Iran war: Peace talks on hold, what's next?

Iran gave the United States a new proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war, a report by media outlet Axios said, citing a US official and two other sources. 

The proposal involves postponing nuclear negotiations to a later stage.

Iran's proposition, given to the US through Pakistani mediators, focuses on solving the crisis over the Strait first.

Axios reported that Washington had received the proposal, but it was unclear if it intended to explore it.

This comes after US President Donald Trump scrapped his envoys' visit to Islamabad, saying Iran could reach out if it wanted to negotiate an end to the war.

At least 14 people were killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Sunday, the country's Health Ministry said, in what is the deadliest day there since the ceasefire began in the Israel-Hezbollah war. 

Lebanon's Health Ministry said the dead included two women and two children, adding another 37 people were wounded.  

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli strikes in multiple locations in the south on Sunday, both in areas where Israel issued an evacuation warning and elsewhere.

News agency AFP reported that its correspondents witnessed heavy traffic heading north as people fled amid the warnings and intensified raids.

Israel and the Iran-backed militant group traded accusations of breaching the fragile ceasefire. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military was "vigorously" targeting Hezbollah, while the militant group vowed to keep responding to "violations."

Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, Germany, the US and several other countries. 

Israel's military has carried out repeated strikes on Lebanon since a temporary truce was reached on April 17. On Thursday, this truce was extended by three weeks. 

Earlier on Sunday, Hezbollah said it had attacked Israeli troops inside Lebanon as well as the rescue force that came to evacuate them. The Israeli military said one soldier was killed and six more were wounded.

Two political heavyweights in Israel with vastly different platforms, who formed a short-lived coalition government in 2021, plan to team up again to challenge incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in elections scheduled for later this year. 

Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid served as prime ministers in a rotation agreement starting in 2021, ending 12 years of Netanyahu's rule but only surviving until 2022. 

This time, they plan to merge their parties into a single faction headed by Bennett, which Bennett described as a partnership between the center and the right. 

Lapid leads a centrist opposition party known as Yesh Atid and has led the opposition during Netanyahu's current premiership. 

Bennett took a break from politics after his power-sharing government with Lapid collapsed. Previously, he had led two right-wing parties: the New Right and the Jewish Home. 

Despite their divergent politics, the two men reportedly share a strong personal relationship. 

Lapid urged Israel's political center to embrace the new project, saying that "this country needs unity like air to breathe." 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has told state media that Russia expects Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to visit on Monday. 

Araghchi has been on a trip to Pakistan, Oman, and then Pakistan again over the weekend. Iran's Tasnim news agency reported that he conveyed Iran's conditions for ending the war to Pakistani mediators, who are trying to broker talks with the US. 

Iran's Foreign Ministry said late on Sunday that Araghchi had departed Islamabad, bound for Moscow. Iran's ambassador said he would speak to President Vladimir Putin while in Russia. 

Moscow and Tehran are strategic allies, but Russia has not offered military support in the current conflict with the US, instead providing only diplomatic backing to Iran. 

It's not clear when or if more direct talks with the US might take place in Pakistan, or potentially elsewhere.

Amid his flurry of meetings, Araghchi voiced skepticism about how serious the US was about the talks, saying he had "yet to see if the US is truly serious about diplomacy."

President Donald Trump told Fox News on Sunday that, "If they want, we can talk but we're not sending people." Earlier on social media he had written, "All they have to do is call!"

 

Egypt's government says it has lifted energy-saving measures introduced last month to deal with the effects of energy shortages as a result of the Iran war. 

It had required shops to shut at 11 p.m. local time to save power.

The Cabinet said in a statement that it had "approved suspending the decision requiring shops, malls and restaurants to close at 11 p.m., wiht a return to previously applied normal operating hours." 

The fighting has disrupted supplies of oil and natural gas through the Strait of Hormuz. 

Egypt announced the restrictions primarily in response to rising costs of imports of gas, its primary source for generating electricity.

It also increased prices for gasoline for cars, which Cairo still subsidizes despite ongoing efforts in conjunction with the IMF to phase out these subsidies. 

The Israeli military has said that a soldier was killed in southern Lebanon and another six injured. 

Sergeant Idan Fooks, 19, died "during combat" in southern Lebanon, while "an officer and three additional soldiers were severely injured, along with a soldier who was moderately injured and a soldier who was lightly injured," the military said.

The military said that Fooks was posthumously promoted from the rank of corporal and that his family had been notified. 

The wounded troops had been taken to a hospital for treatment, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. 

A shaky ceasefire has been in place since mid-April and was recently extended, but Israel reserves the right to respond to what it describes as "planned, imminent or ongoing attacks," and has been striking what it says are Hezbollah targets in the south most days. 

Hezbollah has accused Israel of violating the terms of the April 17 ceasefire while defending its own attacks against Israeli troops.

In a statement on Sunday, Hezbollah said its attacks on Israeli targets in southern Lebanon and northern Israel were "a legitimate response to the enemy's persistent violations of the ceasefire since the first day of the announcement of the temporary truce."

The Iran-backed militant group said it would not wait for diplomacy that has "proven ineffective" or rely on Lebanese authorities, which it said had "failed to protect the country."

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived again in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Sunday after he departed Oman.

Iran's state-run Islamic Republic News Agency said he was set to discuss "his latest consultations in the region" with Pakistani parties.

It's the second time Araghchi has visited Islamabad in 48 hours. According to earlier reports, he had been scheduled to travel to Moscow after the Oman talks.

The Israeli military conducted strikes on several towns in Lebanon on Sunday — including some towns outside of the "buffer zone" that it declared.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that "Israeli warplanes launched a strike" in Kfar Tibnit.

The town was one of seven listed in an evacuation warning. It also lies north of the Litani River and the "buffer zone" that Israel has declared in southern Lebanon.

Fighting has continued between Israel and Hezbollah despite a ceasefire in place in Lebanon since April 17.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting on Sunday that Israel's strikes on Lebanon did not violate the terms agreed to with Washington and Beirut.

"This means freedom of action not only to respond to attacks, which is obvious, but also to pre-empt immediate threats and even emerging threats," he said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited Oman on Sunday where he met with Sultan Haitham bin Tariq.

The two discussed security and the safe passage for ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a readout.

Aragchi thanked Oman for its "responsible approach in assisting diplomatic processes."

US-Iranian nuclear talks had been facilitated by Oman until the US and Israel declared war against Iran at the end of February. Oman's foreign minister, who was also at Sunday's meeting, has continued to call for dialogue.

Araghchi also called for countries in the Gulf region to pursue collective security "free from US intervention."

The Israeli military ‌has issued a warning ​to residents ​of ​seven ‌towns in Lebanon north ‌of the ‌Litani River.

A spokesperson for the Israeli military on Sunday said it would respond forcefully ⁠against what he called ​Hezbollah ​violations of the ceasefire.

The warning comes amid renewed tensions along the Israel–Lebanon border, where sporadic exchanges of fire have continued despite a fragile truce intended to prevent a wider conflict.

The Litani River has long been a key reference line in security arrangements in southern Lebanon.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met the Sultan of Oman, ‌Haitham bin ⁠Tariq ⁠Al Said in Muscat on Sunday, ​Oman's ‌state news agency said.

The two sides held discussions on the situation in the Middle East and mediation efforts at ending the Iran war, it added.

Araghchi arrived in Oman after meeting senior Pakistan officials in Islamabad on Saturday.

He is expected to return to Pakistan after visiting Muscat, according to Iran's state media. 

The top Iranian diplomat is also scheduled to visit Russia.

Iran on Sunday continued a series of daily executions, killing a man convicted of being a member of the outlawed Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl and carrying out attacks on security forces, Iranian media reports said. 

Authorities ​identified the man as Amer Ramesh, saying that he was arrested during a counterterrorism operation in the Pirsahrab area of southeastern Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan, according to the reports. 

He was convicted of "armed rebellion through bomb attacks and ambushes targeting military forces," as well as membership of Jaish al-Adl, the Iranian judiciary's Mizan Online website said. 

Jaish ⁠al-Adl, designated a terrorist organization by the United States, is active in Sistan-Baluchestan — the country's poorest region.
 

All eyes were on Pakistan's capital of Islamabad on Saturday amid anticipation of a resumption of negotiations between the US and Iran. But Iran's top diplomat departed from the city after meeting senior Pakistani officials, and US President Donald Trump pulled the plug on a scheduled visit by his envoys. 

The events marked another impasse in peace talks as a second attempt to get Washington and Tehran to the table for dialogue aimed at ending the war. 

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held talks with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, army chief Asim Munir and other key officials on what he called red lines for negotiations.

He described his trip to Islamabad as "very fruitful."

"Shared Iran's position concerning workable framework to permanently end the war on Iran. Have yet to see if the US.is truly serious about diplomacy," Araghchi wrote on X.

Trump scrapped the visit of his son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff to Pakistan, saying there was no point "sitting around talking about nothing" but adding the war would not immediately resume.

Trump said the ball was in Tehran's court. 

"If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

With US and Iran holding firm on their terms and not meeting face-to-face for negotiations, uncertainly clouds the Iran war, which has triggered a global energy crisis amid a blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.

A fragile ceasefire between Iran and the US, which was extended by Trump this week, is currently in place. 

Trump told Axios that the cancellation of Kushner and Witkoff's trip would not necessarily mean a return to hostilities.

"No, it doesn't mean that. We haven't thought about it yet," the US news outlet quoted the president as saying. 

The first round of talks in Islamabad earlier this month was led on the US side by Vice President JD Vance. They ended after 21 hours with no progress towards a deal.

Trump has since said that a ceasefire would be extended indefinitely, while continuing to issue threats towards Iran. 

Thank you for joining our Sunday coverage of the Middle East as uncertainty continues over whether the United States and Iran will resume negotiations after the possibility of a second round of talks in Pakistan fell flat. 

But first, here's a wrap of Saturday's events:

Iranian  Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrapped up his trip to Pakistan without engaging in direct talks with US officials. He is slated to return to Islamabad after visiting Oman, according to Iranian state media. 

As Agrachi left, he cast doubts on US commitments to a peace dialogue.

"Have yet to see if the US is truly serious about diplomacy," he said.

US President Donald Trump ordered his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner — who were expected in Islamabad on Saturday — not to travel to Pakistan.  

"You're not going to be making any more 18 hour flights to sit around talking about nothing," Trump reportedly told the delegation over a phone call. 

Lebanon's Health Ministry said Israeli strikes killed four people in the country's south, despite a ceasefire that was extended earlier in the week in the war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group. 

Turkey said it would consider taking part in operations to demine the critical Strait of Hormuz waterway if the US reaches a peace deal with Iran.

Germany said it will dispatch ships to the Mediterranean in preparation for a possible deployment to the Strait of Hormuz.

Stay tuned as we bring you the latest headlines.