has welcomed the US announcement about a ceasefire extension.

Speaking to reporters, Grossi described the effort to end the war as a “complex process” and emphasised that it is important to allow “continuity” for that process to play out.

“I think it’s very important that an opportunity for peace is given,” he said, according to AP.

US President Trump has posted more statements on his Truth Social platform addressing the ongoing maritime standoff with Iran.

In his latest post, Trump states: “Iran doesn’t want the Strait of Hormuz closed, they want it open so they can make $500 Million Dollars a day (which is, therefore, what they are losing if it is closed!).”

“They only say they want it closed because I have it totally BLOCKADED (CLOSED!), so they merely want to ‘save face’,” he continued.

Trump added that “people approached me four days ago, saying, ‘Sir, Iran wants to open up the Strait, immediately.’”

However, he concluded by asserting: “But if we do that, there can never be a Deal with Iran, unless we blow up the rest of their Country, their leaders included!”

US Central Command (CENTCOM), which is leading the war on Iran, has released a message on social media stating that its “forces remain ready”.

Accompanied by a video clip featuring warplanes, ships and US troops, CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper is featured at an updated news conference with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

“We are rearming. We’re retooling and we’re adjusting our tactics, techniques and procedures,” Cooper says at the conference.

“There is no military in the world that adjusts like we do and that’s exactly what we’re doing right now during the ceasefire,” he said.

Earlier, President Trump announced an extension to the ceasefire with Iran which was due to expire today.

While oil demand destruction deepens with each passing day the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, the longer-term impact of the Iran war may paradoxically work in oil's favour.

Spiking energy security concerns and greater fragmentation could lead to a less efficient, more voracious global energy system.

Aggregate worldwide oil consumption is plummeting under the strain of the Iran war, which has reduced global crude supplies by 13 million barrels per day (bpd), or 12%, since the conflict broke out on February 28.

President Trump’s ceasefire extension came hours before it expired.

It also came as the White House said Vice President JD Vance would not be going to Pakistan for what had been expected to be a second round of peace talks.

“The trip to Pakistan will not be happening today. Any further updates on in-person meetings will be announced by the White House,” a White House official said in a statement.

The key word here in Tehran right now is mistrust, and this is what has been shaping the past few days.

We haven’t received any kind of official response to the ceasefire announced by Donald Trump, even though the US president extended the ceasefire for the coming days, without exactly mentioning the deadline for these extensions.

At the same time, we have been hearing that Iranian officials are seeking an end to the naval blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, and also cessation of hostilities upon Iranian commercial vessels on the Strait of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman.

Iran has executed a man accused of collaborating with Israel and setting fire to a mosque during January protests, according to the judiciary’s Mizan news agency.

There is no official confirmation on whether Iran is going to take part in talks in Islamabad. We know that Iran has tried to keep the door ajar [to diplomacy], so there is still a possibility.

Yesterday, we heard Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei saying that no decision had been made on Iran’s participation in the negotiations.

The United States expressed confidence that peace talks with Iran would go ahead in Pakistan and a senior Iranian official said Tehran was considering joining, but significant hurdles and uncertainty remained as the end of a ceasefire approached.

U.S. President Donald Trump wants an agreement that would prevent further oil price rises and stock markets shocks but has insisted Iran cannot have the means to develop a nuclear weapon. Tehran hopes to leverage its control of the Strait of Hormuz to strike a deal that averts a restart of the war, eases sanctions but does not impede its nuclear program.

The Iranian official, speaking to Reuters, said Tehran was "positively reviewing" its participation in talks, despite earlier ruling them out, but stressed no decision had been made.

The United Nations’ humanitarian agency has flagged that the war on Iran was having ripple effect across the world and that its funding could have saved 87 million lives if allocated as humanitarian aid.

Speaking at Chatham House in London, Tom Fletcher, the head of the UN’s humanitarian agency, also predicted that, with food and fuel inflation inching closer to 20%, the world will feel the impact for years, pushing more people in sub-Saharan Africa and east Africa into poverty.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday batted for giving diplomacy a chance while Pakistan army chief Asim Munir rang up US President Donald Trump, urging him to remove impediments to talks.

Pezeshkian said that every rational and diplomatic path should be used to reduce tensions with the U.S., but added that vigilance and distrust in interactions with Washington were an “undeniable ⁠necessity”.

Pezeshkian also said the US blockade showed ‌that Washington ⁠was moving toward “repeating previous patterns and betraying diplomacy”, according to state ​TV.

As the clock ticks down on a ceasefire declared between the US and Israel with Iran, as yet there is no confirmation of further peace talks.

Iran's parliamentary speaker posted on X to say that Iran has been "preparing to show new cards on the battlefield" in the last two weeks and would "not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats".

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has denied he is under pressure to make a deal, while US media report that Vice-President JD Vance will travel to Pakistan on Tuesday for talks. Trump adds that it is "highly unlikely" a two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran, due to expire on Wednesday, will be extended.

In the Gulf, the US continues to blockade the Strait of Hormuz after seizing an Iranian-flagged cargo ship on Sunday and both sides are accusing each other of ceasefire violations.

Representatives for Donald Trump's “Board of Peace” have held discussions with state-owned ⁠Dubai multinational ​DP World about managing supply ​chains and ​other infrastructure projects ⁠in Gaza, the Financial ‌Times reported on Tuesday, citing three people familiar with the ⁠matter.

The ⁠talks examined whether DP ⁠World ‌could ​enter into ‌a partnership with the “Board of ‌Peace” ​to ​run ​the logistics for humanitarian aid ​and other ⁠goods entering Gaza, the report said.

US President Donald Trump has said Washington will not lift its blockade on Iranian ports until a deal is reached with Tehran, the BBC reports, as uncertainty remains over fresh peace talks.

Writing on his platform Truth Social, Trump said the blockade was “absolutely destroying Iran” and added that the US was “winning the conflict by a lot.”

Japan's Nikkei share average rose on Tuesday as optimism grew from reports that Tehran is considering attending peace talks with Washington in Pakistan, lifting risk appetite and prompting investors to buy domestic heavyweight technology stocks.

The Nikkei was up 1.07% at 59,453.44, as of 0147 GMT, while the broader Topix inched 0.14% higher to 3,782,43.

An uneasy ceasefire between the ⁠United ​States and Iran frayed after the US announced the seizure of an Iranian cargo ship, drawing vows of retaliation from Tehran. Iran said over the weekend it would skip a second round of ​negotiations, ​though a senior official later told Reuters ⁠the country may yet send delegates to talks expected in Islamabad.

In Japan, chip-related shares climbed, with ‌Tokyo Electron and Advantest up 4.3% and 1.79%, respectively.

Kioxia Holdings jumped 5.3% and technology investor SoftBank Group gained 4.23%.

The Hill news outlet is reporting that dozens of veterans and their family members, including those with disabilities, have been arrested after they occupied a congressional building in Washington, DC, in protest against the war on Iran.

At least 62 people were arrested during the demonstration at Cannon House Office Building that was organised by several veterans’s groups.

Protesters gathered in the centre of the Cannon rotunda, holding red tulips to honour Iranians killed in US strikes and displaying banners that read “End the War on Iran”.

In the town of Mashgara, residents said one Israeli strike hit a building that contained the houses of two families and destroyed them completely.

Mahmoud Ibrahim, a survivor of the strike who lives across the street said, “I had parked the pickup truck here next to my house, and within five minutes of going inside, I felt something in the air. Then, there was a very powerful explosion”.

“Everything in my house—the glass, the aluminum, the windows—was blown apart,” Ibrahim said.

The US president has said that he feels confident that Iran will negotiate, adding that the country would “see problems” otherwise.

“Well, they’re going to negotiate, and if they don’t, they’re going to see problems like they’ve never seen before,” Trump said in a phone call to the conservative radio programme The John Fredericks Show.

“Hopefully they’ll make a fair deal and they’ll build their country back up, but when they do it they will not have a nuclear weapon. They’ll have no access to, no chance of having a nuclear weapon. And we can’t allow that to happen. That could be the destruction of the world, and we’re not going to let that happen,” he added.

“And I have to say we had no choice in Iran. It wasn’t like we had a choice. We had to do it,” Trump said.

China's yuan inched higher against the dollar on Tuesday, as investors awaited potential peace talks between the United States and Iran to ease Middle East tensions, while Beijing's central bank continued to guide the market to maintain stability. Iran was weighing participation in the peace talks in Pakistan, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday, following moves by Islamabad to end a US blockade of Iran's ports.

The US president has taken to his Truth Social platform to criticise the CNN broadcaster and other outlets for their coverage of the US’s bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites last year.

“Operation Midnight Hammer was a complete and total obliteration of the Nuclear Dust sites in Iran. Therefore, digging it out will be a long and difficult process,” Trump wrote.

“Fake News CNN, and other corrupt Media Networks and Platforms, fail to give our great aviators the credit they deserve – Always trying to demean and belittle – LOSERS!!!”