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Middle East crisis live: Trump unilaterally extends ceasefire; US navy continues blockade of Iranian ports

Britain will host military planners from over 30 countries for two days of talks starting Wednesday on a multinational mission led by the UK and France to protect navigation in the strait of Hormuz, the defence ministry said. The ministry said the meeting would “advance detailed planning” on reopening the strait when conditions allow, following “progress” at talks in Paris last week. “The task today and tomorrow is to translate diplomatic consensus into a joint plan to safeguard freedom of navigation in the Strait and support a lasting ceasefire,” the defence minister, John Healey, said in a statement. He said he was confident “real progress can be made”.

Trump announces extension of Iran ceasefire until ‘discussion concluded’

Donald Trump unilaterally announced an extension of the two-week ceasefire with Iran on Tuesday amid frantic efforts to bring the two sides back to the negotiating table. Hours after announcing that he “expected to be bombing”, the US president said he would extend the ceasefire until Iranian negotiators submitted a proposal for peace. “Based on the fact that the Government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so and, upon the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of Pakistan, we have been asked to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. “I have therefore directed our Military to continue the Blockade and, in all other respects, remain ready and able, and will therefore extend the Ceasefire until such time as their proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, one way or the other.” The declaration came in a topsy-turvy day in which an expected trip to Islamabad by JD Vance, the vice-president, had been put on hold and Trump ramped up his bellicose rhetoric, saying the US military was “raring to go”. Trump’s sharp about-turn drew a withering early response from Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament who has emerged as the Islamic regime’s lead negotiator in recent talks. Ghalibaf’s personal adviser dismissed the ceasefire extension as “a ploy to buy time for a surprise strike”, adding that “the time for Iran to take the initiative has come”. “The losing side cannot dictate terms,” Mahdi Mohammadi wrote on social media. “The continuation of the siege must be met with a military response.” Senior figures of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – who have the upper hand in Iran’s leadership – were angered by Trump’s flurry of social media posts last Friday, in which he all but proclaimed victory while depicting Iran as surrendering on key points, including its nuclear programme. Iranian anger led to the strait of Hormuz being re-closed a day after the foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, had declared it open. However, Sharif – who has acted as the principal mediator – thanked Trump. “Pakistan shall continue its earnest efforts for [a] negotiated settlement of [the] conflict,” he posted. The US president had earlier told the US business news network CNBC that he did not want to extend the ceasefire with Tehran, insisting the US was in a strong position and was “going to end up with a great deal”. Trump has previously said that targets for new US attacks would include power stations and other civilian infrastructure. Iran appeared unwilling to bend to Trump’s threats, though analysts say there is fierce disagreement among its leaders over how to respond to US pressure and whether to risk a potentially devastating new wave of bombing. Iranian state television on Tuesday broadcast a message confirming that “no delegation from Iran has visited Islamabad … so far” and Ghalibaf accused the US president of seeking to turn the negotiating table into a “table of surrender”. “We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats,” he wrote in a social media post, and said Iran was preparing “to reveal new cards on the battlefield”. A first round of talks in Islamabad 10 days ago ended with no sign of agreement on the future of the strait of Hormuz, the key waterway which was closed to shipping by Iran in the early days of the conflict, cutting the supply of around a fifth of the world’s oil and gas. Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency, said the combined impact of the conflict’s effects on oil, alongside the effects of Russia’s war with Ukraine on gas supplies, was “the biggest crisis in history” in global energy markets. The US last week imposed a blockade on Iranian ports to pressure Tehran into reopening the strait, and on Sunday it seized an Iranian cargo vessel. US forces then escalated the campaign on Tuesday, boarding an oil tanker previously under sanctions for smuggling Iranian crude oil in Asia. Ship-tracking data showed the vessel in the Indian Ocean between Sri Lanka and Indonesia around the time it was intercepted. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Iranian state TV that US moves against the two vessels amounted to “piracy at sea and state terrorism” and questioned Washington’s seriousness in negotiating. The closure of the strait by Iran threatens a global recession and has given Tehran a powerful strategic weapon to counter the overwhelming conventional military superiority of its enemies. The war began in February with a first wave of bombing by the US and Israel, which killed the then supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Yvette Cooper, the UK’s foreign secretary, who has been holding discussions with counterparts aimed at safeguarding the strait, has described it as “a critical diplomatic moment” in the crisis. In Islamabad, Pakistani officials have expressed confidence that Iran will resume talks in what are the highest-level negotiations between the two countries since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. A spokesperson said the Pakistani foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, met on Tuesday with the acting US ambassador in Islamabad to urge a ceasefire extension. Dar also met the ambassador from China, which is a key trading partner with Iran. “Pakistan has made sincere efforts to convince the Iranian leadership to participate in the second round of talks, and these efforts continue,” Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said on X. Security has been tightened across Pakistan’s capital, where authorities have deployed thousands of personnel and increased patrols along routes leading to the airport. Government offices, schools and colleges in the city have been shut down and much of the centre barred to civilians. “If they don’t come to Islamabad, or the second round does not take place, it will be an embarrassing situation for Pakistan as well,” Nusrat Javed, a political analyst and columnist, said. Over the weekend, Iran said it had received new proposals from Washington, but also suggested a wide gap remains between the sides. Issues that derailed the last round of negotiations included Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme, its support for a series of militant movements that act as regional proxies, and the strait of Hormuz. Trump said Iran had no choice and would take part in talks. “We’ve taken out their navy, we’ve taken out their air force, we’ve taken out their leaders.” The US president again claimed “regime change” and said those now in charge were “much more rational”. Many experts say the conflict has led to a radicalisation of Iran’s regime, with more pragmatic figures having been killed or sidelined, allowing senior officials in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to increase their hold on power.

Trump extends US-Iran ceasefire indefinitely at request of Pakistan

Donald Trump announced in a social media post on Tuesday that he was indefinitely extending a ceasefire with Iran at the request of Pakistan, which has been mediating talks, until the country responded to the United States’ negotiating positions or until talks reached a dead end. “I have therefore directed our Military to continue the Blockade and, in all other respects, remain ready and able, and will therefore extend the Ceasefire until such time as their proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, one way or the other,” the US president wrote on Truth Social. The move bought time for the US and Iran to continue pursuing a nuclear deal to end the war. Earlier on Tuesday, JD Vance called off his trip to Islamabad, citing a lack of response from Tehran about whether they would participate, according to people familiar with the matter. The vice-president could travel immediately should Iran respond, the people said. On Tuesday afternoon, Vance was seen arriving at the White House for emergency meetings, which Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, was also set to attend. Trump’s announcement extending the ceasefire marks a more conciliatory tone after he spent the weekend telling advisers he did not want to extend the ceasefire unless Iran reopened the strait of Hormuz, a position he repeated in an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box on Tuesday. “I expect to be bombing because I think that’s a better attitude to go in with,” Trump said. “We’re ready to go. The military is raring to go.” Asked if he would extend the ceasefire, he replied: “I don’t want to do that. We don’t have that much time.” Despite his sharp tongue, Trump said he believed a deal was still possible. Trump’s negotiating team – led by Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner – has also expressed optimism that a deal could reached with Iran, people familiar with the matter said. The previous round of negotiations in Islamabad was heavily focused on a possible deal in which the US would release $20bn in frozen funds or in equivalent sanctions relief if Iran transferred its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to the US, the people said. Trump’s negotiators believe a cash-for-uranium deal has the best chance to succeed because money was the best incentive for Iran’s leaders as they grapple with an economy battered by sanctions and the economic costs of the current conflict, the people said. Despite Trump agreeing to such a framework at the time – Vance liaised with the president throughout the process via conference call to make sure any deal had his blessing, the people said – on Friday he announced publicly he would not release any funds to Iran. The whiplash and confusion between war and peace talk has become the hallmark of Trump’s approach to the war. On Monday, Trump bounced between a potential deal being close and warning that “lots of bombs” would “start going off” if negotiations failed. Earlier in the month, he threatened extinction on “a whole civilization” of Iran, and that its civilians were actively welcoming US strikes on the country’s infrastructure. Meanwhile in Tehran, Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, posted on X early on Tuesday that “we do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats”, while accusing Washington of seeking Iranian surrender rather than a genuine settlement.

EU foreign ministers reject proposal to suspend association agreement with Israel

The EU remains split on imposing sanctions on Israel, despite some member states criticising the country over the plight of Gaza and violence against Palestinians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Kaja Kallas, the EU foreign policy chief, said proposals for a part suspension of the EU-Israel association agreement remained on the table but required states to shift their positions to come into force. Speaking after a meeting between EU foreign ministers on Tuesday, she told reporters: “We didn’t see that today, but these discussions will continue.” Kallas rejected criticism that the bloc’s approach to Israel suggested a double standard, a charge levelled by some EU insiders, while raising doubts about the impact of sanctions. “A suspension of the association agreement, will it stop the expansion [by Israeli settlers] on the West Bank? You know this is probably also not true.” Separately she said the EU would add to wide-ranging restrictions on Iran by adopting new sanctions on Iranians involved in limiting free navigation through the strait of Hormuz. The EU would aim to adopt the sanctions in May, she said. At Tuesday’s meeting, Ireland, Spain and Slovenia pressed Kallas to reopen a part suspension of Israel’s association agreement with the EU, which was proposed last autumn but never secured majority support. The three countries, historically defenders of Palestinian rights, wrote to Kallas last week, describing the “unbearable” conditions in Gaza with continuous violations of the ceasefire and insufficient entry of humanitarian aid, as well as escalating violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. José Manuel Albares, Spain’s foreign minister, said on Tuesday: “While Israel continues in that path of a permanent perpetual war, we will not be able to [run our relations] in the same way.” Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s prime minister – who has been among the most vocal European critics of Israel’s war in Gaza – called on the EU last weekend to end its association agreement with Israel. Maxime Prévot, Belgium’s foreign minister, said: “It was clear that we need to raise our voices on sanctions,” referring to violence by West Bank settlers reaching “unprecedented levels” as well as the Israeli parliament’s vote for the death penalty. “There are clearly serious attacks on the principles of the rights and values of the EU that govern this agreement,” he said, referring to article 2 of the EU-Israel pact. Kathleen Van Brempt, a Belgian vice-chair of the European parliament who speaks for the Socialists on trade, said the EU was eroding its credibility as a human rights defender. “The failure by both the European Commission and the EU member states to act appropriately according to international law, human rights and its own values and beliefs is making Europe complicit in the war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by Israel,” she said. Germany said the proposal to suspend the agreement was inappropriate. Johann Wadephul, the foreign minister, said: “We have to talk with Israel about the critical issues. That has to be done in a critical, constructive dialogue with Israel.” The association agreement needs unanimous approval by the EU’s 27 member states to be revoked, but a partial suspension requires only a weighted majority of 15 member states representing 65% of the EU population. Either Germany or Italy would be required to change their position, assuming support from last autumn remains constant. In stinging criticism, Amnesty International accused the EU of “a moral failure” that showed “brazen contempt for civilian lives, particularly in the occupied Palestinian territory and in Lebanon”. The NGO was among 70 groups that called for a suspension of the EU-Israel agreement last week. In separate initiatives, more than 1 million people and nearly 400 senior EU diplomats and officials have made that same demand to EU leaders. Upping pressure from another direction, France and Sweden urged the European Commission to “urgently consider” imposing tariffs on products from illegal settlements in the West Bank and restrictions on exports to these territories. Kallas said she would raise that proposal with the European commissioner for trade. The commission, which is responsible for EU trade policy, has previously said goods originating from Israeli settlements that came under Israeli administration after June 1967 are not entitled to preferential treatment. “Only products originating in Israel proper are granted trade preferences under the EU-Israel association agreement,” a spokesperson said in March. Espen Barth Eide, Norway’s foreign minister, said one of the main problems facing the Palestinian Authority was the encroachment on Palestine by violent settlers, “at times tolerated by, even supported by the Israeli government and the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]”. Norway, which is not an EU member, has played a historic role in attempting to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians. It was among the first governments to recognise Palestinian statehood in the latest wave of support. The minister also called on Israel to release Palestinian “clearance revenues”, taxes and customs duties, which are the Palestinian Authority’s main source of revenue but are collected by Israel under the Oslo accords brokered by Norway. Transfer of the revenues has been suspended by Israel since May 2025, creating problems for the authority in paying teachers, doctors, rubbish collectors and police officers. “This is not asking Israel to do something extra. It’s just to do something that they’re already legally obliged to do. This is our number one ask and it should happen immediately,” the minister said. He declined to comment on what the EU should do, but said: “I do think that it’s important that it’s being made very clear to Israel that we expect that they abide by international law and it is now well established that the occupation in its totality is illegal,” referencing the 2024 opinion of the UN’s international court of justice. The Israeli government has hit back at its EU critics, most notably accusing Sánchez of hypocrisy and double standards. Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s foreign minister, said the Spanish government had received thanks “from Iran’s brutal regime and terrorist organisation”, adding that it had “dedicated itself to spreading antisemitism”. He posted the statement on X, alongside a photograph that apparently showed a poster of Sánchez’s face and his criticisms of Israel’s war on Iran on an Iranian missile. Additional reporting by Sam Jones in Madrid

Two US officials who died after Mexico drug raid reported to be CIA agents

Mexico has launched an investigation into a possible breach of its constitution as it was reported that two US embassy officials who died in a car accident while returning from a raid on a drug lab with local officials in the border state of Chihuahua were CIA operatives. The accident happened early on Sunday, as the officials were driving back from the scene of the raid. Their vehicle skidded off the road and plunged down a 200 metre ravine in the mountains near Chihuahua’s border with the state of Sinaloa. Since then, state officials have provided seemingly conflicting accounts of whether and how the Americans were involved in the raid, while Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s president, said neither she nor her cabinet had been aware of the operation. Mexico’s national security law does not allow for joint operations without prior approval from the federal government. While the US embassy acknowledged the death of the embassy personnel on Sunday, it has yet to comment on subsequent reporting that they were from the CIA. “We’re investigating what these people were doing and what agency they were from,” said Sheinbaum in her daily press conference on Tuesday. “So far the information we have is that they were working together [with the state government], and so the attorney general will have to investigate to know if this was in violation of the constitution and the law of national security.” The incident comes during a tense moment in the US-Mexico relationship, as Donald Trump demands Mexico do more to stem the trafficking of drugs to the US, while Sheinbaum strives to defend Mexico’s sovereignty. US law enforcement activity in Mexico is a politically sensitive issue, given previous interventions in the region. Sheinbaum has repeatedly turned down Trump’s offers to send troops into Mexico to help take on cartels. Although Trump has threatened unilateral military strikes against Mexico’s cartels, US law enforcement agencies and the embassy in Mexico have emphasised that they are working together with Mexican authorities. Those agencies include the CIA, which has taken a much greater role in the fight against drug trafficking in the Americas since Trump returned to the White House and designated various organised crime groups, including half a dozen Mexican cartels, as foreign terrorist organisations. Intelligence from the CIA reportedly helped locate “El Mencho”, one of the world’s most wanted drug traffickers, who was killed during an operation by the Mexican army in February. But the incident on Sunday has swung the spotlight on to the precise degree of CIA involvement in Mexico and whether it goes beyond intelligence sharing. On Monday, Chihuahua’s attorney general, César Jáuregui Moreno, said that US “instructors” did not directly take part in the raid and only arrived at the scene of the operation after it had taken place, for training purposes. He added that Sheinbaum’s office was not notified of the raid because only Mexican agents took part in it. But this seemed to go against an earlier statement from the attorney general’s office stating that the Americans had died while returning “from an operation to dismantle clandestine laboratories”. “There is a great deal of collaboration and coordination [between Mexico and the US], but there are no joint operations as such on the ground,” said Sheinbaum. “If this investigation confirms that there was a joint operation, then the corresponding sanctions would have to be reviewed.”

Two Israeli soldiers jailed over smashing of Jesus statue in Lebanon village

Two Israeli soldiers have been removed from combat duty and sentenced to 30 days in jail after one used a sledgehammer to smash a statue of Jesus in southern Lebanon while the other filmed him, the Israel Defense Forces have said. An image circulating on social media on Monday showed an Israeli soldier using a sledgehammer to strike the head of a statue of a crucified Jesus that had fallen from its cross in a Christian village in southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel, prompting outrage among Christian communities worldwide. After determining the authenticity of the photo, the Israel Defense Forces launched an investigation. Its findings concluded “the soldiers’ conduct completely deviated from IDF orders and values”. The IDF said it had removed from combat duty both the soldier who damaged the statue and the one who filmed the act, sentencing them to 30 days in military prison. This type of punishment is relatively rare in the Israeli military, according to rights groups. In 2025, the conflict-monitoring group Action on Armed Violence said it had found Israel had closed down or left unresolved 88% of cases of alleged misconduct in Gaza and the West Bank. In a recent case, charges were dropped against soldiers accused of sexually abusing a Gaza detainee. The statue investigation found that six other troops were “present at the scene and did not act to stop the incident or report it”. “The remaining troops who stood by have been summoned for clarification discussions that will be held later, after which further command-level measures will be determined,” the IDF said. The military added that “procedures regarding conduct with religious institutions and symbols were reinforced to troops prior to their entry into the relevant areas, and will be reinforced again for all forces in the area following the incident”. The Israeli military posted a photo on social media of the replacement crucifix, which appeared smaller but more ornate than the original statue smashed by the soldier, and said the sculpture was replaced by troops a short while ago, “in full coordination with the local community”. Residents said the statue had stood on a crucifix outside a family home on the edge of Debel, one of the few villages where civilians have remained despite Israel’s ongoing war with Hezbollah. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he was “stunned and saddened” by the incident, while the foreign minister, Gideon Saar, issued an apology “to every Christian whose feelings were hurt”. The desecration drew condemnation in Lebanon and internationally, including from figures linked to the Vatican. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, on Monday voiced “deep indignation” and “unreserved condemnation” for the desecration and destruction of the sculpture. In a statement signed by Pizzaballa, the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land called the act a “grave affront to the Christian faith” and part of “other reported incidents of desecration of Christian symbols”. Commenting on the recent defacing of the Jesus statue, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia said to the Italian broadcaster La7: “I would like to point out to Benjamin Netanyahu that Jesus himself went to Tyre and Sidon, in southern Lebanon. But he did not go there to kill; he went to multiply bread, to heal, to perform miracles – not to destroy.” The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister, said on X that “swift, severe, & public consequences are needed”. Rightwing commentators in the US were also quick to react, with Matt Gaetz describing the image as “horrific” as he shared it online. Christians are estimated to make up around a third of Lebanon’s population of roughly 5.5 million people. Thousands of them were displaced from their homes in the south during the war launched by Israel on 2 March, which has killed 2,290 people, including 177 children and 100 healthcare workers, according to Lebanese authorities. Reuters contributed to this report

Albanians are being unfairly demonised in illegal immigration debate | Letter

These are challenging times in Britain. Economic pressure has a long history of finding a foreign face to blame. For several years now, that face has been Albanian – caricatured by certain media outlets and politicians in ways that are neither fair nor, frankly, very British. The statistics most often cited do not bear scrutiny. For example, the Telegraph’s claim in 2024 that one in 50 Albanians in the UK was in prison was derived by selectively narrowing the total Albanian population in the UK by multiple factors, producing a ratio designed to alarm rather than inform. When adjusted for age, sex, income and residency status, the figure collapses to the British average. The reality behind the 2022 surge in Albanian arrivals is more mundane. Post-Covid economic hardship hit southern Europe harder than most. Combined with a UK visa system towards Albanians that is badly in need of reform, it produced a wave of young people chasing a promise that social media had made to look more attainable than it was. Many borrowed or lost their savings to get here. Some were exploited by traffickers and criminal gangs. Most have since returned, having seen for themselves that the reality did not match the brochure. What is rarely reported is that Albania cooperates more closely with British law enforcement than almost any other country on the continent. The criminals who are caught are frequently identified with Albanian police help. That cooperation is never the headline. The criminal’s nationality always is. Albania is a Nato member. We work alongside Britain in international organisations. We admire it – its literature, its music and its sense of justice and fair play. That sense of fair play is precisely what has gone missing from this debate. We would like it back. Uran Ferizi Albanian ambassador to the UK • 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.

Decision on EU’s €90bn loan for Ukraine ‘due in next 24 hours’ after Zelenskyy says oil pipeline repaired – as it happened

… and so on that note, it’s a wrap for today! Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy told EU leaders that “Ukraine has delivered on what was requested by the European Union” to unblock the critical €90bn loan for Kyiv (17:24, 18:08). He confirmed the Druzhba pipeline transporting oil to Hungary and Slovakia was fixed and could become operational after months of disruption caused by a Russian airstrike earlier this year (16:32) – but stopped short of confirming that the oil was actually flowing. The much-awaited news prompted the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, to say “a positive decision” on the €90bn loan could be reached in the next 24 hours (17:26). There has been no public comment from Hungary so far, the main country blocking the disbursement of the loan, but Kallas said that last week’s parliamentary election showed “a new momentum” to revisit “long-blocked decisions” (17:26, 17:28). The issue is expected to come up during tomorrow’s meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels, who could sign off the loan after months of delays, but there are some outstanding questions about the political sequence of the decision that is needed to progress the loan (12:39, 16:35). In other news, EU foreign ministers did not decide to accept Spain, Ireland and Slovenia’s request to suspend all of parts of the bloc’s association agreement with Israel, despite growing frustration with its actions in the Middle East (16:26). Elsewhere, The EU’s highest court has found Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ+ law to be discriminatory, stigmatising and in breach of basic democratic values, setting up an early test for the incoming prime minister Péter Magyar’s government when it takes power next month. 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.