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Middle East crisis live: Iran sends mixed signals on talks after US seizes ship

In a post on X earlier today, US Central Command said that 27 vessels have been forced to turn around or return to Iranian ports under the current naval blockade of the strait of Hormuz. “This blockade of Iranian ports will be enforced and applies to all vessels, regardless of flag,” a voiceover warned in a video posted on Monday, which shows a helicopter patrolling the waterway. “Any vessel with further intent to enter, exit an Iranian port will be subject to the right of visit and search in accordance with international law. If you attempt to run the blockade, we will compel compliance with force, over.” The US naval blockade of Iranian ports will remain in place until a final deal with Iran is finalized.

JD Vance to lead US delegation in Pakistan if Iran agrees to talks

JD Vance is expected to fly to Islamabad at the head of a US diplomatic delegation on Tuesday if Iran agrees to further talks in the Pakistani capital as the deadline for the current ceasefire looms. The US vice-president will travel with Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law – though Iran’s president warned there remained a “deep historical mistrust” of the US. Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran was concerned about “unconstructive and contradictory signals from American officials” and concluded they amounted to an effort to seek the country’s surrender. “Iranians do not submit to force,” he said. However, one senior Iranian official told the Reuters news agency that Tehran is “positively reviewing” its participation, amid reports that its delegation would again be headed by parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf if Vance attends. Tehran called for an end to the US blockade of the strait of Hormuz, while Trump repeated a demand that Iran should never be allowed to build a nuclear weapon and even said he would be willing to meet Iranian leaders himself. Earlier, the US president had confused the situation by telling the New York Post that Vance and his team were “heading over now” and he expected them to be arriving in Islamabad that evening. That was quickly corrected by US officials who said while there had been a discussion about Vance leaving on Monday, the vice-president was in fact expected to depart on Tuesday morning if the talks were taking place. A second round of high-stakes discussions to end a war begun by US and Israeli bombing at the end of February could – if they go ahead – take place on Wednesday, with the threat of renewed outbreak of fighting in the background. Trump said he now considers the two-week ceasefire with Iran ends “Wednesday evening Washington time”, extending the pause for an extra 24 hours to allow the critical meeting in Islamabad to take place. In an interview with Bloomberg, he added it was “highly unlikely that I’d extend it” further and indicating bombing could restart shortly after – though in the same conversation the president also insisted that “I’m not going to be rushed into making a bad deal. We’ve got all the time in the world.” Vance led the US team during 21 hours of failed discussions with Iran earlier in the month, which collapsed after Iran would not agree to US demands to end nuclear enrichment and hand over its 440kg of highly enriched uranium. The Iranians had said there remained a deficit of trust with the US, and wanted assurances they would not be attacked again if a final agreement was reached. Though Iran was intensively bombed during the five-week US-Israel joint campaign, Tehran’s leadership does not believe it has been defeated. Pakistan has been preparing for possible negotiations since Sunday, setting up a security lockdown and suspending public transport in the capital. Islamabad’s electricity board also promised that power cuts would be suspended in the city while negotiations continue. Power cuts lasting six to seven hours a day have become typical in cities across Pakistan as the country grapples with oil and gas shortages caused by the double closure of the strait of Hormuz by Iran and the US. Trump had imposed a blockade on Iranian ports in response to Iran’s decision to charge tolls on merchant shipping crossing the strategic waterway, and on Sunday the US military seized an Iranian-flagged container ship trying to cross, raising concerns an escalation of hostilities would prevent peace talks resuming. US central command said the Touska had been seized after its crew had ignored six hours of warnings. Its engines were disabled by fire from a US destroyer and it was then captured by marines from the USS Tripoli, arriving by helicopter and roping down on to the merchant vessel. Though Iran had briefly lifted its own blockade on Friday, it reimposed it again on Saturday because the US would not lift its counter-blockade. One tanker in the region was attacked by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Saturday and a second container ship was struck by an unknown projectile. Commercial shipping was once again at a near standstill in the strait. Three tankers made the crossing on Monday – after 18 ships had transited on Saturday – and the price of Brent crude oil was up by $5 to more than $95 on Monday, reflecting the renewed maritime danger. Israel and Lebanon are due to hold a second round of ambassador level talks in Washington on Thursday, the US state department said, the first discussions between the two countries since a 10-day ceasefire in the theatre was announced last week. Israel also told residents of southern Lebanon to stay out of a zone of territory next to the border, and warned people not to approach the area of the Litani River, as it sought to consolidate its military grip on the area while the ceasefire is ongoing. A map posted by the country’s military on social media marked a red line through 21 villages across the south, covering an area 5km to 10km from the border.

US spending on ‘reckless’ Iran war could have saved 87m lives, says UN

The $2bn (£1.5bn) a week that Donald Trump was spending on his reckless war in Iran could have funded saving more than 87 million lives, the head of the UN’s humanitarian agency, Tom Fletcher, said on Monday. He also warned the normalisation of violent language, such as threatening to bomb Iran back to the stone ages, was very dangerous since it encourages every “wannabe autocrat” to use similar threats and tactics, including the destruction of civilians and civilian infrastructure. Speaking at Chatham House in London, Fletcher, a former UK diplomat and adviser on foreign policy to successive prime ministers, also accused British politicians of forming a circular firing squad for more than 10 years which has left the UK in a “defensive crouch”. The scale of the recent UK aid cuts had been so severe that people giggle at conferences where the UK claims to be thought leaders on the subject, he said, before later adding the judgment might seem harsh. Fletcher, the undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator and head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, is wrestling with a humanitarian aid funding crisis he described as cataclysmic, amounting to a 50% cut in his budget. This is driven not just by the US but also by international cuts to overseas aid driven by a mix of ideology and demands from defence budgets. He said the war in Iran was having a ripple effect across the globe and predicted that, with food and fuel inflation reaching close to 20%, “we will feel the impact for years in sub-Saharan Africa and east Africa pushing way more people into poverty”. Fletcher said: “For every day of this conflict, $2bn is being spent. My entire target for a hyper-prioritised plan to save 87 million lives is $23bn. We could have funded that in less than a fortnight of this reckless war. Now, of course, we cannot.” Fletcher’s budget is about $10bn short of his target of $23bn. He added: “The idea suddenly that it is OK to say, ‘We are going to blow stuff up, we are going to bomb you back to the stone ages, destroy your civilisation’ – normalising that kind of language is really dangerous. “It gives more freedom to all the other wannabe autocrats round the world to use that sort of language and those sort of tactics, targeting civilian infrastructure and civilians in a way that completely breaches international law.” He described UN relations with the Trump administration as “an absolute rollercoaster ride”, but said he had made some progress in convincing the US president’s team that it is “not just a bunch of woke, incompetent, useless, exhausted bureaucrats”. “There is a difference between statecraft and ‘real-estatecraft’,” he said. “Most of the guys I am working with [in the Trump administration] are people with a real estate background. It is a different approach to the world. “For statecraft people, the handshake comes at the end of the process after you do all of the work. Real estatecraft do the handshake first, ‘Do I trust this person?’ and then, ‘Let’s go do the agreement’ … it places much more emphasis on the personal relationships, asking, ‘Is this a person I can work with?’ They are less interested in institutions, so walking in with a UN flag does not help you.” He added: “The statecraft people, we love certainty, stability and process – look at what we have designed in terms of protocol, maps and flags. We love that order. “For the Trump administration, they think disorder is more effective. The unpredictability, the knocking your opponent and your friend off-guard, they think they get more results. We will see. “If he [Trump] ends 14 wars, bring on the Nobel peace prizes, but let’s actually end them rather than talking about ending them.” Fletcher also revealed he was being kept awake at night deciding whether to accept US aid funding if it comes with new conditions concerning issues such as abortion or transgender rights. “The question is do we take that money under those conditions, knowing that it will save millions of lives or not?” He said he was not intending to do so. He said the international postwar scaffolding was under sustained attack with the UN security council “completely polarised. We are in this much more transactional geopolitical moment when member states do not see the security council as a mechanism through which they should be working for global peace.” The cuts to his budget were going to have a massive impact. “If I was the chair of a group of agencies – in which in some ways I am – and I had gone from a $50bn group to $20bn organisation if I am lucky this year, I would probably be fired by now,” he said. “My stats are not great. My money is going down and the needs are going up and it is a pattern of failure, so we have to do something differently.” Although he admitted the US cuts were disproportionately difficult since the country had provided 40% to 45% of the money in the past, he said cuts to aid were also happening across Europe. Referring to the past UK commitment to spend 0.7% of gross national income on overseas aid, he added: “The UK for decades, for most of my working career, 0.7% was this talismanic cross-party commitment and that has all been blown away in the past couple of years.” The cuts, he said, were tiny in terms of the UK overall budget but will have a disproportionate impact on lives lost partly because the UK decision provides cover for other countries to do the same. He added: “The UK is in a circular firing squad moment now and has been for 10 years and that is a long time to have a circular firing squad going. At some point the UK has to get out of this very defensive crouch.” He said he is worried that since 2016, “there has been a tendency to vandalise the crown jewels, the real assets the UK has, leadership on aid, the BBC, the creative industries, the soft power, the military strengths. “The UK tend to be over-confident where we should be humble and too modest where we should be confident. Right now quiet competence is good.” There should also be greater protection for humanitarian workers, he said, pointing out that more than 1,000 had been killed in the past three years, many victims of drones. He added: “We are the emergency service, the fire engines, the ambulance worker going to support survivors, yet somehow it has become acceptable that we are being killed in these numbers. There is no accountability for those that are killing us.” He said he told a UN security council member: “Don’t just give us a generic statement, saying ‘humanitarian workers should be protected’ – make the phone call, call out the people killing us, stop arming those that are doing this.”

Colonial blindspot in British history teaching | Letters

Astrid Barltrop makes a powerful case for why the British history curriculum is long overdue for a proper reckoning with the reality of empire and its ongoing legacy (How will attitudes change if students like me aren’t taught the truth about British colonial history?, 16 April). As a Canadian arriving to teach drama at a Russell Group university in 2012, I was staggered at how little students knew of Indigenous people’s history and the contemporary struggle for reconciliation in former settler colonies such as Canada. Ms Barltrop will no doubt be brilliantly equipped for further study anywhere in the world, given her compassion and curiosity, but many of her peers will not be so lucky. At schools in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, students learn from primary school what it means to be settlers on Indigenous land, what it means to respect Indigenous ways of life, and what it might take to live together equitably despite our shared colonial history. The UK needs to catch up on this score, and quickly. Prof Kim Solga Hamilton, Ontario, Canada • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

Hungary’s Magyar eyes swift political deal to unfreeze EU funds after Orbán years – as it happened

… and on that note, it’s a wrap for today! Hungarian election winner Péter Magyar has signalled Hungary would seek a political agreement on reforms needed to unfreeze EU funds after Orbán years as the new government faces a August cliff to agree on spending or lose money (16:02). Magyar called the talks with the EU “constructive” and joked that he would urge officials to take short holidays this summer as the new government will have just under three months to get the EU money flowing again (12:16, 16:25, 16:38). The incoming prime minister also confirmed he would drop Hungary’s veto over the €90bn Ukraine loan as soon as oil deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline are restarted, urging Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy to do it as quickly as possible (16:22). The issue is expected to formally be discussed at the EU level on Wednesday (17:15), with France’s Emmanuel Macron saying he is “reasonably optimistic” that the loan will finally be paid out (17:12). Magyar also named first ministers in his incoming government (14:55), and repeated his warning to Orbán-era officials, urging them to step down by end of May or face removal by the new parliamentary majority as he seeks a break from the past (15:22). Separately, Poland’s Donald Tusk has confirmed that Magyar asked Poland to help with repairing the relations with the EU (17:01), as we reported over the weekend. Separately, Spain’s Pedro Sánchez has led the calls for the EU to suspend its association agreement with Israel, as the issue is expected to return to the EU forum on Tuesday (17:45). EU and Nato leaders congratulated Bulgaria’s former president Rumen Radev on winning the country’s parliamentary election on Sunday (12:30, 13:33, 13:41), amid some concerns over his future government’s stance towards Russia and Ukraine after the Kremlin praised his call for “pragmatic” relations with Moscow (11:49). Romania and Slovenia could soon also experience political problems after difficulties were reported in their ability to form stable governments (11:37). If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com. I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

Japan tsunami alerts downgraded following powerful earthquake off northern coast – as it happened

An earthquake registering a preliminary magnitude of 7.7 off northern Japan on Monday prompted a short-lived tsunami alert and the advisory of a higher risk of a possible mega-quake for coastal areas there. The Cabinet Office and the Japan Meteorological Agency said there was a 1% chance for a mega-quake, compared to a 0.1% chance during normal times, in the next week or so following the powerful quake near the Chishima and Japan trenches, Associated Press reports. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said only one person in Aomori, north of Iwate, was injured after falling due to Monday’s quake. Still, Monday’s events were a reminder to the quake-prone area of the March 2011 disaster that ravaged large swaths of the northern coast, triggering a nuclear crisis in Fukushima. The quake occurred off the coast of Sanriku at around 4:53pm local time (0753 GMT) Monday, at a depth of about 19km (11 miles), the meteorological agency said. Footage on NHK television showed hanging objects swaying and people squatting at a shopping centre in Aomori, as authorities told people to seek higher ground and stay away from coastal areas. Shinkansen bullet trains connecting Tokyo and northern Japan were suspended. A tsunami of about 80cm (2.6ft) was detected at the Kuji port in Iwate prefecture within an hour of the quake. The US-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center later said the tsunami threat “has now passed.” The Nuclear Regulation Authority said nuclear power plants and related facilities in the region were intact and no abnormalities were detected. The disaster management agency said at one point more than 170,000 people in five northern prefectures from Hokkaido to Fukushima were advised to take shelter. It is now 11pm in Japan and given the downgrading of the tsunami alerts we will be closing this blog shortly.

Pakistan seeks to raise its global standing in push for Middle East peace

As Pakistan works frantically to narrow differences between Iran and the US in its newfound role as global peacemaker, it is also seeking to recast its diplomatic standing and attract business. Pakistani officials, mediating between an unpredictable US president and hardliners in Tehran, were on Monday trying to coax both sides to put the conditions in place for a second round of talks in Islamabad this week, including easing the standoff in the strait of Hormuz. Pakistan was optimistic that the meeting would happen, viewing objections voiced by the Iranian side and Donald Trump’s threats as posturing for domestic audiences. At stake is not only regional peace, but also Islamabad’s own concerns about becoming dragged into the war and its dependence on energy supplies shipped from the Gulf. Often portrayed as an international problem child, under threat from religious extremism and with an economy perennially on the brink, Pakistan seized the opportunity of its relative neutrality in the conflict to take the role of “adult in the room”. A three-day visit to Tehran last week by Pakistan’s powerful military chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, helped produce a ceasefire in Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, and a short-lived breakthrough on opening the strait of Hormuz. Pakistani officials expect concessions from the two camps, including on Iran’s nuclear programme, the trickiest dispute. If an agreement is reached, Pakistan is hopeful that Trump and the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, will fly to Islamabad to sign the deal. A security cordon was reinstated around the centre of Islamabad on Sunday, with roads closed and the two big hotels there emptied of guests in order to house the Iranian and US delegations – if they return. The only nuclear-armed country in the Muslim world, with an army of 600,000 soldiers, Pakistan believes it has been punching below its weight. As a new multipolar order takes shape, Pakistan is seeking greater sway, using its military heft to counterbalance the longstanding weaknesses of an anaemic economy and tumultuous politics. The opening was provided by the Trump administration’s need for an interlocutor with Iran, a task that Munir took on after a surprise June 2025 meeting at the White House with Trump. For Iran, Islamabad’s diplomatic support during last year’s 12-day conflict with Israel cemented ties. Ali Sarwar Naqvi, a former senior Pakistani diplomat now heading the Centre for International Security Studies, a thinktank in Islamabad, said Iran did not have faith in traditional European diplomatic venues, such as Geneva and Vienna, to host the talks. “Pakistan has the confidence of all the permanent members of the [UN] security council. And Pakistan also has the trust of Iran,” said Naqvi. “Pakistan is a big country, with nuclear capability, and it is strategically located.” For decades, Pakistan has managed to balance close ties both with Beijing and Washington, and has maintained a deep partnership with the Gulf states. Pakistan was able to call on China to provide assurances to Iran to enter into peace negotiations. Zamir Akram, a former Pakistani ambassador, said Pakistan’s embassy in Washington had represented Iranian interests there since the 1979 revolution, while Pakistan had set up secret talks in 1971 that led to the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the US. “Pakistan’s role today does not come out of the blue,” said Akram. “Pakistan’s job now is to make sure that both sides believe they are getting an honourable exit.” Even in the midst of its high-wire diplomacy, Pakistan’s economic vulnerability has been on display in recent days, with daily power cuts to save money and an emergency $3bn (£2.2bn) loan taken from Saudi Arabia. There is hope that with greater global stature, Pakistan could attract more investment, though that would also depend on economic reforms such as lower taxes and more robust laws. Joshua White, a former White House official who is now a professor at Johns Hopkins University, said Washington’s traditional policy-making process would have flagged that Pakistan had a difficult relationship with Iran and that it lacked leverage. “Pakistan has been sophisticated and obsequious in engaging the Trump administration,” said White. “The decision-making process in Washington today is highly personalised, and highly dependent on the president’s instincts, perspectives and proclivities. And the Pakistani leadership, to their credit, have taken full advantage.” Elizabeth Threlkeld, a former American diplomat who is director for south Asia at the Stimson Center, a US thinktank, said Pakistan’s stock had risen in Washington through its performance in the conflict with India last year, its more active role in the Middle East that included joining Trump’s Board of Peace initiative, and the defence deal it signed last year with Saudi Arabia. “So long as Pakistan does not set unrealistic expectations for the outcome of talks and is able to host them without incident, it stands to gain from simply providing an opportunity for the two sides to come together and has little to lose in the process,” Threlkeld said.

Anti-Islam influencer Valentina Gomez blocked from entering UK for far-right rally

A US-based anti-Islam influencer who had been authorised to attend a far-right rally in London has been blocked from entering the UK by the home secretary. Valentina Gomez, a self-styled Maga influencer, was given permission last week to enter via a UK electronic travel authorisation (ETA). She was due to speak at the Unite the Kingdom rally on 16 May organised by Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. The Guardian understands that Shabana Mahmood has intervened to withdraw the authorisation on the grounds that Gomez’s presence “would not be conducive to the public good”. The government gave the same reason when refusing permission for the rapper Kanye West, now known as Ye, to travel to the UK earlier this month. His ETA was withdrawn after concerns over a string of antisemitic, racist and pro-Nazi comments. West subsequently apologised for his comments and blamed them on his bipolar disorder. Gomez, 26, attended the first Unite the Kingdom rally in September last year alongside Yaxley-Lennon, and warned from the stage that “rapist Muslims” were “taking over” the UK. “England, they took your guns, they took your swords, and they raped your women. You have nothing else to lose, but there’s still hope. You are still the majority. So you either fight for this nation or you let all of these rapist Muslims and corrupt politicians take over,” she said. She also addressed police officers, telling them: “I need you to stop following orders because you know you are being told to look the other way while your country is being raped into submission.” An estimated more than 100,000 people attended the event, thought to be the largest far-right rally of its type in British history. In addition to a range of extremist speakers who appeared on stage, the event was addressed remotely by Elon Musk, whom Downing Street condemned for using “dangerous and inflammatory” language. Mahmood has the power to cancel a person’s permission to enter or stay in the UK. A source close to the home secretary said: “While we recognise the democratic right that people must be free to peacefully express their views, this does not include promoting hatred and extremist views.” After the Guardian revealed that Gomez was banned from entering the UK, she wrote on X: “I’m coming to England on a boat. They can try to ban me, but they cannot ban the TRUTH. See you May 16th.” In an accompanying video she racially abused Mahmood and claimed her ban is “because I’m not coming to rape or kill little girls”. Mahmood had faced pressure to ban Gomez from entering the UK. The cross-bench peer Shaista Gohir wrote on X two days ago: “The @ukhomeoffice should show consistent standards and deny UK entry to Valentina Gomez.” After Gomez posted about her ETA approval, the Muslim Council of Britain wrote: “The decision highlights a clear double standards in how freedom of speech is applied and can potentially lead to less safety and security on the streets of Britain. “Others have been denied entry to the UK for rhetoric directed at different faith groups. This inconsistency raises serious concerns about whose speech is deemed unacceptable and who is permitted.” Gomez, a Christian who was born in Colombia, gained notoriety through a series of anti-Islam stunts. In August last year, she burned a copy of the Qur’an and vowed to rid Texas of the religion if she were elected to Congress. In a video posted to social media while unsuccessfully standing for a Republican nomination to Congress, she said her goal was to “end Islam in Texas”. She asked Muslims to leave the state, saying: “Muslims can fuck off to any of the 57 Muslim nations.” The TV celebrity Sharon Osbourne has faced a backlash after claiming this week that she would be attending the far-right rally. On an Instagram post about the planned march, Osbourne’s official account left a comment saying: “See you at the march.” The homeless charity Centrepoint has said it will cut its ties with Osbourne as a result.