Iran delivers fresh talks proposal to Pakistani mediators

Britain must take "a different course" after the Iran crisis rather than seeking to return to status quo, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.

Starmer told BBC Radio 4 that he was working with French President Emmanuel Macron to open the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway used for energy exports out of the Persian Gulf that has been blockaded amid the Iran war.

"But even when that happens, I don't want anybody to think that once the Strait of Hormuz is open, it all returns to normal. It won't be like that," Starmer said.

According to Starmer, previous US governments tended to seek return to status quo after similar shocks in the past, including the 2008 financial crisis, Brexit, and the COVID pandemic.

"But the status quo wasn't working. And therefore, we cannot do that again," he said, acknowledging that many voters were "frustrated" by the lack of change in the UK.

Lebanon's Health Ministry said 13 people were killed and dozens others wounded on Friday in Israeli attacks in the southern part of the country.

The strikes targeted the towns of Habboush, Zrariyeh and Ain Baal, located near the coastal city of Tyre.

Israel's military said it would act "forcefully" against Hezbollah in the region, noting that the Iran-backed Shiite group launched "several explosive drones" toward its soldiers in southern Lebanon.

It also said that it had intercepted a rocket directed toward an area where Israeli soldiers are operating, also in southern Lebanon.

Media reports said four Israeli soldiers were slightly injured in southern Lebanon and northern Israel.

Israeli soldiers have remained in parts of southern Lebanon despite a ceasefire that sought to halt more than six weeks of war. Israel has continued to launch strikes against Lebanon.

The ceasefire text grants Israel the right to act against "planned, imminent or ongoing attacks," according to the French AFP news agency.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said Israeli strikes on Lebanon since March 2, when Lebanon was drawn into the wider Middle East conflict after Hezbollah attacked Israel over launching the strikes on Iran, have so far killed 2,600 people.

The death toll includes at least 103 emergency workers and paramedics.

"That a person that is trying to save lives, is trying to alleviate human suffering, might be targeted, might be killed... this is something that I found absolutely unacceptable," Xavier Castellanos, under-secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told reporters near Beirut.

US President Donald Trump has told top lawmakers in Congress that hostilities in Iran had ended and he didn't require their permission to extend the war.

"There has been no exchange of fire between United States Forces and Iran since April 7, 2026. The hostilities that began on February 28, 2026, have terminated," he wrote in letters to House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate president pro tempore Chuck Grassley.

The statement came amid growing pressure on Trump to seek congressional authorization for the conflict.

Under the 1973 War Powers Resolution, Congress must declare war or authorize the use of force within 60 days of the start of the conflict. Those 60 days, for the Iran war, expired on Friday.

But even in the past, presidents including Democratic ones like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have relied on legal interpretations to avoid seeking such approval.

Despite Trump’s declaration that the hostilities have been “terminated,” there hasn’t been any change in the US military posture, with the US Navy continuing to enforce a blockade of Iranian ports and shipping.  

And Tehran has maintained its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, choking off energy and fertilizer supplies, among others, from the Persian Gulf.

The US State Department on Friday said it had approved military sales totaling over $8.6 billion (€7.3 billion) to Middle Eastern allies ‌Israel, ⁠Qatar, ⁠Kuwait and the UAE.

They included the sale of Patriot air and missile defense systems to Qatar worth $4 billion, as well as the sale of precision weapons systems to Israel for nearly $1 billion.

The State Department also approved the sale to Kuwait of an integrated battle command system costing $2.5 billion. 

The announcement comes as the situation in the region remains tense amid a fragile ceasefire in the Iran war and the continued blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. 

Economic pressure on Iran is increasing as the government struggles to meet domestic obligations, including paying security and military personnel.

This situation is compounded by years of economic mismanagement, corruption and international sanctions. Iran's average inflation rate was estimated at 51% last year, with a further rise to around 69% forecast for 2026. An extended blockade would deepen these economic problems.

Read about how the Trump administration is trying to force Iran to make concessions by cutting off its oil exports.

An explosion involving leftover munitions from strikes during the Iran war killed 14 members of the Revolutionary Guard.

According to state-run Nour News, believed to be close to Iran's security forces, the explosion occurred near Zanjan, a city in the north of Iran, northwest of Tehran.

The report states that the ammunition included cluster bombs and air mines that were dropped during the fighting.

This is the largest number of Revolutionary Guard members reported killed since the April 7 ceasefire.

President Donald Trump said he's "not satisfied" with Iran's latest proposal regarding negotiations to end the war between the two countries.

"They want to make a deal, I’m not satisfied with it, so we’ll see what happens," Trump told reporters at the White House.

He said that negotiations have continued by phone since he canceled a planned trip by US officials to Pakistan last week.

Trump also expressed frustration with Iran's leaders. "It’s a very disjointed leadership," he said. "They all want to make a deal, but they’re all messed up."

With Iran peace talks stalled and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz disrupted, the Panama Canal is seeing an uptick in traffic.

Iran has sent a new proposal for talks with the US to Pakistan, which has emerged as a key mediator between Tehran and Washington as the war drags on, Iranian state news agency IRNA said.

Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also made a series of phone calls to several of his counterparts today about "new initiatives related to ending the war."

Araghchi spoke with foreign ministers of Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Azerbaijan, the report said. Araghchi also spoke with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.

Pakistan is yet to confirm the news.

US President Donald Trump extended a ceasefire with Tehran on April 21 but the US military maintains its blockade of Iranian ports.

German Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil has defended Chancellor Friedrich Merz against criticism from the United States, pushing back at President Donald Trump.

Klingbeil’s remarks came after Merz accused the US of entering the conflict without a clear strategy and warned that Iran was humiliating Washington in negotiations. Trump responded on his Truth Social platform, saying Merz had "no idea what he's talking about," and criticized German government policy on immigration and energy.

Klingbeil, who is also Germany's finance minister, said his country does not need tips from Trump and urged him instead to focus on securing serious peace talks over Iran.

"We really don't need any advice from Donald Trump right now. He should see the mess he's made. He should make sure that serious peace talks are now being held in Iran," Klingbeil said.

Read more about how Klingbeil questioned Trump's approach to war with Iran.

The UN refugee agency has warned that the cost of delivering aid to humanitarian crises in Sudan and Chad has more than doubled as a result of the conflict in the Middle East.

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has pushed up fuel and freight costs, and caused significant delays in aid shipments, the UNHCR said.  

Ships that previously traveled from Dubai through the strait are being replaced by ships coming from Europe around the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of Africa, adding up to 25 days to delivery times, spokesperson Carlotta Wolf told reporters in Geneva.

"People in dire need are receiving things that are ready later than what's needed," she said.

Transport costs for shipping humanitarian aid from Dubai — which hosts the agency's biggest global stockpile of relief items — to Sudan and neighbouring ‌Chad had risen from $927,000 (€780,000) to $1.87 million, Wolf said.

She added that rising fuel prices in Kenya had slowed down truck transport between the UNHCR hub in Nairobi and people in need in Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan.

"Every dollar that is spent additionally on transportation is $1 less that we can provide to people forcibly on the ground, or less people that we can support," Wolf said.

Iran has long ranked among the world's most repressive countries for press freedom. In the 2026 World Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders placed Iran 177th out of 180 countries, below Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, which ranked 175th.

But journalists and media watchdogs say the US-Israel war with Iran has pushed reporting conditions to an even more dangerous point.

Authorities in Iran have long tried to control the public narrative during moments of crisis. But according to journalists inside the country, wartime conditions have made that grip even tighter.

Read the full story here.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has reiterated a plea for immediate negotiations to "open a pathway to peace" in the Iran war.

In a post on X, the UN chief stressed that the "consequences of the Middle East crisis grow dramatically worse with each passing hour."

"The curtailment of navigational rights & freedoms in the area of the Strait of Hormuz disrupts energy, transport, manufacturing & food markets & strangles the global economy," he wrote.

Iran has largely kept the strategically important strait closed to ship traffic, sending prices soaring and sparking concerns about the supply of fertilizer, fuel and other commodities. At the same time the US is maintaining a blockade on Iranian ports.

A ceasefire is currently in place, but talks between the two sides have stalled.  

"Now is the time for dialogue, for solutions that pull us back from the brink & for measures that can open a pathway to peace," Guterres said.

Amid rising tensions between the United States and Iran, US President Donald Trump claims US pressure is pushing Tehran to the brink.

Iranian leaders have responded defiantly, insisting they will defend their nuclear and missile programs and resist US influence.

Middle East analyst Sina Azodi argues that decades of economic pressure have hurt civilians but failed to force political change. Both sides have signaled a readiness for conflict, yet also share a strong interest in avoiding a prolonged war.

Watch the full interview here: 

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said a UK-France initiative to secure trade in the Strait of Hormuz was "not in competition" with a separate US mission.

The top diplomat was speaking in Abu Dhabi on Friday during a regional tour.

The UK-France mission "is now at an advanced stage, the planning has been finalized, and I have come to present the concept of this mission to a number of our closest partners in the region," Barrot said in comments published by French news agency AFP.

The US, meanwhile, has launched what it's calling a "maritime freedom construct" to ensure free and unimpeded access to shipping through the strait. The key waterway for transporting oil and gas has effectively been closed by Iran since the start of the war, sending energy prices soaring.

The US mission is "not of the same nature as the one we established ... it comes as a sort of complement," Barrot said. "It is not in competition with the initiative we have launched."